Page 93 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

“I don’t know, but they managed to get to the clinic where Alice was taken.”

“When was this?” I ask tightly.

“A year ago?” Jimmy doesn’t look certain. “The payments have been going on for seven years. The witches haven’t stopped looking for her. They clearly want something from her, Darian. And this company is looking at both the human world and the shifter world.”

A growl leaves my throat. “If they’ve told these humans about the existence of our kind, it’s a crime punishable by death. Contact the Dark Arrow squad and tell them to deal with the humans and find out how much they know. Gather all the proof you can find about the witches having shared information with the humans.”

“Already working on that.” Jimmy looks impatient. “There’s more. The investigator working on this case accessed Alice’s company website because of her name. This was ten months ago. They didn’t recognize her.”

I blink. “What?”

“They did not recognize her, Darian. I know her looks have changed, but not that much. They couldn’t recognize her features. One of the investigators came all the way to Phoenix to take a look at her, and he still did not recognize her. I know this because there’s a travel charge for Pheonix. He described Alice as a brunette in her late forties.”

“She doesn’t look like a brunette in her late forties in person or in her law firm photograph.” I would know. I’ve stared at her picture an unhealthy number of times by now.

“I took a look at it. She looks like the same, red-headed Alice to me,” is Jimmy’s response.

We stare at each other until I say, “I’m sure you have a point to get to.”

“It looks like magic.”

Jimmy’s blunt words stun me. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Just think about it, Darian. She hasn’t changed her name, yet nobody has been able to find her. Granted, you were looking among the shifters, and then you thought she had died. Try to consider this with an open mind. The witches cannot recognize her. They must have a picture; there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to identify her. The only thing that makes sense is that there is magic involved. Maybe it’s not that they can’t recognize her but that something is stopping them.”

“Her magic was sealed. And even if it wasn’t,” I say, furious now, “she didn’t even know she was a dark witch. She wouldn’t know the first thing about using magic—”

“A lot can change in seven years, Darian.”

I get to my feet, snarling. “No. If you’re here to convince me that Alice is using dark magic, you are way off, and that is not something I want to hear. Not from you.”

Jimmy tries to make his case. “What if she doesn’t know she’s using it?”

“Yes, that makes perfect sense,” I agree sarcastically. “Using magic is like wishing upon a star. It just happens with your thoughts.”

“Well, I’m out of ideas then!” Jimmy growls.

“If it is magic,” I say after a prolonged silence, carefully choosing my words, “who’s to say it’s not somebody else protecting her?”

“Like another witch?”

I meet my friend’s gaze. “Wouldn’t that be the more likely scenario? Even if Alice wanted to learn dark magic these past seven years, the seal on her would have prevented her from doing so. It only makes sense that there’s another witch trying to protect her.”

“A white witch protecting a dark witch?”

“I never said it was a white witch,” I say grimly. “It could be another shifter with a dark witch bloodline. For all we know, there may be plenty of them out there. Look, either way, it’s not Alice.”

Jimmy gets to his feet and starts pacing. “And if it is?” When he looks at me, his eyes are cautious. “If it is Alice, what will you do?”

I don’t even have to think about it. “I’ll protect her.”

“But she’s a dark witch,” my second-in-command protests.

“She’s my mate.” My voice is cold. “Whether or not I gave her my mating mark, she is still mine. She has never hurt anybody. Everybody else has hurt her. I’ll protect her, Jimmy. I won’t be making the same mistake again.”

My friend studies me. “What are you planning to do? With the white witches still in power and Willow as queen, you can’t really bring Alice back. And she would never agree to being a side piece. Even if she is your mate, she—”

“I would never insult her like that!” I snap at him. “No. Her rightful place has always been by my side, not in the shadows.”

---