Mystically Bound (Frostbite, Book Three) (20 page)

After a long pause, I couldn’t stand the
silence any longer and focused on what truly mattered. To Dane, I
asked, “If someone has used a spell on Kipp, does that mean he’s in
serious danger?”

Dane strode toward the spot Kipp stood in.
“My first instinct is to say yes, but he’s here and not trapped
somewhere. No one has confronted you and demanded anything, so I
suspect he’s safe.”

“Maybe they still plan to do that,” I
grumbled, knowing there had to be a good reason someone brought
Kipp back. “Well, can’t he just go into the Netherworld? Sure, they
can call him back again, but can’t we find a spell to keep him safe
somehow?”

“Not fucking likely, Tess.”

I startled at Kipp’s low angry voice and when
I looked at him, I discovered a harsh scowl on his face. “What?
That makes sense. We have to beat the person to the punch, so to
speak. They might want to use you against me, but it doesn’t mean
I’ll allow it.”

He leaned down into my face, his frosty
presence chilled my skin, and he stared at me dead-on. “If you
think I’m going to leave you now, after hearing that someone has
put a spell on me to somehow exploit you,” his eyes blazed, “think
again.”

Part of me was ready to spit out a huge
argument to get him to agree, but the other part knew better. He’d
never leave me now. So, I changed tactics to find a way to keep him
safe and asked Alexander, “Are you safer in Caley’s body?”

“Safer?” he repeated.

I nodded, totally confirmed this was a viable
solution to our problem, even if I had no idea if Kipp would agree.
“Yes, can anyone spellbind you if you are in a real body?”

“Ah, I see where you are going with his.”
Alexander’s eyelids lowered in disappointment. “Sadly, I’m not any
safer from magic in Caley’s body. Even if Kipp found a body to
enter, a spell could still affect him. Besides, it appears that the
spell is to call him forth—”

I didn’t need him to finish. “Meaning, if
Kipp entered a body, the person could simply call him out.”

At Alexander’s nod, Kipp cursed, low and
frustrated. “Right now, I’m safe. Don’t focus on me. I don’t feel
any different at all. We’ll come to that concern if it happens—we
need to keep moving forward, Tess.”

Yes, we did, and I prayed moving forward
would be a means to an end—a happy ending for Kipp and I. Pushing
thoughts away of things I couldn’t control, I focused on the things
I could and asked Dane, “Well, you seem to know more about this
than we do, so do you have a suspect?”

Anger lit a fire in his gaze and his eyes
narrowed, as he once again, took a seat at the end of the bed. “No
suspects. No motive. Nothing.” His jaw clenched before he relaxed
his features. “But like I said, it has to be someone who was close
to Alexander—someone who knew about you
.
That’d be the only
explanation for the magic used against Kipp now.”

Yes, that did seem right. But I let Dane
finish before I got too ahead of myself. “I’ve wracked my mind
thinking over everyone who came to the Animus in the weeks prior to
Alexander’s death, but no one stands out as a viable suspect who
would have any motive to kill him.”

He was right—everyone I had met wanted me to
solve Alexander’s death. The person who killed him wouldn’t want
that. I pondered all I heard and where did knowing all this get us?
No-fucking-where—that’s where. “All right. First of all…” I looked
at Gretchen. “We are so
not
staying in this house anymore.
Max will have no problem with us staying at the hotel with
them.”

She gave a firm nod. “Agreed.”

I turned to Dane. “We’ll have to come up with
a good explanation to Amelia for why I’m leaving. I’m guessing you
don’t want to tell her all this, right?”

“She’s been through enough,” was his
reply.

I understood his reasoning, because I
suspected he wanted to protect her. The guilt and sadness ever so
present in his features that he couldn’t help Alexander now made me
well aware why he kept it from his wife. Perhaps he simply waited
until he had a solid plan to save her father so he could soften the
blow that her father’s murder wouldn’t be solved.

“Fair enough.” Then I glanced to the love of
my life. “You’re here and safe for now. That makes me happy.” He
winked and I shook my head at him. “Gretchen can look into this
spell on you and see if we can find a way to break it.”

At Gretchen’s nod of agreement, I continued,
“I have no clue why anyone would want you back now since I’m
already here and helping. There have been no threats at all. But
you seem fine at the moment and I seriously can’t take on anything
else. Until something bad happens, we can’t make assumptions that
it’s to exploit me or is a danger to you. Maybe…” I tried to think
up another reasonable explanation. “No, I’ve got nothing. Who in
the heck knows why you’re back now.”

“Well said, beautiful.” He grinned in his
seductive way, making my belly flutter. “You always did look damn
sexy taking control of an investigation.”

That hadn’t been the first time Kipp had told
me that. He was a cop after all, and loved a good mystery. But as
my cheeks warmed, I gave him a long look. “Now is
not
the
time for that kind of talk.”

His smoldering eyes disagreed.

With all the insanity behind us, which only
made things more complicated, I turned to Alexander. “Before all
this crazy shit happened, you were saying you found something else
last night.”

“Yes, I did.” A slow smile spread across his
face. “I’ve discovered Nettie’s diary.”

To my annoyance, but Kipp’s firm demand, we had
waited around all day until nightfall to look for the diary. He
thought it safer, considering in the cover of darkness it would be
less likely anyone would see us go into the shed, which was where
Alexander said the diary was located. I thought it a stupid idea
since the daylight always seemed like a smarter choice to me, but
even after an hour of telling him such, I begrudgingly agreed to
his demands.

I’d been irritated at him for a quarter of an
hour. That was, until a hot shower turned my entire day around.

The warm water pouring out like rain from the
showerhead ran over my neck and back. My head was bowed to the
slate rock floor and I pressed my hands against the shower wall,
inhaling the coconut-scented shampoo Amelia had given me. But even
with the water easing the tension out of my shoulders, the goose
bumps trailing over my body couldn’t be ignored. “You know, some
would say watching someone else shower makes you a pervert.”

Kipp chuckled, his icy body pressing against
my warm back. “
I
would say I’d rather be perverted than
starved of such a beautiful view.”

He trailed a finger over my shoulder and down
along my spine, causing me to shiver. My eyes fluttered closed as
his finger swiped ice over my skin and the hot water soothed away
the bite.

When his entire hand caressed over my back,
it didn’t bring a firm touch, but an intense coldness causing me to
catch my breath. The blood in my veins turned to liquid fire and
pooled low in my belly.

Then Kipp’s touch vanished.

“Turn around,” he murmured.

I did as he asked, and Kipp stood in his
naked glory while the steam from the shower made him appear more
ghostly than he ever had looked before. The lines of his muscles
along his shoulders, chest, and abdomen were cut so precisely I
craved to feel them as I had in the Netherworld. Touch and tease
him. Lick and taste him. Caress and stroke him.

A tickle of frost hit the plumpest part of my
lip and when I glanced up, Kipp smirked. “You’ve only had it,” he
gestured to his erection, “once, and look at that hunger in your
eyes.”

My body felt ravenous, throbbing and aching
for him. My voice was a soft whisper of need. “You know I want
you.”

“Ah, I do.” His smile grew a little wicked.
“Lower your hand, Tess. If I’m going to be a pervert, might as well
make it memorable.”

With a slow heat starting at my head and
washing all throughout my body, I placed my hand between my thighs,
as Kipp took his erection in his hands. Then my simple shower
became scalding hot for reasons that had nothing to do with the
water, but was more about the heat we built between us.

By lunchtime, I had wondered if that was the
last time I’d ever have ghost sex with Kipp. Would Nettie’s diary
hold the answers I needed for not only myself, but for Kipp, too?
Would this all end by tonight?

I hoped so.

Later that day, I had called Zach to let him
know that Kipp was back. After a million questions and my answer
of,
‘I don’t know’
, Zach finally let me off the phone.
Gretchen hadn’t found a spell to break the hold on Kipp, but she
and Alexander were still looking.

At dinnertime, Amelia cooked us Lasagna, and
after I helped her clean up, I had spent the remainder of the
evening with Kipp. It had almost seemed as if we were
normal
—simply enjoying an evening together. But I didn’t let
myself get caught up with that thought. It merely reminded me how
much I wanted to do exactly that with Kipp—be a normal couple.

Little moments to remind me why I had to keep
fighting and face down scary shit were a good thing. Especially
seeing that now the night had settled in around me and thus came
the reality I had to go out in it. We journeyed through the yard
behind Alexander, and I was only too glad we hadn’t run into Wayde
or Amelia when we exited the house, since right now I doubted I
could come up with a good lie. But I wasn’t sure why I was worried
anyway; Wayde had been absent all day, doing god-knows-what, which
I discovered I didn’t care find out and was even happier he stayed
out of my way.

Kipp had suggested only I carry a
flashlight—a tiny one that hardly produced any light at all—to keep
our presence in the barn hidden. Sadly, Kipp also told me to keep
it off as we strode through the yard.

The dark night created all sorts of horrible
shadows around me. There was nothing to fear, that much I did
believe. But why did my heart race? Probably because there
were
horrible looking shadows around me, no breeze in the
air, and the moon was hidden behind clouds, creating a pitch-black
night.

The silence was eerie.

Alexander led us to the shed off to the right
side of the house and after he opened the large wooden door, it
creaked—one of those spooky creaks you always hear in scary movies
right before someone dies—
lovely!

Controlling the unease hammering my heart, I
entered the barn behind Kipp. I flicked on my sad excuse for a
flashlight and the barn looked about as old as the house, but not
nearly as cared for. It showed its old age and was all withered.
Between the boards of the wooden plank walls were wide
cracks—cracks that someone could currently be looking through—and I
scanned the gardening tools hanging up on the far wall, tools that
could slice off my head.

I groaned, lowering my flashlight to avoid
looking at any of
that
. If I kept looking around at all the
scary stuff, it’d only create images of things that could kill me.
The high levels of anxiety making me dizzy meant avoid that subject
at all costs.

Alexander strode toward the back of the barn
and I used my flashlight to guide his way. He stopped in next to a
workbench with screwdrivers, hammer, and saws on top. There, he
opened a drawer, and reached in. “Yes, it’s still here.”

When he turned back to me, he held Nettie’s
diary, and I scrunched my nose, totally stunned. “Seriously? It
doesn’t have any magical protection around it? And the drawer’s not
even locked?”

Kipp nodded agreement. “You’re right—it seems
too easy.” Dane sighed, clearly missing Kipp’s statement. “It is
surprising that Wayde wouldn’t go to more extreme measures to hide
the diary, but perhaps he doesn’t care any longer if you do find
it.”

I turned to Dane and angled my flashlight at
his chest to see his face. Weird feelings whipped around me inside
me to hear his advice. Not long ago, I would’ve punched him if he
said anything.

He shrugged. “What could her diary really
tell you? He might have used it as a way to hang something over
your head. Make you believe that you needed it, when really you
don’t. Besides, you bound the promise to help him—even if you find
something in the diary, you still have to help.”

“That does make sense.” Kipp blew out a long
frustrated breath. “Which, by the way, you will
never
make
such a promise to anyone again.”

I rolled my eyes at him,
as if I had a
choice at that time
, and he continued with a frown, “But maybe
Wayde used it as leverage to make it appear like you needed to see
the diary, when in actuality, you’d seen all you needed to
already.”

While all that made sense; it actually
didn’t. “I honestly can’t see him being that careless with it.” I
shook my head at Kipp. “He wouldn’t’ have left it here like this; I
have no doubt about it.”

Kipp’s eyes softened, and he leaned in toward
me. “Tess, does it honestly matter? The diary is there. Go read
it.”

Yes, why in the hell was I arguing with
them?

I rushed toward Alexander, grabbed the book
out of his hands, and slammed it down on the workbench. I raised my
flashlight, cringing when my beam of light landed on a huge, hairy
spider in front of me, whose eyeballs glowed under the light.
“Lord, let something be in here that can actually help me.”

“What are you doing?”

At the low smooth voice, I gasped and spun
around. Kipp instantly took a protective stance in front of me.
Amusing to say the least, because he always did seem to forget he
was a ghost and couldn’t actually protect me. It didn’t mean I
didn’t appreciate the effort. Love always does make people—or
ghosts—do crazy things.