“It was all you could do,” Lorraine said in her matter-of-fact way.

  “I don’t know about that. But it was all I knew I could do.”

  “That sounds like guilt,” Darius murmured.

  “It isn’t. Well. So. Maybe a little bit. If this was witches, I brought it to her door.”

  Darius shook his head slightly and went back to turning over the tofu cooking in the oil. “She brought you to her door. She sought you out on another case. You’ve worked with her. She knows her world and you know yours. To say you brought it to her door, when in all truth, Genevieve, the two of you being friends and partners strengthens each of you by an order of magnitude. This would have come to her in one way or another with or without you. This is the life she leads. But you can lend her magic when she’s in surgery and you did. You’re the one she called. She needed help and you gave it to her.”

  Genevieve poured herself a glass of wine and then another for Lorraine. “I’ve got other things to drink as well,” she said to Darius. “Vodka in the freezer, gin of course. White wine if you prefer it to red.”

  He reached to take her glass and took a sip, nodding after. Then he kept it and said, “Thank you.”

  Smirking at him, Genevieve poured herself a glass as well and perched on a stool on the other side of the kitchen island, deciding to let herself be happy with the things in her life—in her kitchen—that held fast through the bad times.

  * * *

  “Carl was there,” Rowan said before taking a sip of water. Clive gave her a look, but tucked the blankets around her better and fluffed the pillows.

  “He’s on the footage. At the end of the attack. I tried to see when he arrived and left but there’s so much going on I can’t see it.”

  “I was in the left-turn lane, and he was just there on the sidewalk. Like he’d been waiting for the light to change. He mouthed watch out at me. Star was there too for a while, but I don’t know if that was real, or I dreamed it. I need you to get David.”

  Ignoring that entirely, Clive said, “Star was at the hospital. That was a surprise, but no one seemed to mind she was there, or maybe they didn’t even notice her. One never knows with Star.” There was a slight smile on his lips, and she loved him for it.

  Star was a supernatural-type dog and she seemed to go wherever she pleased by some sort of magic Rowan didn’t have any real understanding of but accepted, nonetheless. Far more than a pet or a familiar. She was Rowan’s family and took that very seriously.

  Then Rowan sat up so fast she couldn’t stop the yelp of pain. Clive was on his feet immediately. “What? Lay down. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

  “Today. That intersection. I need to see the footage.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea just yet. It’s quite...shocking.”

  She heard it then. The thin thread of fear in his voice.

  She forced herself to focus on him a moment. “I’m sorry. You must have been really scared.”

  He shook his head at her and bent to kiss her forehead as he gently urged her to lie back. “When I woke up and Genevieve was here, I knew it was you. I knew you were alive because the bond was there. But you were unconscious. In surgery.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I have seen you in far, far worse straits. But it is never easy to see you hurting or vulnerable. And it’s impossible for me not to want to fix everything to protect you.”

  “I understand that. I love you for that,” she said. “I need David. And to see the video. There’s something there I need to check.”

  “Rowan, it’s time to rest. There’s plenty of opportunity later to give him items for his to-do list when you aren’t recovering from being shot fourteen times and then refusing to take the blood of a fecking Scion to speed your healing.”

  “I’m already healing at a superhuman speed.” She was! It was easy to forget just how fucked-up she’d been when she’d first arrived at the hospital. It wasn’t wise to remind him about how badly she’d been injured, so she didn’t say anything more on that.

  Instead, she said, “When you wake up tomorrow night you can give me more blood. That tiny-eyed cop is a dick who has wood for getting promoted so I wouldn’t put it past him to figure out where I live and roll up to the gates for another interview.”

  “Even if by some means he found this house, unless he has a warrant, the guards won’t open the gate and Betchamp wouldn’t open the door. There’ll be half a dozen Hunters out there. Genevieve will certainly park herself in our living room and smoke cannabis, keep an eye on you and defend you if need be. He can call to make an appointment and we will control the particulars of that. It can be done over the phone or even a video call. But because of all that,” he held up a hand to silence her, “I accept the offer to take my blood when I rise at sunset. You will be safe until then. Frankly, I do wish you’d reconsider sleeping with me in my bedchamber. Once it’s locked, you’d be secure with me.”

  Rowan probably hit her head a few times that day. That was why she was all gooey for him and that worry in his tone. The desperation to protect her. To know she was safe when he couldn’t do anything.

  Probably all the drugs too. The painkillers were top-notch.

  “That’s probably all true except for me being locked in with you. We’d both hate that. Plus the doctor is coming over in the morning to check on me and if she came into your bedchamber while you were at rest there’d be a whole thing and everyone would be anxious and nervous. So. I’ll sleep in my bed though I do like snuggling with you. Oops said that out loud. Anyway, as you can tell, the drugs are doing their job. So. Back to you needing to get David and the footage so I can look at it.”

  With a sigh he left the room and returned shortly with his notebook with the traffic camera footage of the attack.

  David tapped on the door and came into the room. His expression softened when he caught sight of her, and relief flooded through her once more that she’d been alone in the SUV.

  He gave her hand a very gentle pat before taking the chair Clive had vacated.

  Clive climbed into bed so she could snuggle on him. Before she could do something stupid like cry, Rowan leaned on him a little as six and a half minutes that had felt like forty-seven years played before her eyes.

  The angle wasn’t perfect, but she could see everything she needed to between the three SUVs that had hit her, and then the shooters. The sidewalks weren’t visible except right at the corners at the stoplights. Carl could have been two feet to the right and he’d have been out of the shot.

  “The Tempest,” she told him after she’d watched herself get beat all to shit and still manage a win at the very end. The losing consciousness that happened shortly after deducted a point or two, but she tried not to be too disappointed by that. She also tried not to think about what it had felt like to watch it happen to herself. It was too much to examine so she didn’t. Fuck self-reflection.

  The Tempest was one of Las Vegas’s trendiest casino resorts and it sat directly to her left at that intersection. The entire center of the hotel was built around a massive shipwreck. There were pools and aquariums full of sirens with perky tits and blue hair.

  Ships.

  A tempest was a storm. A churning sea. Waves and water.

  “My prophecy dream. That’s the connection.”

  “Are you certain?” Clive asked.

  “Well, this stuff is all very woo-woo and so I’m learning as I go, but I think yes. And Carl was standing on that corner, right in front of it. That’s like prophecy-Inception-type shit.”

  Her lips were still swollen so all her S sounds were messed up and he snickered at her before sobering.

  “Who owns it, Clive?”

  “Consortium of some sort. I’ve only met a few of those who managed the build or have some part in running it now.” He pulled his phone free. “Let me speak to Alice about it. She’ll get us the information.”

  “While he’s talking to Alice, tell me what’s going on,” Rowan said to David.

  “We’re working with Patience and Seth on tracking the attackers who fled the scene. There’s a partial plate so Vanessa is hard at work at that. She and Alice have teamed up to create a timeline with the camera feeds we have to follow the other attacker. It’s just a matter of a lot of staring at the screen seeing nothing important for hours at a time. But we’ve made progress. Vanessa says probably by midday tomorrow.” He held up a manila envelope. “Our lovely friend at the PD has come through. We have the info on where the prisoners are being kept. One is in a coma and the other has given a name but it’s a fake. Identity is super shallow. Vanessa is unraveling it as we speak. So we don’t know who either is at this point but it won’t be long.”

  “I may be able to help with that,” Clive interrupted after ending his call to Alice. “We managed to obtain blood and DNA from each of them. Patience is having them run through all known databases. Since David is here to keep you company and talk business, I’m going to nip out. We’re working on creating a window of time where I can have access to them. We don’t know what they’ll say to the human authorities. We can’t risk being exposed and I don’t want them to die before I can try to read them. After that would be fine.”

  “I can’t snort because it’ll hurt,” she told Clive. “But know I wanted to.”

  “Of course.”

  “You’re taking a big risk,” she added.

  “It’s hardly the heist of a lifetime. I’m a Scion. The surveillance cameras are already taken care of. I have a small bit of talent with others, especially humans, or so I’m told. By everyone.” His hauteur over her concern was so delightfully Clive it was as good as medicine.

  “I’m obviously not questioning your abilities,” she muttered. “It’s still risky. Lots of cops with guns in one place.” She worried about him for goddess’s sake!

  He kissed the top of her head like David wasn’t right there and she pretended to be annoyed, but really it was very nice when he kissed her like that.

  “I never underestimate weapons. I give you my word. Trust the process. Isn’t that what you barked at me just a few days ago when I questioned you about something or other? You’re not the only one who can put together a sneaky plan with lots of moving parts.”

  “What did Alice say about the Tempest?” she asked, trying to smother a yawn because her jaw hurt.

  Clive’s gaze narrowed and she realized he’d taken note of her flagging energy. That meant she only had five minutes before he started poking at her to sleep. Probably less.

  “Consortium as I’d said. Alice related that she’s heard the investors were Russians, Chinese, English, Italian, and-slash-or Argentinean. She’s already started to dig deeper. Between her and Vanessa, we should find some answers soon enough. Your eyelids keep drooping.”

  “Let me just finish talking to David,” she said.

  David held up a hand. “I’ll check with Vanessa on the Tempest connections. I’ll also work with Alice on the identities of the prisoners once we find that out. I’ll update you on the search for the ones who ran from the scene when you wake up. I’m going to take a run through the police information and bounce ideas off Pru, who came in from LA to provide backup.”

  “Good idea,” Rowan said. Pru was the Hunter Rowan had recently promoted to head up the chapterhouse in Southern California. She’d been a great ally during the last struggle they’d had against the Fae who’d been trying to tear a hole into another world and killing lots of humans to get there.

  Speaking of that. “Wait. I had another prophecy dream. Storms again. And empty places. Malls and restaurants, parks, all empty. I think it’s connected to the missing humans.”

  David nodded, making a quick note in his phone. “It sounds like that’s a pretty safe bet, yes. I’m going to add in some search terms to see what sorts of connections we might find. It’s blunt, scattershot even, but worth a try.”

  Scattershot. “Yes. Do it. Whatever terms you’re thinking of, do the search. Another image-type thing was confetti, but now that you say scattershot I think that’s it. It was a concept I didn’t know how to describe yet. It just feels right.”

  “He’ll get right on it once you rest,” Clive said as he moved from the bed.

  “I’ll be right outside in your sitting room. Star was here earlier but she’s disappeared for the moment. I’ll leave the door open slightly so she can get in.” David stood and then he bent to kiss her forehead and she was horrified and touched so deeply she nearly burst into tears. All things indicating she needed sleep.

  Once David’d left, Clive refilled her water and left it within easy reach. “I won’t be gone very long. Everyone will check on you. Accept that now. Let them. They care about you and you gave us all a scare today.”

  “You’re being very nice to me,” she said. Or tried to anyway, she wasn’t sure if she got all the words out or not.

  “There now,” he told her as her eyes slid shut. “I adore you.” His murmur ended on a surprised sound. “Ah! There you are.”

  She managed to open her eyes as Star jumped up on the bed and settled in between where Rowan lay and the door.

  Star whined a little and Rowan softened.

  “I know. I’m okay now. I saw you there.”

  Star sighed softly and stretched, slowly and gently until those fluffy paws nearly touched Rowan. As if she wanted to be close but didn’t want to touch anything injured. And since between the airbag, getting shot, and all the glass, pretty much every bit of Rowan’s body was bruised, lacerated, stitched up, in a sling or a cast, or otherwise injured in some way, she was grateful for Star’s care.

  Clive ran a hand over Star’s head, pausing to scratch behind her ears. The big old softie.

  “Rest or Star will bite you.”

  “Nuh uh. I’m her bacon connection,” Rowan said drowsily.

  Clive played with the end of the loose braid trailing over her uninjured shoulder. “Rest well. Let your body and your Goddess do its work.”

  Her eyes drifted closed again and this time, a deep, healing sleep pulled her under quickly.

  Chapter Twenty

  “I appreciate your staying out here while I’m away,” Clive told David quietly once they were out in the sitting room.

  “Don’t insult me. I can just as easily work from here and if she needs anything, I’m available immediately.”

  Relieved that David had things in hand, Clive searched for a way to say the rest. “I spoke with Nadir right before sunup at the Keep to update her. The First wants a video call but I discouraged that idea and said you’d set up a brief phone call for right after sunset their time. Then he can be assured she’s all right but not take so long it’s a burden on Rowan’s health and well-being.” Clive didn’t think she was up to a face-to-face with her father. Even if it was from an ocean away. Especially from an ocean away when her father got a look at her face and decided nothing was going to stop him from coming.

  Certainly, she shouldn’t have to be up to it. There was enough going on with this whole lords situation and he didn’t want the First to try to manipulate it when she was weak even if the reasons behind it were driven by wanting her attention rather than wanting to harm her.

  There was no way around connecting Rowan and the First so they needed to plan it to protect her.

  David nodded. “All right. But so you understand, I will find a way to disconnect that call if he upsets her.”

  Clive skirted criticizing too much out loud, but in his head he’d committed ten kinds of treason in the last several days.

  “I wish he would consent to wait until after I’m awake.” He could help manage her father that way.

  David said, “He’ll want to speak with her as soon as he can. And, to be frank, if you were there he couldn’t have all her attention. He loves her. Powerfully so. I’ve seen it for myself more than once. He approves of her marriage to you. You’re well placed in the Nation. Strong enough to protect her. Wealthy enough to keep her. Connected enough to open doors wherever she went. And you make her happy. But he doesn’t like to share her. And he doesn’t always love her the way she needs to be loved.”

  “That’s what we’re for, David,” Clive said.

  Twenty minutes later, Clive found himself standing in a little-used breakroom on the secure floor of the hospital the prisoners were in. He waited four minutes exactly before flipping a switch on the little box he’d carried along with him. After blinking red several times, it switched to a steady blue. The signal that the interior cameras on that part of the floor had been handled to hide evidence he was there.

  There were two armed officers on that level, one posted directly in the elevator lobby and the other outside the door of the suspect they’d questioned earlier that evening. He’d told them nothing. Given them a fake name. Said he’d been paid to do a job, but it was an anonymous process.

  Clive certainly wasn’t prepared to believe such a thing. Not until he’d had an opportunity to ask the questions himself. And he bet a smart cop wouldn’t be either. They’d be back to ask questions again and who knew what would happen then. It would be totally out of their hands and that was too dangerous a reality to let come to pass.

  Keeping track of the time, Clive slipped from the room and eased down the long hallway to the west of where he’d come out. Moments later, one of Clive’s Vampires appeared. Viola had been a nurse at that hospital for fourteen years, but Clive had known her for at least two centuries. She had a knack for persuasion but a preference for living a quiet life outside the court of a Scion, even one she liked. But when he’d approached her for anything he’d needed over the years, she’d always shown up and done everything within her abilities to assist.

  Even in the low lights, he knew she’d caught sight of him when she nodded slightly and then strolled past, turning at the next line of patient rooms. It was under two minutes when she’d given the signal.