It’s a damn maze in here. Even if someone managed to make their way through all the security, they’d just get lost again. The halls themselves were plain with no distinguishing highlights or landmarks to help you figure out where you were. The few rooms she was able to get a peek at were certainly more like what she expected, with plush rugs and ornate chairs, though nothing as blindingly colorful as the Prizzoli had.
Prin pushed open a door at the end of a particularly long hallway. There were no fancy palm-scanning machines or security devices on this one. “Please be brief. He needs to rest if he is going to recover in a timely manner.”
“Just let them in already,” Trevon called from beyond, voice breathy.
The guard beckoned to them. What had happened? Blue was near to crawling out of her skin by this point, and she wasn’t sure she could take another moment of not getting an answer.
The room was large, and though windowless, grand paintings adorned the walls, bringing landscapes of all sorts to life. Dark stained furniture stood along one wall, and there was a casual seating arrangement on the other side of the room. Blue barely registered any of it, her attention centered on the bed directly before her and the man lying in it.
Trev looked horrible. His dark hair stood in stark contrast to his pale skin, and purple circles under his eyes gave him the look of an anemic zombie. His stubble in was in full force, but instead of sexy, he looked rough, like someone who couldn’t shave himself. As Blue drew closer, cracked lips and veined eyes filled her vision.
“You look like shit,” she whispered.
Trev sent her a grin, though it didn’t have its full force. “So Prin tells me.”
“What the hell happened?” She was almost to him. Garfield leapt to the foot of the bed and gingerly made his way over the gold-and-cream striped comforter until he could snuggle into the family head’s side.
“I have all of the recordings and our notes from the original investigation,” Prin said. "We will be giving you copies.” He jerked his head at Duri, who nodded and slipped from the room. The rest of the men arranged themselves in a loose semi-circle around the bed.
“Short answer?” Trevon drew in a shaky breath. He seemed to be tiring already. “Poison. One I am only partially immune to.”
Partially immune to? What was he, the Dread Pirate Roberts playing with iocaine powder? She took his hand, and his fingers closed around hers in a tight grip.
“What is the danger to Blue?” Mo’ata crossed his arms, the muscles bunching under his dark shirt.
Bright blue eyes, glowing against the backdrop of bruised lids, focused on the clansman. “It’s a vague reference. I didn’t get much from Nya before she was killed. It may not even be referring to our Blue.”
There was a slight hitch in his voice when he mentioned Nya. Blue ignored the “our.” “Who is Nya?”
He gave her another tired grin. “Jealous?”
“She owns the scent shop that has the connecting tunnel to the Zeynar compound,” Levi said. “She seemed a shrewd lady.”
“She was.” Trevon’s eyes slid closed, though his grip remained firm.
Duri returned with a slim folder just as Mo’ata’s comm pinged. He pulled it out. “The files.” He scrolled through, a frown gaining in intensity the longer he perused the information. Then he took the folder from Duri and scanned whatever was there. It didn’t take long, then he passed it on to Felix.
“I see nothing to connect Blue to what has been happening in your territory,” the mercenary said, handing the file over to Levi, who started his own study.
Some of the color returned to Trevon’s cheeks. “Like I said, the reference was vague.”
Forrest stepped up to the edge of the bed. “Are you blushing?” He leaned down, peering at Trev, eyes narrow. “You are. You’re blushing. You panicked, didn’t you?” His tone held only slightly malicious glee.
Prin grabbed Forrest’s arm and pulled him back. “You have seen her, sir. It is time you rested.”
Garfield didn’t move, and neither did Blue. “How bad is it, really?”
“Not that bad. I have to take a concoction to help flush the poison. Not the first time this has happened, won’t be the last. Blah blah blah.” He tugged on her hand. “Come here, little star. It is very nice to have the animal beside me, but you would be much better.” There was something there, under the flippancy. A graveness he didn’t usually possess.
Blue glanced back at Mo’ata and Forrest. The clansman’s attention was still on his comm. The frown had left to be replaced by blank lines. Forrest’s eyes narrowed. Then he looked at Garfield, and a corner of his mouth ticked up. He shrugged. Not permission, but acceptance. She recalled Mo’ata’s words, that he trusted her to do what she felt was right.
“Just for a little bit,” she said. “Just while they finish doing whatever agent-ly thing they need to do. I’m sure your guard will drag us all away soon enough.” She climbed up beside him. Garfield didn’t budge, so she ended up half curled around the piquet with her head propped against Trevon’s very firm shoulder.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“Did you really panic?” She traced a finger over the edge of the comforter where it rested against his chest.
“I wouldn’t call it panic.” He sucked in a breath and exhaled. The scent of a mellow mint washed over her. “I just needed to see that you were all right.”
“I have someone with me nearly every moment of the day. None of them are schlumps. All you needed to do was call them.” She was fishing and knew it.
“I needed to see you.”
“And you couldn’t just say that? Ask them to bring me?”
His lips quirked. “And you think they would have brought you?”
There was so much wrong with that statement that Blue didn’t know where to begin. He obviously felt he needed to manipulate all of them in some way. Was nothing ever direct with this man? “You never know. Or,” she said, her annoyance returning now that she saw he would be all right, “you could have asked me.”
He opened his eyes but didn’t look at her. “And would you have come?”
She poked his side, gently. “You never know.”
Chapter 8
MO’ATA
He blocked out the whispered conversation happening on the bed and concentrated on the information Prin had forwarded to his comm. The paper file only covered what they had found at the scent shop. These files were of an incident on Martika.
Zeynar was correct—the connection to Blue was tenuous at best. If he was honest, it was nonexistent. The old woman’s words had been “follow the blue.” The blue what?
But that was the least of it. He wasn’t concerned that Zeynar had been attacked, though he wasn’t blind to Blue’s reaction. No, what caught his attention was a detail in the incident Zeynar had gone to the scent shop to investigate. He scrolled through the file again, wanting to make sure he had read it correctly.
Discoloration at the fingertips.
Cause of death: cerebral hemorrhage.
Apart they meant nothing. Together…
He pulled up the alert Demil had sent out to all active agents. Mo’ata was not on the investigation, so he had not received all details, but he looked over the list of indicators they were to flag and send up the chain of command. And right there was what he sought, green discoloration or any indication of a slight anemia along with hemorrhaging in the right hemisphere of the brain near the sensory strip. Just two of the indicators, and they did not match Zeynar’s report exactly, but that report was lacking details.
Mo’ata highlighted what he’d found and passed it to Felix. Moments later, the bigger man’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Zeynar, then turned back to Mo’ata. There was a slight hesitation, and then he nodded.
“We need more on what happened to your man. There are indications it may be connected to an investigation the Order has ongoing.” Mo’ata raised his voice, pulling Blue and Trevon from their whispered conver
sation.
Her eyes narrowed at him, and he suppressed a smile. She was mad he hadn’t shared.
“It is not an investigation we are involved in directly, but a message went out to all active agents to flag certain indicators.” He tilted his head toward his comm, still in Felix’s hands.
She rolled her eyes, then tilted her head back to look at Trevon, brows raised. Zeynar rolled his own eyes, whispered something in her ear that caused her to blush, and met Mo’ata’s gaze. “You may ask what you need to know, but I cannot divulge anything that could further compromise the security of my family’s home.”
Mo’ata nodded in agreement. “Your man’s death. The report states discoloration of the fingertips. What color?”
Zeynar looked to Prin with a raised brow. The guard flushed and answered, “I will find out. What else do you need?”
“Details on the cerebral hemorrhage and anything else about the state of the body or its surroundings that you may have left off this particular report.”
“You’ll get it. I also have a name. But I want something in return.” Zeynar’s hand came up and rested on Blue’s hip.
She stiffened and pushed away. “You’re an ass.” She rolled off the bed and glared down at him. Mo’ata noted that Garfield stayed right where he was.
“You like my ass.” The words were playful, but there wasn’t much energy behind them. The family head was fading fast. “But that’s not what I want. The courting has nothing to do with this.” His eyes closed, and he breathed deeply a few times.
Blue inched closer to the mattress. Mo’ata wondered if she was even aware of it.
“I’ll give you the name, but I want in on this investigation,” Zeynar finally said. “The whole thing. And I want your team working on it. If I am going to open up my home, it will be to those who have just as much reason to get along as I do. And who I trust, to a degree.”
That got a reaction. Forrest jerked, his eyes narrowing on Zeynar. Felix opened his mouth, no doubt to protest, and Prin stepped forward, arms crossed and a frown firmly on his face. Levi and Jason simply observed it all. Blue’s jaw dropped and then a grin spread across her face. His shopa’s mind had probably just filled with all kinds of thoughts of being able to tackle another investigation. An answering excitement stirred in him and he pushed it down. There would be no rash decisions, and definitely no haring off—not for a while yet.
Mo’ata held up a hand. “I will pass this along. It is not my decision to make.” Felix frowned, and Mo’ata gave a subtle shake of his head.
Zeynar sighed. “Acceptable. If you decide you will not stay the night, Prin will accom—”
“Sir.”
“Fine. Duri will accompany you back to the inn.” His eyes slid closed once more and stayed that way. “Tell Demil I said hi.”
Mo’ata jerked. He wondered if his mentor knew that Zeynar was aware of his identity. “We’ll leave you to recover. I will contact you.” He held out his hand to Blue, who paused, bent to press a brief kiss to Zeynar’s cheek, then joined Mo’ata.
Did she know how significant this encounter was? A family head did not simply hand over information or allow anyone into his private quarters, let alone speak of trust in such a casual manner. Trevon could speak of “courting” all he wanted. He was already treating Blue—and by extension the rest of them—as family.
Mo’ata wasn’t sure if he was ready for that.
BLUE
Forrest—his back propped against the wall—opened his arms to her, and she slid across the mattress to him. She snuggled against him, her back to his front, his legs spread out on either side of her. The rest of the men were arranged around the room.
“So, that happened,” she said. She snuck a glance at Duri. She’d gotten the impression earlier that he was fairly new to his job, but he gave no indication of that now. He stood there, blank-faced and arms held loose at his sides. All intense and ready for anything. “What now?”
“Now we wait.” Mo’ata glanced at his comm. “But you are going to sleep. You have your meeting with the dean in the morning.”
“No.” Duri’s voice matched his stone face.
“Yes.” Blue tried to sit forward, but Forrest’s arms stayed strong around her. “Trev sent you along to guard me because of some overly enthusiastic need to… do something manly.” She waved a hand. “As you can see, I have plenty of guards at the moment. And I don’t get to get on with my life until I make it through the Academy.” Forrest’s chest started shaking. “Plus, even if they all get sent off on some mission—”
“I’ll still be here,” Forrest interjected, his voice wobbly.
“According to everyone, there’s no reason to believe I’m actually in any danger,” she continued, attention focused on Duri. “So you should be plenty enough guard for a while. And I’ve got the babies.”
Garfield yawned, exposing his baby razor teeth. Vivi stalked to Duri and flexed her claws on the floor, leaving behind thin scratches. It was all for show, but Blue loved that they played along. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep, though, despite what was on her plate tomorrow. It had been a packed day. She should be exhausted after everything that had happened. And she was. But her mind wouldn’t quiet.
A new puzzle had been presented to her. What exactly had happened in the scent shop? What were in those reports? Mo’ata had been throwing around terms in Common that she didn’t know, and apparently they were already working on something she wasn’t aware of. Because she wasn’t “official” yet, or some such nonsense. She understood not being able to go out into the field, but surely she could do what she had done back on Padilra and assist with compiling data, working the pieces until they fit.
“And she’s off in that mind of hers,” Jason murmured, then stood. “I’ll leave you all to your almost-investigation.”
Blue jerked her attention to Jason. She hadn’t forgotten about him, not exactly, but he’d faded into the background the entire time they’d been at Zeynar’s, and even now, in her room and surrounded as she was, he’d seemed to blend until that moment.
It’s what he’d been trained for by the Ministry, wasn’t it? Blending?
“Wait!”
He halted halfway across the room. She shot a look at Mo’ata. “Are we still going apartment shopping after my meeting with the Dean? Or is that canceled by”—she waved a hand—“all this?”
Mo’ata looked between her and Jason. “It will depend on the boss’s decision, but I suspect he will instruct us to not make any changes to our routine, at least for now. Why?”
Blue focused on Jason. “I think it would be a good idea if you came along tomorrow afternoon. I’m sure you know the city as well as, if not better than, most everyone in this room.”
Jason searched her face, his hands gripping the hem of his shirt for a moment before relaxing. “I did spend much of my childhood here, not to mention my time at the Academy.”
Mo’ata nodded. “Then, yes, we would appreciate your input. While at the university, I found accommodations in the dormitories and did not do much exploring of the more residential areas. Felix often stays at inns or the guild barracks when he travels.”
Blue nodded. “Then it’s a plan.”
“Well played,” Jason said. “You may be sneakier than any of us give you credit for.”
Blue suppressed a grin. She hadn’t meant to be sneaky, exactly. She’d just wanted to draw him out.
Jason turned to Mo’ata. “My plans for tomorrow fell through, so let me know what time, and I will meet you all. Is there an area you were wanting to check out?”
Mo’ata shrugged. “The central districts seem to be full. There is an area on the lower end, near the shopping district, that looked promising and had a few vacancy postings.”
Jason stared at the clansman for a moment. “I know of some complexes that don’t normally post. They may be a good fit. I could look into it for you.” His tone and face were cold, but it was something.
“
I think that would be great,” Blue said, cutting in. “I’ll make sure we let you know in plenty of time where to meet up!”
Jason nodded and exited.
“What was that all about, pixie?” Forrest rocked her on the mattress.
She shrugged. “I think he’s lonely. I mean, have you ever heard him talk about his family, or friends? He spent years on Earth, then he was assigned to the crystal thing—no matter what anyone says, I’m sure he wouldn’t have gotten that leave unless the Ministry wanted him there—and now that leave is almost up. He’ll go off somewhere, start all over again.” She swallowed. Until she’d said the words, she hadn’t realized just how parallel Jason’s situation was to what hers had been at the beginning of her senior year. “And tonight I went to a dinner party for a dead girl. I’m pretty sure Jason only asked me because he didn’t feel fully comfortable around any of those people, no matter what he says.”
Forrest shifted behind her. Mo’ata, Felix, and Levi stared.
“He really did help back on Padilra. I just want him to…”
“You want him happy. Like you want everyone happy.” Levi nodded, expression thoughtful.
“Well, I don’t want everyone happy.”
“He did save my ass by the pond.” Forrest rested his chin on her head.
Felix grunted. “He was not bad in that cave, or in the healer’s when he kept the Prizzoli guard away.”
“He helped with the mating ceremony,” Levi added.
“Marriage,” Felix murmured. “They call it marriage.”
“Yes, that.” Levi nodded. “And, no, he has never discussed his family with me. I admit, I did not think to ask. He did not seem open to those types of discussions.”
Blue’s gaze met the hazel of Mo’ata’s. She raised her brows. “He’s a good guy.”
“We will try, shopa.”
“Thank you.” She yawned.
“And now it is time for you to get some rest.” He gestured, and Felix and Levi pushed to their feet. Forrest stayed right where he was behind her. It was his night, after all.
A Blue Star Rising Page 7