She was open with him, affectionate, accepting of the bond and fairly laid-back when it came to how dominant he could get. So far anyway.

Akio kept her occupied as they drove, asking her questions about her former job and what she planned for her future. He skirted asking if she’d consider the change. Many human mates made the choice to take on a wolf. But heaven knew she had enough on her plate just then. It was something he could bring up later on but for the time being, they had other things to work through.

“It’s just up here. Don’t take the driveway. I want to walk it again.” Michelle had pulled into herself. Her eyes had shifted from the warmth of his mate to cold, flat cop eyes.

“I’m going to shift,” Akio said as they pulled off to the side of the road. “I can scent better this way.”

“Good idea. I’ll get your clothes in my pack so you can shift back up at the house if you want or need to.”

Two minutes later Akio handed Josh his rolled-up jeans and shirt, along with his shoes.

The flat cop eyes were gone as Michelle scrambled to turn and look. “Can I watch? You shift I mean.” She blushed.

Akio brushed his fingertips over her cheek. “You can have whatever you like, little witch.” He winked and she laughed. Josh was grateful for that moment of levity. The heaviness of her heart was palpable through the link. He ached to make something better that no one and nothing could.

A wash of magick rushed through the car as Akio shifted, pulling at Josh’s wolf. A lower-ranked shifter might have succumbed to that siren song, but Josh just breathed in deep and rode it out until he could see clearly again.

“Beautiful.” She reached out to touch Akio’s fur. His wolf was obsidian with a splash of honey-gold on his chest.

Akio’s wolf head butted her and shook himself out, and she opened his door to let him out.

Michelle put her cop back on and they headed up to the house. She tried to compartmentalize it. The job had taught her how to put all her personal feelings to the side when she was working. To view a crime scene in a certain way, and she worked really hard to do just that.

Akio had stalked off, sniffing and doing his wolf business. Josh was beside her, his gaze shifting, taking in every detail as they moved.

“They would have brought her up here in a car. She was close to dead by that point if the time of death they called was right.”

They’d gone through the house rather thoroughly but she did it again. It wasn’t a big space, but the stench of death magic seemed to have sunk into the walls and floors.

“I’m not even a witch and I can sense all the bad stuff in the air.” Josh kept close, though not in the way should she need to draw her weapon.

“Whatever they did here killed so much of the natural energies all around.” It was unnaturally silent, the air hung too heavy. “I don’t see any of her energy in the house at all. Just some on the back porch.” They walked out the back door and she indicated a corner.

Akio came around the corner and sneezed a few times, shaking his head.

Josh spoke, “Yeah, I know. It’s all wrong here.”

Though she didn’t want to with all her heart, she needed to get back to that circle where they’d had Allie.

Haltingly at first, she headed that way. Akio brushed against her legs and Josh put an arm around her shoulders. “We’re here with you. Just take it as slowly as you need to.”

She squeezed his hand and ran her other along Akio’s fur, drawing strength as she took the scene in through her othersight.

Dark, ugly smudges of energy. The stolen magic used to fuel whatever they’d done to Allie was gone, but the aftereffects of it were still smeared over the area like an ugly film.

She shielded herself the best she could. “You two wait outside the circle.”

Akio snorted and Josh simply ignored her.

“Look.” She turned to face Josh. “I don’t know if I can protect either of you if something goes wrong. There’s some f**ked-up magic here, stuff way beyond my skill level. You can sniff from out there or we’re leaving.”

Josh touched her cheek. “I don’t like you not within reach.”

“I don’t like that my best friend was murdered. So you know, lots of stuff happens that we don’t like.” She sent a look to Akio who stood at Josh’s side. “You too. Outside the circle or I’m out of here.”

“If anything looks remotely hinky, I’m coming in there and grabbing you.” Josh crossed his arms over his chest which, in addition to making him look stern, also bulged up his muscles. Damn he looked good.

One of his brows slid up which meant he knew what she was thinking. She rolled her eyes and turned around, getting to her knees in the circle, her hands hovering just above the earth there.

Akio circled where she knelt, his nose to the ground, and Josh prowled around, never getting too very far from her.

She used a spell Lark had described to her over the phone to try to discern how many different mages had been there. She could pick up two mages, along with Allie, and there was something else.

She paused, brushing her fingertips over a patch of ground, and it was like she’d opened a drawer or pulled the lid off something. The power of it, whatever it was, flooded her, crashing past the shields she’d erected to defend herself.

Dark.

Horrible. So horrible and overflowing with bad things, there was nothing else, only cold and loneliness. It filled her veins with lead even as all she wanted to do was move away as fast as she could.