Page 11 of Alice Worth and the Elite Death Machine

“Lucas. Mariah.” Sean stopped a good ten or twelve feet from the Stone family. Under other circumstances, he probably would have shaken their hands, but everything about the body language of the Blue Valley werewolves saidkeep your distance. His attention went to the Stones’ son. “How are you, Noah?”

“I’m okay. Thank you, Mr. Maclin.” Noah did sound surprisingly calm. He scanned our faces. He didn’t look surprised to see me, so his father must have told him Sean’s consort was a human mage. But then again, that was common knowledge among packs in the area thanks to the drama it caused with members of the Were Ruling Council who believed alphas should only have shifter mates.

“Thanks for coming, Sean.” Lucas put his arm around Mariah’s waist. “I’m sorry we rarely get to see each other in good times.”

“It’s our privilege to stand with you.” Sean gestured to me, Ben, and Jesse for the benefit of the others in the room. “This is Alice Worth, my consort. You remember Ben Cooper, my third. And this is Jesse Hayes, one of our newest pack members and best fighters.”

Jesse’s spine straightened a bit at that. “It’s an honor to fight with you, Mr. Stone. And Noah.”

As Lucas introduced the half-dozen members of his own pack in attendance, I studied Noah. His eyes and body language showed some fear and trepidation, but also defiance and resolve—more than I thought I could have managed, even with as much as I’d suffered by his age.

I had only limited interaction with children in general, truth be told. I’d had no friends while a prisoner of my grandfather’s cabal from age four until I escaped twenty years later, and certainly no companions of my own age. Our pack had three children currently, but all were half human and did not shift. Happily, we did expect a pair of twins soon whowouldshift.At the moment, however, I had woefully little experience with young shifters.

Maybe I’d done both Noah and his parents a disservice by assuming they would hide him in a safe room, and then feeling angry that they hadn’t. If they believed he could and should stand and fight, then who the hell was I to disagree?

Curiosity made me want to get close enough to see if Noah had the samefaoladhmagic as Conor, but I got the feeling to do that I’d have to go through eight bristling werewolves and that wasn’t happening. Maybe I’d get a chance later.

When Sean spoke, I focused my attention back on the main conversation. “How can we help?” he asked Lucas.

“I tasked some of the pack with keeping watch around this house,” Lucas said. “My beta Mike Vickers and his mate Andrea are part of that group. If you agree, Ben and Jesse could join the perimeter patrol while you and Alice stay close.”

“I do think that is a good strategy.” Sean turned to Jesse and Ben. “Watch your backs.”

“Will do.” Ben touched my hand and joined Jesse to follow one of the Blue Valley werewolves out of the room. I assumed there was an alternate exit somewhere in the back of the house.

After a glance at me to confirm he could mention the fifth member of our delegation, Sean said, “We do have someone else on watch outside. Alice has a ghost companion who’ll report to us if he sees anyone approaching.”

“Well, there’s a handy ally,” Mariah said. She carefully readjusted her baby so his head lay against her chest and managed a brief smile. “A watcher who can’t be seen or smelled. But can’t shifters sense him?”

“Usually, yes,” I told her. “But he’s loaded up with masking and obfuscation spells tonight, so I think he’s totally incognito. EvenIhad a hard time sensing him.”

She rested her hand on Noah’s shoulder and drew him closer. “Thank you, Alice. I’m so happy to meet you at last.”

“Same, though I wish it were under different circumstances.” I had a very shifter-ish desire to give her a hug, or at least rub her arm. That might not have seemed odd to anyone but me, but I’d been denied kindness and human touch during my years as my grandfather’s captive—and then avoided it after my escape. Only in the past year had I learned, or relearned, the power and comfort of touch.

Since I doubted Lucas or the other Blue Valley werewolves would let me get any closer to the alpha’s mate and their newborn baby, I settled on, “How are you holding up?”

She exhaled. “It’s like waiting for a storm to roll in. Who’ll find us first? Thefaoladh, or theúlfheðnar?Or demons who want to deliver my kiddo to the Dark Fae?”

“Mo-om,” Noah said under his breath.

I almost smiled but caught myself just in time. Even shifter kids facing deadly hunters didn’t like being called “kiddo” in front of adults—or maybeespeciallyshifter kids in dire situations didn’t like that.

No one had mentioned the strange shifter magic on my forehead, but I’d noticed the Blue Valley wolves stealing glances at the mark and the spelled bag I held that contained the demon blade. I would have preferred not to tell them I’d spoken to Conor. Unfortunately, I saw no way to avoid it. As a human mage, I wasn’t supposed to be able to track a shifter, much less chat with them through a metaphysical connection. Only a handful of people knew my biological father was a werewolf and I wanted to keep it that way.

Now that the introductions were over, I figured it was best to address the elephant in the room. “So, about this…” I pointed to my forehead. “Long story short, I found strange shifter trace in a hotel room. When I tracked it, my spell unexpectedly createda brief metaphysical connection to thefaoladhwho is coming to protect Noah. He goes by Conor, by the way. He gave me this mark so he would know me if we crossed paths later.”

“The rune is interesting.” An older man Lucas had introduced as Gary studied Conor’s mark and frowned. “It’s an archaic symbol but I don’t recognize it.”

“Gary is our resident historian and researcher.” Lucas took a good look at the mark as well, then shook his head. “Very strange. I hope it wears off soon, or thisfaoladh, Conor, can remove it.”

“I can remove it if I need to,” I said. “But until I know exactly what it’s for, I’ll leave it. Conor was a bit…cryptic.”

“What’s he like?” Noah’s eyes lit up. “I mean, I’ve never met afaoladh.”

“None of us had, kiddo. Not until your magic changed and we figured out what that meant.” Lucas ruffled his son’s hair and returned his attention to me. “What can you tell us?”

I got the sense they wanted reassurance. I certainly couldn’t blame them. After Sean described thefaoladhto me, I’d had serious misgivings, and that was before I had any inkling of why Conor was in the area. He might be the relative “good guy” in the scenario, especially compared to theúlfheðnaror demons, but I couldn’t forget the danger he represented too.

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