“Do you want to go to Istanbul?”
“I want you to find yourself again. To get back to your life. With me in it, of course. But you need to have a purpose again. To help your brothers. I know you’re restless here. And I can take pictures anywhere.”
“I’m fine.”
“You have chopped enough wood in the past month to heat a castle for a year.”
“I have not.” He ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve worked off energy in other ways too.”
“And I’m a fan of those ways.” She kissed his neck. “We can go back. If you want to.”
He held her tighter. “Are you sure?”
No.
She took a deep breath and said, “I will be.”
Chapter One
MALACHI WATCHED THE TRAFFIC crawl by as they eased onto Atatürk Bridge before crossing the Golden Horn in the taxi Ava had flagged down outside the airport. She’d resisted telling anyone they were returning to the city, still wary of any communication that could put them at risk. They’d flown from Frankfurt to Istanbul during the night, arriving just as the sun was rising. It was rush hour, and the familiar shouts of drivers and vendors filled the air along with the smell of the water.
He glanced at his mate, who was sitting quietly next to him in the back of the car. Her phone was out and her fingers danced over the small keyboard, but her leg rested against his.
Touch. Connection. He suspected in the tumult of the busy city she needed as much as possible.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Answering e-mails.” She tapped faster. “Checking… stuff.”
“Anything interesting?” Malachi might have lived longer, but in some ways, he was far more ignorant of the world at large. Ava was independent. She managed her own finances. Ran a business. He knew she had a home in California, but he didn’t think she’d been back for over a year.
“A few things from my mom. Two from my agent. One from my dad’s manager. A couple from… from my financial adviser.”
“Are you still ridiculously rich?”
“Yes.” She looked up. “Are you still okay with having a rich wife… mate? Whatever I am?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “It’s good that one of us knows something about money.”
Ava shook her head. “What did you do without me?”
“I don’t know.” His smile turned into a grin. “Honestly, don’t remember a thing.”
She shoved his arm. “Don’t joke about that.”
“Why not? There’s nothing else to do.”
“You’ll remember,” she said. “Eventually.”
“I have you back.” He reached over and squeezed her knee. “There are worse places to start.”
She grew silent, but he could see the shadow of worry fall on her.
“What about work?” he asked. “You said there was something from your agent. Is there anything interesting? Any new jobs?”
Ava hadn’t worked a proper photography job since the one in Cyprus a few weeks before they’d met.
Through scattered conversations in the past month, Malachi had been able to put together a timeline of what had happened to him and his mate, even though he only remembered pieces. Only a year had passed, and Malachi’s world had taken over Ava’s with no end in sight. She’d been running from Grigori. Hiding from fallen angels. Learning who and what she was in the world, as much as any of them knew.
A human job might seem like a vacation.
Ava shrugged. “There’s an offer from a magazine, but nothing tempting.”
“Where is it? Would it be possible for us to go? I can go with you.”
“No.” She curled her lip. “I mean, it’d be possible. I just don’t want to do it.”
Malachi frowned. It bothered him that her life had been so disrupted. He couldn’t remember what they had planned before they’d been separated, but he knew that she had a life outside of him, and he didn’t want her to lose it.
“What would you be doing now?” he asked. “If you’d never met me? If all this hadn’t happened.”
Ava shut off her phone and looked at him. “I don’t know. Traveling. Taking pictures. Going to more doctors? Hiding somewhere remote so I wouldn’t go crazy.”
His voice dropped, not that he thought the driver was eavesdropping over the pulsing pop music blasting on the speakers. “Is it better than last time?”
“The voices?” she asked softly, reaching for his hand. “Yes. Much better.”
“Good.”
At least she was using her magic to shield herself. It hadn’t been an issue in Germany, but they’d been in the country. He’d worried about her being back among humans, especially in a crowded city like Istanbul. Her refusal to use magic could be a liability to her safety, and no matter how much he could protect her body, there was only so much he could do to help her mind.
“Being with you has always helped. Any kind of contact…” She threaded their fingers together and picked up her phone again. “It makes life much more bearable.”
Malachi tugged her toward him, and she rested her head against his shoulder. It was a small thing for him to do. A small thing for her to give him. But she let herself lean on him, and he was content. She continued scrolling through her inbox, reading and deleting things as he turned back to watch the city inch by.