Before Dawn

by Olivia Hutchinson

  Lila's pale face darkened with anger and she opened her mouth to speak when Gabriel cut her off. "Lila, if the police get involved it will only put them in danger. Warlocks will kill without regard to human life, especially if humans come around snooping. From the outside, it will appear as if she just vanished. Only the people in this room will know the truth."

  Lila’s fists were clenched at her sides when she met Gabriel’s eyes, but then she deflated. “I want her back,” she said softly.

  "I don't know how we can find her. We don't even know where their compounds are, and we've been looking for them for some time now. They are shielded by magic, and I'm sure they will be well protected. The only thing we can do right now is prevent it from happening again by assigning each of your friends a protector and splitting up," Gabriel said.

  A protector? Lord, Gabriel would get them all killed if he wasn’t careful.

  2

  Natalie couldn’t tear her eyes off the newcomer. He stood there, watching the exchange between Lila and Gabriel with sympathy in his eyes. He was tall, much taller than her with a chiseled jaw and bright blue eyes that stared at her as if she were the only person in the room. The only one that mattered.

  She couldn’t remember a time when a man had ever looked at her like that. Her breath caught in her throat.

  His jeans hung low on his hips and the black long-sleeved t-shirt he wore strained around his arms and his chest but hung loosely around his trim waist. His light brown boots were quiet on Lila's hardwood when he walked in the front door. She was the last person to realize he was even there.

  The man's face changed as Gabriel spoke about them splitting up. At first, she thought he would protest, but then he seemed resigned. Who was he?

  “The Council you spoke of before,” Lila said to Gabriel. “Why don’t they do anything about the warlocks?”

  The sexy stranger laughed. The rich sound jolted her. "The Council? They're weak and divided. My father sits on the Council as the werewolf faction leader, but he's had no luck bringing the other leaders together to form any kind of unified front against them. Warlocks are manipulative and power hungry. Dis, their leader, plays them for fools, spewing out nothing but lies in order to keep them pacified. The Council spends so much time worrying about being exposed to humans that they don’t see the threat amongst them.”

  Being exposed to humans? Wasn’t that exactly what had just happened in Lila’s living room?

  Fear churned her gut. Andrea missing changed things. At first, she was curious about the werewolves and the warlocks, but she hadn’t been afraid. Andrea had vanished, a victim of warlocks. There was no way Natalie was just going to wait for them to come for her. She had no idea what she was going to do, but the thought of driving to North Carolina crossed her mind.

  She hesitated, not wanting to drag Nikki and her parents into this mess either. Natalie didn’t know what she was going to do, but she was going to have to figure it out fast.

  “I’m going to stay here with Lila,” Gabriel declared. “Beth will go with Kaleb and Declan will take Natalie.”

  Declan was his name. She looked at the stranger, realizing in that instant that he was perhaps her safest bet. Granted, she didn’t know him, but she wasn’t scared of him either, even knowing what he was. He had gone looking for Andrea and seemed deeply bothered by her disappearance. He was large, and she could easily see him whooping serious ass if need be.

  “We need to talk,” Declan said, nodding toward the door. The men disappeared through it, leaving the three women inside.

  Natalie followed Lila into the kitchen with Beth on her heels.

  “Are you okay with this plan?” Beth asked.

  Lila nodded, putting her empty coffee mug in the sink. “I trust Gabriel.”

  “But what about Declan and Kaleb? Do you trust them?” Natalie asked.

  “Yes.”

  It was settled then. With a nod, Natalie said, “Then that’s all I need to know.”

  Beth blew out a harsh breath, still struggling with the idea of going with Kaleb. Beth was hard-headed and independent. Natalie imagined it was difficult for her. “I’d much rather pack a bag and take off to the beach for a few weeks. I could fly down to Florida and see my parents.”

  “And what would happen to your parents if the warlocks found you there?” Lila asked with the shake of her head. It was the same questions Natalie had been about to ask. “They’re not just in Maine; from what I understand, they’re all over the place.”

  Beth stared at the floor, a frown on her face. “I don’t want to go with him,” Beth bit out finally.

  "Why?" Natalie asked. "Kaleb's always been nice to us." She didn't understand Beth's reservations, but she didn't prod either. Something had transpired between the two of them a few years ago, and Natalie hadn't prodded then either. If it were something Beth wanted her to know, Beth would tell her. Natalie turned to Lila then. "You're on vacation this week, right?"

  “Yes,” Lila said with a nod. “When are you supposed to go back?”

  "Not until next weekend at the hospital, but I’m supposed to work Thursday at the retirement home. I haven't called out once in the last three years, so I don't think they'll say anything if I'm gone for a few days. I just hope it's not too long." Gabriel had mentioned three weeks, but she was hoping it wouldn’t take that long for life to go back to normal.

  “I lost the eight hours I picked up today. I’m supposed to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next week,” Beth said. She worked at the hospital with Lila and Natalie but in the lab.

  “You may have to call out or put in for a leave of absence,” Lila told her.

  Natalie shook her head. The hospital they worked at was small. Everyone knew everyone and knew who hung around with whom. They’d all end up fired if they all disappeared on leave. “We can’t all go out on leave.”

  “Let’s cross that bridge when we get there,” Lila suggested, clearly out of ideas. “Maybe it’ll be okay since at the hospital at least you’re surrounded by people?”

  Beth was groaning when the screen door opened again. Declan waved to Natalie, so she abandoned her friends in the kitchen and met him next to the bookshelves in the living room.

  “I haven’t introduced himself,” he said, holding his hand out. “I’m Declan Azarov. I’m Gabriel’s and Kaleb’s cousin.”

  “Natalie Everhart,” she said, putting her small hand in his much larger one. It was a smooth, steady shake with just the right amount of firmness to it. No limp wrists here. He didn't treat her like a doll, and he didn't break her knuckles. Perfect.

  Her daddy always said you could tell a lot about a man by the way he shook someone’s hand.

  “We’ll swing by your place and get your stuff. I have to be in Boston at the Council House tomorrow. How do you feel about going?”

  She was taken aback. “Boston?”

  His gaze swept over her. “You don’t seem the type to scare easily.”

  “I don’t know about that.” She couldn’t contain a nervous laugh that bubbled from her lips. It was hard for her to decide whether or not she wanted to know what he was thinking. She leaned toward not.

  With a resounding sigh, he said, “We’ll talk about it.”

  Beth came up and grabbed Natalie’s wrist, pulling her away from Declan. Natalie glanced at him over her shoulder as her friend tugged her halfway across the room to get her out of earshot, although she was reasonably sure he could hear everything they were discussing anyway.

  “Are you okay?” Beth asked her.

  She nodded. “I am. We’re going to Boston.”

  “Boston?”

  “Yeah,” Natalie said, biting her lip. “Something about the Council. I’m just going to go with it.” If the werewolf was willing to ensure her safety, she shouldn’t get in his way of doing what he needed to do. Right? She shrugged and then whispered, “If I think about this too much, I may lose my nerve.”

  Beth frowned at her, her brows drawing tog
ether in obvious displeasure, but then wrapped her arms around her, pulling Natalie into a tight hug. “Text me,” Beth said against her ear before releasing her.

  “I will.”

  Beth left her there, staring after her as she went out the door, seemingly unconcerned whether or not Kaleb followed her. He did, however, staying close on her heels as she went outside to her car.

  Declan stepped over to her a second later. “Ready?”

  She nodded. “I suppose.”

  Lila and Gabriel followed them out the door. Natalie stopped and hugged Lila, telling her goodbye before going to her car.

  “Where do you live?” Declan asked her as she opened the driver’s side door.

  “You know the townhouses on Bridgewood?” He nodded. “I’m in number 3.”

  “I’ll follow you over there so you can get your stuff together and then I’ll drive us back to my place.”

  “All right.”

  He hesitated for a second. “Are you okay with this?” He gestured between her and himself.

  She shrugged. “I guess. I don’t want what happened to Andrea to happen to me.”

  Declan opened his mouth as if to say something else, but then closed it again. When he went to the driver side door of his dark gray Subaru, Natalie climbed behind the wheel of her Corolla and left Lila’s.

  He stayed behind her as she drove to her house. She parked in her spot, locked the doors and was heading toward the front door by the time Declan was out of his vehicle. He trailed behind her, his hands in his pockets. She unlocked the door and led him inside.

  Thankfully, she just vacuumed the other day. The place wasn't immaculate, but it was clean, and she picked up the underwear left on the floor while she was on the phone with Nikki earlier.

  “You live by yourself?” Declan asked her, stepping inside the townhouse.

  "Yup." She closed the door behind him and headed toward the narrow stairs. "I debated getting a roommate at one point, but I prefer my own space." When he hesitated at the bottom of the steps, shuffling his feet, she said, “Come upstairs with me while I pack and tell me about what you want to do in Boston.”

  He followed her up the stairs then. “There’s no easy way to explain this.”

  “Try me.”

  “What did Gabriel tell you about the Netherworld Council and the factions before I showed up?”

  “He and Lila just said that there was a council and that there were seven different factions.”

  Declan leaned against the door frame of her bedroom as Natalie opened her closet and grabbed her rolling suitcase. "Yes, there are seven factions that are part of the Council. Werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, warlocks, witches, fae, and dragons. My father is the werewolf Council leader. Two others work with him, and the three of them represent werewolf interests. I'm in charge of the territory we're in now."

  “Cantor is a territory?” She threw the bright yellow suitcase on the bed, opened it, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “Yes, part of one. You live in werewolf District one, also called Azarov territory.”

  “Most people in and around Cantor are werewolves?”

  “A lot of them are, yeah.”

  “Anything else live around here?”

  “Your friend Carey and her grandmother are witches.”

  Natalie waved her hand. “I already knew that.”

  Declan shook his head. “Carey is too open. She’s going to get into trouble with that one day. There are other…things…around here that aren’t part of the Council.”

  “Wait,” Natalie said, confused. “Other factions, you mean?”

  “No, not factions because they don’t fall under the Netherworld umbrella.”

  “Other supernatural things though.”

  “Correct.”

  “Such as…?”

  He sighed. "We could spend the next week talking about every other creature in existence, but I don't want to get too far off topic."

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “You were saying?”

  “It’s fine,” he said and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve never had to explain any of this to a human before. It’s more complicated than I thought it would be.”

  Natalie figured she could try to help him out the best she could while getting the information from him that she wanted. “What do you want to do in Boston?”

  “Do you know the Masons?”

  “The Masons are werewolves?” She knew who the Masons were. Everleigh worked at the pharmacy in town. She had her first baby two months before.

  He nodded. “Everleigh and the infant are missing. I want my men to find them before the Council Enforcers do.”

  Men were after Everleigh? Natalie sucked in a breath. “Why?”

  “Because they’ll take the baby. She’s a hybrid. A half-breed." She scrunched her brows, ready to ask him about a half-breed baby, but he explained before she could ask. "The father is human. Someone found out and reported it to the Council. When Zachariah got wind of Council Enforcement – the CE – coming for his daughter and granddaughter, he sent them into hiding. When the CE showed up, he changed into his beast and attacked them before taking off himself. Some CE officers found him yesterday and are taking him to Boston for questioning, hoping to get the whereabouts of his daughter and granddaughter.”

  She blinked twice. Natalie may not understand just how severe this was, but she could tell from the look on Declan’s face that it was big. It was also eating him up. “What will they do with Everleigh and the baby when they find them?”

  "Everleigh will be released most likely, unless she admits to divulging what she was to the father of the child; but I know the father, so I'll testify that the male is in the dark. The infant will most likely be…exterminated."

  Fury welled in her chest. “Your Council is gonna kill a baby?”

  Declan scrubbed a hand over his face. No wonder he seemed genuinely disturbed by what he was telling her. “They don’t allow half-breeds or any pollution of the races. Any mating between factions is tightly controlled, and their offspring is evaluated. Producing offspring with a human is ten thousand times worse. I can only think of one occurrence where it was allowed, and that was only granted because the shifter was unable to shift himself. From what I understand it took months of protest on his behalf from dozens of people to gain their approval."

  “Insane…”

  "Very, but it's how it's been done for a century now. Many children have been eradicated along with some of their parents."

  “How many?”

  He shrugged. “Hundreds.”

  Jesus. One was one too many, but hundreds? And the parents…she couldn’t imagine the pain and devastation. “That needs to change.”

  “I agree it does. Natalie, I need to make sure Everleigh and the child are found by my people, by werewolf enforcement, and not by the CE. I need to talk to Zachariah and find out where his daughter is.”

  “What do you want me to do in Boston? Just stay silent and out of the way?” She could do that. She could find plenty to do in a hotel room between ordering room service and catching up on some new releases.

  Declan hesitated. “I need you to pretend to by my girlfriend.”

  That wasn’t what Natalie expected him to say. “Your girlfriend,” she echoed, pretty sure she wasn’t fully processing what he was asking of her.

  “There are certain social events that I don't get invitations to because I'm a single man. Women talk, but there isn't a single woman I trust enough to take with me into that situation."

  “Because it’s dangerous?”

  "All the females I know have ties to the Council, to enforcers, or who are already mated. You could walk in, and they'd see you as a witch. No one knows you and people will be curious.” He sighed. “The Council is corrupt. I need to know who I can trust.”

  “And what about the warlocks? They’ll be there too, right?”

  He nodded. "They won't try anything so close to the Council Hous
e. There are plenty of witches in and around Boston. Honestly, it's probably the safest place you can be."

  “Do you think we could find out where they have Andrea?” Natalie asked, curious. “Do you think one of the warlocks there would know?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” he said with half a shrug. “Look, I’ll be totally upfront. If you're discovered as human, they'll most likely try to kill both of us. You have to be very, very careful.”

  Natalie shook her head. She couldn't very well just go waltzing into some supernatural hub, pretending to be a witch to find out information on a missing woman and her baby. Could she? But maybe she could do this for Andrea. Still, it felt as if there was more to this than Declan was telling her.

  “Werewolves are possessive and territorial by nature. Everleigh and her baby belong to me. They're a part of my territory, and I’ll be damned if something happens to them. Hell, even though Andrea is human, she resides in my territory, and yet the warlocks felt safe enough to come here and remove her," Declan snarled. "Something is going on in the Council House, and I want to know what it is. The warlocks have been accused of witch-hunting before, yet no one on the Council wanted to believe it. I need to know who is being controlled by Dis and the warlocks.”

  “You said your father was on the council,” she said before hesitating a moment. She was trying to come up with a way to phrase her next question delicately, but then realized it was probably better to just spout off what she wanted to know. She wanted to know everything before consenting to the trip. “Is he being controlled by the warlocks?”

  Declan was silent for a long moment, blue eyes thoughtful. “I want to say no, but to be honest, I don’t know anymore.” He shook his head and gazed toward her window. “I don’t think I can do this without you.”

  Declan waited for her to refuse to go with him, to kick him out of her house for even suggesting something so risky, but she was quiet. Her face was blank as she stared at him before slowly rising to her feet.