“What’s up, invalid?” Daisy closed the door and stopped in the entryway, her hands braced on her hips and dirt and grime marring her light blue shirt.

I sat up on the couch, only grimacing a little. Nearly a week had passed since that air elemental had made a plastic bag out of me and rolled me across the yard, and still I had aches and pains. I felt a lot older than my twenty-five years, and in desperate need of some physical fitness.

Thankfully for me, and not thankfully for her, Bria was also sore as hell, with a black-and-blue face and out-of-shape nose, and didn’t want to think about training until she could control her rage over losing to an air elemental one class lower on the power scale than her.

Once we were both healed, I had a feeling she’d kick my ass to get into gear. I was not looking forward to it.

“Just living the dream,” I said, not bothering to comment on the state of her shirt. Zorn was still training her every day. He’d probably had her crawling through the sewers on her belly or something.

“You going to watch Mordie’s first change?” She turned toward the kitchen.

A wash of nervousness stole my breath. I clenched my teeth. Jack had assured me that Mordecai would be fine. Mordecai’s body was more than strong enough. His constitution was better still. He was primed, he was ready, and he had someone with experience to talk him through it. Sure, Jack couldn’t actually change with him, being that he was an enormous sea creature, but his knowledge was enough.

Or so he said.

Still. So much could go wrong with a shifter’s first change. So much. I was afraid to lose Mordecai all over again.

“Yes. Are they getting close?” I asked, lugging myself off of the couch.

“Yeah. Fifteen minutes.” The faucet handle squeaked as she turned it. Clear water filled her glass. She leaned her butt against the counter and turned toward me. “Have you heard from that stalking Demigod?”

A blast of emotion stole through me: warmth from thinking about him, passion from the memory of his touch, longing because I hadn’t seen him since he’d deposited me in my bed after saving my life, and nervousness that the kids somehow knew we’d spent every night chatting via back-and-forth texts.

I’d thoroughly finished my job this time. I’d found the spirit trappers, and, in a roundabout way, delivered them into the hands of my ex-boss. Kieran knew all the various places and items they’d been paid to maintain traps on, and now that they were no longer making their rounds, those traps would disintegrate and release the trapped souls.

My part in all of this was done. Well and truly done.

Except, Valens would soon realize what was going on—that his employees were not doing their job. He’d want to know why, and given his suspicious nature, he’d almost certainly expect foul play. This was the calm before the storm. A storm Kieran did not want me to be a part of. That my kids did not want me to be a part of. That I’d be stupid to be a part of…

“Nope,” I lied, stretching my arms so as to hide my burning face. I hadn’t gotten any better at lying to them.

“Hmm.” Her eyes narrowed. “So he didn’t tell you why he has one of his Six watching the house again?”

“He doesn’t have to. He doesn’t trust me to stay put.”

She gulped her water, set the glass on the counter, and pushed forward. “Fair enough.”

“No, no, no.” I pointed at the glass. “Put that in the dishwasher.”

Tired of doing dishes, the guys had installed a dishwasher. They were still cooking every night. Well, on a rotating schedule—one was doing the cooking, and the rest showed up to eat. Daisy and Mordecai didn’t complain, which made me wonder if they were still so determined to be rid of Kieran and all the perks that went with having him in our lives.

Daisy rolled her eyes before turning back.

A moment later, I hesitated at the front door, taking a deep breath before pulling it open. A collection of people stood on my green-brown grass and along the sidewalk in front of my house. One nutter hung out in the middle of the street, grinning manically at an oncoming car that wouldn’t be slowing.

“They won’t leave,” Frank said, standing just off my porch, his back to the house. “Even if I strong-arm them off of your property, which I have done, they just come back. They keep coming back.”

I lifted my eyebrows and sighed. “Yeah. Now you know how I feel.”

Some of the spirits I’d released from the ghost house had somehow attached themselves to me after all. Not just the devoted ones, either. I had a couple surly bastards who hung around, scowling at everyone they saw. I was now their home base, but since they couldn’t get in my house past the banishment magic I had up, they loitered outside. Most of them wanted to help me. Some were afraid to leave this plane. Still others didn’t know what was going on—they were just going with the flow and playing chicken with cars.

Soon I’d crack and banish them. I knew I would. But for now, while I didn’t know the score with Kieran, I tolerated it.

Mordecai stood in a cleared area at the side of the house, his shirt off and definition showing beneath his dark skin. The calories, his health, his shifter genes, and his hard work were paying off. And paying off quickly. His parents had passed down some great genetics…except for the little issue that had nearly killed him.

Lines etched around his light hazel eyes, his fear of what would come leaving its mark. His fingers curled into fists before straightening out again.

Jack stood before him, his own shirt off, revealing perfectly sculpted muscles and a brawn that would give any enemy pause. His face was calm, his bearing alert. Donovan blocked off the way to the street, his shirt off as well, and Zorn blocked off the path to the backyard.

I sucked in a breath when I saw Zorn’s bare torso. Jagged white lines criss-crossed his well-built body, his torso a mess of scars—some straight and even, some long and bent—that carried across his shoulders and surely continued on to his back. It was clear someone had taken great pains to carve him up.

“He was tortured for information about Kieran,” Daisy whispered. “You aren’t the only one Kieran has saved.”

I swallowed. “I got away easy, it looks like.”

“Yeah. You totally would’ve broken. Zorn is the most stubborn dickhead I’ve ever met. I have mad respect for him.”

“If my shoulder didn’t hurt, I’d punch you in the face.”

“Dickhead isn’t a swear, it’s an adjective.”

“Stand back, ladies.” Donovan waved us back as people crowded in behind us, Frank included. Just because they’d lost their bodies didn’t mean they were any less nosy. “He’ll be disorientated his first time. There’s no telling what he’ll do in shifter form.”

Mordecai glanced over, and through his fear, I saw a spark of excitement. A smile bent his lips and his shoulders loosened.

“Deep breaths,” Jack said in an easy voice. “Can you feel the need to change building?”

“It’ll be a full moon tonight,” Daisy whispered, as if I hadn’t been living in the same house and hearing the same discussions non-stop. “The pull to shift is really strong. The guys thought it would be easiest—”

“For a first time. I know, I know,” I said quietly.

Mordecai nodded nervously. His tongue darted out, wetting his bottom lip.

“Sink into it,” Jack coached. “Sink into that feeling. Let it wash over you. Let it consume you.”

Mordecai closed his eyes and his hands fisted.

“Let it consume you,” Jack said again.

The throb of power from Mordecai intensified. The air turned hazy around him, shimmering.

“Here we go,” Daisy said, grabbing my arm. “He’s been having really bad dreams.”

Again, it was like she’d forgotten we all lived together. Daisy and I had both needed to wake him up in the dead of night when he was screaming and wrestling with his sheets.

“Now rush into it,” Jack barked, his body shimmering, too. The intense power within him was also building.

A burst of magic preceded Mordecai’s jaw clenching. His skin, then his limbs, turned hazy, as though a cloud had drifted over him. His body bent. His face changed, elongating into a snout.

“Faster, Mordecai,” Jack yelled. “The pain from the first handful of changes will last as long as it takes to change. Rush into it. Give in to it.”

Mordecai grunted and his brow lowered. His legs bent and his skin erupted into fur. Teeth grew out of his mouth.

“Ew,” Daisy said, her fingers digging into my arm.

I had to agree. This was one of the grossest things I’d seen, and given that I’d been working with dead bodies, that was really saying something.

“If you don’t hurry, the pain will make you pass out,” Jack said, stepping forward. “The first time is always the most painful.”

Mordecai didn’t hurry. The change didn’t go any faster. But not once did he cry out. Not once did he howl in pain. The only indication that the shape change had an effect on him was a few grunts and lots of silence.

“What the hell?” Donovan said, stepping to the side to further block us off.

“What’s the matter?” Daisy asked, her nails cutting through my skin.

I took her hand away, certainty calming me. Tears filled my eyes. “He’s going slow so he can learn control. He’s used to dealing with intense pain in silence. He has for years. His whole life. Even now, he’s trying to make it so we don’t worry. This is his rite of passage, but he’s putting us first.”

Daisy looked at me, her eyes heavy and intense. She chewed her lip as she glanced back.

“He’s better than me,” she said softly. “He’s a better person than me.”

“He’s a better person than all of us. We’ll take credit for it. That’ll make us good people by association.”

She nodded. “Good idea.”

The haze cleared and the throbbing magic settled. In place of the human stood a lean but enormous wolf, its muzzle dark gray with an odd spot near its left eye, and the rest of his body like a timber wolf, with grays and whites. Intelligent hazel eyes stared out from a wolf’s face, and a long pink tongue lolled out over sharp white teeth.

“His teeth are even lovely and white in wolf form,” I marveled. “See, Mordecai? See why I always harp on you about hygiene?”

“Wow. You need to let it go,” Daisy muttered.

Mordecai shook like a dog before trotting forward. Jack braced himself, holding his hands up. Mordecai stopped, turned, and trotted in a circle, not nearing any one person. The guys all loosened, dropping their hands.

“Incredible,” Jack said, bracing his hands on his hips.

Donovan stepped over to Jack. “I haven’t seen many newbies shift, but he acclimated really quickly, didn’t he?”

“Extremely quickly. I’ve seen a lot of newbies shift. A couple as old as him. This is…unexpected.” Jack shook his head and blinked a few times in disbelief. “It just goes to show, men are way easier to deal with than women.”

Daisy huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll feed you those words on the end of a razor-tipped fork.”

Jack chuckled, looking back at her. “Any time you’re ready, little girl.”

“You won’t know I’m ready until you taste steel.”

The guys all started to laugh. This was the new normal since Daisy had started training with Zorn—someone baiting Daisy to see what she’d come back with.

Little did they know, she was serious, didn’t forget being taunted, and they wouldn’t like it when she got even.

I smiled and turned away. I’d look forward to watching and laughing.

“Hey.”

I turned back to Zorn, waiting for him to continue. He wasn’t a big fan of using names, for some reason. Or details.

“He wants you to meet him,” Zorn said.

I still waited for more. None came.

“Where?” I asked.

Zorn tapped his chest. “He said you’d figure it out.”

I stared like an idiot, because yes, I was pretty sure I could. I’d focused on that ache in my chest all week, digging into the feeling and closing my eyes, following our connection with my mind’s eye. Miraculously, I could practically envision where he was at any time. And if I reduced down into a trance, I could feel what was going on. Like last night, when I’d felt him stroking himself while he texted with me… The pleasure had washed over my body until I was keeping pace, letting the desire build up and the ecstasy take me away. In the middle of it he’d figured out what was happening, and then our mutual sensations had spiraled until it felt like we were physically together, touching each other’s bodies, kissing each other’s lips.

That said, I didn’t need the kids realizing any of this. Not until I figured out how to tell them what I’d decided.

Daisy’s hard stare beat into my head as I nodded and turned. Soft padding crunched the brittle, mostly dead grass as Mordecai approached me.

“He saved my life. I have to at least say thank you,” I said, hurrying away.

A small growl rumbled from Mordecai’s throat.

“Yeah,” Daisy said. “I agree. This is bad news, and not because I am now talking to an overgrown dog.”

Mordecai growled again.

I grabbed my handbag and thought about changing into nicer clothes. But that would make it obvious that I had lost my mind where it concerned Kieran. Somewhere along the way, it had become less about helping others by taking Valens down, and more about helping him. About speaking to him, and spending time with him.

“This is bad,” I said, trying to ignore my excitement at seeing him again.

As expected, there was nothing to finding him. Nothing at all. I looked internally, felt his solid presence connecting to my middle, and followed the shimmering path to his soul. The handsy souls in the ghost neighborhood had given me the heebie-jeebies, but when Kieran’s soul reached for me, I didn’t want to shake him off. I wanted to pull him closer.

The train of terrible ideas was screaming down the tracks, and I didn’t want to jump. I wanted to ride it all the way in.

Such bad news.

I smiled when I reached the little outlet, engulfed in swirling gray fog, and found his bright red Ferrari parked beside the road. It was the same place I’d met him to talk about the job. Sure enough, I followed the trail beside the magical zone barrier, through the windswept trees, and emerged in a clearing high on the cliff.

Kieran sat on the lonely bench overlooking the vast blue ocean. His T-shirt stretched across his large shoulders, and a muscular arm was thrown over the back of the bench.

Heart thumping and stomach flipping, I silently made my way to his side.

“You found me.” His deep voice rumbled in his chest. He looked up, and those stormy blue eyes opened up all the way down to his soul. To the place I’d latched on to.

“Yes.” I sat on the far end of the bench, leaving space between us.

His focus stayed on my face, absolute.

“You disobeyed me the other week,” he started, though if he’d meant his tone to be severe, he wasn’t doing a great job.

I clasped my hands. “I didn’t want to leave the job half finished. I know I signed on to help your mom, but I promised myself I’d help those other souls, too. I know you said you’d find the guys responsible, but—”

“The solution had been staring me in the face the whole time,” he interrupted. “Since before we met. I knew about that air draping spell. Knew about it, and discounted it to the point that when you spoke about a spirit trap on the building, I didn’t even think of it. My mother as well. I’d been in my father’s room. I’d seen that picture. I’d seen the fountain.” He shook his head, his eyes sparkling. “I hadn’t made the connection.”

I shrugged. “You didn’t have the benefit of seeing your mother in her younger form. It was a lot easier to compare her spirit to that fountain.”

He stayed silent for a beat, his stare beating into me. “I don’t agree. You have a knack for reading people. You have a pure soul that lets your magic shine. I know for a fact—I can feel it. It’s so light. So lovely. Like you.”

My face heated and my heart lurched. I shrugged again, not knowing what to say. Scared of the strength of what I felt.

“My father will notice the absence of his employees soon,” Kieran went on. “He’ll know what it means, even if he doesn’t know it was me. Yet.” He paused. “He’ll know some serious power was behind this. Power in the spirit realm.”

I controlled my breathing, and tried to control my face. I knew what would come next. He didn’t disappoint me.

“It’s time for me to get you out of town, Alexis.”

A weight settled on my chest and squeezed my heart. I refrained from commenting, not trusting my voice.

“It wasn’t fair of me to try and cut you off before you finished the job,” he went on. “I should’ve known you’d want to keep going until those spirits were released. I should’ve guessed you wouldn’t leave it alone. But it’s done now. I’ve visited every site. I’ve spoken to the spirits. Then I’ve let them go.”

“I know. I got the pictures. And some of the buggers showed up at my house and milled on the grass.” I’d had to just assume some of the lights and orbs in the pictures were a host of spirits and not just one. They didn’t show up very well on camera, to the dismay of countless Ghost Whisperers who wanted proof they could do their job.

He nodded. “Your task is well and truly finished. I have a house ready for you and the kids in Sydney. They have an excellent dual-society zone there. I’ve already arranged for training for all of you. The shifter packs in the area are led by honorable alphas. The spies who would take on an apprentice are cunning. I have friends there. I will make sure you are all sorted.” His eyes sparked. “Valens doesn’t mess with Sydney. The ruler there, a class-five fire elemental, can’t stand him. She’ll cause a problem if he goes sticking his nose in her territory. And with his home turf…issues, he won’t risk dividing his forces, even to face a lesser power.”

“And Bria?” I asked, my words thick.

“She’ll stay here with me. I need a Necromancer. I have a lot of spirits willing to fight.”

I took a deep breath and made sure my voice was steady before I went on. “I take it you’d like to keep my magic so you can communicate with the spirits?”

He surveyed me silently. “No,” he said, and I paused with my mouth open, because that wasn’t the answer I’d expected. He continued surprising me. “You must know that you’ve had an effect on me. I haven’t been with another woman since I met you. I haven’t had the interest. I can’t stop thinking about you, Lexi. You’re on my mind constantly. I fear for your safety. I lose sleep, pained that harm might come to you. I find joy when you laugh, and get aroused when you tell me no. You’re a peculiar woman, and it turns out, peculiar women are my type.” Our connection throbbed in my chest, and I longed to reach out to him. To sit in his lap. “But I might not have a future, Alexis. My father is extremely powerful, cunning, and has been at this for years. He also watched me closely throughout my childhood. He knows what I’m good at, and he’s documented my weaknesses. When he realizes I mean to oppose him, he’ll cut me at the wick.” The hand that was draped over the bench fisted. “I have no illusions. I know what I’m up against. But I have a duty to my mother. I have a duty to the people of this city. He needs to be held accountable for his choices. I’m the only one who can…who will.”

He shook his head and directed his gaze out across the ocean. I let silence descend, listening to the crash of the waves below. Feeling the pull of the tides and enjoying the wind against my face.

Finally, he spoke again. “So no, I don’t want to keep your magic so that I can communicate with spirits.” He looked back at me. “I want to keep your magic—keep this connection—so I can find you if you get in trouble. So I can be near you even when we’re oceans apart. So I have a piece of you, even in my last moments.”