by Jami Gray
“What kind of Kyn could cast that type of spell?” Gavin, who’d been quietly following the conversation, asked.
Cheveyo thought about it. “Wizard, of course, since they have no issues playing around with the darker aspects of magic. Numerous Fey, especially the older ones, and probably a handful of Amanusa, depending on their demonic influence.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down much.” Ryuu tapped his fingers against his leg. “Wizards are obvious and we’ve already had one run in. Amanusa thrive on chaos, but I can’t see one of Natasha’s pulling this without her approval. They’re too scared of her to do that. Does anyone know if there were any Fey who had it in for Mulcahy?”
“Mulcahy was intensely private,” Raine said, rubbing her forehead.
Gavin looked at Warrick. “Then we go after who we know is tied in, Dmitri.”
Warrick met him look for look. “We don’t know where he is.”
Xander pushed to her feet. “But we know someone who might.”
All eyes turned to her and she bared her teeth in a vicious grin. “Brant Sutler, the human who gave Sebastian the drug in the first place. We find him, we find Dmitri.”
Chapter Thirty-One
It wasn’t safe to leave Raine behind so Xander and Warrick took her with them. They left Gavin and Cheveyo to deal with Natasha. If nothing else, Natasha would rival Salome and her seven veils with her public relations dance. The poor human reporters didn’t stand a chance. As for Sector Chief Osborn of Division, well, they’d have to wait and see how much the combined efforts of Cheveyo, Gavin, and Natasha could accomplish.
Ryuu was in charge of getting rid of Sebastian’s remains before the humans came poking around. Mulcahy’s death would be shared with Division, there was no way to avoid it, but his body would remain protected until Raine was ready to make arrangements. Once Ryuu was done with Sebastian, he was heading back to the office to peel more layers away from Sutler’s current employer. If someone else was using Dmitri, they needed to know who they were ultimately dealing with.
Since it was Sunday, the consensus was to try Sutler’s home address first. He lived alone in one of the cookie cutter neighborhoods located in Hillsboro, where technology was king and almost every business had some connection to IT. The whole Stepford vibe gave Xander the creeps. Give her a place where your closest neighbor couldn’t hear you scream or, if that was out of your price range, some eclectic collection of old and new homes where being an individual wasn’t considered a sickness.
Dawn was teasing the horizon as Xander navigated their way through the still quiet city. Sutler’s place was nestled among a tree-lined street with family homes that backed up to an open field. When they found it, there was nothing to set the newer home apart. It came complete with a well-cared-for, economy sedan parked in the driveway. They drove past, noting the lighted porch and parked in the lot utilized by a group of small businesses around the corner. There were no fences standing guard on the backyards of the houses, so all three cut through the greenery to Sutler’s.
The homes sat close together, creating narrow shadowed alleyways in-between. Sutler’s house sat on a rounded corner, with a neighbor to the west and an empty space on the east side, in full view of the street. A light burned above the door on the back. Warrick and Raine stayed under the eaves, using the shadows to their advantage. After taking a minute to listen for the telltale hum of an alarm system and finding nothing but silence, Xander made quick work of the standard lock on the back door. In no time, they were standing on the tile of a small laundry room.
At first, all Xander could smell was laundry detergent and bleach, the latter making her nose itch. Until she got out of the enclosed space, she would be scent blind. Raine took point with Xander and Warrick following behind. They came out of the laundry room into a galley kitchen. Stainless steel gleamed under the soft light left on over the sink. Raine stopped where the kitchen met the yawning space of the living room. Warrick moved up beside her then turned to let Xander join them.
It was clear Sutler spent most of his time here. Cords led from the obligatory, oversized television to familiar black, hand-held game controllers strewn on the littered top of a coffee table. Haphazard shelves were crammed with games, music, and movies. A real socialite was Sutler. The mass of electronics that created their own universe were controlled by the small herd of remotes gathered on the couch.
Raine padded forward, down the hall toward where the bedrooms had to be located. On the drive over, Raine demanded to be allowed to question Sutler. Warrick reminded her that Sutler needed to remain breathing and able to communicate. Raine had snarled, Warrick had growled, and Xander had threatened to pull the car over. In the end, Warrick agreed to let Raine be the bad cop, Xander would be the good cop and he would wait on the sidelines.
However, when Raine came to an abrupt stop in the bedroom doorway and let out a low frustrated growl, Xander knew she wouldn’t get a chance to play good cop. Nudging Raine out of the way, she surveyed the disaster area that made up the bedroom. Either Sutler’s closet had a sudden case of regurgitation or someone had packed in a hurry. There were a couple of drawers open in the dresser, scoured of their contents. Plastic hangers were scattered across the floor and the bed was half made.
“Son of a bitch!” Raine stomped into the room and stuck her head in the closet.
“I’m pretty sure he’s not holed up with his shoe collection,” Xander muttered.
She left Raine to her temper tantrum and went back to Warrick in the living room.
“Since his car is in the drive, chances are he took a taxi.” Warrick leafed through a magazine as he leaned against the back of a couch, his voice oh so casual.
She took a spot next to him. This close, there was no missing the underlying tension he was keeping ruthlessly in check. “We could have Ryuu check the airport,” she said.
Warrick tossed the magazine onto the couch and shook his head. “Too much time has passed.”
“So we just let him go?” Raine asked as she came into the room.
“For now.” Warrick folded his arms across his chest and watched the other woman. “If Sutler has left, it means whoever he’s working with knows his trap has been sprung and our first stop would be here. He’s their weakest link, so they removed him.”
Raine rocked on her feet, her fists clenching and unclenching. “Wish they could have left him for us to remove.”
“Too easy,” Xander quipped. Musing out loud, she added, “If they knew their spell was triggered, do they know who it hit?”
“Probably not yet,” Warrick answered. “Once they do, they’ll come back around again.”
“So we wait?” Raine’s tone made it clear that waiting wasn’t on her to-do list.
Warrick shrugged. “For now, we leave and find another direction.” He straightened and made his way through the kitchen, presumably to the back door.
Something in his voice caught Xander’s attention. He was up to something. She sent her curiosity down their bond. He stopped and looked back over his shoulder. He gave a small shake of his head and continued to the back door. So, he was up to something, something he didn’t want to talk about here. Fine.
“What the hell?” Raine watched Warrick walk away. She turned to Xander and opened her mouth,
Xander cut her off with a sharp shake of her head. “Time to go.”
Raine’s mouth snapped shut and Xander swore she heard the sound of enamel being ground under molars, but Raine heeded her silent warning and spun on her heel, stalking toward the kitchen.
Watching Raine’s angry back, Xander gave a small sigh. Whatever plan Warrick was concocting she hoped he had a part for Raine. Her friend’s fury and grief needed an outlet damn soon or there were going to be serious repercussions. Unfortunately, whatever her alpha had planned, she had a sinking suspicion it wouldn’t be leaving her with warm fuzzies.
Warrick was the type of male who refused to let others stand in front of him. Hell, he was st
ill trying to figure out how to deal with her standing beside him, so chances were damn good there was another argument waiting to happen. One in which she would point out that letting his psycho brother anywhere near him was a bad idea, especially considering how that had turned out for Mulcahy.
Pulling the back door closed behind her, she used the time it took to get back to the car to evaluate her chances of keeping Warrick out of the way while she pulled a few strings with Raine. By the time she settled into the front seat, she still hadn’t found a solution that didn’t involved a sedative dart and locking him in a silver cage.
This time Warrick was in the driver’s seat. He started the car then paused and turned to her. “What?”
His abrupt question had her blinking. “What, what?”
“Why are you picturing me in a silver cage?”
Dammit! “You’re up to something.”
He tilted his head, considering her. “And you think that would stop me?”
Was that amusement she heard? He better not be laughing at her. “It’s a start.”
He chuckled and put the car in gear. “It wouldn’t work.”
“Would you two cut the cryptic crap and explain to me why we aren’t tearing that place apart,” Raine snapped from the backseat.
Xander turned until she could watch both the bad-tempered cat in the back and the devious wolf behind the wheel. “Warrick has a plan and he didn’t want to talk about it in the house.”
Raine snorted. “What? You think it was bugged?”
Warrick shot her a look through the rearview mirror. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way I’d rather not take the chance.”
“Fine. We’re out now, so spill.”
Xander watched Warrick’s jaw tightened at Raine’s challenge. “Raine,” she warned.
Her friend may be hurting but Xander wasn’t going to let Raine push her mate’s buttons. Not now. There were too many other things to worry about.
Raine flicked her gaze to Xander, grief deep and dark in her eyes. Her shift of attention allowed Warrick to refocus on the road. Xander met Raine’s gaze and didn’t flinch under the storm swirling in those gray depths. When Raine curled her lip in a silent snarl, Xander answered in kind. Finally, Raine turned and looked out the window.
Xander shifted her attention back to Warrick. “So how are you planning on flushing your brother out?”
“I’m going to give him what he wants.”
“Excuse me?”
The muscles in his arms flexed as he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “As soon as the news hits that Mulcahy is dead, he’ll realize his spell failed. Dmitri doesn’t like failure.”
“I wouldn’t consider killing the head of Taliesin and the Fey House a failure,” Raine snarled.
“It is if that wasn’t his intended target. Dmitri doesn’t do well when he’s thwarted. I’d bet that right now he’s trying to figure out how much information we got from Sebastian. He’s going to take comfort from the fact that he made sure to keep a middle man between him and Sebastian, so he’ll convince himself there’s no way we can link him to either the drug or Sebastian. The fact I’m still breathing isn’t going to make him happy. So if I invite him to attend tonight’s pack meeting so we can announce the decision on his petition, he’ll come.”
“Arrogant much?” Xander asked.
“Dmitri won’t be able to resist. He’ll want a ringside seat to the fallout of his plan.”
“You invite him to the meeting tonight, he’ll challenge you.” Xander wasn’t stupid. She knew it was what Warrick was hoping for. His all-teeth smile confirmed it. Her temper spiked at his obvious disregard to his safety, but she fought it back. “You want him to challenge you.”
He slid her a dark look. “You expect me to wait at Taliesin while you and Raine go out and raise enough noise to put yourselves in his sights?”
“You’re the Northwest alpha, Warrick,” she gritted out. “I expect you to understand that we have already lost one of our leaders and the possibility of losing another is not acceptable.”
A low growl rumbled through the car. “Are you implying I would lose?”
The urge to smash her head against the window rose. “No, I’m saying he won’t fight fair. He’s proven to be manipulative and devious. What’s to stop him from bringing along one of his mangy-ass mavericks or another wizard as a contingency plan? It wouldn’t take much to stash someone near the pack’s meeting place with long range rifle or have another spell in place. A silver bullet to the head or heart, or tying another nasty spell to your blood-ties, Warrick, and it won’t matter if he pulled the trigger or hired a wizard. You would still be dead.” And all that would be left for her would be blood, revenge, a shattered heart, and a cold bed.
“We can’t afford to wait for Dmitri and whoever he’s working with to instigate another attempt. We need to force him to act on our terms.”
Maybe she’d have more success if she bashed his head into a window. “And you don’t think he’ll recognize an obvious trap?”
“No. The fact I’m still breathing will compromise his logic.”
“You’re putting a lot of faith into the fact that your brother has a hard-on for your corpse,” Raine said. “Xander’s points are valid.”
“I won’t hide behind others,” Warrick snapped.
“No one’s asking you to hide,” Xander shot back. “I’m asking you to think for one godsdamn minute and listen.”
“You do realize that Xander and I can offer some valuable insight here, right?” Raine’s question contained a sarcastic edge. “It’s not like we don’t understand how to plan a successful assassination. It’s what we do, for gods’ sake.”
Tension filled the car while Xander forced her temper back so that when Warrick quit snarling she could offer cold logic to his half-assed plan. Neither she nor Raine said another word, letting him stew.
Finally, he broke. “Fine. What would you two suggest?”
Some of her tension fled. “You said it yourself. Your brother’s not stupid, arrogant maybe, but not stupid. He’s spent years putting this little plan of his into place. It’s obvious he isn’t in this alone. Sutler, the drug, the spells, all add up to big money and even bigger power. As much as we want blood for Zeke and Mulcahy, we need to eliminate the most obvious threat first, which means Dmitri and the drug have to be our primary focus. Once he’s out of the picture, we’ll turn our attention to the other players.” She knew none of this was new information to Warrick, but maybe hearing her say it would help penetrate that thick skull of his.
“Inviting him to a pack meeting to discuss his petition is way too obvious,” she continued. “You might as well just call him up and challenge him. We know he’s watching. Otherwise, there’s no way he could have gotten to Sutler so fast. There was, what, less than two hours between the explosion and when we arrived? Not much time to pack up and disappear.”
“He may have had more time,” Warrick said.
“How do you figure?”
“We’re assuming Sebastian was unknowingly working for Dmitri. When Sebastian grabbed Zeke, he called in reinforcements. Where would he get non-pack wolves?”
Too much had happened in too short a time frame. She was slipping. “Dmitri already has control of the mavericks. Getting your approval to create a pack isn’t really necessary, but it gives him a reason to reappear in your life. Which means, not only does he have access to his own personal pool of guinea pigs, but he feels protected.”
Warrick’s face was grim. “Once Sebastian called in reinforcements, Dmitri knew things were about to go south pretty quick. Chances are, after sending a couple wolves Sebastian’s way, he went and hustled Sutler out of the picture.”
“If he thinks we’re on to him, he may rabbit,” Raine said.
Warrick shook his head. “No, he’s planned this for too long. There’s no way he’d walk away now. Sebastian was his way into my pack. He was never meant to survive.”
“Did he really th
ink you’d believe Sebastian would do this all on his own?” Xander asked.
Warrick was quiet for a moment then said, “Dmitri has always been a patient hunter, but he does his best work behind the scenes. He’s waited a long time to make me pay for the death of his woman.”
“Mate,” Xander corrected, the pieces falling into place. “He considered her his mate, so he waited until you found yours.”
“He’s not going to touch you.”
There was the possessive alpha she loved so much. “He doesn’t have to. He’s taking you apart piece by piece. He’s stripped you of your Third, he’s killed one of your wolves, he’s invaded your territory and, with Mulcahy’s death, he’s isolating you from your allies. He doesn’t just want your death. He wants to destroy you.”
Raine, who’d been quietly listening, commented, “Your brother is a bit psychotic.”
Xander had to agree. Dmitri’s plan wasn’t just devious, it was downright scary in its intelligence. “He’s been studying you for a while, just waiting for the right moment.” And judging from Warrick’s expression, Dmitri wouldn’t have much longer to wait. “Your plan won’t work. Besides, as much as I hate to agree with Natasha, she’s right in one aspect. Right now, we can’t afford any more attention. Not from the humans and especially not from the Council and—”
“As far as the Council is concerned, that’s a moot point,” Raine cut in.
Xander grimaced. “True. However, we can keep as much of this mess out of the human spotlight as possible.”
“How do you figure?” Raine asked.
“We can serve Sebastian up as the scapegoat for the string of suddenly feral wolves,” Xander replied. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Natasha hasn’t already done so. Which means that Dmitri’s part in all this is known only to a handful of us. We need Dmitri to disappear quietly, no fuss, no muss. So we give him what he wants and lure him out of hiding.”