Shadow Hunt

“It’s okay,” Sashi soothed. “Scarlett . . . he’s human now.”

I stared at her, uncomprehending, and then finally I understood.

Werewolves can’t heal injuries sustained before they become werewolves, so there would be no going back for Will. Even if he went through the change again, he would only have three legs, and that would make him too slow and weak to be alpha. There was no reason not to stay human.

“You guys . . . you’re going to be together?” I asked Sashi.

“We’re going to try.” She smiled at me with tears in her eyes. “Thank you. Stopping Aldric saved his life.”

I just stared at her, openmouthed, as she kissed my cheek and left.

Then I tried to focus on Jesse, although I was already getting drowsy again. “Hi,” I said.

He smiled, bent down, and kissed my lips. “Hi.”

“How’s your brother?”

“He’s going to be okay,” Jesse said. “Molly stayed at the hospital that night, and pressed Noah when he woke up. He was discharged this morning.”

“That’s good,” I said, my eyelids getting heavy, “I think I’m s’posed to sleep more.”

He kissed me again, this time on my forehead. “Rest.”

The next time I woke up, it was dark outside, and Jesse was sleeping hunched in a chair. His head was at practically a ninety-degree angle. I slid sideways in the nice hospital bed. “Jesse,” I said softly.

He woke up with a start. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine. You should go home and get some sleep.”

He shook his head, as I’d expected. “I’m staying.”

“Then come in the bed.”

Jesse hesitated for a minute, then got up and walked around the bed so he could climb in on my right side, where there was no IV. It was an odd re-creation of when we’d shared my bed after his attack, only a few days earlier. We spent a few seconds awkwardly trying to find positions that would fit together, and I fell back to sleep with Jesse holding my hand.

The next morning I woke up feeling stronger. Almost back to myself—or at least the pregnancy version of myself. After the nurse’s rounds and my breakfast, I pushed away the tray and said to Jesse, “Have you been getting updates?”

He nodded. “Hayne or Sashi call every couple of hours.”

“Okay. Fill me in.”

So he did. Well, I kept falling asleep, but every time I woke up, he picked up where we’d left off.

The Los Angeles Old World had lost twelve people: six witches, two werewolves, and four vampires. Of the dead, Jesse only knew the two werewolves: Travis Hochrest, who had required my cleaning services a couple of times, and Rosarita Hernandez, whom he’d interviewed briefly during the first Luparii case. I felt a surprisingly sharp pang of sorrow for Travis, who had been a little dim and silly, but a really nice guy overall. There had been lots of injuries, but most of them had healed after I shorted myself out. The remaining ones were handled by Matthias and, later, when Will was out of the woods, Sashi.

Aldric had survived the night only to find all his minions dead and his magic gone—all of it, permanently. He was now susceptible to vampire press, so Dashiell had been extracting all kinds of juicy information from him for days, more than enough to squash any remaining Luparii operations in Europe. Apparently this was quite upsetting for Aldric, because he had tried to hang himself in one of the cells in Dashiell’s basement. They’d stopped him in time, and pressed his mind so he wouldn’t try again. Dashiell was working on a way to execute him that would send a message to anyone back in Europe who might still be toying with the world-domination plan. A nicer, more humane Scarlett would probably have felt sorry for the old man, or tried to talk them out of killing him in cold blood, but I just couldn’t find it in me to care when or how Aldric died.

“Did Aldric say anything about why they wanted three years to come back here?” I asked Jesse.

He nodded. “Because of the animals,” he reported. “They needed time to train new dogs, specifically to go after Shadow. And the horses, too.” He shook his head a little. “But they couldn’t do the spell until they got the scroll, so the animals weren’t really used to their new forms. That probably saved us during the fight.”

Speaking of the scroll . . . “How’s Owen doing?” I asked.

Jesse told me he was back at school, trying to get his human life on track again. I wondered if it would take, or if he would find himself sucked back into the world of witchcraft. I had a feeling Kirsten would keep a close eye on him. Meanwhile, he was also helping a couple of his aunts organize a funeral for Karl, whose murder would probably go unsolved. I hoped that Jesse and I would be able to go to the service. Whatever family he’d been born into, Karl Schmidt had saved a lot of people by keeping that spell away from the rest of the Luparii.

As for the Wild Hunt magic itself, it had been completely destroyed, thanks to Jesse. He’d ripped the scroll containing the spell in half while it was in my radius, which had released the pent-up magic. The sword had short-circuited at the same time I’d “cured” Aldric. It now appeared to be just a regular sword, without the creepy glowing. Kirsten and her witches were studying both objects to try to figure out how they’d managed to contain such power.

“What will happen to the animals?” I asked, worried about Shadow. I already missed her. Again.

He grinned at me. “Remember the end of 101 Dalmatians?”

“Oh no. We are not starting a dalmatian plantation.”

Jesse laughed and said, “No, but it kind of feels that way.” All six bargests were currently staying at the cottage, overseen by Molly and Astrid, of all people.

“Wait, a werewolf? Aren’t they trying to kill her?”

“That’s the funny thing,” Jesse said. “When I ripped the spell, all the animals lost their . . . well, their urge for evil, I guess? Physically, they look the same, but the bargests aren’t driven to kill the wolves, and the hellhest aren’t trying to hurt anyone either. They’re basically just smart, bulletproof horses now. It’s just like when Shadow is in your radius: all the permanent physical changes stay, including the intelligence. I’m guessing they won’t heal fast anymore, but none of us are willing to experiment on them.”

“Good call. What’s going to happen to them?”

“Well, Dashiell wanted to try to kill at least the hellhest, but Kirsten convinced him that they could be a show of power to our enemies. He’s probably going to buy a ranch in the mountains and hire a couple of the witches to stay there and take care of them.”

I noticed that he’d said “our enemies” instead of “their enemies” or “your enemies.”

“That sounds like the best sitcom ever,” I commented. “What are we going to do with the new bargests?”

“Believe it or not, Astrid thinks Eli should let the werewolves adopt them. Regular pets are scared of the werewolves, but the bargests aren’t affected, and they’re powerful enough to run with the wolves on full-moon nights. If they can be sort of incorporated into the pack, it will increase LA’s power base, too. But the others are still discussing it.” He held out his hands, palms up. “It’s a work in progress.”

That was good and all, but . . . “Eli?”

Jesse’s face sobered. “He’s the new alpha.”

Oh. It made sense, of course: Will had been effectively forced into retirement. Scratch that: I had effectively forced Will into retirement.

But having my ex-boyfriend back in my life as someone I regularly had to work with? “That’s awkward.”

I watched Jesse carefully for signs of jealousy, but he shrugged, tucking my hair behind my ear. “We’ll deal with it.”

That night, I had a very welcome visitor. “Wyatt!” I cried out as the cowboy vampire hovered in my doorway, hat in hand. He looked good—pale and drawn and leaning hard on a cane, but good. I waved him in. “Your leg?” I said as he limped his way in. “It . . . came back?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jesse gave Wyatt his chair, and the vampire nodded gratefully. “And it’s an experience I cannot recommend less.” He regarded me in the hospital bed for a moment. “I leave you alone for one day, and you end up in the hospital?”