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But what was home, really? Bellamy knew Marc had probably just been talking about getting back to home base, which in this case would be the ranch where she was playing caretaker, but she thought she needed to examine the question more deeply than that. Sooner or later, her current gig would be over, and that meant she’d have to make some hard decisions about where to go once the ranch was no longer an option.

First, though, she probably needed to find a new job.

Or maybe burn as many candles to Brigid as possible as a way of assuaging her guilt.

Deep down, Bellamy knew Marc was right. If the man in the cave had turned visible again after he died, then maybe they could have thought of a way to report his death without involving either of them directly — say, by telling the authorities that they’d stumbled across his body while they were out hiking. There wouldn’t have been any real physical evidence to connect them to him, not when it had been the winds that had made the man fall to his death, so she supposed that plan probably would have worked.

But with his body remaining stubbornly invisible the entire time they’d been gathering the rocks to build his funeral cairn, they hadn’t been left with a whole lot of options.

Also, it wasn’t as if the guy had seemed too worried about knocking off the two of them. No doubt he would have buried them in shallow graves and counted it a good day’s work.

Just as they reached the parking lot, the clouds that had been steadily gathering overhead finally decided to let go. Thunder crashed, and rain began to pour down so quickly that Marc barely had time to unlock his truck before they both got soaked.

“Good timing,” she said, knowing how breathless she sounded.

“Looks that way,” he replied, then touched the ignition button. “I hate to think what would have happened if the storm had started while we were still out on the trail.”

Worst case, they probably would have been trapped for a while if one of the dry creeks really began to flow. But that hadn’t happened. They’d made it to the truck, and that meant they could drive to the ranch and shower, and then decide what to do next.

No matter what, though, she guessed they’d have to talk to the elders. They deserved to know what had happened — and she wanted to hand that silvery amulet or charm or whatever the hell it was off to them as well. Although she hadn’t noticed anything weird when she picked it up, she thought it better to have the elders deal with the thing.

Maybe they could put it in the safe next to the bronze one that enhanced your abilities. It did seem as if the two artifacts were almost polar opposites from one another, with the silver orb taking away one’s magic rather than strengthening it.

Or maybe it only affected magic that was currently operating rather than cutting it off at the source. She couldn’t know for sure, and thought that better minds than hers could figure it out.

“Once we’re cleaned up, we should probably call your grandmother,” she said after they were back on Dry Creek Road and headed toward the ranch.

Marc let out a breath, but he didn’t bother to contradict her. “Yeah, I’m not thrilled about that, but we shouldn’t keep something like this from your clan’s elders…or from Angela and Connor. And we’ll need to hand over that orb, too.”

At least he hadn’t suggested that she should keep it. While she could see how possessing such a powerful artifact might give a witch or warlock a definite advantage, she was glad Marc also thought it would be much better in more experienced hands. The twenty-dollar bill and the lottery ticket were a different matter altogether, since it was clear they were ordinary, everyday items and nothing the prima of the clan needed to worry about.

The rain followed them all the way to the ranch. Because Bellamy had grabbed both the remote for the gate and the garage from her Fiat and thrown them in her pack, they were able to pull directly into the garage and avoid getting soaked all over again. Once they were inside, they headed right for the main bathroom, where they pulled off each other’s filthy clothing and tossed it in the hamper before they got in the shower.

They kissed, and took turns massaging soap over each other’s bodies, but they both seemed to understand things shouldn’t go any further than that, not when they still needed to make contact with the elders…and probably get called to Jerome to discuss the whole mess in person. Some things just shouldn’t be handled over the phone.

That turned out to be exactly the case when Marc called his grandmother. No, he didn’t go into a lot of details, but after he informed her that the Collector’s servant wasn’t going to be any more trouble, she told him flat out that they needed to come over as fast as possible.

“I’ll have everyone else gather here,” Tricia added, her voice coming clearly enough from the phone’s speaker that Bellamy could hear her as well. “Well, not Connor and Angela. They’re up in Flagstaff today to attend a Wilcox funeral. But we elders will pass along what you’ve told us, so you don’t need to worry about waiting for them to get back to Jerome.”

Well, that was something, she supposed. The mention of a funeral made guilt stab through Bellamy again, even as she did her best to remind herself that if she hadn’t called the winds to defend herself and Marc, then both of them would probably be dead.

“All right,” he told his grandmother. “We’ll be there as fast as we can.”

“I know you will.”

He ended the call and returned the phone to his pocket. Dark eyes met hers, steady, telling her that he’d be at her side through all of this, no matter what.

“I guess we’d better get going,” he said.

Bellamy had transferred the silvery orb to her purse after they were done with their showers, so there was nothing to delay them from getting in his truck and driving up to Jerome. And although some people might have used this time to get their stories straight, Marc knew he didn’t have to worry about that. What had happened was straightforward enough, even if there was far more left unknown about the whole situation than he would have liked.

What was the identity of the thief, and what was his connection to the Collector?

Where had he gotten the orb? Was it something the Collector had given him in his quest to track down more magical artifacts, or had he stolen it recently and was planning to take it back to his master, and had died before he delivered his prize?

If that turned out to be the case, then Marc could see how the Collector might be extra pissed off to have lost one of his minions and a valuable item he’d found, all in one fell swoop.

When they were just on the outskirts of Old Town Cottonwood, Bellamy’s phone beeped from within her purse. She pulled it out and unlocked it, then read the message on the screen.

Abruptly, her face fell.

“What is it?” he asked, alarmed. Was her former boss threatening additional actions besides just firing her? Had something happened to one of her fathers, or someone else in the clan?

She put on a weak little smile that didn’t fool him for a second. “Oh, that was Ike. He said the house sold, so I’ll need to be out of there by the end of the week.”

Which was tomorrow, Mac supposed, since today was Friday.

“Wow,” he said, since he wasn’t sure how else to respond. “That was fast. Have there even been any showings since you started watching the place?”

At once, she shook her head. “No. Ike says the buyer is taking the place sight unseen. Cash offer, too, which means there won’t be any lengthy escrows or anything like that.” She was in profile to him, so he could see the way she swallowed before she continued. “I guess I need to be looking up Airbnbs, too. Either that, or move back to my dads’ apartment.”

The reluctance in her voice was obvious, and Marc thought he understood why. Sure, it seemed as if she had a great relationship with her parents, but now that she’d had a taste of freedom, she wasn’t too eager to return home and be their little girl.

“Well, there were plenty available when I looked,” he said, trying to sound encouraging without being falsely upbeat.

She looked a little more cheerful. “That’s something, I suppose. I guess I can do some research after we get past this meeting with the elders.”

He wanted to tell her that they could look for a vacation rental together, since he had to be out of his in a few more days anyway. But maybe that was asking too much.

Or maybe not. They might not have pledged to be together for all eternity yet, but he knew he couldn’t imagine a single day without Bellamy McAllister in it…and he hoped she felt the same way about him.

So he only said, “Sounds like a good idea,” and they continued their way through Clarkdale and up the hill to Jerome.

All three elders were already waiting at his grandmother’s house when Marc and Bellamy arrived, and there was a pitcher of lemonade and a set of matching glasses sitting on the coffee table.

“Thank you for coming over so quickly,” Tricia said, her tone almost formal, as if she wanted to signal that she was going to be handling the current situation as a McAllister elder and not as his grandmother.

Which he figured was fair. Bellamy was one of their own, and although Sedona was supposed to be a neutral place, it was still far more McAllister territory than anything to do with the de la Paz clan.

“It wasn’t a problem,” he replied as he and Bellamy sat down on the couch. His grandmother and Allegra occupied the two wing chairs that usually faced the sofa, while Levi was sitting in a side chair that appeared to have been brought in from the dining room.

“All right,” Levi said once they’d all poured some lemonade for themselves. “Why don’t you tell us exactly what happened?”

Marc glanced over at Bellamy, and she gave him an encouraging tilt of the head, as though she was all too happy to let him provide the narrative of their last couple of hours.

So he explained their theories about the vortexes as best he could, and how Bellamy and her cousin Bree had clearly responded to the inflow type, while he’d only experienced their true effects after spending the night at the Sky Ranch Lodge up on the Airport Mesa outflow vortex.

The elders exchanged troubled glances at getting that particular piece of news. “I suppose that’s why both the McAllisters and the Wilcoxes decided to stay away,” Allegra said. “That kind of energy is just too unpredictable for any of us to handle.”

Although Marc wasn’t so sure about that…after all, he and Bellamy and Bree had had their powers enhanced, but not in a way they hadn’t predicted…he decided now wasn’t the time to argue that point.

Instead, he described the visionary dream he’d had while sleeping at the Sky Ranch Lodge, and how he’d seen the man who’d tried to steal the amulet from Angela and Connor’s house. “Since we had an idea of where he was, we decided to go find him.”

“That was not the wisest of plans,” Levi said, golden-brown brows drawing together.

Maybe not, but Marc didn’t want to argue the point. “We knew what we were doing. We’re both experienced hikers.”

Levi’s frown remained in place. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Bellamy reached over and took Marc by the hand. Her touch made him feel a bit better — not only because he always loved to feel her skin against his, but that by doing so, she’d shown the elders that their relationship wasn’t precisely a casual one.

“We thought about letting you know what was going on,” she said. “But even Angela and Connor would have had a tough time teleporting into a place so unfamiliar to them. And we didn’t know if any of you could have managed hiking out into such rough country. So we figured we might as well go ahead and do what needed to be done.”

None of the elders seemed too happy with this observation, although at least Allegra appeared somewhat resigned, as though she knew deep down that her nearly ninety-year-old knees and back could never have gotten her all the way out to that lonely rock formation where Marc and Bellamy had found the thief.

His grandmother’s eyes narrowed, but it seemed as if she also had realized she could never have kept up with a couple of fit twenty-somethings.

And since neither Tricia nor Allegra seemed compelled to argue the point, Levi also refrained, even though he was probably the one with the most reason to.

“We hiked for almost two hours just to get out there,” Bellamy put in. “The place was really in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea how the guy even found it.”

“Some kind of magic, maybe,” Allegra suggested, but Bellamy only gave a small lift of her shoulders.

“I suppose that’s possible, even though the only real magic we saw him display was a gift of invisibility.”

“Well, that explains why none of the security systems were able to record him,” Levi said.

“And I think I have an idea of why he was able to get past the wards,” Marc added with a nod toward Bellamy.

She pulled the silvery orb out of her purse and handed it over to Levi, whose eyes narrowed as he studied the object.

“Like the amulet, I can feel that it’s very powerful,” he observed. “But what is its particular magic?”

Marc explained how the thief had spun the orb around, and as he did so, the shield magic Marc had been employing slowly began to break down. “So I suppose it’s possible he also used that thing to get past the wards. Luckily, they were strong enough that he still couldn’t get the safe out of the house.”

“Or it would have taken too long, and he realized the longer he stayed there, the greater the chance that someone might have detected him,” Tricia said. “Either way, we were very, very lucky.”

“I suppose that thing will have to go in the safe as well,” Allegra added. “If it takes our powers away, we certainly need to make sure it’s locked up.”

Marc didn’t know for sure if that was exactly what the orb did. To him, it had felt more like it was chipping away at the magic of his spell rather than attacking the gifts he held at the core of his being. However, since the end result was similar enough, he supposed there wasn’t much point in arguing about it. Most likely, the elders would study the thing — maybe with some help from the Wilcox clan’s more powerful witches and warlocks — and then realize Allegra was right, that it needed to be locked away and, with any luck, forgotten.

“So, you encountered the would-be thief, and he used the orb on you,” Levi said then, clearly determined to stick to the narrative as much as possible. “What happened after that?”

Bellamy’s lips tightened, and Marc gave her hand another reassuring squeeze. He knew she was beating herself up about the man’s death, but she shouldn’t. If the winds hadn’t come to their rescue, he very much doubted they’d be sitting here in his grandmother’s living room and relating the tale.

“I could tell we were in big trouble,” she replied, “because the guy had knives with him, and maybe worse. So…I called to the winds, and they came to us and knocked him right off the edge of the cliff. And that was the end of it.”

The elders exchanged another of those glances, and Marc got the impression they knew there was much more than that to the story.

“What about his body?” Levi asked.

“It stayed invisible,” Marc replied. “We’d been thinking about calling the authorities, trying to give them some story about how we were hiking in the area and stumbled across the corpse. There wouldn’t have been any sign of foul play, obviously. Any autopsy would have shown he died from a fall, which wouldn’t have been so strange, considering where he was camped out.”

“But then when he didn’t turn visible again,” Bellamy said, picking up the thread of the story, “we knew that wasn’t going to work. So we gathered a bunch of rocks and built a cairn for him. Maybe someone will come across it one day, and maybe not. The place where we buried the guy is way off the trail, so I don’t see any reason why anyone would even be out there.”

All three elders were silent for a moment, as if none of them was quite sure how to respond to her tale. But then Allegra spoke.

“It sounds to me as if you did everything you could,” she said, giving him and Bellamy an encouraging look. “And you brought the orb back, which can only be a good thing.”

“It is,” Tricia said briskly. “All the same, if you can give us the GPS coordinates of the cairn, we should probably have someone go out and make sure it’s not something that can easily be found.”

“I can do that,” Marc replied. “I had my tracking app going the whole time.”

The elders appeared satisfied with that response, although Levi said, “This thing with the vortexes…it’s not something we’ll want to advertise. Say nothing to anyone. I’ll talk to Bree and make sure she understands how important it is for her to keep it secret.”

Although Marc hadn’t planned to go blabbing about the connection between witch-kind and the vortexes to anyone, he nodded anyway. “No problem. We both understand now why the McAllisters and the Wilcoxes wanted to make sure no one from a witch clan lives in Sedona permanently.”

Levi’s gaze shifted to Bellamy, who sent him a lopsided smile. “And you don’t have to worry about me, either,” she told him. “I heard from Ike, the owner of the place I’ve been caretaking, as Marc and I were driving over here. He just sold the house, so I couldn’t stay there anyway. No more nights in Sedona for me.”

This news seemed to relieve all three elders. However, Tricia sounded sympathetic when she said, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. But I’m sure we can find you someplace.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem,” Bellamy replied. “I’ve already started poking around.”

Which wasn’t exactly true, since Marc knew she had been waiting until after this interview to look for Airbnbs or any other furnished rentals in the area. Still, it was close enough.

“I’m sure this whole thing must have been an ordeal for you,” Allegra said in her wispy voice. “Is there anything else you need help with?”

Marc glanced over at Bellamy, whose expression was carefully neutral. Although she was doing her best to hide it, he could guess that all she really wanted right then was to get the hell out of there.

However, it seemed she also wanted to make sure they weren’t keeping any secrets from her clan’s elders.

“We also found a lottery ticket and a twenty-dollar bill on the dead man,” she said carefully. “Would you like to keep those as well?”

“Are they magical?” Levi asked at once, and Bellamy shook her head.

“Not that I was able to tell,” she said. “But maybe you can see if you can sense anything from them.”

She sent Marc a significant glance, so he pulled the ticket and the twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and handed them over to Levi, who held them for a moment, his expression thoughtful.

“These are ordinary civilian items,” he told her before he gave them back to Marc. “There’s no need for the elders to watch over them.”

Bellamy watched as he shoved them back in his pocket, her expression almost conflicted, as if she’d been secretly hoping Levi might take them off their hands.

“Just wanted to check,” she said, then glanced over at the oldest elder, who’d watched the whole exchange with shrewd, faded eyes. “But thank you for asking, Allegra. I think what Marc and I want the most is to just put this whole thing behind us.”

“I can understand that,” his grandmother said briskly. “And it does seem as if you’ve done everything you could to make sure no civilians ever find out about what happened.”

Levi’s expression seemed to darken. “Still, I wish we could have learned more about the Collector.”

That would have been nice, but mostly, Marc and Bellamy had just been concentrating on staying alive. “Well, we know for sure that he’s a warlock, because the guy definitely referred to him as ‘he.’ And we also know they must not have had any kind of magical connection, or you would think the guy’s boss would swooped in to save him.”

“Or at least to collect the orb before it fell into our hands,” Bellamy added, her suddenly grim expression an indication that she didn’t think the Collector was too worried about the health and well-being of his servants. “But we didn’t see any sign of the man.”

“I suppose that’s a good thing,” Levi said. “I would hate to think he’s omniscient. As it is, it seems we can go on with our lives without having to do much beyond being a little more cautious.”

Marc thought he could manage that.

“But thank you for coming and speaking with us,” Allegra put in. “I think your grandmother and Levi and I have plenty to discuss.”

That seemed to be the signal that the meeting was over, which was just fine with Marc. He let go of Bellamy’s hand and rose from the couch, and she did so as well, sliding her purse strap over her shoulder at the same time.

“Just let us know if you think of anything else you need to ask us,” she said, and then they headed outside and over to the spot at the curb where Marc had left his truck.

They climbed inside, and he looked over at her. “Want to get out of here?”

“Hell, yeah.”

When they reached the bottom of the hill, rather than head down into Clarkdale or veer to the right so they’d remain on 89A, Marc instead pulled into the gas station that had sat at the roundabout there ever since Bellamy could remember.

“You need a charge?” she asked. Most of the fuel pumps had been replaced by quick-charge stations, although a couple remained for those holdouts — like Bree with her ancient Suburban — who’d refused to get rid of their internal combustion engines.

“No,” Marc said with a grin, and fished something out of his pocket. “I think we should check this.”

In his hand was the crumpled lottery ticket he’d found in the thief’s pocket, the one that Levi had inspected just a short time earlier. Bellamy stared at it blankly for a second or two, then said, “That’s yours.”

“No, it isn’t,” he replied, still smiling. “Sure, I found it, but considering we’d both be dead if it hadn’t been for your talent for calling the wind, I think you deserve it way more than I do. Go ahead — check the numbers.”

For a second or two, she only continued to look down at the ticket. Because the man hadn’t signed it, the thing was basically like cash, which meant anyone who found it could turn it in.

Still….

“It’s probably worth five bucks, if even that,” she said, and Marc only shrugged.

“Maybe so. I have a feeling, though.”

She felt her eyebrows lift. “A vision?”

“Not exactly,” he replied at once, which she probably should have already realized. As far as she’d been able to tell, his visions only came to him when he was asleep. “I know we’ve been through a lot,” he continued, his expression now earnest, “and maybe this is just a waste of time. Something is telling me you should check the ticket, though, so the only way to find out for sure is to go inside and have the clerk run the numbers for you.”

This was crazy, wasn’t it?

However, since it looked as though Marc wasn’t going to budge on this one, she decided not to argue about it, especially since she wanted to find a quiet table at a restaurant in Cottonwood and have a late lunch.

And maybe a glass of wine. Sure, she and Marc had managed to hold it together after the confrontation in the cave, but her nerves still jangled and she knew she’d probably feel better after she’d done something to calm them down.

“Okay,” she said, and got out of the truck and walked into the convenience store. It had racks filled with all kinds of junk food and the usual sunglasses display and a few shelves of car-related items, like tire-pressure gauges and mobile quick chargers.

The most important thing about the place, though, was the guy standing behind the counter, who sent her a speculative gaze as she approached. He was probably in his middle thirties, sort of gangly, and she really hoped he wouldn’t laugh at her when she handed over the ticket to have it checked.

“Can you run these numbers for me?” she asked, glad that at least she sounded normal enough. “I forgot to check online.”

Luckily, the clerk didn’t seem to see anything odd about her looking up her lottery numbers at an out-of-the-way service station in Clarkdale, and obligingly smoothed out the ticket before putting it in the machine behind the counter. A second or two passed, and then the man let out a low whistle.

“Good thing you checked,” he said. “I heard the winning ticket had been sold at a convenience store in Prescott, but no one’s claimed it yet.”

“W-winning?” Bellamy stammered, trying to figure out if the guy was pulling her leg or whether he was only telling her the simple truth.

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a grin. His teeth were a little yellow, and she wondered if he smoked or vaped, even though those vices weren’t very common anymore. “You got all six, plus the bonus number. A hundred and fifteen million.”

This couldn’t be happening, could it?

How was it possible that their thief had somehow possessed a winning lottery ticket?

Well, someone had to win, she supposed, although she knew weeks often passed when no one did and the money just rolled over to the next drawing.

As to why the dreadlocked stranger had bought the ticket in the first place, she still couldn’t hazard a guess. Maybe it was a ritual of his, a way of rolling the dice before he set out on the next mission the Collector had assigned him.

“It’s still early enough to get to Phoenix,” the clerk went on, and she stared at him as if he’d just told her to prepare for a trip to Mars or something.

“‘Phoenix’?” she repeated.

In answer, he rummaged around under the counter and then pushed a brochure across the worn laminate. “This has the address to the lottery center in Phoenix,” he explained. “With such a big win, it’s just better if you get that ticket turned in as soon as possible. And sign your name on the back — you wouldn’t want to have someone steal your millions, would you?”

Probably not. She smiled shakily as the clerk handed over a pen, and then she signed and dated the back of the ticket. The whole time, she felt like even more of a fraud, but since Marc had insisted the ticket was hers and its original owner sure as hell didn’t need it anymore, there wasn’t much else she could do.

“Thanks,” she told the man as she got out her wallet and tucked the ticket inside, then put it and the brochure back in her purse. “I guess I’d better get going.”

“For sure,” he replied. “You’ve got until five o’clock.”

And it was almost two o’clock now. The drive down to Phoenix would probably take about two hours, maybe more, depending on where in that huge urban sprawl the lottery office was even located.

She hurried outside and climbed into Marc’s truck. The monsoons hadn’t quite made it out here yet, so the day was still blazingly hot and the air conditioning felt heavenly as she closed the door behind her.

“Well…?” Marc asked.

“It’s a winner,” she said briefly, and his eyebrows lifted.

“For real?”

“For real,” she replied. “One hundred and fifteen million. The clerk said we should drive straight to Phoenix to turn it in at the lottery office there.”

Marc had kept the engine running the whole time, but he didn’t seem inclined to pull out of the parking lot quite yet. “That’s…crazy.”

“I know,” she said. “And I’m sure the elders won’t be thrilled about it. We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile, you know?”

“Oh, I know.” His head tilted slightly. “But lottery winners can request to be kept anonymous, right?”

“I’m pretty sure they can,” Bellamy replied. That knowledge steadied her a little. No one outside the clan would even have to know that she’d won millions of dollars.

Well, until she turned around and bought herself a Rolls Royce or something.

She knew she wouldn’t do anything like that, though. Her little Fiat convertible suited her just fine…although she thought maybe it would be nice to get a Wrangler, something with real four-wheel-drive so she and Marc could explore the back country whenever they liked.

Of course, that assumed he planned to stick around. With all that had happened over the past couple of days, discussions about their future had sort of been put on the back burner.

But with the threat of the Collector still out there somewhere and no one exactly sure what that mysterious warlock might try next, Marc wouldn’t leave her alone…would he?

He’d finally gotten the truck moving, heading to the right so they could stay on 89A. That made sense, because they needed to get to the intersection with Highway 260, which would take them down to the interstate through Camp Verde and then all the way into Phoenix.

The craziest thought danced in her mind. She had absolutely no idea how long it took for the people at the lottery to disburse the funds, but even if it was more than a month, that couldn’t stop them from shopping, could it? After all, she would need a permanent place to land at some point, even if her current plan had been to find a short-term rental while she got her life sorted out. And people wouldn’t think buying property would be nearly as out of character for her as acquiring a fancy car, since almost all the McAllisters eventually settled down in a house of their own.

Might as well go for broke, she thought, and see where she and Marc really stood.

She looked over at him, at his fine profile, at the dark scruff of beard that couldn’t hide the strength of his chin and jaw. Maybe he hadn’t been in her life for very long, but she certainly couldn’t imagine a world without him in it.

“Want to go house shopping with me?”

A slow smile spread across his lips.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

The Witches of Mingus Mountain series will continue with Bree’s story in Demon Loved , releasing in August 2025!