A/N: This is an updated version of this chapter. I wasn't happy with how short and choppy the original felt, so I've been working to update and flesh out the story. There's a few changes and a whole new section added, so hopefully you'll all like what I've done. Feel free to let me know what you think. I love you all!!

It was raining. It was cold. It was darkest black where the flashing police lights didn't reach. And if that wasn't enough to piss a body off, Evelyn McFahy had been on a date when the call came through from her brother at a crime scene. Granted, the date had sucked, the man in question being more concerned with his portfolio (art, not stocks) than with her, and Evie had just enough cop in her to really dislike the selfish artist type. Now she had to go look at a dead body for Charlie and pray that his partner left her alone for once. She pulled her ETRO badge on over her head and didn't even bother with her hair, which had curled in the rain, making the two hours she'd spent straightening it a complete waste of time.

"What is it Charlie?"

Her oldest brother, Charlie, met her halfway to the crime scene and sketched out the details. Dead body, no identification and no apparent cause of death. Evie took a deep breath and followed Charlie to the body. The first thing she saw was a bullet wound, but her instincts matched Charlie's that the bullet wound, while it would have hurt, wouldn't have been fatal that high on the right shoulder. Still, the corpse was drained. There was a paleness to the skin that corpses only achieved after they'd bled out. But how? Not from that tiny hole in his shoulder. Evie's spidey-senses were tingling, telling her that this was definitely an elemental or a shifter kill, but she was reluctant to say anything until she had talked to the men who called it in, three elementals. Damn. She was in a soggy silk dress, wearing heels and her once sleek hair was now stuck to her neck and breasts, even curling up under her arms as it clung to the silk. This was the last time she would let her sister-in-law set her up on a date. Not one night with one of Diane's "he's perfect for you" guys had ended well. At least this time she hadn't had to fight someone off at her front door.

With a sigh she turned away from the body and made for the three men being detained by a couple of uniforms, Charlie trailing behind her and filling her in on details.

"Three air elementals, one trainer two just past their channeling. They haven't exactly been cooperative since I've been here, but Bonner was here first so I'm not the lead on this." He shook his head at Evie's expression. "I haven't seen him go anywhere near them."

"Great way to get a witness statement," Evie said and rolled her eyes.

The elementals looked up at her as she approached, checking out her figure before noticing her badge, and Evie ignored their reactions to both.

"You guys want to tell me what you saw?" she asked, praying that her mascara was as waterproof as the bottle claimed. The three men sat on a low wall just outside the alley where the body lay and Evie could see why they had been detained, although her gut told her they were innocent. An air elemental wouldn't waste time with a gun if they wanted you dead; there would just be no more air for you to breathe.

"We already told the cops what we saw," one of the elementals griped, the youngest, Evie guessed. He was tall, but lanky and probably barely out of his teens if at all. The other two, older and definitely from the neighborhood just stared at her, waiting for her to admit she had no reason to hold them. This was the problem with being a normal human in a world of elementals and therianthropes. None of them were particularly intimidated by a woman who stood barely five foot five and couldn't even get a cab to answer her call, let alone the elements.

"Tell me once more," she said in an attempt to sound gentle, abandoning the bad ass facade.

"Give us one reason we should." The deep voice sounded strange coming out of such a boyish face, Evie thought as she switched her attention to the oldest. He didn't leer at her outfit or try to mock her. He simply demanded justification and Evie sighed, motioning for him to move over so she could sit down as well, ignoring Charlie's grumbling as he walked away to join the other detectives for some coffee.

"Look," she began, throwing professionalism out the window. "I can't collar you. I'm just ETRO. All I can do is liaise between you and the cops. Tell me what you saw and I'll make them back off."

The oldest watched her kick off her heels then moved his gaze to the crystal at her neck.

"They took ours," he said softly. Evie's hand moved to the crystal as she finally understood their anger and reluctance to help. One of the cops, under the mistaken belief that elementals used the crystals to shapeshift had taken their mating stones to make them stay. She sighed again and forced her pained toes back into the heels. She was wet, she was in pain, her date had been a bomb and now she had three elementals clamming up on her because their mating stones had been taken. Evie was officially pissed.

"Who was it?"

"The one that got here first," he answered as she stood up. She could tell he was watching to see what she would do.

Bonner.

"I'll be right back," she said in a tight voice and spun on one heel.

She stepped off the curb and crossed the street to the huddle of suits standing around the coffee traveler she had brought. Without a thought she shoved one of the detectives away, probably Charlie form the size of him, and pushed the coffee off the hood onto the street, watching with satisfaction as it exploded on the cement. All around her men jumped back and began cursing.

"Have you lost your mind, McFahy?"

Evie turned to square off with Detective Gavin Bonner, a tall, dark and handsome alpha of a man who knew it and used it, though fortunately not on Evie. He'd have never survived her three detective brothers if he had. Still, if Evie was honest, he was an attractive man with his boy-next-door smile and green eyes that always seemed to be laughing. Even his military style haircut worked for him, and Evie knew at least three women in the ETRO offices would have loved to bag him. Evie just tended to want to smack him upside the head.

"Give me the stones, Bonner."

"And watch our perps vanish?" He gave her a condescending smile and shook his head. "I don't think so, McFahy."

Evie tilted her head and stared at him. "I don't suppose it occurred to you that the vic was shot."

"I noticed," Bonner said through clenched teeth.

"You ever see an elemental waste time on a firearm? Or a shifter, for that matter."

Bonner opened his mouth to respond then stopped. He stared at her as though wishing real hard she was a man so he could deck her, then his eyes darted to her brother and all the uniforms listening in. With a sigh he rolled his eyes and pulled the pendants from his pocket to hand over to her.

"If they leave before I'm done with them it's on your head."

"I'll take their statements with Charlie, and then you'll be done with them," she said and turned away, dismissing him from her mind. Charlie followed her back across the street where she quickly returned the stones to the men.

"Thank you," the oldest said as he bent his head forward to fasten the thick chain holding his stone around his neck. "Ask your mate tonight what it's like to have your stone taken by the wrong person."

"Couldn't if I wanted to," Evie said, shaking her head. "I haven't seen him in years."

His head shot up, along with the other two, and he stared at her stone as though really seeing it for the first time. He stood and hooked a finger under the chain to hold the crystal up for a closer look, careful no to touch the stone and Evie motioned Charlie to stand back. The man's eyes went wide as he studied the scrollwork etched into the sides of the crystal and he let the stone drop.

"I know the maker of that stone. I was not aware he had mated."

"He hasn't, and please don't switch into formal speak." Evie smiled at his expression, not surprised to discover an elemental who had no idea an ETRO agent was aware of the rules to formal speech. "I hate trying to think without contractions."

The man returned her smile, slow and devastatingly wicked, and though his eyes held questions he stepped back and sat down.

"Now," he said and motioned for her to join them once again on the wall. "What do you need from us?"

Evie smiled and sat as Charlie began questioning the men, who were now amazingly cooperative. She ignored the glares from Bonner and began composing the complaints she would have to file in the morning on behalf of the elementals. She aided in the questioning, asking very little but directing the questioning to get the most accurate description of the scene before the rain had begun to pour when something occurred to her.

"The scene's been washed clean, but can you give an estimate how much blood there was before it began raining?"

The men froze and the two younger men stared at their trainer, obviously seeking direction.

"I don't recall there being much blood, really. Just a little near where he'd been shot. Why? Is that unusual for a shooting?"

Evie sighed and met Charlie's eyes. An empty corpse with no blood on the ground? Definitely not a normal kill, and Evie was more than a little concerned, especially with rumors flying around that a group of vampires, the slang term for albino shifters, had moved into the area. If word got out that a body was found drained of blood panic could ensue, putting innocent shifters in danger from the frightened masses in Persephone. Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Evie and Charlie finished their questioning and she walked the men to their car and took their personal information for her files. She promised to contact them after filing her complaints and shook their hands.

An hour and a half later saw the end of the storm as Charlie pulled up in front of the small duplex Evie shared with her twin brother and his lover.

"You okay, Evie?"

Evie smiled and looked over at Charlie in the driver's seat, nodding her head.

"The date sucked and my dress is probably ruined, but I'm fine. You can tell Diane that my night was terrible, though. Lie and tell her one of the witnesses tried to attack me," she finished with a grin. Charlie laughed and reached out to tug on a strand of damp hair. He offered to come in and keep her company, but Evie refused.

"You have a pregnant wife to go home to and I just want a long hot shower followed by some snuggle time with Sorley. Besides, if I need anything Danny and Jack are just through the wall."

"You and that dog," Charlie muttered.

"Don't knock Sorley," Evie said with a frown. "He's a sensitive beagle."

Charlie snorted in derision gave her a kiss on the cheek before she climbed down out of his SUV and walked, barefoot, up the path to her home.

She opened the door to see an ecstatic puppy chewing and growling at a sandal stolen from Danny last week. She gave Sorley a big hug, enjoying his puppy smell and welcome home licks, and dropped her purse and shoes on the kitchen counter out of Sorley's reach before heading into the bathroom and stripping out of her soggy clothes. A long hot shower and a pint of chocolate chip ice cream later Evie was fast asleep with Sorley fighting her for pillow rights. She dreamed of mating stones and the day she received hers.

Alec Davis watched as Aetius Glendower sauntered into the study and poured himself a glass of whiskey without waiting for an offer, all the while whistling an annoying tune. Aetius switched to humming as he took a sip and sank into an oversized chair and watched Alec with laughing eyes. Alec took in his friend's appearance, his normally clean-cut appearance altered by a tight black muscle shirt with black jeans and boots, making Aetius seem dangerous, which would have been laughable if Alec didn't know for a fact that his oldest friend could be quite lethal when necessary. It dawned on Alec that Aetius must have been out training tonight. Right now, though, Aetius was grinning and looking very satisfied with himself, and Alec knew if he wanted to get back to his book any time soon he'd best let Aetius talk.

"Alright, then," Alec said with a sigh. "Let's hear what you want to tell me."

Aetius stared at Alec for a long moment and the smile slowly faded, as though he was suddenly unsure of what he had planned to say. Seeming to come to a decision, Aetius stared into his drink. "I saw your mate."

"What?" Alec felt frozen. That was the last thing he had expected to hear. He saw a grin of delight blossom on his friend's face, no doubt having received the response he'd hoped for.

"She's a cop," he said. "For ETRO."

Apparently Aetius had had a full night training the newly channeled. He'd not only played with the cops, but an ETRO agent - and she belonged to Alec. Images of the small blond child he remembered holding a gun on Aetius flashed through his head and he smiled.

"She's a kid."

"That was no kid I met," Aetius said with a leer. "She looked like she'd been on a date, not waiting for a corpse to turn up. And that must have been some date." Alec's head shot up, surprise and fury battling in his eyes and Aetius laughed into his drink. His expression sobered, though, and he frowned. "She got my stone back from the cop that took it."

"They took your stone?" Alec frowned. Non-users weren't allowed to touch the mating stones carved by male elementals during their channeling. The police, especially, had been ordered by ETRO after the treaty of '35 not to use the stones as leverage to hold an elemental in custody. Apparently Alec would have to meet with the local liaison, a job unique to Persephone, to discuss this lapse in protocol. He hadn't had the chance to meet with all the local branches of the UFA and ETRO since his appointment as head of the local UFA here in Persephone City. Now he worried that this incident would prove indicative of larger problems in the the local law enforcement. He was already having to clean house within his own organization, he didn't look forward to the possibility of having to force his counterparts in the military and police to do the same.

"To keep us from flying away," Aetius answered in a dry tone, cutting through Alec's musings.

"Idiots," Alec mumbled and shook his head.

"That was her opinion too." Aetius hid a grin when he saw the small smile play across his friend's face and reached back for the decanter to refill his glass. After a moment of silence Aetius decided to push a little more. "When did you last see her?"

"She was a kid," Alec shrugged.

"How much a kid?"

"Ten at the most," he responded, feeling ever bit the dirty old man he had felt when he found her.

"You sick bastard," Aetius said jokingly. "How long ago was this?"

"I had just finished the channeling." Alec had just turned eighteen when his channeling began. After seven days of solitude and exhausting channeling in the crystal chamber he had emerged and gone to the city park, the brightest and most wide open space he could think of. He had been about to collapse on the grass near a playground when he had found her. "The marks on my stone were barely cool."

Aetius' glass slammed own on the small table beside his chair, ice clinking against the lead crystal.

"Fifteen years and you haven't claimed her?"

Alec smiled self deprecatingly and shrugged. He could understand his friend's disbelief. Few waited long for any reason to claim their stonemate after finding her, let alone over a decade. He'd had to wait at first because she was too young and he'd left for college, and later his responsibilities to the league had kept him away once she would have been old enough for him to come courting. For the first time in almost fifteen years he was back in Persephone, and now he knew she was still here, too. He didn't even have to do the math to know it was past time he claimed his mate.

"Maybe I should introduce myself," Alec said and shared a grin with Aetius as they both stood at once. "I'll drive."

Alec lay in bed, eager for daylight. Aetius had pointed out the time to him and Alec had grudgingly accepted that two in the morning was not the ideal time to head for the ETRO offices to look for his stonemate.

His stonemate. His. Mate.

How long had it been since he'd really thought of her? Too long. Alec had always accepted that he'd come back to her one day. His father knew who she was and where he could find her, so Alec hadn't bother to keep tabs on her. He wished now that he had. At eighteen, though, and fresh from his channeling, he'd been too young and too exhausted to worry about such mundane details as her name and where she lived. She belonged to him and the hard part of actually finding his stonemate was done. His thoughts drifted to the day he'd met her.

He'd just left the channeling chamber, filled with its strange glowing crystals, some attractive and some repellent. For seven days he had channeled his energy, his powers and his soul through the small white crystal, carving his family crest into one side, his personal symbol into the other. He' practiced for months on a variety of stones to be able to carve the images properly. He'd understood that one day his stone would be worn by the woman who would share his life, and he had wanted the stone to be as perfect as he could make it. When, at last, his energy had waned and the slowly, nearly perfectly carved symbols had stopped glowing Alec had collapsed to the floor. He'd crawled to the basket near the door to eat the food he'd brought with him, ignoring the now spoiled milk and focusing on the water, praying the mayonnaise in the sandwiches hadn't gone too bad, and considered his channeling. He'd expected to be in the room for a day, maybe two and had packed his food accordingly with a forty-eight hour chiller for the food. Instead, his watch read seven days, eight hours and thirty-three minutes. Seven days. He'd never heard of anyone who'd been in the chamber over two. Even his own father hadn't needed two days. He soon finished eating what was salvageable and when he had felt sure he wouldn't have to crawl on the ground, he'd placed the stone into the setting he'd commissioned and slipped the long chain over his head. With the stone safely tucked inside his shirt he'd then stood and opened the door, squinting and turning away from the sun's glare.

The crystal chamber had been built into an existing cave in the local park. Persephone Gardens was a popular park with a small river running through it and old stone buildings for visitors to picnic in and the chamber lay just in the woods, deep enough to feel secluded but close enough to civilization to be safe. Alec had stumbled away, leaving the basket behind him and headed toward the noise of children playing, desperate to see someone - anyone. When he finally reached the edge of the trees and looked out over the lawn that stretched between the river and the parking lot he'd sighed in relief. Children ran around, adults sat around picnic tables and laughed, a game of touch football was in progress at one end of the field and most of the guys looked his age. Alec had moved without realizing it, and was already headed toward the game. He planned to bum a bottle of water and sit and watch until his father could be called to come for him. He hadn't taken a phone, or indeed anything electronic, into the chamber with him. It was a known fact that technology and elemental magic clashed, violently. His watch was an old fashioned wind-up watch that he'd specifically had altered to show the date, and that was the only reason he had dared to wear it at all. Had it caused problems he'd have taken it off and thrown it outside the door, hoping to find it when he left.

He was halfway to his goal when he'd heard the crying and stopped to find the source. Standing at a nearby table had been a small girl. Delicately boned, even for a child, she'd had honey colored hair that hung in soft waves just past her small shoulders. Her skin was lightly tanned, proof that she played outside a lot, and when she looked toward him he saw that her eyes were a deep blue. Unable to resist the plea in her eyes, he moved to her side and sat on the bench to bring himself to her eye level.

"What's wrong?" he'd asked, hoping that it wasn't an issue of a lost toy. He had no energy to hunt for a missing dolly.

"Mama and Daddy said they'd be here, but they're gone..." She'd paused to gulp in a breath between her tears. "And Charlie says I'm too small to play with them," she said pointing to the football game. "So I was gonna play with Danny, but he's... gone... too."

Her words had faded into earnest tears and Alec's heart had melted a little. He hated it when girls cried, but he hated it more when he had to admit they might have a reason. He reached out to take hold of her hand and pulled her to sit beside him on the bench, ignoring the tingling that ran up his arm. He'd never heard of aftershocks of power after the channeling was done, but he figured nobody would want to talk about such... erotic side effects. He'd felt dirty thinking such things near a kid, though, and quickly dropped her hand. He passed her a napkin form the table to wipe her eyes and blow her nose, and as her tears calmed a thought had struck him.

"Would you like to see a trick?" He'd pulled his stone from under his shirt and undid the clasp. He felt the loss immediately, and knew having the girl hold it would feel less than pleasant. Having her actually wear it might physically hurt, but distracting her by the stone jumping away from her would be worth it. He'd seen it once and the guy had looked physically ill while it happened, but it had been cool enough to get a classroom full of teenage elementals to pay attention, so he'd figured it would work for one little girl.

She'd stared at the stone with big watery blue eyes and slowly her expression softened to a smile.

"Thats very pretty," she'd said politely and Alec had laughed.

"Want to try it on?"

The girl had nodded and Alec closed the clasp before he'd slipped the too long chain over her head. Nothing happened. Alec frowned and the girl had looked up at him, confused.

"Was that the trick?"

Alec just smiled at her and had shook his head. She'd murmured a small "Oh" then started humming and reached up to hold the stone. Alec had quickly braced himself, unsure what would happen, but as soon as she touched it the emptiness inside him vanished, replaced by a sense of warmth and right, and the symbols had begun to glow white hot.

"Pretty!"

Alec's eyes shot wide in horror which had quickly been replaced with awe. This was his stonemate. This little girl would grow up and be his-

He'd shut down that train of thought and stood up just in time to see four of the football players headed his way. the little girl had looked up to share the prettiness of the stone with him, but saw his attention was focused elsewhere and turned to see what the matter was.

"Charlie!" She'd hopped off the bench and run over to the tallest one who bent over to sweep her up into his arms and glared at Alec, protectiveness radiating from not only him but the other three guys as well. Alec thought to himself, I'm gonna get my ass kicked, and held up his hands and tried to appear as nonthreatening as possible. It didn't seem to work though, as Charlie spoke.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Alec Davis," Alec had answered immediately.

"Charlie, look!"

Charlie'd reluctantly turned to look at the small girl and his eyes were immediately drawn to the glowing stone. Alec watched him stiffen but held his ground when Charlie turned back to him with murder in his eyes and had handed the girl off to the next tallest and moved forward, clearly intending to pound Alec into oblivion.

"I never touched her," Alec had said quickly. "I thought it would jump off. She was crying, man."

Charlie stopped barely a foot away from Alec "And what would she have to cry about, man?"

"You tell me," Alec had answered, suddenly mad - for her, though, not for himself. "You're the ones who left her alone in the middle of the park. Why weren't you keeping her safe?"

"Charlie!"

The commanding voice had made the entire group turn as one to face an imposing man bearing down on them, an ethereal blond woman racing to keep up with him. When he'd reached Charlie's side and it was obvious to Alec that these were the parents of the brood. He'd begun to wish strongly that his own father was already there with him. He took in the two men before him, the father and son. Both tall, a good three or four inches over his own then six feet, though Alec had had hopes he'd grow another few inches. Both men had dark hair that had curled tightly over broad, sharp features that were handsome if a little rough. they were obviously of Irish descent and the only thing Alec could see they had in common with the little elf currently wearing his stone had been their eyes; the same shade of blue that reminded Alec of deep waters.

While Alec had studied the men Charlie had brought his father up to speed on the situation and when the tall man turned to his daughter Alec had noticed that the symbols had stopped glowing. He'd watched as she had smiled and gone willingly into her father's arms and he'd tried not to seem too defensive when the big man focused on him.

"What do you have to say about this?"

Alec thought carefully before speaking. "I wasn't trying to do anything but get her to stop crying. I thought it would start jumping,"

"Alec!"

He'd turned at the sound of his father's voice and been so relieved to see him that he'd immediately bowed out of the conversation and moved as far away from the girl and her glaring brothers as possible and sat down. He must have nodded off because when his father shook him awake, the whole family was gone along with his stonemate and his stone.

Alec smiled to himself once more in the darkness and wondered what she looked like. Was her hair still the color of honeyed wheat, or had it darkened over the years? Was she tall and slender? Short and curvy? He hoped she tended toward curvy. Alec liked being able to grab a good handful of his favorite parts on a woman. with a chuckle he allowed his thoughts to roam and until he drifted off to sleep.