Green earth magic pulsed and sparkled over her burned skin. I watched closely, hoping it would heal her injuries immediately, but saw only minor improvements.
I growled in Malcolm’s general direction. “Do more.”
“Stop distracting me!” the ghost snapped.
With a raspy sigh, Alice went completely limp in my arms. Her racing heartbeat pounded so loudly I could have heard it from the next room.
“It’s the healing spell,” the ghost explained without needing to be asked, his voice even more strained now. “They hurt like you wouldn’t believe and they’re hard on the heart. Keep checking her pulse. If it gets worse, I’ll have to stop using them or she’ll have a stroke.”
My wolf howled again. “Then we’re going to a hospital,” I stated and headed for the bedroom door.
A blast of cold air washed over me, as if the ghost had flown through or around me to get between me and the bedroom door. His anger and magic crackled against my skin. I stopped short, growling.
“We are goingnowhere,” Malcolm said flatly, from what sounded like inches away from my face. “If she said no hospital, then it’sno hospital, period, end of discussion. Use your head, whoever the hell you are. She’s a strong mage and she lives in a house with more wards than Vamp Court headquarters. She said she can’t go to a hospital. That means she’sin hiding, numbnuts.”
For one of the rare times in my life, I found myself so full of both rage and surprise that I was at a loss for words.
“Soifyou try to take her out of here,” Malcolm added, now with menace, “I will drop your ass with a sleep spell, keep using your energy for healing, and leave you snoring on the floor instead of actually doing things that will help Alice survive this.Capisce?”
The ferocity of Malcolm’s voice made two things clear: first, this ghost felt fiercely protective of Alice; and second, he was perfectly capable of following through on his threat to knock me out.
If Malcolm was right and Alicewasin hiding, I couldn’t take her either to the hospital or a mage who might be able to heal her. Nor could I call on my pack for their help, because I didn’t know exactly who posed a threat. That meant Alice’s life—the life of the woman my wolf wanted as his mate—was in my hands and those of a ghost I couldn’t even see.
“Then you keep her alive,” I said, my voice harsh with my wolf’s anger and frustration. “And tell mewhat the hell is going on.”
Chapter
Four
The ghost made a strange noise.After a beat, I realized it was a sigh.
“Yeah, I’ll catch you up in a minute,” Malcolm said. “It’s probably better if you put Alice on the bed while I use healing spells. Find her some comfortable clothes somewhere.” After a beat, he added, “Please and thank you, Mr. Wolf Guy.”
He didn’t know my name or how I knew Alice. So he hadn’t been around last night or this morning when I was at Alice’s house. She hadn’t mentioned me either. That didn’t surprise me, but it still stung.
“I’m Sean Maclin,” I said. “Alpha of the Tomb Mountain werewolf pack.”
“Oh.” Malcolm’s voice turned cautious. His chilly presence backed up a few feet. I couldn’t do any harm to a spirit, but maybe he wanted to give me space. “Well, that explains how you got through the house wards still on your feet, I guess.”
I laid Alice on top of the bedding. The comforter and pillows smelled clean but musty, as if this bed hadn’t been used in a long time.
Very carefully, so I didn’t hurt her, I smoothed hair back from Alice’s face and caressed her cheek. Touching her felt like touching my future, as little sense as that might have made to someone else if I’d tried to explain the sensation.
“This was Natalie’s grandmother’s room,” Malcolm said from my right. “Natalie hired Alice to figure out who stole something weird from her library. We discovered Natalie has magic that she had no idea about. It got loose when Alice tried to bind it safely. That’s how she got burned. I knocked Natalie out with a sleep spell and drained her magic to use for healing spells. When I ran out of power, Alice managed to call for help before passing out again. And now you’re caught up.”
I grabbed a tissue from the nightstand to wipe the blood from under my nose. At least the nosebleed from crossing the wards hadn’t been serious. I had blood on my ears too, but I didn’t want to take the time to go to the bathroom to use the mirror. A shifter was used to blood anyway.
I dropped the used tissue into a trash can by the bed and searched for something for Alice to wear. My wolf paced incessantly, teeth bared, while I opened dresser drawers to look through the grandmother’s clothing. She’d been a petite woman like her red-haired granddaughter, judging by what I found.
Finally, I unearthed a well-worn blue cotton nightgown in the bottom drawer. What it lacked in style it made up for in practicality. Alice’s burned skin needed clothing made of the softest fabric I could find.
When I shook it out, the musty scent made me want to sneeze. I wished I had something else to put her in—especially something that smelled like me, because that would ease my wolf’s rage and worry. But short of putting her in my own shirt, that wasn’t really an option.
“It’s a miracle she’s alive,” I said, returning to the bed. “Even more of a miracle that she got to her phone. Do you know why she called me instead of family or a close friend?”
When Malcolm replied, his voice was guarded. “I have no idea.”
I recalled the unsettling lack of family photos in Alice’s house. If shewasin hiding, as Malcolm had claimed, that might explain many things, but it only increased my concern, anger, and need to protect her. She might say she didn’t need or want anyone’s protection, but every instinct in my body told me she was in grave danger from an unknown threat in addition to her high-risk profession.
