Page 67 of Mortal Heart

“But nothing a little healing magic won’t fix,” Arkady interjected before he could give away any details. She probably didn’t want to worry Alice any more than they already had. She slipped her hand into his back jeans pocket and gave his ass a little squeeze. “Are Regan and Mireille okay?”

“Yes.” Alice sounded far less angry now. “While you two were MIA, we got Regan into an in-patient treatment program. I had a long talk with Mireille and she told her father where to find this ex-boyfriend. Odds are he won’t be bothering her again.”

At Ronan’s quiet sigh of relief, Arkady gave his ass another squeeze. “We’re very glad to hear that. And the car out at the Pelican?”

“My garden has been well fed, and the car is now a rusty pancake at a salvage yard,” Alice told them. “And now that I’ve answered allyourquestions, I would like to knowwhere the hell you’ve both been.”

“I’m sorry for disappearing,” Arkady said. “I promise to explain, but seriously, we need that phone number before our evidence of this trafficking ring goes poof.”

“Fine.” Alice gave them the number. “Let it ring twice and then end the call. She’ll call you right back. And if you’re not at my house in an hour with a damn good explanation, I will set Malcolm loose on you both. He’s itching to take a chunk out of both your asses.”

“He’ll have to get in line,” Sean said in the background, a growly edge to his voice. “Disappearing acts are only appreciated on a magician’s stage. That goes for both of you.”

“Understood.” Arkady hesitated, then added, “Thanks, guys. It’ll be good to see you.”

“You too,” Alice said warmly. “Both of you.”

Once she’d ended the call, Arkady rose on her tiptoes and gave Ronan a quick kiss. “You’d better practice your groveling before we get to their house,” she warned. “Alice deserves to give you a piece of her mind, and her forgiveness will come a hell of a lot easier than Sean’s.”

“I would imagine so. An alpha werewolf doesn’t take kindly to anyone hurting his mate, either physically or emotionally. Speaking of which…” Ronan caught Arkady’s hand before she had a chance to call the number Alice had given them. “What did you mean about getting out of wearing a bridesmaid dress?”

“Believe it or not, Alice and Sean got engaged. Big beautiful ring and everything. The whole pack’s acting like a bunch of puppies.” At his stunned expression, she smirked. “See what you miss when you run away to mope? I hope they make you the flower girl.”

He kissed her blood-matted hair. “I’m told I look quite fetching in white tulle.”

“Mmm, I bet you do.” She gave his ass one final squeeze, then picked up her phone. “Let’s call Cyro, hacker extraordinaire, to get everything off this laptop. And then let’s get the ever-loving hell out of here.”

18

ARKADY

“I could get used to this,”Arkady said.

They lay together in her bed, sweaty and satisfied. Or at least as satisfied as Ronan could apparently get. The man had superhuman recuperative abilities—so much so that she hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since they’d made it back from the demon realm. He’d been deprived of companionship for a century during his imprisonment, he’d told her. She’d started to think he intended to make up for it all in a single week. Not that she minded, of course. Even Malcolm’s teasing about how tired she looked each morning couldn’t dampen her mood.

Whatdiddampen it, however, was that Ronan didn’t reply.

“Ronan.” She craned her neck to look at him. He stared at the ceiling, his expression distant. She nudged him with her elbow. “This is the part where you sayMe too.”

He leaned down and kissed her brow. “I apologize, Miss Woodall. I was lost in thought.”

“About what?”

“The information from the laptop and what this federal agent you mentioned will do with it.”

She might have guessed his mind had drifted back to their case. It hadn’t been far from her thoughts either. “We’ll get an update as soon as Supervisory Special Agent Trent Lake has one to give us. With everything Cyro got off the laptop, the feds will be able to get everyone involved. You know these things take time. They won’t want to move before they know all the players.”

“I know.” He ran his fingertips down her side and over the curve of her hip, raising goosebumps over her entire body. “I’m accustomed to taking care of business myself. It’s difficult handing the responsibility over to someone else.”

“I know, Big Bad Bounty Hunter.” She entwined their fingers and marveled at how much larger his hand was than her own. “And if it was anyone else but Lake in charge of the investigation, I’d feel pretty restless too. You don’t know him, but I hope it means something that both Alice and I have faith in him.”

“It makes all the difference. Neither you nor Alice trust easily, and I’m sure that goes double for federal agents.” He rested his chin on her head. “I would prefer to execute all members of the trafficking ring one by one.”

“Me too. We’ll have to be content with the justice they get from the courts. Luckily, federal sentencing guidelines for traffickers are tough, and with the evidence we gave Lake, everyone involved is likely to spend a very long time in prison. They’ll have a tough time of it.” She caressed his bristly cheek. “So given that’s the case, let’s get back to more pleasant topics.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Such as?”

“Such as how much I like having you in my bed.”

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