Her touch was cool to his forehead, yet not quite substantial, as though air passed over him.I can’t believe you’ve come back.
And I always forget how handsome you are.She leaned close. He felt her lips on his. But again, not fully substantial, just a soft vibration.
He was comforted. Deeply.
Yet pain followed, rising from the well of his grief that she’d died.
You can let me go now, Braden. I know you miss me. But you’ve got to move on and you must do it quickly. You have work to do, my love.
What work?He didn’t understand.
She continued to pet his forehead.Just look at her. There, not far.
Images came to him of Maeve. She was a red-headed beauty his body always responded to. He’d spoken with her often in his investigations. She had a candle shop and he confessed he liked talking to her. But she was a witch and he hated her kind. A dark coven had taken Laura’s life.
The setting didn’t seem familiar, though, so he knew he wasn’t in Maeve’s store. She sat on a stool near what looked like an operating table. A team worked on the body, but his gaze stayed focused on her.
Then he saw the line attached to her arm and leading to the patient. She was donating blood.
Huh. The witch continually surprised him. She was a blood donor.
He shifted his gaze fully to the patient. It took him a moment to recognize himself.Maeve is donating to me?
She is. Her blood has strong healing qualities, especially for wolves and no, I don’t know why. She hungers for you, Braden, the way I used to. You should give her what she needs.
I can’t. She’s a witch. I hate them all because they killed you.
Laura turned toward him and held his gaze. She petted his forehead again.You need to make an exception. Maeve is a powerful woman and I value her immensely. She did me a service once. A very great service.
I didn’t know you knew any of the witches in Elegance.
Not many. But Maeve, oh, yes.
What did she do for you?
Laura leaned over him once more and kissed him on the forehead this time. Again, it felt like air against his skin.No more talk. Work at your self-healing. Mind the witch.
Laura faded away. He wanted to call her back, but he couldn’t. His brain remained in a foggy state, his gaze now fixed on Maeve. Why did he have to mind the witch? ‘Mind’ as in obey? He didn’t understand.
He’d always been attracted to Maeve. He wouldn’t deny it. He’d spoken with her often during his hunt for Laura’s murderers. He suspected she knew something about the night his wife died, but she’d denied it. Repeatedly.
Last week, she’d finally admitted that her memory had gaps and it was possible she knew something she simply couldn’t remember. Maybe that was why Laura wanted him to pay attention to Maeve. The witch knew the truth about how she’d died and who was responsible.
Laura’s voice returned on a whisper.Maeve can help you find my killers.
Then nothing.
~ ~ ~
Maeve sat on the stool beside the operating table, a line running from the inside of her elbow to Braden’s neck.
This wasn’t a human procedure. Very little was sterile. But an immaculate workspace wasn’t necessary foralterbeings. They were long-lived because germs didn’t infect their bodies the way they could easily engulf a human wound.
Alfonso worked quickly. Braden had been slashed in a dozen places and kicked hard. Alfonso had ripped into the side of Braden’s chest to pull the ribs out of the lungs and set a few broad sutures.
She kept shaking her head. There was no way Braden could survive what he was going through.
Maeve said good-bye repeatedly. She petted the top of Braden’s head and spoke softly to him. She thanked him for being a good friend to her. In many ways, he’d helped make her life in Five Bridges tolerable. He’d lived in Savage ten years. He knew a lot and he was fully acclimated to thealterway of life.
