Motor City Mage (18 page)

There was only so much temptation a man could resist. Lana mostly nude, telling him she loved him and kissing him senseless was beyond his limit. Kicking off his shoes, he pressed her back against the mattress and slid one hand under the spandex bra. She felt like heaven and he only distantly registered her working a hand between them to unzip his jeans. He moved off her just long enough to shove jeans and boxers down to his knees, while she stripped off her panties, and then he was inside her, deep and hard. It felt like coming home.

“I love you,” she whispered, nipping at his ear.

He shoved her bra up out of the way and bent his head to suckle one breast as he powered in and out of her heat. “Love you back,” he managed while switching from one nipple to the other a few moments later.

It didn’t take long for her to arch beneath him, sink her nails into his shoulder, and explode around him. That was all it took for Des. When her inner muscles clenched down on his, he shattered, coming so hard he was afraid he’d pass out.

Before he could move, before he could even catch his breath, the door slammed open. “What the
fuck?
” That statement of the obvious—George’s voice—was followed by a deep lupine growl that could only have come from his brother.

Busted.

Des grabbed the covers and yanked them up over their still-joined bodies. “Do you
mind,
Novak?” A quick glance told him it was both Greg and George standing in the doorway, along with Fee. Not Lana’s parents—a small mercy, that.

“They’re waiting for you two downstairs,” Fee said. Her tone was cheerful and she swatted her husband’s shoulder. “Come on, you two. This is none of your business.”

“It sure as hell is,” Greg rumbled.

Lana threw a pillow toward the doorway. “No it’s not. Now get lost. We’ll be down in five.”

* * *

As soon as Lana’s cousins left, Des rolled off of Lana and laughed. She missed his weight almost at once, but their interlude was over. Time to get serious.

“We are so busted,” she said, giggling like a lunatic. So much for serious. She was still floating, her brain utterly unable to process her joy at the idea that Des loved her back.

“Think we should have told them we’re already married?” Des played with the bracelet on her wrist.

“Later.” They’d have to have another wedding here, anyway. Assuming he asked her, of course—which was assuming a lot. “What’s the League going to think?”

“Whatever they want.” Des leaned over and kissed her, hard. “If they have a problem with it, I’ll quit, go private. Working insurance fraud and divorce cases will seem like a vacation by comparison.”

Of course he had his private investigator’s license. Still, he was devoted to the
Wyndewin
and it would be a loss to him to give it up. “I hope it won’t come to that.” She rolled out of bed and took a few steps toward the bathroom. “But I’m too selfish to give you up for the League.”

“If they can’t accept my choice of wife, then I don’t want to be involved with them.” He followed her into the bathroom.

Wife. Her heart did a little happy dance at that one simple word. Then she remembered that he hadn’t actually asked her yet and she turned on him with a glare. If he’d wanted some wimpy little omega who’d do everything he said, he’d chosen the wrong wolf.

Heedless of her irritation, Des kept talking as he washed up at the sink. “You’re way more important than a job. But don’t worry. Based on what my parents had to say earlier, I think they’ll come around, assuming we can take down Brewer tonight.” He ran water in the sink and snagged a washcloth.

At that, she sobered, deciding to save the other battle for later. They weren’t just going up against demons, but against another
Wyndewin.
“Be careful tonight.” She piled her hair up with a plastic clip and kissed his cheek before stepping into the shower. “I don’t want to lose you before we ever have a chance to be together.”

“Same goes,” he called over the glass. She could feel him watching her silhouette through the frosted glass as she washed. Her body still tingled from his touch and she didn’t think she’d ever get tired of it.

“I will, I promise.” She finished up quickly and stepped out, taking the towel he handed her. “It seems I have a whole lot to live for.”

They had a lot to talk about yet—wedding, kids, where they’d live—but this wasn’t the time for it. For now it was enough to know her love was returned. Lana shifted back into business mode, quickly pulling on her borrowed clothes and brushing out her hair. As soon as she was done, she held out her hand to Des. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
So we can get on with the rest of our lives.

Downstairs, she held her head high and faced her family and Des’s, along with their friends. The noisy room grew dead silent when they walked in, still holding hands. Everyone turned to stare.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re already married,” Des said without preamble, looking her father in the eye, his head tipped in respect. “Though it’s not legal on this world. We’ll be correcting that as soon as possible.” He also nodded to Greg.

“Gee, way to ask me first,” she muttered, only half joking. The man still had a thing or two to learn about the concept of equal partnership. He wasn’t going to get away with bossing her around. Then she found herself engulfed in a warm embrace from Elise and Des’s mother, and there was a general frenzy of hugs, whoops and male backslapping.

“Congratulations.” Aidan’s voice cut across the merriment, though he’d taken his turn hugging Lana, too. “And it’s about time. Now let’s get back to work here.”

While Lana and Des slept, the others had apparently fine-tuned all the details of the plan. Now all that was left was execution—and getting Brewer to play into it. Vin and Des thought they had that figured out, though Lana wasn’t exactly happy with about the idea to use Des as bait.

“I’m going with him,” she said.

“No, you’re not.” Greg stared her down. “You’re too emotionally attached and you know it.”

“His
father
is going to be there.” She crossed her arms and glared back at her Prime. “Why shouldn’t I be?”

“Because we need Ted’s testimony for the League. You would be a liability. If you want in on this at all, you’re with the team in the mines. You’ve been down there before. You’ll be able to help round up workers and get them through the portal before it blows.”

She suppressed a growl and replied with a curt nod. “I hate it when you’re right.”

Since they needed proof for the League that Brewer was involved, they needed to get video footage of him interacting with the demon, and witnesses. Des’s father would have some credibility, but he’d be considered biased, so he’d brought another
Wyndewin
director, one he trusted, up from Toledo. Pete Llewellyn didn’t seem entirely sure about any of this, but agreed that if Brewer interacted with a demon he
thought
was Mandrake, that would be proof enough for him.

“The surveillance system is in place,” Wallis reported. “We’ve secured the house Mandrake and Brewer have used for meetings and everything looks good. Vin’s magic should hide the electronics and the witnesses from Brewer when he comes in.”

“I’ve left a report on my computer.” The middle-aged, sandy-haired mage from Ohio seemed like smart guy and didn’t look like he was afraid of a fight. “No matter what happens, the regents will know to look more closely at Brewer.”

“Good.” Ted clapped him on the shoulder. “And thank you.”

Llewellyn shrugged. “I owed you a few.” He glanced around the room. “Ted was my trainer. Saved my ass more times than I can count.”

“We ready to go?” Des tapped his fingers on the table.

Nods all around the table confirmed it. Everyone except Des, Vin and the lupines strapped on protective gear, and a freaking arsenal was stowed in the back of a limo and a cargo van. Lana had been assigned to Greg’s command, with George, Julian, her cousin Derek, a handful of other pack members and her mother—her
mother
of all people—driving the oversized van. Aidan was in charge of team two, in the limo, with a group of Fae and humans, including Elise, Jase and most of Aidan’s security staff, with Lien at the wheel.

One by one, Vin teleported Ric, Wallis, Ted and Pete to the meeting location. While he was gone, Lana pulled Des into another room and kissed him goodbye. “Be careful, okay?”

“We’ve been over this.” He kissed her again until her knees were melting. “We’ll meet you at the mine entrance in time for the strike. I love you.”

“Love you, too.” She watched out the window as he and Vin drove away. They’d stash the SUV near the abandoned house. Then after Brewer was taken into custody, they would join the others for the raid on the mines.

Lana wasn’t sure she was going to be able to breathe right until she saw him again—all in one piece.

A small hand slipped into hers. “You make Uncle Des happy.”

A lump grew in Lana’s throat as she looked down at Dina in a pair of pink footie pajamas. She had her stuffed Pegasus clutched in one hand and her black hair was tangled.

“Aren’t you supposed to be up in bed?” She was only five. As powerful as she was magically, she was still a very young child and didn’t need to watch her parents preparing for battle.

“You were hurting so I came down to give you a hug.”

Lana dropped to her knees and embraced the little girl. “Thank you, sweetie.”

“You make Uncle Des happy. He’s always been hurting. But today he’s not.” Dina patted Lana on the shoulder. “Keep making him happy, okay?”

“I’ll do my best.” And she would. For the rest of her life.

Dina beamed. “Good. Thanks, Aunt Lana.” With a noisy kiss on Lana’s cheek, she scurried back up the stairs, just as her nanny started down them, hands on hips. Lana shared a smile with Mairead, the half gnome, half elf who was married to Toby Bootle and had worked for Aidan for hundreds of years. Then Mairead hustled Dina back toward her bedroom.

The idea of having friends for that long was mind-boggling, and Lana couldn’t resist just the faintest twinge of jealousy. She and Des would have such a relatively short time together compared to the others.

But it sure as hell wasn’t going to end tonight. Not if she could help it.

Des listened as Vin made the call from the vehicle, parked in an alley behind the safe house and cloaked with a spell.

“I’ve got your problem mage,” he growled into the phone, his voice a dead match to Mandrake’s. “You can come pick him up at the house.”

“And your traitor?” Brewer asked, loudly enough for Des to hear.

“Dead.” Vin’s voice oozed satisfaction. “Meet me at the house in fifteen minutes if you want your man alive.”

“Five,” Brewer barked. Des had thought he’d do that, try to move up the time to get the advantage. That’s why they already had everyone in place.

“Fine.” Vin snapped his phone shut and grinned. “He bought it. Let’s get you ready to go.”

They got out of the SUV, and once again, Des allowed himself to be tied up, this time with genuine knots. Ric or Wallis would be able to blink the bonds away when they were no longer needed. The bruising and blood on his face were an illusion, carefully crafted by his mother before they’d left the house. He had to admit, his mom did have a hell of a fine touch with an illusion spell. Seeing himself reflected in the window of the car, he almost felt the swollen eye and bloody lip.

He held still until Vin was finished with hands, feet and even a gag, though that was looser than the others. Then Vin morphed into Malen’s demonic appearance, hoisted Des over his shoulder and blinked them out of the alley and into the living room of the abandoned house.

A camping lamp sat on an overturned plastic milk crate and after setting Des down in a corner, Vin lit the lamp, tucking a high-powered flashlight into his belt. There was no point in wasting magic on simple things like lighting.

Des knew Pete and his father waited on the stairway. Ric and Wallis lurked just around the corner into the next room watching the surveillance monitor. All four were well-armed and cloaked in spells. Even if Brewer was suspicious and didn’t come alone, they should have the advantage.

While they waited, he called up the image of Lana’s face. She’d come to mean so much to him in such a short time. He wanted this whole mess over and done with
now
so they could get on with sorting out their future.

“He’s coming up the walk,” Wallis called from the former dining room. He’d placed cameras on the outside of the house as well. “One man with him.”

Great.
Brewer wasn’t working alone. Des was disappointed, but not terribly surprised. He lay against the wall, trying to look semi-conscious as the door opened and two men stepped in, guns drawn. Brewer, a fit man of about forty-five with streaks of gray in his mud-brown hair, carried an old-fashioned revolver, while his accomplice held a silenced 9 mm.

Nielsen.
Des swore under his breath. He’d trusted the man who’d been his on-and-off-again partner. But it made sense. Craig Nielsen was Jim Brewer’s nephew-in-law.

“Here’s your man,” Vin-Malen rumbled. “I hope you can make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Oh?” Brewer lifted one eyebrow. “Seems to me the major leak was on your side. I’m going to have a lot of paperwork to deal with over why this bastard turns up dead. I want a bigger cut. Thirty percent.”

Hooyah! We’ve got him.

“Not going to happen, human.” Vin shook his head and picked at his talons. “In fact, I’m thinking I should lower your cut to ten. I’ve had to completely rebuild my wards and lost the morale of half my workforce over the trouble this bastard caused in my castle.”

“You’ll give me thirty, or you’re done in Detroit,” Brewer said with ice dripping from every word. “Without me running interference with the human police, you wouldn’t have a single human dealer. You need the League far more than I need you. It just so happens I’ve gotten a copy of your formula. We don’t even need demons to make the drug anymore. Let’s make it forty, and I won’t shoot you.”

“Thirty.” Vin sighed. “You’re a pain in the ass, Brewer.”

“I knew you were a reasonable man.” Brewer nodded. “Nielsen, take care of the garbage, will you?”

A bunch of things happened at once.

“Now.” Even as Vin yelled for help, Nielsen brought up his gun and aimed it right between Des’s eyes.

Not good.
A vest wasn’t going to help him with a headshot.

As the shot rang out, Vin dove between them, his own weapon out and firing at Nielsen. Brewer brought his weapon up, but a shot rang out from the stairs and the
Wyndewin
dropped. Nielsen got off one more shot, before he, too, fell.

Vin collapsed onto Des.

“Armor. Piercing. Rounds.” He managed to gasp out the words before he passed out in Des’s lap.

A few seconds later, Wallis and Ric dashed into the room and Des’s bonds vanished. Ted and Pete thundered down the stairs. Des laid Vin out on the floor and stripped off his vest. He cast a light spell that made the room glow with illumination so he could see the wounds.

It was bad. One bullet was definitely in the left side of his chest cavity. Since Vin’s heart still beat, it wasn’t lodged there, but had probably punctured the lung. The other was lower, and the blackness of the blood suggested the liver. Both shots might well be fatal in normal circumstances.

“I can blink out the bullets,” Ric said, kneeling on the other side of the demon. “Each of us can do some healing. Hopefully together it will be enough.”

“Ric, bullets. Dad, you and Pete work on the gut wound. Fast. Wallis, lend me some power.”

Together the five of them worked feverishly to save the demon.

In the end, it was close. Vin would live, but he was unconscious and likely to remain that way for a while. He’d lost a hell of a lot of blood and his heart had stopped twice, though both times they’d gotten it going again. There was no way he’d be teleporting anyone anywhere tonight.

“We’ve got to get him to the house,” Wallis said. “And take down the surveillance equipment before we make an anonymous tip to the cops.”

“And clean up his blood from in here, so they don’t do a DNA check,” Ric added.

“We can do clean-up while you get the equipment.” Pete stood and offered a hand to Ted. “Des, you monitor the patient.”

“Here.” Ric blinked in a space blanket. “Let’s get him on this so we can move him. I vote for taking him out to the truck first. You and I can do it.”

Des nodded. He was a little weak from all the magic he’d used, but so was everyone else. Between them, he and the bard managed to carry Vin out to the SUV. It was going to be crowded with the Gravaki lying across the wide backseat, but they’d have to cope.

Wallis and the two older
Wyndewin
weren’t far behind, carrying the most sensitive of the electronics. The things that weren’t critical were blinked, but elven teleportation didn’t work on high tech or living things. Basically, any components Wallis blinked, including the guns that had shot Brewer and Nielsen, would never work again. The recordings for the League that would prove Des’s innocence had to be carried back by hand.

While they were en route to Aidan’s, Ric made a call to the others, letting them know they’d be delayed. Apparently there had been no activity at the mine entrance, so they agreed to wait for the raid. Then, disguising his voice, he called in an anonymous tip about a drug deal at a certain abandoned house. The police would find a small spill of the designer drug beside Brewer’s body.

Once back at the house, Ted took their evidence and went off to report to the regents.

Des and Wallis carried Vin up to a bed to be taken care of by Mairead and several other staff members. They laid the demon out on a plastic-covered bed and Vin’s eyes popped open. “Seal…gate.”

“If we do that, you’ll be stuck here.” The plan had been hurriedly revised to simply ward and guard the subterranean portal.

“Dead at the castle, anyway.” He spoke more clearly after Aidan’s housekeeper Bronwyn poured some healing energy into him. “Just blow it. I’ll do okay here for a while. Or Faerie.”

Faerie was a good solution, Des thought. He nodded. “Okay. We’ll blow it. Thank you.” He clenched Vin’s hand before he left.

As he walked down the hall, back to the car, he felt a whisper of a hand brush against his hip. “Hey, Uncle Des.” Instantly he felt better and knew Dina had restored some of the energy he’d lost in healing Vin.

“Hey, kiddo.” He leaned down to kiss the silky hair on top of her head. “None of that now. You’re supposed to be in bed.”

“I’m going. Go get Mommy and Daddy, okay? I don’t like it when they’re gone.”

“I’ll bring them back. Promise.”

He damned well would, too.

* * *

Lana waited as anxiously as the others while Toby Bootle picked the lock on the gate of the fence surrounding the small building that housed the entrance to the mine.

Déjà vu all over again.
This was the second time she’d be going down that god-awful elevator in wolf form. This time she planned to come back up, though.

Elise and her mother had spelled the cars until even though she knew they were there, Lana could barely see them. There was also a haze over their troop of armed soldiers. No one would see them until they opened fire, which hopefully wouldn’t be until they were well below the ground.

The third vehicle, with Des, his dad, Wallis and Ric showed up, and Lana gave a sigh of relief. She’d known he was okay, but now that she could see him, it was better.

Toby got the gate open and they all moved in, closing it behind them. Ted and Julian waited just inside the gate to guard the rear flank, and also keep an eye on their wives in the waiting cars. One of Aidan’s groundskeepers was dispatched to take the wheel of the SUV after Lana and Elise had both refused.

The plan was simple. Subdue any guards in the building. Based on what they could see through the windows, there were two. Then they’d get down the elevator as quickly as possible. Once at the bottom, the plan was to neutralize as many of Malen’s cohorts as possible and hopefully send the slaves through the portal in large enough number to assure they could get back to their home worlds. Then, once the slaves were safe, Malen and his henchmen would be tossed through the portal and the doorway closed. So what could go wrong?

Only about a million different variables.

Simple tear gas worked on the two Gravaki guarding the building. With their senses disoriented, they couldn’t teleport and could be rendered unconscious with nothing more than ether. Vin had provided enough useful information to make it a fair fight. The goal was to kill as few as possible, but Lana doubted it would go down that way. Once bullets started flying, the good guys would damn sure shoot back.

The elevator had been designed for freight, so it only took two trips. Des, Greg, Aidan and most of the more experienced fighters went in the first carload, while Lana was assigned to the second. It was a relief to see the others in one piece, waiting for them at the bottom of the shaft.

Lana and Des took the lead, since they’d been down here before. Through what felt like miles of tunnel, they only encountered one Gravaki guard. Greg and George took him to the ground and Aidan held the ether-soaked cloth over his face. One of the elves found a large wheeled hopper, and the guard was tossed in that, along with his counterparts from upstairs.

At the final turn toward the area Malen had been using as his office, Lana stopped and sniffed. Based on the distant sounds, the opposite direction was clearly where the mining was going on—and the lab that turned the salt into drugs. The group split into the pre-arranged teams. The wolves would go after the mining crew, while the elves and humans took on the “offices” and secured the portal. Since the lab was in yet another section of the mine, with only two or three workers, according to Vin, that would come last.

Lana’s eyes trailed after Des’s back before she turned and followed her cousin, who was letting his nose guide him along the passageway.

Two teams of ten mine slaves, each working with two overseers. According to Vin, that was Malen’s standard procedure at any given time. There would also be another twenty slaves asleep in their rough quarters, with another two guards watching them. With luck, once freed, the slaves would be able to help their rescuers.

On silent paws, the wolves padded down the hall, the ringing of picks on stone drawing ever closer. The mine was a square grid, with the central pillars the same size as the open spaces, so they were able to triangulate their destination with relative ease.

Greg’s posture stiffened and he pointed with his nose, indicating the position of the enemy.

Lana smelled it too.
There.

The other wolves nodded, closing in on the area and preparing to spring. There were six lupines in the team, Lana, Greg, George, Derek and Ben and Kurt, the brothers who managed the New Moon. Greg, Lana and Ben split off from the others, each trio intent on taking down one of the overseers. Greg’s group went down one more pillar, and when they were in position, Greg let out a small yip.

All six wolves sprang at once and both overseers fell under the weight of three full-grown wolves each. Lana received one long claw rake across her shoulder, but before Ben could shift and use the ether he’d carried in a bag around his neck, one of the slaves turned and spiked the Gravaki through the throat with his pick. On the other side of the pillar, Kurt managed to drug the other one before any of the slaves could act.

Greg shifted and looked at the assembled miners, a ragged mix of demon and human. “Are you with us?”

All of them nodded.

Greg fumbled through the Gravaki’s pockets for the keys to the miner’s shackles, the metal anklets that chained them all together. He handed it to a green Gravaki, who quickly unlocked himself and his fellows.

Lana ducked behind a pillar, shifted into human form and back to wolf, healing her shoulder. In turns, a couple of the other wolves did the same.

“Now, do you know where the other team of workers is?” Wherever they were, it was too far away for even a lupine to hear.

The Gravaki nodded. “I can take you there.”

“And the lab?” Greg stared down the other male, in a gesture of dominance that crossed all species.