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“There’s definitely a vortex at the ranch,” Bellamy said, one fingertip touching a small blue sunburst off Dry Creek Road. “It’s not huge like the one at Red Rock Crossing or some of the others around town, but….”

“But maybe it was still enough to awaken something in you,” Marc finished for her.

They’d made it back to the Airbnb without incident and now sat at the small round table in the dining area, poring over the map Clint Greaves had given them. A couple of tumblers of water sat nearby, although neither of them had been touched yet.

Bellamy’s mouth pursed, and Marc got the feeling she wasn’t a huge fan of that interpretation of the situation. As far as any of them were concerned, your witchy powers were supposed to be the same your entire life after they manifested when you were around ten or eleven, sometimes as late as twelve. They weren’t supposed to take on new and strange dimensions over time.

But no one had really known what being exposed to the vortexes over an extended period could do to a witch or warlock. Once again, Marc wondered why those long-ago Wilcoxes and McAllisters had concluded that the area shouldn’t be settled by witch-kind. From what he’d been able to tell, the two clans hadn’t exactly been best friends back then, and arriving at any sort of an agreement should have been extremely difficult…if not downright impossible.

Maybe something about the energies in Sedona had frightened them, had made them realize they’d encountered a force they really couldn’t control. That might have been enough to keep them away.

“I suppose so,” Bellamy allowed in response to his comment, although she continued to focus on the map, nodding to herself as if what she saw confirmed suspicions she’d been harboring for a while. “And here’s another vortex at the Devil’s Bridge, so I suppose that explains that incident.”

“It’s interesting,” Marc said as he stared down at the street grid of Sedona with its overlay of little blue starbursts. “There really aren’t any in the main part of town, except for one at the very end of Uptown just before you head up into Oak Creek Canyon. I wonder why.”

“Maybe the civilians who settled here instinctively knew they shouldn’t be living right on top of a vortex,” Bellamy replied. “Or maybe it’s just that vortex energy concentrates in the wilder areas.” She paused there, lips pursing. “I think we need to go back to the ranch.”

He’d somehow known she would make that suggestion, so her comment didn’t throw him off too much. “To see how the vortex there works on you?”

“Yes,” she said. “And on you. It might be sort of against my agreement with Ike to have you staying there, but I know the vortex didn’t work on me until I’d slept there for a night, so we need to see if it does the same thing to you.”

Very scientific. Maybe he wasn’t super thrilled about being a lab rat, but on the other hand, Bellamy had survived sleeping at the ranch just fine. Yes, she’d come out of it with her gifts strangely enhanced, and yet possibly that was a good thing. His prophetic gift seemed to have taken a hike the past couple of days, and if staying at the ranch might kick it into high gear so it could show him a vision of the Collector’s minions, whoever they were, then that would put him and Bellamy in a much better position than they were now.

“Okay,” he said easily. “Just let me pack a few things.”

Was this a stupid idea? Maybe it would have been smarter to put together some camping gear and sleep under the stars by one of the other vortexes they’d seen on the map.

Problem was, none of them were located in designated camping areas. True, people camped where they weren’t supposed to all the time, but Bellamy wasn’t sure she wanted to get evicted by a Forest Service ranger while they were trying to see if the vortex energies worked on Marc as well.

Besides, she’d had her “awakening” — even though she kind of hated to think of it that way — at the ranch, so it just made sense to have him stay there with her.

It would sure be a hell of a lot more comfortable.

And since Ike had texted her overnight sometime, telling her he was going on a business trip to Singapore and might be kind of hard to reach for the next few days, it wasn’t as if she had to worry about him showing up out of nowhere and conducting a pop inspection of the property.

“All set,” Marc told her as he closed the dresser drawer where he’d stowed the clothes he’d brought along. His toiletries were already stored in the bathroom, so that part was taken care of. “Now what?”

“Well,” she said with a grin, “I did tell you I owed you a drink.”

His expression turned amused, although he sounded serious enough as he replied, “You don’t think it’ll mess with our little experiment here?”

“Of course not,” she said. “I had wine that first night I heard the voices on the wind, and we drank the night before we had our hike on the Devil’s Bridge. I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I think we’re just supposed to…sort of live our lives, I guess.”

“Don’t you think we should at least call my grandmother and let her know what happened at Red Rock Crossing?”

That probably made the most sense. They could tell Tricia about Bellamy’s experience, and then she and Marc could go off and enjoy the rest of their afternoon.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t have that drink at Sedona Vines, since she was supposed to be out dealing with a family emergency, but they’d think of something.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s give her a call.”

His grandmother sounded startled by what Bellamy had to relay, but she didn’t ask too many questions, and only said she’d pass along what she’d heard to Angela and Connor and the other elders.

“So that’s handled,” Marc said as he returned the phone to his pocket. “Where should we go have a drink?”

“Here, probably,” Bellamy replied, now looking a little shamefaced. “I mean, I called in to work because I’m supposedly in the middle of a family emergency. I’m not saying my boss has spies everywhere or anything like that, but a lot of people in this town know me from the wine tasting rooms and might say something if they saw me off partying hearty at the bar at Enchantment or whatever.”

He had to admit she had a point there. And really, this was a beautiful spot…with a beautiful wine fridge.

If that drink turned into another, and they decided to have a little fun afterward, it would be a lot easier if all they had to do was walk down the hall to the bedroom.

“Sounds good,” he said. “Let’s go see what you’ve got.”

Most of the stuff in the wine fridge was bottles she’d obviously bought at the local grocery stores or maybe Trader Joe’s, although the closest TJ’s was all the way over the mountain in Prescott. There were also a few bottles he could tell had come from local wineries, but the pinot grigio she pulled out clearly had come from Safeway.

“Is this all right?” she asked, brandishing the bottle. “I don’t have too many whites from the wineries around here, but this stuff is actually pretty good.”

“It’ll be fine,” he said.

And it was, cool and crisp and just what they needed as they sat on the patio and watched the fountain splash away in the sun. Striped lizards sat on top of the wall, clearly soaking up the rays, and the whole place felt so relaxed that it was hard for him to remember they were apparently sitting on top of a vortex here.

He didn’t feel any different. But then, Bellamy also hadn’t noticed any changes…well, until she heard voices whispering on the wind.

They sipped wine in silence for a moment. Then she said, “I think I could get used to this.”

Was she talking about being at the ranch with him, or not having to worry about being at work?

Probably a bit of both.

“I like the idea of cocooning here,” he told her. “I don’t mind not going out. And we’ll order in tonight, just to be safe.”

“DoorDash doesn’t come all the way out here,” she said, but she didn’t look too worried.

“Then we’ll call it in and I’ll go pick it up,” he replied. “That way, no one will get a single glimpse of you. Sound like a plan?”

“Sounds perfect.” She sipped some wine, expression almost contemplative as she watched the fountain’s waters dance in the sunlight, sparkling like little diamonds as they fell from tier to tier. A hummingbird approached, wings a blur as it sipped delicately from the water before it flew off again. Without looking at him, Bellamy added, “I’m kind of annoyed the voices didn’t give me any details as to what we’re supposed to be looking for. Yeah, go ahead and tell me we have enemies everywhere, but then leave me to figure it out on my own.”

“You’re not on your own,” Marc said. For a second, their gazes met, and her lips curved into a partial smile, one of acknowledgment. “I’m here, and the elders know what’s going on, so we’ll all work on this together. And everyone knows they need to stay vigilant, so I don’t think there’ll be any repeats of what happened at Connor and Angela’s house…or at my prima’s .”

Or at least, he assumed everyone in their various clans knew to be careful. He’d had a text show up on his phone not long after Zoe’s phone call to the McAllister elders, telling everyone in the de la Paz clan that there had been an attempted break-in at her house and that they needed to be watchful in case something like that occurred again. And although Bellamy hadn’t mentioned it, he had to assume Angela had probably done the same thing for her own clan.

An assumption Bellamy confirmed a moment later, since she said, “Yes, Angela posted in the group chat that there’d been some shenanigans and people should be extra vigilant. And then my dads messaged me a little bit after that, wanting to make sure I was okay. I told them I was, but….” The words trailed off, and she helped herself to a swallow of pinot grigio. “They’re worried, and I get it. They don’t like that this is happening right after their baby girl left the nest. Problem is, I don’t think there’s anything they can do to help. My dad Jordan is a civilian, and my dad Kirby is a pretty strong warlock, but his gift is finding things, which I don’t think is going to help much in this particular situation.”

Probably not. If the amulet — or the grimoires in Zoe’s library in Scottsdale — had actually been stolen, then maybe Kirby could have helped track them down.

Determining the identities of the thieves involved?

Not so much.

“Well, I understand why they’d be concerned,” Marc said. “A lot of this would be frightening enough on its own without also worrying that their only daughter is out of the house for the first time.”

Once again, Bellamy’s clear gray eyes caught his, and held. A secretive little smile played around her mouth as she replied, “Except that I’m not exactly living on my own right now, am I?”

Officially, she was supposed to be. But he would be staying here tonight, and he guessed she’d want him to stay the next night as well. After that?

He supposed he’d have to see what happened next, but with the ranch’s owner out of the country and no one checking on what she was up to, Marc thought it didn’t make much sense for him to keep paying for the Airbnb if he wasn’t even using it.

Well, they could figure that out later. It wasn’t as if he was hurting for cash or anything close to it.

“I guess not,” he said. “And I think I like playing house with you.”

Her eyes glinted, or maybe that was just a reflection from the dancing waters of the pond. “You do?”

“Very much.”

He set down his glass of wine and went over to her, taking her by the hands so she was standing as well and it would be easier to pull her into his arms and kiss her, tasting the tartness of the pinot grigio on her tongue…feeling how his body responded as she pressed against him.

No words, but she took him by the hand and led him inside, moving quickly through the living room and down a hall that passed an office and a media room, and terminated in what he guessed was the master suite. It was a big space, maybe twenty by twenty, with a plaster kiva-style fireplace in one corner and a huge square canvas of what he thought might be Cathedral Rock hanging above the equally enormous bed.

After that, he didn’t have much opportunity to pay attention to the decor, because Bellamy was tugging at his belt so she could pull it loose, her fingers flying down the buttons of his 501s. At the same time, he unfastened the button and zipper of her cargo shorts, and soon enough, they were on the floor, along with the sleeveless cotton blouse she wore and his T-shirt with the “Ski Mt. Lemmon” legend on it.

They fell onto the bed, which was big and billowy, much more luxurious than the mattress at his Airbnb…or his bed at home, to be honest. She kissed him on his throat, and then her kisses were moving down his chest, lower and lower, until she came to his boxer briefs, which she pulled down with little ceremony so she could take him into her mouth.

She’d done this to him before, but it felt even better this time. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the simple realization that he loved his woman more than he’d ever thought he could love anyone, that it didn’t matter if they were chasing vortexes or eating Thai or simply being — every moment with Bellamy McAllister was perfect.

Just as she was utterly perfect now, bringing him close to a climax and then drawing back so she could remove her underwear and sink down onto him.

God, that was amazing. He reached up to her caress her breasts, which were high and rounded but not overly large, each of them just the perfect size to fit into his cupped palms. She moaned, back arching as he touched her and she rode him, and he knew this was exactly what he’d needed…what they’d both needed.

He could feel the orgasm on its way, his body pulsing with heat and need and sensation. Their fingers knotted together, and they held on when they both climaxed, with her coming maybe a second or two before he did. But they rode it out together, hands still clasped, until at last she let out a sigh and climbed off him so she could fall onto the bed, body pressed against his.

“How’d you know that was exactly what I needed?” she asked, and he bent to kiss her.

“Because it was just what I needed, too.”

They got burgers to go from Nick’s because it was close and they both wanted something hearty and fun after that afternoon’s activities. Or rather, Bellamy called in the order and Marc went to go pick it up, since they were still doing their best to maintain the fiction that she was off handling some mythical family emergency.

Actually, she supposed it wasn’t that mythical when you got right down to it, but the situation wasn’t exactly something she could discuss with her civilian boss.

It was fun to sit at the big dining table and watch as the twilight faded into night, though, and to share another of the bottles they’d gotten during their visit to the various tasting rooms in Page Springs. If she’d been alone here, she might have been a lot more hinky about the gathering darkness outside, or how the nearest neighbor wasn’t close enough to hear her if she screamed for help, but now that she knew Marc would be staying the night, the place felt downright cozy.

“And I suppose we’ll see tomorrow morning if this place has worked its magic on you,” she said, then took a bite of her Guinness burger, messy with sautéed onions and gorgeously gooey cheese.

He nodded, expression thoughtful. “It’ll be interesting to find out. If it kicks my visions into overdrive, that can only be a good thing. They’ve been pretty quiet ever since those dreams I had down in Tucson.”

Come to think of it, he was right. Bellamy had to believe that if Marc had had any prophetic dreams since coming to the Verde Valley, he would have told her about them, but that didn’t seem to have happened.

Too bad, because a dream that showed what the Collector looked like and exactly where they could find him would have been pretty helpful.

True, she knew visions didn’t always work that way, but a girl could hope.

“I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see,” she said.

“I suppose so,” he echoed, then reached over to pick up his glass of zinfandel. It worked great with the burgers, and even though they were drinking the only bottle they’d bought, it wasn’t as if they’d have to drive too far to go back to Javelina Leap and buy another one.

Or two…or three….

After dinner, they headed into the living room to watch a movie on the enormous TV mounted on one wall, bigger than anything she’d ever seen before. With a television like that, who needed to go to the movies?

So they snuggled on the couch and watched some silly action film, the sort of thing she wouldn’t have chosen for herself but was entertaining enough. And afterward, they went to bed, falling into each other’s arms and making slow, languorous love until they both basically passed out while still clinging together.

The next morning, Bellamy didn’t think she felt any different — well, except for enjoying the afterglow of being spectacularly laid several times the day before — but this experiment wasn’t really about her, not when she already knew the vortex here at the ranch had woken up corners of her magical gift she hadn’t even known existed.

No, this was all about Marc.

He roused next to her, eyes opening as he stared up at the tongue-and-groove detailing on the ceiling.

“Well?” she said.

A blink, and then he gave a lift of his shoulders, just heavy enough with muscle to make him appear damn good either in or out of a shirt, but not so much that he looked like one of those guys who spent every spare moment in the gym.

“No dreams,” he replied, and a wave of disappointment went through her, even though she’d tried to prepare herself, knowing that everything they were doing right now was pretty much a shot in the dark.

“Nothing at all?”

He pushed himself up to a sitting position and pulled in a breath, almost as if he was centering himself to assess his current physical and mental condition.

“Nothing that I remember,” he said. “I mean, I slept great, but I know that’s not the outcome we were hoping for.”

At once, she leaned over and pressed a kiss against his cheek. “It’s okay. We’re all flying blind here. And a decent night’s sleep is always a good thing, especially since we don’t know what we’ll be facing today.”

If it was even anything at all. Neither of them had heard through their various clan networks that any other incursions had occurred, so maybe the Collector’s would-be thieves had already exhausted their bag of tricks.

Or maybe they’d only retreated so they could regroup and figure out a new plan of attack.

Marc still looked troubled. “I was really hoping being here at the vortex would get my visions going again. But so far… nada. ”

“Well,” Bellamy said, doing her best to sound much more upbeat than she felt, “it’s not as if we knew for sure what was going to happen. I think the best thing we can do now is get some coffee in us and have breakfast.”

“You’ve got supplies for that?” he asked, looking a little surprised.

Not that she could blame him. They’d been going out or bringing home takeout this whole time, with not a single mention of putting something together here at the house. He probably thought there wasn’t a single speck of real food at the ranch, except maybe those Kind bars they’d taken with them to Devil’s Bridge the other day.

“A few things,” she said. “I mean, don’t expect pancakes or waffles or anything. But I can make eggs and toast and bacon, if you’re cool with that.”

She figured he probably would be — so far, she hadn’t seen a single hint of dietary restrictions about him — so when he nodded, she wasn’t surprised.

“Okay, then,” she went on. “Let’s have breakfast, and then we can figure out what our day is supposed to look like.”

And hope it would be as blissfully quiet as their morning had been so far.