Gabriel decided Emma was brilliant, so brilliant that he loved her.
She not only had identified Omniss as their thief, she realized he was a witch, and therefore dangerous.
Gabriel knew what she was planning. She wanted him to distract Omniss so she could attack the witch by surprise. And, if Gabriel were a normal man, that might even be the best plan for success.
But Gabriel was no normal man—he was a battle mage. As Emma folded down fingers, counting off, he took a step toward his desk.
Omniss saw him coming and frowned.
Gabriel reached deliberately toward his half-eaten dinner, bagel sitting in its paper wrap, open coffee cold beside it. As if he’d been unnerved enough by the man’s threats to need to either comfort eat or clean.
Emma folded the last finger down.
Gabriel pretended to stumble into his desk. The cup of coffee knocked hard, splashing liquid up and out—and onto Omniss.
Gotcha.
As the other witch sputtered and slapped at his shirt, Gabriel said, “Sorry. That’ll stain. Let me help.”
Emma, beyond Omniss, flashed Gabriel a big smile. She thought this was his distraction.
But wait, he thought. There’s more.
He put the flat of his hand to Omniss’s chest. The man was an air witch, but as a wizard prince, Gabriel could use any element to augment his magic.
Emma leaped.
The instant they were both distracted, Gabriel touched his free hand to a talisman on his belt.
The talisman held a calming spell. He used it for customers who were so furious they couldn’t do anything but shout, calming them enough that he could discover what their issue was to solve it. But it normally sent its calming vibes through the air, and an air mage could neutralize its effect.
Through water though, the thing was unstoppable.
Gabriel slammed the spell through his body and pumped it through his hand into Omniss’s wet chest.
Omniss shuddered, the Calm spell penetrating deeply. His eyes rolled back in his head just as Emma hit him from behind. Gabriel danced back and let her carry the man to the floor.
“Nicely done,” he said.
She wrestled Omniss’s wrists behind him, not getting at first that the man was asleep. “We need to tie him up. A gag would help, too.”
“Right. I’ve got zip ties that will do for wrist restraint for now.” He went to his supply cabinet and grabbed a couple, marveling again at her quick thinking. Most witches needed their mouths and hands to cast spells or activate talismans. If Omniss had been awake, tying his hands and gagging him would be ninety-nine-percent proof against him casting spells.
When he came around the desk, she’d turned Omniss onto his back and was peeling up his eyelids one at a time. “He’s unconscious. But I don’t think he has a concussion or stroke.”
“Strange,” Gabriel said. “You didn’t hit him hard enough to hurt him. Maybe he fell on something.”
He’d said it to reassure her that she wasn’t the cause, but he could see her quick brain pick up on it. Could see her consider the possibility that the witch had a hidden calming talisman, and when he fell, he’d activated it.
Close enough.
Gabriel zip-tied the man’s wrists together. He used the act, bending close, to cover activating another talisman—a truth talisman. When Omniss woke, they’d get his confession.
The man’s lids soon fluttered open.
Emma edged closer. Helping Omniss sit up, Gabriel could see she was readying herself to stop the witch from chanting a spell or snapping out a talisman activation command.
But Omniss only sat there, body wavering a bit woozily.
“Why?” Gabriel said. “Why’d you steal the Wrapphone?”
Omniss turned a blank stare at him. “Stupid.”
“Me?”
“Stupid question. Stupid marks. Too easy.”
Gabriel touched another talisman under his vest, a wake-up. “You stole the phone because it was easy?”
The witch blinked, and lucidity returned to his eyes. He sneered, “Not just the phone. Jewelry, art, tech. The company insures it—putting the security details in the policy write-up.”
His eyes widened, and his jaw snapped shut. He’d realized he’d been hit with a truth spell.
Wouldn’t do him any good, though. Gabriel said, “You mean you skim insurance policies looking for small, high-end stuff that you can steal and sell?”
Omniss’s jaw shuddered as he tried to keep silent. But he croaked, “For millions. Too easy. Even better, I go in afterward to do the investigation. Any mistakes, I can cover ’em up. Befuddle the police. Pin the blame.” Falling on Emma, his gaze momentarily blazed.
Then that angry gaze came to Gabriel. “You.” He shook his head. “Gabriel Light, so smart. So powerful. I talked to some people, suggested they ship the prototype early, so you couldn’t put a physic…phsickick…damn.”
Gabriel’s breath stopped, waiting for the words “So you couldn’t put a psychic eye on it.” Words that would reveal Gabriel was a witch, too.
But Omniss only finished, “So you couldn’t bug it.”
He let out a relieved sigh. His secret was still safe. “Well, you nearly fooled us. We thought because the security cable wasn’t cut, that it was an inside job. But you used some sort of tech to shake it open.” He knew the shaking was air magic, but the question would hopefully misdirect Emma and reinforce him being mundane.
Lightly touching the Calm talisman again—it had a few more times before it would need recharging—he sent the other witch back to sleep. “Huh,” he said. “Must be narcoleptic.”
As he hoped, Emma rose, dusting off her hands. “Well, I’m glad we have proof it isn’t me. I hope the police believe us when they come to take Mr. Omniss away. Um, as long as he’s sleeping, I think I’m going to go use the restroom.”
“Good idea. I’ll stay here.”
He knew where she was really going—someplace private to call the Witch’s Council. They were the only people equipped to incarcerate a witch, but she wouldn’t think Gabriel would know about it.
In the meantime, he called Carol, told her they’d caught the thief and asked her to come in. Her being there would force the Council Enforcers, when they arrived, to pretend to be mundane police. From there, the charade would spin out, everybody treating everyone else as if they were mundane, all for Carol’s sake.
His secret would be safe. More importantly, Emma would be safe.
He’d have to give Carol a bonus for it. She wouldn’t know why, but that didn’t matter.
* * *
The next morning, Emma was facing product in the entertainment aisle when Dr. Light arrived.
She no longer even had to turn to see him stride into the store proper. She could feel his big, comforting presence.
“Everyone, gather ’round.” Carrying a full plastic shopping bag, he hopped up onto the platform where he’d spoken that first day. “Mr. Crandall. If you’d come here, please.” He waved at Brant.
The gangly teen loped eagerly toward the platform, leaping up like a colt—bashing straight into Dr. Light. Only the man’s enormous strength kept them both from going down.
Then Gabriel Light’s star-shot sea-blue eyes turned toward her. “Ms. Singer. If you’d join me on the stage.”
Her heart began to thump. Hesitantly, she approached.
“Come on, Emma.” Dr. Light gave her an encouraging smile. “If you can face Omniss, you can face this.” He reached toward her.
Automatically, she put her hand in his. His palm engulfed her hand, the warmth and masculine power sending tremors shivering all the way to her belly. With a simple tug, he brought her flying onto the platform. Her belly swooped at the casual display of strength. Shockwaves of desire hit her sex, and her own scent turned distinctly musky. Her face heated. At least she knew a human Gabriel Light couldn’t smell it.
“Today I want to present two people who have trained long and hard and have achieved the highest honor we can bestow.” He reached into the bag and drew out a folded stack in Choice Buy blue, a small rectangle lying on top of it. “Ms. Singer.” He handed the stack to her.
She trembled, this time with hope. As he called Brant’s name and dug in the bag a second time, she looked at the rectangle.
It read “Emma Singer—Techie Titan.”
Her eyes itched with tears. She shook out the material to reveal an official Choice Buy polo shirt.
As Dr. Light handed Brant his permanent shirt, badge, and emergency bracelet, he spoke to them both, but his gaze was on her.
“You’re part of the team, now. We will always be here to support you. If you have problems, we’re here to work things through with you. If you have joy, we’re here to share it and make it even more special. Mr. Crandall, Ms. Singer—welcome to my team.”
Emma shook Dr. Light’s big, masculine hand, and she felt wanted, at last.
The End
Dear Reader,
Thanks for reading! My greatest joy as an author comes from you joining me here in my book world. I hope you’ve found entertainment and pleasure in these pages for a time, and that you’ll come back and join me soon.
~Mary
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Want to know what happens when Gabriel’s scent-hiding talismans fail? Continue on for the first chapter from Mind Mates (Pull of the Moon book four), now available at your favorite store! Or why not start the series from the beginning? Prophecy Mates is on Kindle Unlimited now. Your favorite vendor is soon to follow.
* * *
Foreign words and other ideas used in this book:
Vulgaris—ordinary. (Latin)
1023 Megabyte—one byte short of a gigabyte, or gig. A bit is a single data storage unit either on (1) or off (0). A byte is eight bits. Currently (as of 2017) a megabyte is 1024 kilobytes, and a gigabyte, or gig, is 1024 megabytes. Not all manufacturers list their products using the base two values, though, and so a gigabyte might be one billion bytes. The International System of Quantities has standardized all bytes into base ten and established binary prefixes for the base two values, such as gibibyte. But then the joke doesn’t work.
Shrödinger’s cat—Erwin Schrödinger’s thought experiment to demonstrate superposition, in quantum mechanics, an object being in two (or more) states until observation collapses into one of the possibilities. In this case a cat is in a steel chamber with a flask of poison and a bit of radioactive substance. The poison is released if an atom in the substance decays, which can happen at a random time. Quantum mechanics implies the cat is both alive and dead until the state is observed. Schrödinger meant the case to be a sarcastic comment on superposition.
Continue reading for the first chapter from Prophecy Mates, Heart Mates, and Mind Mates.