Chapter 4
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 she was in 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.
“Honestly, she was so out of it, I’m not even sure if she knew who she called,” Malcolm added. “I wasn’t sure she’d stay alive long enough for someone to find us.” His tone sharpened when he asked, “How did you find us, by the way?”
He had every right to be suspicious given he didn’t know me and Alice hadn’t been able to give her location. My explanation probably wouldn’t make him feel much better, but I owed them both the truth.
If Alice was living in hiding, the prospect of her being tracked by strangers wouldn’t make this ghost or Alice very happy. Hopefully I’d be able to reassure them both in some way.
“I own a security company,” I said. “I have a contact who can track cell phone locations. I give you my word it’s not a resource I use lightly. The only reason I tracked Alice’s phone was I could tell this was a matter of life and death.”
A long pause. “Gotcha. That’s handy, I guess,” he said finally.
When I reached for Alice’s boot, Malcolm’s chill moved away to what felt like the other side of the room.
“She needs more healing,” I said over my shoulder. “Don’t wait for me to finish changing her clothes.”
“I’m giving her blood pressure a chance to go down before I use another healing spell.” His voice sounded like he was facing away from me. “Plus, I don’t feel right seeing her without clothes on.”
I started by removing what remained of her boots.
They were leather and had protected her feet pretty well.
Her jeans and T-shirt had done little to save her legs, hands, and the front of her torso.
They had the worst burns. Her face was less burned, and her long hair had been spared thanks to her leather jacket.
The jacket would need to come off last. I’d have to tear it so I didn’t add to her pain—or wake her up.
As much as I wanted to see her open her eyes and hear her voice, she’d be in agony from the burns.
As an alpha, and with my wolf’s help, I could attempt to take her pain as I did with the werewolves in my pack, but I didn’t know if it would work—and she probably wouldn’t trust me enough to let me try.
Gently, I removed what little remained of Alice’s clothes. My guts churned at the sight and smell of her burns. And my wolf shoved at me repeatedly in an attempt to get me to scoop her up and head for the nearest hospital.
Be calm, I ordered my wolf. I can’t take her to a hospital if that will put her in more danger.
The wolf curled his lip and growled.
“Are there any other wards in this house I need to stay away from?” I asked as I carefully ripped her jacket apart and dropped the pieces on the floor. “Like the black wards Alice ran into yesterday that hurt her so badly?”
Malcolm didn’t ask how I knew about that. “No. We got rid of all the other wards. Ours are the only ones left.”
With the last of Alice’s burned clothing now in a pile, I lifted her upper body and slipped the cotton nightgown over her head. “Can I put her under the comforter?” I asked the ghost.
“Yes. Just leave her arms out so I can touch her.”
Once I got her settled under the covers, I sensed Malcolm rejoin me by the bed.
“Alice and I met at Hawthorne’s last night,” I said as magic surged again. Another healing spell—this one stronger than the previous one—glimmered on Alice’s skin. “And we spent the night and morning together at Alice’s house.” I let Malcolm draw his own conclusions about how we’d passed the time.
“Okay.” His voice sounded strained again, probably because he was using magic while talking to me. “Well, I’m glad she was able to call someone who could help.”
Again, I smoothed wisps of hair back from Alice’s face. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths and tears leaked from under her lids. I wiped them away very gently with the pad of my thumb. The scent of her tears ripped through me so viscerally that I nearly bent double.
I wanted to take this pain from her and endure it in her place. Protecting and taking care of others was my reason for being as an alpha. I couldn’t protect her from the accident, and so far I hadn’t been able to do much more than share energy and magic with Malcolm while Alice suffered.
Helplessness wasn’t a feeling I’d dealt with very well even before I became a werewolf. Now…now it chewed up my insides.
“While I’m working, can you please put Natalie in her bed?” Malcolm asked. “No sense leaving her on the floor. She’ll be out for a while, which is probably for the best.”
My wolf growled at the red-haired woman. From what Malcolm had said, Alice’s injuries were the result of an accident and Natalie wasn’t to blame, but my wolf wasn’t so logical at the best of times—and this was far from the best of times.
Even so, my wolf’s anger warred with our shared deep instinct to protect and care for a vulnerable person.
Carefully, I scooped Natalie up. My heart ached at how painfully thin she was. Over the strong odor of the burned floor and magic, the telltale scents of pain and fear filled my nose. My wolf’s heart softened toward her.
Down the hall, I settled her into bed. I left her fully clothed but removed her shoes before tucking her under the covers and pulling them up to her chin. She didn’t stir at all. Malcolm’s sleep spell was powerful.
I followed the sound of Alice’s racing heart back to the main bedroom. Malcolm had just finished using another healing spell. Alice’s burns had improved noticeably this time, but her breathing was much too fast and she was shivering.
I went immediately to the bed and took Alice’s cold hand. I found an unburned part of her palm and rubbed it with the side of my thumb.
“The burns are better, but she’s not what I’d call out of the woods,” Malcolm said from my right. He sounded miserable. “I have to give her heart a break. Can you do anything for her? Got any special…alpha magic?”
“I do.” I headed to the hall closet. “I can’t heal her, but I can provide body heat and comfort.”
When I returned with several blankets and quilts, Malcolm was humming quietly next to the bed. I recognized the song as one by Olivia Newton-John. Alice had told me she loved old music. She didn’t strike me as the type to like soft rock from the seventies, but maybe he was trying to comfort her.
One by one I added the covers to the bed, tucking them around Alice’s slim form, and then untied my boots and toed them off.