Page 17 of Panther in the Shadows
"It changes everything." I round the bar, cutting off her escape route to the kitchen. Only the main entrance behind her remains, and I'm between her and the door. "You exposed yourself, Moira. The brotherhood knows you're a sea witch. But here you are, still hiding. Still pretending you can go back to serving drinks and staying out of shifter business."
"I can." Sharp now, edged with fear and anger. "I healed Declan's mate because people were dying. That doesn't mean I'm part of your world. I did what I had to do, and now I'm done."
"You think you can be done?" Leaning against the bar. She's not fooled by the casual posture. "People are dead. All near the water, all in territory I control. The brotherhood should suspect me, except they know I'm not responsible. Want to know how they know?"
Her jaw tightens. She doesn't answer.
"Because whoever's killing these people is using corrupted sea magic. The kind that mimics yours but twisted, wrong, fed on darkness until it became monstrous. You felt it at the caves, didn't you? That's why you were investigating. Because someone's using power that feels like yours to commit murder."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do." My gaze drifts over her, cataloging details. The way her pulse jumps in her throat. How her hands curl into fists at her sides. The scent of ozone building in the air around her, sharp and electric. "You found the blood on your doorstep. Three drops in a triangle. A message. Someone knows you're investigating. Someone's calling you out."
"That has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me." Another step. She backs up, hits the edge of a table. Trapped now between furniture and predator. "Bodies are appearing in my territory. My name is being dragged through accusations. Someone wants us both to take the fall—you for having sea magic, me for controlling the docks. We're being framed, Moira. You and me. Together."
"Then deal with it yourself." Her voice rises slightly. "You're the criminal mastermind. You figure it out."
"I can't." I'm invading her space now, deliberately. Close enough to smell the sea salt on her skin, to see the flecks of blue in her eyes. "Because I can't track magic. I can smell it, sense it, recognize when it's corrupted. But I can't trace it back to the source. You can. You're a sea witch. These are your waters, your domain. You know when they're being violated."
"That doesn't mean I have to get involved."
"You're already involved." My hand comes up, slow and deliberate, and I brush a strand of hair away from her face. She flinches but doesn't pull back. Can't pull back with the table behind her and me in front. "The moment you healed Eliza, you stepped out of hiding. The moment that blood appeared on your doorstep, someone made it your problem. You can pretend all you want, but you know as well as I do that whoever's doing this won't stop until Stormhaven is destroyed or you're dead."
"And you care about that why?" Her chin lifts, defiant despite the fear I can taste on the air. "The criminal who runs the docks? The panther everyone suspects of murder? Why would I trust you?"
"Because I'm not the one killing people." My hand drops to the bar beside her hip, caging her in. Not touching, but close enough that she'd have to brush against me to escape. "And because you need protection. Someone powerful enough to leave corrupted sea magic on your doorstep. Someone who knowswhere you live, what you are, how to threaten you. You really think you can handle that alone?"
Her eyes flash, anger burning through the fear. "I've been handling things alone for ten years."
"Have you?" I lean in until my mouth is beside her ear. "Because from where I'm standing, you've been hiding for ten years. Playing innkeeper. Pretending you're normal. One emergency forced you out, and now you're scrambling to crawl back into your safe little life. But it's too late for that, Moira. The brotherhood knows what you are now. The only question is whether you're going to use it or waste it."
She turns her head, meets my gaze inches away. "What do you want from me?"
"An alliance. You use your magic to help me track whoever's summoning this corrupted power. I protect you from them. Together, we find the killer and stop them before the next body turns up."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then you hide in your inn with your wards and your lies, and you pray that whoever left that blood doesn't have the power to break through." Pulling back slightly, giving her space to breathe. "Work with me. I protect you. You help me find them. We both get what we want."
"What do you get out of this?" Suspicion in every syllable.
"My reputation back. My empire secure. And the satisfaction of making whoever tried to frame me regret it." The smile that comes is all teeth. "I'm a selfish bastard, Moira. I'm not offering this out of altruism. But our interests align. We both want whoever's behind this dead or gone. We both want Stormhaven safe."
She studies my face, searching for the trap. For the lie. But I'm telling her the truth.
"I can't," she says finally. Quietly. "I can't help you."
"Can't? Or won't?"
"Both." She pushes against my chest, not hard, but enough that I step back. "You don't understand what you're asking. Getting involved with you, hunting whoever's doing this, using my power openly—it puts a target on my back that never goes away. I healed Eliza because she was dying. That's different from choosing to hunt killers with you."
"Your gran didn't hide." The words come out harsher than I intend. "She used her gifts. Protected these waters. Made bargains with the pack alpha to keep Stormhaven safe. She didn't serve drinks and pretend to be powerless."
"My gran is dead." Her voice cracks slightly, the first real emotion breaking through. "She used her power and it killed her. Whatever she faced in these waters ten years ago, it took everything she had to stop it. I watched her die, Rafe. Heard the crash from the kitchen, found her on the floor between the tables. Everyone else saw a heart attack, a woman who collapsed carrying whiskey. I felt what the magic did to her. I saw her eyes when she knew. So forgive me if I'm not eager to follow in her footsteps."
I pause. Didn't know the ocean itself consumed her. Didn't know Moira watched it happen.
