Page 66 of Mortal Heart

“What?”

“What do you mean,what?” She rose up on her elbows. “Ronan, it’s night!”

He went to the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. The night-time view of the skyline was beautiful for several reasons—not the least of which was that they’d made it back to Arkady’s world more or less in one piece.

Our world, he reminded himself.This is my world now too.

She crawled to the side of the bed and stumbled across the plush carpet to him. “It was daytime when we left. How long have we been missing?”

He used a remote on the nightstand to turn on the television. “About thirty-six hours,” he said when the screen displayed the date and time. At her incredulous expression, he explained, “Time often passes differently in other realms. We’re very lucky to not come back twenty years in the future.”

She gaped. “Are you serious?”

“Completely.” He tossed the remote on the bed. “I expect she constructed her portals to travel between realms without much loss of time.”

“So this is Casa Demon.” She looked around. “It’s got a damn good view, I’ll give her that. But how do we keep more demons from coming here looking for us when they find Atonoskelis’s body?”

He drew his sword and scratched the tip across the portal’s edge. The magic crackled violently and then faded as the spellwork disintegrated. “That takes care of that one,” he said. “We’ll do the same to the one downstairs as we leave.”

“We’re not leaving until we figure out how she was running this trafficking ring and who’s involved in it beside Mora and Farrell.” She scrubbed her face with her hands. “We didn’t find out anything about it, though. Damn it.”

He returned his sword to his scabbard on his back. “While you were…unconscious, she told me as Melody she ran an online message board where teenagers ask for help. She saved the ones that she thought would be missed and funneled the rest into her trafficking ring. She called herself a savior of the weak.”

“Oh, that’s vile.” She scowled. “Savior of the weak, my ass. What bullshit.” She stormed out of the bedroom.

He followed her to a spacious office, where she eyed the laptop on the desk. “Online message board, huh?” she mused. “Odds are this has information on it we can use.”

“It’s equally likely to be secured and will be wiped if you attempt to access it,” he pointed out.

“Luckily, I know someone who can help with that.” She dug her phone from her pocket. The screen was cracked, but it still worked. She made a call on speakerphone. The phone rang three times, and then a familiar voice answered.

“Arkady, where the hell are you?” Alice snapped. Despite the hour, she sounded fully awake—and fully furious. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve all been? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, more or less,” Arkady assured her. “At the moment, I need help from our black-hat friend. Do you have a number I can use to reach her?”

Alice sputtered. “You disappear for an entire day, then call me out of the blue at three in the morning to ask for a phone number without bothering to explain where you’ve been?”

“Sorry.” Arkady winced and flexed her injured arm. “It’s a super long story.”

Bedding rustled and Sean spoke in the background. “Arkady, do you need backup?” he asked. “Where are you?”

“I’m good,” she said, glancing at Ronan. “I havebackup.” Ronan’s mouth quirked.

“Who?” Alice demanded. “Malcolm’s here with us. Who have you got with you? This Johnny that Malcolm mentioned?”

Ronan didn’t want Arkady to have to lie or refuse to answer, so before she could reply, he spoke. “I’m here with her, Alice.”

For several long moments, the only response was a quiet growl from Sean. “Ronan?” Alice asked finally, her voice thick with emotion. “Is that you?”

Despite what Carly had said about Alice’s worry over his disappearance, he wasn’t at all prepared for either her joy and relief at his voice or the depth of his own feelings.

When Alice said his name, he experienced a strange combination of happiness and terrible guilt. She meant far more to him than he’d realized.

Weeks earlier, he’d left her home because he thought he might break under the weight of his burdens, and he hadn’t wanted to be anywhere near her when that happened. Only now did he realize the folly of his choice. Out of love, she and her pack had offered him shelter, comfort, and healing, and he had left that behind to crawl into a hole and feel sorry for himself.

Arkady’s assessment of him had been correct. Hewasan ungrateful shit.

“Yes, it’s me,” Ronan said around an unexpected lump in his throat. For once, he didn’t care that everyone listening could hear the emotion in his voice. “Miss Woodall and I have been working on the trafficking case. We have some minor injuries—”

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