“She isn’t saved yet,” Charles told Leslie.
“I know, years of counseling and medication even, but much better than I thought they were going to get.”
“Yes,” he said, “but she isn’t going to be safe until that fae is dead.”
Leslie sucked in a breath. “We have the man who owns that property in custody. He lawyered up immediately, but my man on the ground says he is definitely fae. He couldn’t bear the touch of metal.”
“The current justice system is not up to handling a fae of this caliber. Not if the Gray Lords have removed his restrictions. If he is not killed, that poor pile of bodies in the attic won’t be a drop in the bucket. Fae don’t die on their own; you have to help them along.”
“I think,” she said, “that we’re going to have to agree to disagree.”
“Just make sure you don’t let him slip through your fingers,” said Charles.
Anna changed in the back of the car, while Charles leaned against it and made sure no one got close enough to look in the back window. When she was human again and dressed, she got out of the car and just hugged him.
He hugged her back and let himself admit just how much he needed her touch.
“All those children,” she said. “All of those children dead. And that was just here, in this town. How long ago did he start? One a year for what? A thousand years? Two thousand years? And Amethyst? Do you think…?”
She couldn’t even make herself say the words. All he could give her was the truth.
“I don’t know. Probably.” He kissed the top of her head and found that he was comforting himself as much as he was her. “But we stopped him and she’ll grow up strong and true. Her parents will see to it. And she’s tough.”
Amethyst had grabbed on to him, he thought. Grabbed on with both hands, and held on because she had known he’d keep her safe. She wanted to be okay, and that was a good step.
“She’ll survive, Anna. He won’t win—we have him now. Let the human justice system do what it can. When he leaves it, I’ll hunt him unto the ends of the earth if I have to.” Cliché words—and they sounded hollow to him, though he absolutely meant them.
Absurdly, they seemed to be what Anna needed. She took a deep breath and said, “Yes. Yes. That. How fortunate for the world that you are in it.” She pulled back, wiped her eyes, gave him a smile.
He didn’t know what she meant. He was a killer with bloodstained hands. He was necessary, though. Maybe that was what she meant.
“Part of the solution,” she said. “My dad always told us to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. You are always part of the solution.”
“Solution to what?”
“Anything. Everything. Me.” Her smile brightened and then died. Her voice was dead serious when she spoke again. “There is evil in the world, Charles. I know I’m not telling you anything that you don’t know. But those people out there?” She swept a hand out toward the bustling rush-hour traffic on the road running past the parking lot where they stood. “Those people have no idea. And the reason they have no idea is because you are around to keep them safe. You and Bran and Leslie—and Leeds and Marsden, too. But mostly you. Where you are, there hope is also. The hope that good is strong enough to prevail.” She took a big breath and let it out. “I want your child.”
His stomach plummeted. He didn’t know that he could have that conversation right now. Not when his shirt was still damp from Amethyst’s tears and the stink of the dead was still in his nose.
Anna turned away from him, rocking up on her toes and back. He wondered if she was thinking about running away. Or wishing she could run back to the Anna she had been before she learned about the evil in the world.
“I understand now, I think,” she told him in a low voice, her back still turned. “You know what’s out here. You think that if you, if we, have a child, then they will come after him or her. Those who serve evil. You see a child as a hostage to fate. Isn’t that Shakespeare? Evil always goes after the innocents, Charles. But no innocent will be safer than one under your protection. You brought hope into my world when I had given up.”
She turned back to him, and she was wiping her cheeks again. She hesitated, her eyes widening—and then she reached up and gently wiped his, too.
“But I saw you today,” she whispered. “I do think you are wrong. I think your child would be the safest person in the universe. But I’m done hurting you. I saw your face and I know why you’re scared. That was a lot of pain you felt for her. It’s okay. I don’t like the way this discussion has come between us. When you are ready, you just let me know, okay? Don’t wait until forever.”
Children die, he thought. He was pretty sure he kept those words to himself and hadn’t given them to Anna.
She stood on tiptoe, waiting for him to duck down to her. When he did, she kissed him, first on the nose and then, hotly, on the mouth.
“Get in the car, sweetcheeks,” she said briskly, though her voice was husky. “I have horses to look at.”
“Anna,” he said as he buckled himself into the passenger seat.
“Yes?” She hit the gas and drove out of the parking lot headed north.
“Don’t ever call me sweetcheeks.”
She grinned at him, then paid strict attention to her driving. As she took them out to the Sanis’ ranch, he wondered that she could look at him, who had hands that would never, could never come clean, and she saw hope.
Hosteen was there when they got back. He frowned warily at Anna. But Anna had seen terrible things today. Having a grumpy old werewolf who freaked out because she could send his wolf to sleep was barely a blip on her radar. Not when she was worried about Charles, who hadn’t said a single word all the way to the ranch.
His hand was on the small of her back, though. So they had to be good, right?
“Wade told me that Cantrip and the FBI are letting you help go after the fae who tried to kill my great-grandchildren,” Hosteen growled.
He was talking to Charles, but it was the wrong attitude to throw at her husband just now. Anna said, “We worked with the FBI and Cantrip today. We found the girl who’d been replaced by the changeling. She’s alive, and I think she’ll be okay. Wade or Kage told you about the changeling, right? Also, the FBI think they have the person who took her and spelled Chelsea in custody. He was the janitor at the day care.”
She waited, the tension in the air rising as her husband started to get angry. It was like the whole hallway started to smell of ozone—the smell was imaginary, but the energy crackled.
“You know what?” she said suddenly. “This is not the time for this. We just found the bodies of dozens of children stacked up like forgotten dolls. You two go ahead and have your fight. This is not my problem to fix.”
Charles’s hand curled around the nape of her neck.
Hosteen said, “Feisty, isn’t she?”
“Tired of drama today,” said Charles. “So am I.”
Something happened between them; Anna was sure of it. Something she missed because Charles was behind her, or maybe it was some guy thing. But the air cleared.
Charles said, “Are we going to have drama here?”
Hosteen rubbed his face with both hands. “Hell, Charles, there is always some sort of drama going on here. If you think wolf packs are big on drama, you should try the horse crowd for a while.” He looked at Anna. “My problem with you is just that, my problem. I’ve never met a real Omega before. I didn’t understand what that meant. I don’t like making a fool out of myself; my father was a drunkard and I swore never to be one.”
He wasn’t the first werewolf to freak out about what Omega really meant. She suspected he wouldn’t be the last. He was being gracious, so she could be gracious, too.
“Yes,” she said. “It hits the dominant wolves harder, I’m told. For what it’s worth, I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t know I could affect someone like that; if I had, I’d have warned you.” She’d have apologized earlier, but he hadn’t given her the chance.