The Shadow of Mist (5 page)

“Yeah, why?” I sat up. “What's wrong?”

“I think . . .” she started to say, then paused and moved the mouse a few more times. “I think you've been hacked. There are a few processes going on in your task manager that I don't recognize and they look suspicious to me.”

“Oh great gods, do you think Terrance is responsible?”

She shrugged. “Could be. I'm not positive that I'm right, though. I'd like to call Tim Winthrop over to take a look. He'd be able to tell better than me. Do you mind?”

Tim was a good friend of the D'Artigos. He was a female impersonator, though I heard he was giving it up, and he'd recently married his long term partner, Jason Binds. Mitch and I'd been invited to the wedding.

“Sure, go ahead.”

As Delilah flipped open her cell phone, I glanced at the clock again.
Mitch should have called by now
. I turned around, kneeling on the sofa to stare out the window at the rain thundering against the pavement.

Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bones. I had a sudden, intense urge to head out to the Sound, to slip on my skin and dive deep in the water, seeking shelter in the depths of the inlet. Every time I felt threatened, that was the first thing that came to mind—hide, run to the Ocean Mother's bosom, and let her hold me tight.

“Tim will be over in about half an hour,” Delilah said, breaking my thoughts. “He's bringing all his diagnostic gear with him. If anybody can figure out what's going on with your computer, he can.”

Camille picked up the tea tray and carried it into the kitchen. “I'll make us some more tea,” she said.

“Thank you. Everything feels so surreal. I can't believe this is happening—” I was cut off by the phone ringing. Mitch! It had to be him. I grabbed the handset and punched the Talk button. “Hello? Mitch?”

The voice on the other end was one I didn't recognize. A woman, she sounded professional, and yet there was something about her voice that scared me. “Am I speaking to Siobhan Morgan?”

“Yes . . . Who's calling?” Suspicion suddenly hit me in the gut. What if she was working with Terry; what if—

“My name is Amanda Bernard and I'm a nurse with InterLake Hospital. I'm calling about a Mr. Mitchell Childs. Do you know him?”

Hospital? Mitch? Oh hell
.

“He's my fiancé. We live together. What's wrong? Is he okay?” Panic replaced suspicion and I stiffened, trying not to cry. The hormones from being pregnant sure weren't helping me to remain calm.

“Mr. Childs has been injured. We need you to come in and give us information on his medical background. He seems to be part of the Supernatural Community. We have an Otherworld healer on hand—an elfin doctor—but we can use any background information you can give us. He needs treatment now.”

“He's a selkie. Tell the doctor that. I'll be there as fast as I can.” Choking back tears, I added, “Is he . . . Is the injury serious? What can you tell me?”

Her voice was soft as she said, “You should be prepared. He's been extensively injured. I won't mince words, Ms. Morgan. He's in serious condition, though we aren't sure as to just what extent. He's unconscious at the moment. We found your name in his wallet as his emergency contact.”

I hung up, a searing heat racing through me. The man I was in love with was lying in the hospital and I had the horrible feeling that it hadn't been an accident. I turned mutely to Camille and Delilah.

Camille turned off the stove. “I'll take you to the hospital. Delilah, you stay here and wait for Tim.” She held up my jacket and I silently let her tuck me into it; then she gathered up my purse and pushed me gently out the door.

“Where is he?”

“InterLake Hospital,” I said, trying to find my voice.

She slid me into the passenger seat of her Lexus and I fumbled for the seat belt as she jumped in the driver's seat. “Breathe, Siobhan. He's alive, and he's under medical care. I want you to get my cell phone out of my purse and look for Chase Johnson's number under my contact list. Tell him you're with me, and who you are, and ask him to bring Sharah and meet us at the hospital.”

I followed directions, mouthing the words, hearing Chase's concerned voice on the other end, and then hung up. Camille didn't say anything else; she just focused on navigating through the heavy rain while I stared out the window, remembering the first time I realized I had fallen in love with Mitch Childs.

It was 1998, and I'd integrated myself into the Puget Sound Harbor Seal Pod. They'd accepted me as a member, with my slightly altered résumé, and I once again sank into the comfort of belonging to a tribe. It had been eighty-one years since I'd had a group to call my own, and over those intervening years, I'd worked my way down one coastline and up the other, alone and lonely.

I'd adapted as my new land grew and evolved. I'd been everything from a maid during my first few years, to a candy-and-cigarette girl at a nightclub during the war, to an admin assistant at a law firm during the sixties, to a yoga teacher during the eighties.

But I'd never applied for any job that would place me too much in the public view, and while I returned to my real name after a while, I'd managed to navigate the underground labyrinth of changing licenses and social security numbers. I flew under the radar because, like all Fae and Weres, I aged more slowly than humans. It wasn't wise to let yourself be high profile. People would start with whispers; then came the rumors. Hair dye could take care of the hair, but until recently, Botox and plastic surgery weren't viable options to explain away the smooth skin and clear eyes.

Once I found the Pod, I'd decided to stick around the Seattle area, and I applied for a job with the state. I made the decision to finally go the route of using wigs and carefully applied makeup to age myself enough to be believable until retirement, at which point I'd have a good thirty years before having to reinvent myself again.

And then, I met Mitch. Mitchell Childs, who was a sturdy, muscled selkie with blue eyes and wavy chestnut hair. He was part of the Puget Sound Harbor Seal Pod, though not highly placed. And with one look in his eyes, I was lost. Within a week, we had tumbled into a whirlwind affair.

“Siobhan,” he said, wrapping his arms around me the first time we stood alone together by the side of the inlet, staring out into the moonlit night. “I've been waiting for you. I didn't know who you would be, or where you would come from, but I've been waiting my whole life for someone like you.”

He kissed me, his soft lips pressing gently against mine, his arms pulling me into the heart of his embrace, and in the flow of his kiss the world stopped and I knew life would never be the same.
I
would never be the same. This was the love I'd been looking for. This was my magic man, my love from the sea, the one who could sweep me off my feet and carry me away and I'd never, ever protest.

No man had touched me since Terrance. I'd made sure of that. And there had been no one before Terrance. Terrified but unable to turn away, I'd invited Mitch into my world, let him woo me and bed me and love me. But I'd kept my secrets. My past remained sealed, behind closed doors I'd locked so tight that I thought nothing could rip them open again.

A few years later, when the portals from Otherworld opened, Supes, Fae, and vampires flooded the world, coming out of the closet in droves, and I began to think that Mitch and I could have a life together, out in the open, and that I wouldn't have to shed my persona with my skin.

And now everything threatened to be swept away by the same malignant force that had snuffed out my life in Ireland. The Pod could revoke my membership if they wanted; they could send me away. And Mitch—would he turn his back on me and the child we'd fought so hard to conceive?

And now—now Mitch might
die
.

With tears pouring down my cheeks, images of the past flipped through my mind like a deck of cards in the wind. I
couldn't
lose him. And I wouldn't let Terrance win.

Grimly, I turned to Camille, whose gaze was fastened on the road. “Whatever it takes, I want Terrance out of the picture. I know he's involved in this. I
know
he hurt Mitch. And if I'm right, I want him dead and buried so deep he'll never climb out of the grave to see the world again. Will you help me?”

She flickered a glance my way, then back to the road. “You know what you're asking, right?”

I bit my lip. I wasn't like Camille or her sisters. My life wasn't steeped in danger every day, and I wasn't a fighter like they were. I was just Siobhan Morgan, data entry operator for the state. But I was also selkie—a daughter of the Ocean Mother—and someone I loved was in danger. Time to step up to the plate.

“I know what I'm asking. Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it. I love Mitch, and I'm not going to let Terry ruin my life with him, or our baby's life. I don't know much about fighting, Camille, but you tell me to jump and I'll jump.”

She sighed. “Well, then, I promise you this: We'll do everything possible to find him and put him out of commission. And Siobhan, make no mistake—if we go looking for him and find him, we'll
have
to kill him. Because men like him, be they FBH—full-blooded human—or Fae . . . or Were . . . they don't give up. He's stalked you for a hundred years over thousands of miles. He's not going to quit. Especially not now that he's found you.”

“I know,” I said. “I know.”

The nurse led Camille and me to Mitch's bedside. I'd call the Pod leader and Mitch's parents as soon as I found out what was going on, but right now, I wanted to see if he was conscious, if he could remember anything. But he lay there, silent and unmoving, his body wrapped in bandages and his eyes closed in a deep sleep.

“What's wrong?” I rushed to his side, wanting to bundle him in my arms and kiss him on the forehead, to wake him with the taste of my lips on his. But this was no fairy tale, and Mitch wasn't Sleeping Beauty. No, he was severely injured and only the doctors could lead him out of danger.

“One leg is broken in three places; the other has a fracture. His left arm was shattered and we don't know if he'll ever be able to regain use of it. We think he has internal injuries to his spleen and his kidneys. His entire abdominal area is severely bruised. We'll have to do exploratory surgery, and we're going to have to open up his arm, too, in order to repair the shattered bone.”

The doctor looked at me. “Miss, I know you're his fiancée, but we need his parents here, too, if they're around.”

“I'll call them right away,” I murmured, staring at my love. “Why is he unconscious?”

“As to the coma, we don't know. He should be awake, but he's not, and his EKG shows some abnormal activity, but of what nature, we're not entirely sure. That's why we've postponed his surgery. Since the head medic of the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigation team is coming to look him over, we decided to wait for her opinion before we do anything more. We have him stabilized for now, so he should be okay until she gets here.”

I let out a long sigh. “What happened? Do you know how he was injured?”

The doctor pressed his lips together. “Since Detective Johnson is on his way, I suggest you wait and talk to him. But, and this is just a preliminary conclusion, it looks as though Mr. Childs was assaulted.” He turned away to talk softly to the nurse.

I took a quick step toward Camille, who draped her arm around my shoulder and gave me a little squeeze. “This is bad, I know it's bad, but he's alive. You have to hold on to that. Sharah's on the way and she's a brilliant healer.”