Mystically Bound (Frostbite, Book Three) (5 page)

Not to say I wasn’t hell-bent on finding a
way out of this. Now, to form an escape route…

After considering all possibilities of getting myself
out of this without breaking the binding spell, I finally admitted
defeat. Wayde had me trapped…for now. Once I told him my end of the
bargain, as in, what I learned about Alexander, I could leave with
a way to find Kipp.

Staring at the maddening smirk on Wayde’s
face, I muttered, “There isn’t much to tell. I found Alexander,
yes, but—”

“Let me answer,” Gretchen interjected, “since
I understand spirits more than you do.”

I gawked at her. How did that make any sense
at all? But her serious look made me shut my mouth as she
continued, “It appears something is wrong with Alexander. He did
show up, but only for a very short time, and he couldn’t
communicate.”

Her eyebrows drew together as if in thought.
How could she be, when she presently lied through her teeth? “From
what I heard from Tess, and from what I witnessed tonight, I would
believe it is residue of his energy. Though, part of me believes
there’s more to it.”

I watched her explain that bit of nonsense,
but she wasn’t looking at me, her focus remained on Wayde, making
me realize why she’d withheld the truth. We couldn’t rule out the
possibility that someone in this room had cast the spell, and did
we really want to confront them now?

Not likely.

Wayde leaned forward and rested his elbows on
his knees, his gaze intent on me. “So, you found out nothing?”

“I wouldn’t say nothing,” I replied, hating
how uncomfortable I felt under his stare. “I would say exactly what
Gretchen said; there seems to be more to it. There has to be a
reason he showed up like he did and couldn’t talk, but what that
reason is, I have no idea.”

At the memory of Alexander’s state, my
heartstrings tugged a sweet little song to help, but not enough to
change my mind or to forget what Dane had done. I’d been screwed
over by Dane once—Amelia was Dane’s wife and Alexander his
father-in-law, which automatically put them on the do-not-help
list.

With that thought firmly cemented in my mind,
I added, “I did as you asked and found Alexander. I told you what I
know—or don’t know, I should say—and what you do from here is your
problem.” Wayde’s lips parted and I raised my hand, cutting him
off. “I’ve upheld my part of the promise, so tell me how to locate
Kipp. I’m getting the hell outta here.”

Amelia’s eyes widened, cheeks flushed bright
red, and she shook her head. “But…but….” She glanced at Wayde and
Dane frantically before she looked at me again. “If dad showed up
at all it means he’s stuck and hasn’t found peace. We can’t leave
him like this.”

“
You
can’t, but
I
certainly
can.”

Hell, I had enough of my own pain to deal
with, I didn’t need to take on hers, too. Besides, her dipshit
husband had caused my agony. “Might I remind you, that
your
husband was adamant I not open myself up to ghosts, or care about
them. But now I should, because it’s one of yours. When it’s
convenient for you, it’s all right.”

Glancing over his shoulder, Dane’s eyes
narrowed into thin slits. “Do not talk to my wife in that
tone.”

I glared in return, unmoved by his wrath.
“Tell me how to get to Kipp and I don’t have to talk to her at
all.” Screw him and what he wanted. They couldn’t have it both ways
and not have me notice the error in their judgment. “Problem
solved.”

“We still need you,” Wayde stated.

“Get bent,” I bit off.

Wayde’s eyes burned with a hot emotion I
suspected should frighten me, but had no effect at all. Then
slowly, the side of his mouth arched. “We’ll offer you another
trade if you stay. As Gretchen said, if there is more going on with
Alexander, then we need to investigate the matter further, but
you,” he said the latter like he ate dirt, “have gotten more
knowledge from the one encounter than any of us have for days.
Who’s to say if you seek him out again, you won’t get more?”

“Sorry to break it to you,” I retorted,
pointing out an obvious fact. “But I got the feeling he blew all
his energy with that one visit. I doubt he’d come back to me
tonight.”

“Tomorrow he might,” Wayde offered.

“Good for you for figuring that one out.” I
sighed, exasperated. “Problem is, I’m not sticking around until
tomorrow to find out. I don’t need anything else from you, so give
me what you promised.”

Wayde inhaled a long breath, stretched out
his legs in the chaise, and clasped his hands in his lap. “What
will you do once you find your ghost? He’s trapped between two
worlds, is he not?”

My gaze skipped to Gretchen and she regarded
Wayde with interest, the glow from the fireplace casting an orange
hue on her cheek. Her curious look didn’t sit well in my stomach.
“What do you mean, trapped?”

Wayde smiled, not warm and friendly, but more
like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. He slowly stood from the
chaise and approached me. “Gretchen told me you wonder how Kipp’s a
ghost when he’s not dead.”

Oh yeah, he planned to exploit me in any way
he could, and I sure-as-shit didn’t appreciate being cornered. When
he settled in front of me, I squared my shoulders and lifted my
chin. “Your point?”

Wayde’s measured expression deepened and it
sure felt like entrapment. “My point is…” He leaned into my face
and his eyes became cold. “Your ghost has a trapped soul. He’s
stuck between two worlds, unable to reconnect to his body.”

I rolled my eyes since now the
trapped
business made sense. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t already heard.
Gretchen suspected the same thing and told me as much already.
“So?”

His eyes turned wickedly dark, sending a wave
of unease right down to the tips of my toes. “What would you do for
a spell that reconnected his soul with his body, which in turn, let
your ghost live again?”

Time halted.

I finally blinked. “Excuse me?”

Wayde leaned away from my face, folding his
arms. His expression looked so spiteful, I wanted to spit on his
shoes. “When Gretchen informed me of your situation, I did some
research and discovered a spell. One that is as old as the Animus
itself. It will force Kipp’s soul to reconnect.” His eyebrows rose,
head tilted. “From what I’ve heard, his body is healed and healthy,
which means there’s no reason he won’t awaken.”

I searched Wayde’s eyes for any hit of
trickery, but dammit, I couldn’t find any. Not like that reassured
me. I didn’t trust anything about this man. I jerked my head to
Gretchen. “Is that true?”

“I…” She worried her bottom lip, staring at
Wayde, and after a long moment, she turned to me. “To be honest,
I’m not sure. I haven’t heard of such a spell.”

Exactly why I trusted Gretchen; she didn’t
feed me bullshit.

“But as I told you,” she continued. “The
Animus is where you need to be to get the answers you’re after. If
any spell existed to hold such a power to force a ghost back into
its mortal body, it would be contained here.”

Well, fuck!

I looked at Wayde. “Where is this spell?”

He strode over to couch, sitting in next to
Amelia. “Our history—magical and spiritual—is contained in a book
we call the
Lux.
”

Glancing around the large snazzy room, I
didn’t see a book of any sort. Maybe I wished I could see it so
it’d be easier to believe in. Without the visual, trusting such a
spell existed was impossible.

Before I could state as much, Wayde
continued, “The Lux is protected and hidden, since the spells and
history within have profound power. In the wrong hands, those
spells could be dangerous.”

His statement proved Wayde’s desperation,
because I doubted he wanted to share the knowledge of the Lux’s
existence with me, and I suspected the secret nature of the book
was more about control than danger. Even now, it seemed Wayde would
rather I leave than help me, but they needed me, didn’t they? And
dammit all to hell, I needed that spell.

Wayde had it right—finding Kipp didn’t bring
me any closer to solving his problem. Until now, I only wanted
discover why he left, but what would happen once Kipp came
back?

From all I had learned, there were solid
reasons why Kipp hadn’t returned to his body. The Hannah Reid
case—which felt like a lifetime ago—caused him to accept his
ghostly state to help solve her murder. Then, he became stuck
between two worlds because he didn’t belong as a ghost.

While I had it in me to say to hell with it
all, not only did I need to find Kipp, but I needed a way to fix
him. The Animus held those answers. On a sigh, I ran my hands over
my face and tears threatened to rise. When had life become so
fucked up that these were the decisions I had to make? Stay and get
involved with solving Alexander’s murder—which could very well have
been committed by someone in this room, even if that seemed
unlikely since they were trying to solve his murder—or leave and
possibly lose Kipp forever? “Tess,” Gretchen whispered.

Lowering my hands, I looked at her sad eyes
and clearly, she understood the torment running through me. But
only one thing truly mattered above all else; to put an end to this
and to regain some sort of normalcy in my life, I had to take
action.

Even if I didn’t want to give in to Wayde’s
tactics, what choice did I have? “Fine, I’ll stay, but—”

Amelia pounced off the couch and, in a
second, had me in her arms, squeezing me in a death grip. “Thank
you, Tess. Thank you.” She sobbed into my neck.

Dane turned away from the fireplace, and for
a split second, I could’ve sworn a softer edge registered along his
face. But how could that be? The man held no soul and only thought
of his own agenda.

I stepped away from Amelia and didn’t give
her a hug. I didn’t want anything from these people, except for the
spell to save Kipp. “Before I do anything, I have two
conditions.”

Wayde’s eyes narrowed. “Which are?”

“First, teach me how to go into the
Netherworld. Until I see that it works, I’m not wholeheartedly
agreeing to anything. How can I trust the spells hold the power you
claim?”

“I can agree to that request.” Wayde pushed
off the couch and settled in next to Amelia. “The other?”

“Bind the promise that you’ll give me the
spell to help Kipp.”

“Impossible.” Wayde snorted. “How will we set
out the parameters? You could say you will stay and help, but that
doesn’t mean you won’t leave tomorrow and I’ll be bound to give you
the spell. You also can’t say you’ll stay until you solve
Alexander’s murder, since you don’t know if you can.”

He had a point, so I reconsidered. “Well, I’m
not doing this without a way to trust your word.”

Wayde’s gaze lifted to the ceiling for only a
moment before he glanced at me again and that somewhat scary smile
returned. “I could promise the power does exist to reconnect your
ghost with his body, and I possess that knowledge. Would that
suffice?”

I looked at Gretchen and she nodded. Truth be
told, I did understand Wayde’s hesitation in promising anything
else to me. In his position, I wouldn’t have either. “Yes, that’ll
do.”

“Good.” He took the last two steps to reach
me as Dane sidled up to him, wrapping Amelia in a hug from behind.
“Now then, as to the other condition, are you prepared to stop
being blind to the world around you?”

My breath caught at his dark smile and I
couldn’t find my voice when he said, “Are you ready to have
everything you know, everything you believe in, turned upside
down?”

I followed Wayde and Gretchen down the dark wood
wainscoted hallway, and as I passed the formal dining room,
furnished with all the fancy fixings, I grumbled to myself. I did
not belong in this rich, historic house. I missed Memphis, and my
little condominium.

On a sigh, I headed past the doorway leading
to the kitchen, and the scent of banana bread reminded me I hadn’t
eaten in hours. Hell, I hadn’t eaten much lately, and my slightly
baggy jeans were evidence enough I needed to take better care of
myself. But with all that had happened, food hadn’t been much of a
priority.

Besides, what troubled me more was Wayde’s
statement. I suspected he might have been onto something. The day I
saw my first ghost
was
the day I, more or less, shut down.
But how could I not? Up until I met Kipp, I did my best to ignore
the ghosts trying to get my attention.

With each step along the creaky hardwood
floor, and with memories of Kipp on my mind, urgency overtook me to
talk to someone else. Especially since I assumed things were about
to get buck-ass wild, and the time to make a call would vanish.

After Wayde disappeared into a room on the
left and Gretchen nearly followed, I called, “Be there in a minute;
gotta call the boys before they start to worry.”

Gretchen glanced over her shoulder, eyebrows
raised. “I imagine they
are
worried.”

Without waiting for my response, she entered
the room, leaving me alone in the hallway. I understood; she didn’t
need my confirmation that Kipp’s fellow cops were concerned about
me. Max hadn’t been thrilled at my leaving Memphis, especially
considering he wasn’t coming with me. Of course, I hadn’t expected
this trouble when I had refused his babysitting.

I heaved a long sigh, and reached into my
pocket. After I took out my cell phone, I scrolled through my
contacts and found a person I wished could magically appear in
front of me, and then I hit the call button.

The phone rang twice before a low voice said,
“Zach.”

I smiled at the familiarity of Zach’s voice,
leaning my shoulder against the wall. “Hey, it’s me.”