“Let us go,” one of them hissed.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Zoe glanced between faces. “Kill those two,” she instructed, gesturing toward the ones farthest from her. “I’m going to play with this one.”
Redmond and Cillian dispatched the wraiths with quick sword thrusts, not wasting a moment to potentially give one of the creatures the upper hand, which only left the one in front of Zoe.
I didn’t know what she was going to do. I assumed she was going to question it. She didn’t, though. Instead she strode forward, slapped both hands on either side of the wraith’s head, and dove in.
“No!” I raced toward her. She didn’t understand. She hadn’t dealt with wraiths before joining our team, and the ones in the house hadn’t touched her. Even when she’d touched them, there had been clothing between her skin and them.
She swooned almost immediately, falling back. Redmond swooped in and caught her before she could hit the cobblestones. Braden was already swinging when she dropped, causing the final wraith to explode in a ball of dust. I dropped to my knees next to Zoe, terrified she was already gone, but her eyes popped open when Redmond brushed her hair away from her face.
“What was that?” she asked on a croak.
“They suck life from people,” I explained, absurdly relieved that she was alive. “You can’t touch them.”
“Oh. Somebody probably should’ve told me before I did that.”
“Yes, well ... .” I glanced over my shoulder. “I’ll call for Sami to heal you.”
“No.” Zoe shook her head, firm. “I don’t want her upset.” She lightly placed her hand on her chest and let loose the blue magic, blinking several times – and gasping as the pain grew – before pushing herself to a sitting position. The color was back in her cheeks and she looked like her old self.
“That’s handy,” I noted on a grin.
“Yes, until you come to rely on it and let your guard down at the wrong time.”
“Have you ever not been able to heal yourself?” Redmond queried.
“Just once.” She took on a sad expression and then got to her feet. “I’m okay. It’s good to know that touching the wraiths is a bad idea. I guess that’s why you haven’t infiltrated their minds to get a look at their plans.”
“Pretty much,” I agreed, turning to see Cormack and Aric joining the fray. “Everything okay inside?”
“We’re pretty sure we got all of them,” Cormack confirmed. “Are you guys okay?”
“We’re fine,” Zoe reassured him before I could speak.
“Should I call the home office to get a cleanup crew out here?” Braden queried. “The wraiths don’t leave much of a mess but there are like fifteen dead revenants in there.”
Cormack shook his head, catching everyone by surprise.
“No?” Redmond furrowed his brow. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to draw attention to this,” Cormack replied. “I don’t want word to spread at the home office. That might put innocent people in danger if they start asking the wrong questions of the wrong people.”
“I know somebody who can help,” Aric offered. “My father has cleanup crews at his disposal. They’ve helped us more than once. I can call him. In fact, I think he might be in the area right now for work.”
Cormack hesitated. “Are they discreet?”
“Have you ever heard about Zoe being accused of wiping out entire packs of rampaging werewolves?”
“No.”
Aric shrugged, causing Cormack to smile.
“Call your father,” the Grimlock patriarch encouraged. “We’ll take all the help we can get. While we’re waiting for them, I think I need a drink.”
I nodded in agreement. “Sign me up. I want whatever you made Sami ... only with liquor.”
“I think that can be arranged.”
Twenty-Five
James Winters brought an army with him to clean up the mess left behind by the attack. The man, who looked like an older version of his son, merely arched an eyebrow as he strode through the door, ultimately focusing on his daughter-in-law.
“You can’t even take a week off without getting into trouble, can you?”
Zoe shot him a challenging look. “You know how I feel about being normal.”
“Yes. It’s essentially the cooked carrots of life.”
“Pretty much,” she agreed.
He smiled as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You look okay. Obviously the battle wasn’t too bad.”
Zoe hesitated and then shrugged. “It could’ve gone better. Apparently you’re not supposed to touch the wraiths. Who knew?”
Aric shot her a sidelong look — one that was full of questions — but he kept his mouth shut, instead giving his father a hug by way of greeting. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course. You’re lucky I was close. I had a business meeting in Detroit today and ended up staying over because it got late.”
“Some things are meant to be.” Aric grinned at his father. “As for this ... .” He glanced around at the mess.
“Yes, this is quite lovely,” James agreed, shaking his head. “What are these ... things?” He used his foot to nudge a nearby revenant. “They look like horror movie monsters, almost made up.”
“They’re definitely real,” Aric countered. “In fact ... .”
Whatever he was going to say was drowned out by a screeching Sami as she hurried down the stairs and directly toward her grandfather. “Grandpa!” She threw herself into his arms, causing James to stagger back as he caught his only grandchild.
“Hello.” He kissed Sami’s forehead and stroked back her hair so he could study her face. “You look okay. Obviously you weren’t hurt in this.”
“I was fine. I kicked ass.”
James frowned and darted a dark look toward Zoe. “Do you really think it was wise to involve her in a fight of this magnitude?”
“We both wanted Sami with us,” Aric argued. “We didn’t want to be separated from her just in case. That meant she was involved in the fight.”
James didn’t immediately respond, instead keeping his gaze on Zoe.
“I’m not sorry,” Zoe said finally. “She blew up a couple
