She’d gotten dressed, which Cameron considered a terrible shame. A go bag had materialized from her vehicle, packed with a change of clothes and dog food for a very hungry Charlie. Nothing more attractive than competence. And she just keeps getting hotter. Now she cradled his I Drink Coffee for Your Protection mug between her hands as she leaned on the desk again.
Cameron rested his backside on the top of the desk next to her as he examined the wall. “Mm. I can see that, now you’ve pointed it out. Easier to look at this way.”
“Infinitely.” A curl of steam wafted up from the cup as she blew across it. “What I’m seeing doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why not? It looks a lot like what Kayla described, to me. Four quarters, four jar prints.”
“On the surface, yes. But there’s something missing from the big picture. The target.”
That confused him. “Weren’t the victims the targets?”
“Wrong kind of target.” She took a sip of her coffee, made a noise of pleasure, then continued to explain. “The target of the ritual. The person or people who’d benefit from the power being raised. Like in the first ritual. The targets were the ones who became shadow wolves. Kiplinger raised power with the sacrifices and tied it to himself, I’m pretty sure the jars helped him focus it, then he directed it to the targets to change them.”
“Is that common?”
“It is in ritual magic.” Her lips flattened. “This ritual is very different than the first one, when you drill it down past appearances. I think I’m missing something. At first, I thought the shadow wolves had to be the targets. Derek said someone had commanded him to kill the rest of the pack. But this ritual... It doesn’t make any sense to raise power with four difficult, diverse sacrifices, only to give a vague order that you can’t guarantee will have the effect you want.”
“We know Kiplinger likes to turn the pack against itself. And it damn near did work. Kayla would have taken Noah out, if we hadn’t gotten there while he stalled for time.” An idea struck him. “Oh, shit, Noah. I thought he would have called me by now. Where is my phone?”
“Probably with my phone. Wherever that is. I didn’t feel it in my pants when I picked them up... Living room, maybe?”
They piled downstairs, downing coffee as they went. Guilt nagged him when he saw the time on the clock. I didn’t mean to be out of touch this long. Damn it. He found his phone wedged between two couch cushions, where he assumed it had fallen out of his pocket and ended up buried as they’d ridden each other above it. Sonja dug hers out from under the same couch.
She frowned. “I’m surprised this thing hasn’t melted from all the texts and missed calls.”
Cameron scanned through his list. “Noah’s called me four times. Nothing from Dani, but she was up later than we were. Rest of the pack guards have checked in, everyone’s accounted for...” He touched one of Noah’s notifications on the screen so the phone would put a call through.
One ring had barely finished before Noah answered. “I was giving you another hour before I sent someone to your house. You all right?”
“It was a long night.” He wandered from the living room into the kitchen to give Sonja space to place her own calls. “I should ask you the same question.”
“The leg has stopped bleeding, and hurts less than before. Not sure about my heart.”
“I hear that.”
“Peter says he doesn’t like the look of how my leg’s healing, though. The area around it turned darker. Almost like there’s a bruise underneath it, but not quite. And it’s still not as sore as I’d expect. In fact, the wound is kind of numb.”
Cameron blinked at the stove across from him, since it happened to be in his line of sight. “We know why?”
“Not really. It was Kayla who scratched me, though. Might be the shadow wolf magic.”
“And Kayla? Derek?” Cameron dreaded the answer. He turned around to head back to the living room. Privacy time had ended.
“Awake and angry. They haven’t shifted back to normal, and the alpha shift isn’t working on them. There’s more, though. I got a call from one of the local witches, asking what happened last night. When I asked why, she said the local energy slingers are getting sick.”
“Okay. Just a minute, boss. Let me get some information from Sonja.”
“You need to call me back so you can get in touch with her?”
“No. She’s in the living room.”
“...at your house?”
“That’s where I keep my living room these days, yeah.”
Her conversations hadn’t gone any better, he could tell. She sat on the couch, phone pressed to her ear with one hand while the other rubbed her forehead. “—but not Nicola?” she was saying. When she saw Cameron flag her down, she said, “I’ll call you back, Chen. I’ve got more information coming in,” then terminated the call.
Cameron put the call on speaker mode. “You’re on speaker now, Noah. Sonja, Noah got a call from one of the local witches. He said they’re getting sick.”
“Fuck.” She gestured to her phone as if it had offended her sensibilities. “I have messages from more than a dozen practitioners in the city, or people close to them. All of them say the same thing. Anyone who’s dipped into the local energy since last night has fallen ill. Weakness. Blackened veins. Unusual emotions and urges.”
“What the hell could cause that?”
“My best guess? Whatever they did in that ritual has affected the local ley lines. The rivers of power in the area, where our practitioners pull their energy from.”
Cameron remembered the river in his dream, the glowing torrent of water over the ground that defied gravity to course uphill on the mountain. Silver-white and luminous, but for where shadow tainted it to turn it an unholy black. “I think you’re onto something there.”
“So what does that mean?”
Sonja leaned back on the couch. “It means I need to get a better look at the site of that ritual. I have never heard of anyone managing to corrupt ley lines. Not in a place as dense with power as Tacoma. That tells me it’s most likely temporary, until the natural flow clears out the pollution. The problem is, ‘temporary’ could mean ‘hours’ or ‘weeks’. That won’t help our friends fast enough.”
Cameron pursed his lips. “How do we fix this faster?”
“I won’t know for sure until I have more information. Again, best guess? We destroy the source of the corruption. Just like you would with a water main pouring out contaminated water.”
“So we’re back to killing Kiplinger.”
“If he’s the source, yes, and probably destroying those jars for good measure. I don’t know what they do exactly, but I can say I’m not a fan of what they’ve done so far.”
“Me, either.” Cameron could hear the growl in Noah’s voice even over the phone. “Thanks, Carter. If you’re still interested in helping, could you head out and look over that ritual site again? We’re flying blind, and I wouldn’t know what I was looking at.”
“Sure thing, Noah. I’ll follow up on the magical side.”
“Thank you. Cam? Can you get over to my place?”
Cameron glanced at Sonja, who nodded. He said, “I can do that, boss. What do you have in mind?”
“I want to turn over some rocks. We’ve been polite in our search for Kiplinger so far. I’m regretting that decision. Someone has to have information after last night. Let’s shake some loose.”
Cameron frowned. Noah had a temper that burned hot and fierce when lit. When Kayla had disappeared, he’d lobbied to the point of near rebellion for outright war with the vampires. Cameron had spent a year preventing it for the good of the city’s paranormal community. Today, he didn’t know if he had that much fight in him. How can I keep you from doing stupid shit when I want to tear their throats out just as badly?
But maybe the time for that had come. “All right. I’ll be there soon. Rest your leg until I get there.”
“See you in a few.”
His chuckle had no humor in it. “Yeah. It’s surely that. I’ll try to keep him from burning the city down.”
“I’d appreciate that. If I never have to move in the winter again, it’ll be too soon.” Her gaze caught his in the short silence that followed. Her thoughts remained opaque to him, guarded, walled up behind a neutral expression and dark eyes. Then she said, “Just be careful, all right? Keep yourself safe.”
“That’s not my job, Sunny. My job’s keeping my alpha and my pack safe.”
“You keep them safe. Who keeps you safe?”
“I can’t protect anyone else if I’m dead, can I? So I’m careful by default. Don’t worry. We’re just asking questions, that’s all.”
“Mph. You’re going to ask questions like I ask questions sometimes.” She leaned forward to snag her shoe from under the coffee table.
“Politely, with blandishments and compliments?”
“Oh, yes. I’m very polite. I invite them in for tea and knuckle sandwiches.”
Cameron laughed, but he couldn’t disagree. Not with the fact that she gave them, or that he intended to hand some out himself.
She still wouldn’t let him drive. He razzed her about it as they drove to Noah’s house, but he found he didn’t mind so much as he expected to. One too many accidents – just one, and that was enough – with someone else at the wheel had left him a very reluctant passenger. Sonja’s control over her vehicle put him at ease. It helped the Humvee could probably have withstood a direct impact from a nuclear warhead without more than a sense of mild irritation afterward.
Cameron was a little sorry when they pulled up in front of Noah’s house. It meant they had to part ways. Just for a while, he told himself. She said she’d give you a chance. “Someone should be up at Glenn’s place still. Dani might have headed home for a break, but she said she would get people to spell her out. Make sure they’re all right when you go up there, will you? They’ll tell me they are, but you know how it is.”
“Mm-hmm. I have a bit of experience with that. Try to keep Noah from burning the town down, will you?”
“What about if I do it?”
“Look, I’ll go as high as half the town, and that, only because it’s you. Any more than that, and we’re going to have words.” Her smirk tugged up the corners of her lips.
He couldn’t help but lean in to steal a kiss. When she smirked like that, his pants got tight and his mind did a swan dive into the gutter. “Can I bribe you for more?”
“It’s a distinct possibility.” Another kiss. This one lingered between them, long and heated and full of repressed desire, until his cock ached from pressing against the front of his jeans. As the kiss ended, he found himself staring into her deep brown eyes. “Be careful. I mean it.”
“I promise to be careful. I’ll see you later?” He wondered if he sounded too hopeful. Pathetic, you mean. Like a kid in high school all over again. Are you going to ask her if you can sit at the same table for lunch?
Whatever she heard in his voice made her smile. Not a wry quirk of the mouth, or a smug smirk. A real smile that left his chest tight. “Count on it. I’ll call you when I’ve learned more.”
“If we find anything first, I’ll give you a shout.” One more kiss. He couldn’t help it. By the way she pressed her lips harder to his, she didn’t mind.
She did laugh when they broke free of it. “Your dad is waiting for you at the door. Better get in before curfew.”
“My dad? What— Oh.” He glanced out to see Noah standing in the doorway of the house. “Great.”
“He’s going to ground you. Will you check on Derek for me while you’re here?”
“No problem. Drive safe. Later, Charlie.”
The shepherd grinned a doggy grin and slorped Cameron’s face.
Cameron wiped the dog spit off his cheek as he headed for the door. He had to admit, Noah did look like his dad standing there, arms crossed, bemused expression on his face. “Were you making out with Sonja Carter?”
“Don’t start. Don’t even start with me, Noah.” Cameron stared at him.
“Not to mention how you apparently stayed the night with her.”
“What’d I just say? That part about not starting with me?”
“Hell with that. What is going on with you and her?”
Cameron gave a tight sigh. Noah wouldn’t let this go until Cameron had eaten both their shares of humble pie. “I like her, all right? She’s smart. Resourceful. Strong. She’s good company, and she helped me pull out of being a mess last night. I was wrong about her, and I’ve changed my mind. Happy?”
“Yeah, actually.” Noah stepped out of the doorway so Cameron could walk in. “Though not for the reason you think. In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve had, what, two girlfriends? Three? Not one of them for more than a year. I’m happy because you look happy. You two serious?”
“It was just one night, boss. Might be too soon to call it serious. But... We agreed to get to know each other. I’m hoping to stay with her again tonight.”
“Serious enough for me. She thought about joining the pack?”
Noah walked toward the living room with a faint limp. Cameron followed. “We didn’t talk about it. I doubt it.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Not as much as it did.” The couch creaked as Cameron sat in it. “I dunno. I get the idea there’s a world of shit she doesn’t tell anyone. Stuff she keeps really close to the vest. Could be she’ll tell me eventually. I don’t understand, not yet, but maybe I could.”
“If it’s any comfort, there’s still stuff Kayla won’t tell me about the year she was away. It will take time.” Noah looked toward the door, though Cameron doubted Noah saw much. He was looking into his own memories, where he remembered the pain of a mate missing for month after month.
The mate he had locked in the basement last night before Kayla could hurt them all. “How are she and Derek doing?” Cameron asked gently.
“Same as before. I looked in on them a few minutes ago. Crouching in their cells, staring at the door. They growl when I come in. I got them to drink some water, though.”
“That’s a start. We’ll get them sorted, Noah.”
“God, I hope so.” Noah’s hand clenched hard enough for his knuckles to turn white. “She’s been through enough, Cam. Kiplinger put her through enough. Maybe I was a fucking idiot to think he might leave her alone. He was gone for months. I thought he had seen the pack had real leadership now, and we’d gotten rid of his traitors—”
The words ended as Noah all but bit them off. One of those traitors had been his best friend. Cameron took a deep breath. “You thought we’d driven him off like a scared rabbit.”
“And now he has her again. He’s keeping her prisoner in her own body. In our home.”
“Listen to me.” Cameron leaned forward. “He can’t get away from us this time. He has committed to whatever he has in mind. We are going to hunt him down and feed him his own balls.”
“I am ending it this time, Cam. Whatever it takes.” Noah caught Cameron’s gaze. The alpha’s eyes had turned wolf gold. Lupine teeth shaped his mouth such that speech took on an eerie snarl. “It ends today.”
“As you say, alpha,” Cameron murmured.
Cameron’s phone chimed. He dug it out of his pocket. Unknown number. Another day, he might send it to voicemail. Too much shit had come up for him to ignore a call. “Roswell.”
Cameron disliked the sound of the man on the other end of the line from the first word he spoke. He sounded like he had a used car to sell, one with three wheels and a melted transmission. “Ah, is this Cameron Roswell? You said ‘Roswell’ but I like to confirm.”
“I’m Cameron Roswell, yes. Who is this?”
“This is Lewis Pearson. From the Coroner’s Office. You were listed as a contact for four bodies th
at came in last night.”
That explained it. Sonja had said she didn’t trust the man. Cameron could hear why. “That’s correct.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but there’s been a problem with the storage of the bodies.”
Cameron’s jaw clenched. “What kind of problem?”
“Nothing terrible. But it’s important. I’m getting some scrutiny here, so I’m going to relocate the bodies to a different facility. I need you to sign a permission form to say I had clearance to do it. So we can keep them discreet while we observe the legalities.”
“Scrutiny?”
“From my bosses. Four bodies suddenly in the cooler? It attracts attention. I don’t usually have to process so many with, ah, special discretion at once. I need to get them out of here.” The voice spoke at a rapid murmur. “If I don’t relocate them in the next couple hours, there’s going to be trouble. Either you come sign the forms so I can do this how you guys wanted it, or I dump them in the Sound. I’m not taking a fall for you.”
Cameron bristled. How Sonja could deal with people like this, he didn’t know. Even if it had come in handy last night. “All right, keep your pants on. I’ll be there within the hour to sign your paper. We won’t have problems after that, will we? Because I know you were paid to deal with this, and if you can’t do it...”
“There won’t be any problems after you come down here. You want it legal, there’s hoops to jump through. It’ll be taken care of. I’ll text you the address.”
“Good. I’ll be there soon.” He killed the connection.
Noah raised an eyebrow.
“There’s a coroner in the city who will process unusual bodies on the quiet. It’s legal, with all the paperwork.” Unusual bodies. Or a biter’s accidentally drained dinner, either. Cameron tried not to think about that. “That was the guy. I have to go sign papers so he can move them to another facility. Bosses are getting nosey.”
“Let me go with you. We can start nosing around ourselves when we leave the morgue.”
“Might be a little early to start that. Sun’s still up.”
“Then we talk to the human servants. Ask some questions while the vampires are asleep. Get a jump on it.” Noah sighed. “I can’t just sit here until nightfall. I need to do something, Cam.”
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