Shadowed Flame

by RJ Blain

  Dalton chuckled. “You may not like the answer.”

  “I still want to know.”

  “Of course you do, Ryan’s your mate.”

  It would take me time to get used to thinking of him as my mate. In a way, I appreciated the Fenerec way. Who had the time to date someone? I didn’t. The simplicity of how Fenerec picked their life partners and made it work appealed to me in more ways than one.

  “Tell me, please.”

  “Ryan’s been an Inquisitor for a long time, Matia. The Inquisition has very, very few operatives who have been working as long as he has, and the ones who have are treated very carefully, put in stabilizing pack situations, and given the support they need to remain stable. Ryan’s long overdue to retire. He’s too good at what he does, and that’s the problem. If he wasn’t so good, the Inquisition would have stepped in and found a compatible pack for him years ago.”

  The Alpha’s words frightened me, but I didn’t understand why. My wolf whined in my head, and her discomfort drove me into asking, “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean the only difference between Ryan and the Fenerec he hunts is a matter of legality. He’s sanctioned. That doesn’t change the fact he hunts criminals down and kills them to make sure they never have their day in court. He’s judge, jury, and executioner, and he’s good at what he does—too good. If there’s a way to kill someone, he’s used it. He’s probably forgotten more about assassination techniques than I’ve ever learned. He’s overdue to retire, and I intend to use you to make sure he lives long enough to retire. If I have my way, this will be his last job. If I had had my way, one of my pack would be running intel, but none of mine are as old as Ryan. If something does go wrong, he has the highest chance of survival.”

  I tensed, and my wolf’s alarm ripped through me. “This wasn’t supposed to be that dangerous.”

  “I’m one of those Fenerec with a talent for lying, Miss Evans. Ryan understands the risks. He has a damned good reason to make it out alive: you. He knows you’re here, so he’ll be as careful as possible. You’ll do your job on the comms to make sure nothing is missed so we can get him out as quickly as possible. We can’t afford to let this pack run unchecked, and Ryan’s the Inquisition’s best option right now.”

  “I know that,” I spat.

  “I know you do. You know better than anyone else. It’s the curse of the newly mated. It’s even worse for you. You’re not used to having your wolf, you don’t know how to manage her emotions and your own at the same time, and you haven’t had a chance to find your balance with her yet. Just be glad it’s not winter, Miss Evans. Fenerec are like wolves in that regard; winter is our breeding season. At least you have a chance to adapt to your bond with Ryan before your wolf’s attention is completely consumed with mating.”

  My casual upbringing regarding sex spared me from much embarrassment, although I wasn’t sure how I felt about about people being interested in the man I had chosen for my partner.

  I had wanted him before my wolf had come along, and he was the one thing we had in common. Ryan bound us together in more ways than one.

  “Nothing better happen to Ryan,” I growled, crossing my arms over my chest. “Why couldn’t I go with him, anyway?”

  “Matia, you’re a beautiful woman. Until your mating bond has time to strengthen, there are males who would risk anything to have a chance with someone like you. In a few weeks, the mating bond will be strong enough no sane Fenerec would even consider touching Ryan in order to get you. Until then, let’s not push our luck.”

  The idea of someone even attempting to steal me away from my mate shocked me into silence, and my wolf raged.

  Dalton meant business when he said he wanted to act fast to deal with the rogue Fenerec pack. Within five minutes of stepping through the front doors of the Inquisition headquarters, he led me into a basement room that reminded me of a smaller version of NASA’s command center. Three tiered rows of desks ringed a massive display flanked with stacks upon stacks of electronic equipment. Two people were seated in the first row wearing headsets, tapping away at their computers.

  Hopping down the steps two at a time, Dalton approached the working Inquisitors and sat on one of the desks, waiting until one of them noticed him. Both were older women with graying hair, and they removed their headsets in unison.

  “Mr. Sinclair,” the woman nearest him said, rising to her feet. “We’ve been expecting you.”

  Instead of shaking with her like a normal person, Dalton kissed the back of her hand. “To be expected by two of the Inquisition’s most beautiful women is an honor.”

  The woman freed her hand, took hold of her headset, and slapped Dalton upside his head with it. “I’m telling your mate on you so she can deal with you herself.”

  “Oh, please tell her. I like when she puts me in my place. Audrey, if I kiss your hand, too, will you tell on me?”

  “You won’t have a hand or a mouth if you try that stunt with me, Dalton,” the other woman replied. “You’re going to be in trouble enough when you go home with the scent of so many of us ladies on you—especially a bitch’s scent.”

  “I know, and it’s wonderful. She’s so jealous.”

  “One of these days, she is going to rearrange your face for you, sir, and you’ll deserve it.”

  “It’ll heal.”

  “You got us to come out on our day off. What do you have for us?”

  Dalton turned to me, waving me over. I took the steps with more care than he had. “This is Matia Evans, a new Fenerec. She underwent a rather haphazard ritual during the La Guardia incident.”

  “That explains why you wanted a witch.” After wiping her hand off on her jeans, the first woman reached out to shake with me. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Evans. I’m Harriet. My sister is Audrey.”

  I nodded and shook their hands. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Miss Evans is also a fire witch who manifested flame during her first transformation.”

  Both women glared at Dalton, and if looks could kill, he would have been a smoldering pile of ash within moments.

  Harriet braced her hands on her hips. “We make house calls, you know. Why would you bring a new witch wolf to such a stressful place?”

  “Cole’s her mate.”

  Audrey’s eyes widened while Harriet’s mouth dropped open. Both women gaped at Dalton before spluttering and staring at me. I tensed, uncertain of the reason for their reaction and painfully aware of Dalton’s warnings about Ryan’s role in the Inquisition.

  “He moves slow, but when he makes a move, hot damn, does the boy make a move.” Audrey clucked her tongue, looking me over from head to toe. “You a model?”

  I blinked, opened my mouth, and then closed it when I couldn’t think of a single reply. Me? A model?

  “A rather successful businesswoman, actually,” Dalton replied, grinning at me. “She’s Ralph Evans’s girl.”

  Audrey frowned. “I would have thought their pack’s Alpha would have claimed her. Why is she with you?”

  “Because Ryan performed the ritual, and I fully intend to lure Ryan into my pack. I want you two to teach her the ropes, get her comfortable on the comms, and set up to be on the team monitoring Ryan’s operation. She’s used to working, so the normal method of easing her into things won’t work. She needs a purpose. She’s going to shake out dominant, she’s newly mated, and if she isn’t given something meaningful to do, she’ll be clawing her way through the walls within hours. I’m going to be on the move with my pack waiting for the order to extract Cole. I’ve got Gavin doing the final equipment checks and preparations.” Dalton slid off the desk. “Matia, I’ll leave you in their capable hands. If you have any trouble, the twins know how to get in touch with me.”

  Without a single look back, Dalton left. I fisted my hands and pressed them to my hips. “The coward just ran away, didn’t he?”

  Harriet laughed. “He sure did. Welcome to the Inquisition, Miss Evans.”

  “M
atia, please.”

  “Have a seat so we can get started. We have a lot to cover.”

  Until meeting Harriet and Audrey, I had believed myself intelligent. They wasted no time establishing I knew nothing, reinforced my ignorance, and handed my pride to me on a platter. Their quick, sharp wit accompanied a rigid sense of honor. Their tough love was tempered with a sense of fairness, which made it possible for me to hold onto my fraying patience.

  I wanted to be useful, but the complicated system thwarted me. In three hours, I learned two important things: frustrated fire witches could start smoking from the ears and singe their hair, and water witches could summon water at will.

  The keyboard, at least, seemed impervious to harm and didn’t care it had been drenched in water.

  I admired the sisters’ work ethic. The only piece of equipment I was comfortable with was the only one that mattered to me: the headset. With a click of a button, I could dial in to the microphones hidden in Ryan’s clothing. The system automatically recorded every sound.

  My lack of technical competence with the monitoring equipment didn’t bother either twin. Harriet wrote a list of notes to remind me what I needed to do during my shift while Audrey grilled me about my witchcraft.

  “If you mess up on surveillance, it won’t hurt anything—really, it won’t.” Harriet looked up from her notes. “If something goes wrong, you just have to run up the steps, go into the hallway, and give a howl. Security knows you don’t know the system, so someone will run over to find out what’s wrong. Better than accidentally breaking anything.”

  “I can do that.”

  Audrey rapped her knuckles on the desk. “Forget the equipment for a few minutes. Look, you’ll be on shift by yourself for at least two or three hours; there’ll be some overlap, but you’re going to be our filler in the typical slow times. We don’t expect anything to happen, and nothing is quite as rattling as silence. The last thing we need is for you to set off the fire alarms or destroy hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment losing your cool.”

  “Be fair,” Harriet chided. “The poor girl had no idea she was a witch until she became a Fenerec. That’s hard on a soul. She didn’t start to smoke until the two and a half hour mark. She should be all right. Anyway, silence is the best sound for her to hear, unless he snores, then she wants to hear that. Normal noises are good. Now, if Ryan gets into a dispute with anyone or there’s gunfire, that’s when we should worry about her burning her pretty hair to a crisp.”

  I touched a hand to my head, grimacing at the lingering stench of burnt hair. “I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault. Fire witches have it the roughest; your manifestations are dangerous and put everyone on edge. At least you won’t have to worry about many pissing contests with other witches; no one wants to piss off a fire witch capable of manifesting. Only the really strong ones manifest even smoke, and if Dalton brought you to us, he wants to make sure no one’s hurt—you included.”

  “You handle your side of things, and let me give the girl the basics on avoiding any unfortunate manifestations.” Audrey huffed, shook her head, and rapped her knuckles against the desk again. “Rule one: do not think in warm colors. No imagery of fireplaces, nothing yellow, red, or orange.”

  I groaned and hung my head. “You ask the impossible.”

  “Why is that impossible?”

  “My sister likes to think she’s smarter than everyone else, but then she sticks her foot in her mouth and proves she wasn’t paying attention to the briefing papers we were given. I read them. She’s colorblind, Audrey. She doesn’t know red from yellow, blue, or green, and good luck explaining it to her. From my understanding, it was caused by physical injury when an infant. If she’s true to form, her colorblindness will gradually fade. Dalton was worried about sensory issues once she begins comprehending color.”

  “Well, fuck me with a stick.”

  “I seem to have left my sticks outside today. Sorry, Aubrey. Next time.”

  I decided the best way to handle the old witch’s twisted sense of humor was to ignore it. “I’m so glad I don’t have to explain that,” I confessed. “Don’t think about anything I associate with fire is what you want, correct?”

  “Correct.”

  “I think I can do that. My only job is to monitor Ryan’s microphones. What about Dalton and his pack?”

  “They’re being handled by a second team in the building; we have five of these stations in the building for operations, and considering the delicacy of Mr. Cole’s position, only limited people work on his surveillance. This is a new setup for us, but we’ve already done the basic sound checks on all the equipment. Harriet will leave you a list of extensions. Do you know how to use a conferencing phone?”

  I glanced in the direction of the phone positioned beside my monitor. The make and model was almost identical to the ones we used at Pallodia. “I know how to use one.”

  Harriet flashed me a smile. “Good. Normally, we’d put you on a set schedule, but if Dalton says you’re to be kept busy, you’ll stay in here unless you have to take a piss or get a bite to eat. No hungry Fenerec allowed in the building. If you or your wolf get peckish, you head over to the dining hall and get something to eat. We’re prepared to feed packs of Fenerec, so you won’t do much damage to the supplies.”

  “I eat a lot,” I mumbled.

  “And I’m willing to bet Ryan adores feeding you. Male Fenerec live to provide for their females, so don’t you worry yourself about it at all. I’ll delay the inevitable and have someone bring you something to eat to take the edge off while you listen in on your mate. Audrey, let’s leave the poor girl to settle; she knows enough to get by, and all we’re doing now is unnerving her. We can show you your suite later. You’ll like it. It’s designed for a mated pair, so once your mate’s back, you two can relax and enjoy each other’s company.”

  I liked the sound of that, as did my wolf. When the two witches left, I sighed my relief, adjusted my headset, and went to work.

  I didn’t appreciate Ryan’s love of quiet until I listened to him prepare for the operation. Without words, he managed to communicate everything Dalton had tried to tell me but I hadn’t understood.

  Ryan hated his work, and his disgust rang out in the silence other men would have filled. My wolf whined in my head, and I kept careful control of her. Whining wouldn’t change anything. Luring Ryan away from Inquisition operations would become my first priority. If I read Dalton right, he could help me pull it off.

  Harriet and Audrey had spoken the truth about my role; the Inquisition knew Ryan’s habits so well there was always someone in the room with me during active times. After eight hours of monitoring, the twin witches came to fetch me, herding me out of the room. A young woman took my place.

  “I thought I was supposed to stay.” My wolf resented leaving our one connection to Ryan. I had no idea where he was going, but he was on the move, and his activity had the Inquisitors buzzing with nervous energy.

  The microphones hadn’t picked up anything about a location, although I recognized Gavin giving my mate a final run down on what would happen when Dalton’s pack came to extract him. I liked Ryan’s orders; unless told otherwise, he was to stay low, stay out of trouble, and wait for the fireworks to end.

  Harriet leveled a glare at me. “You’ve been at it for eight hours. It’s time to get you fed. We’ll show you to the suite and give you a chance to get settled. There’ll be plenty of time for monitoring after you’ve eaten and had some rest. Last thing we need is a cranky bitch suffering from a lack of sleep lighting someone on fire.”

  I understood; I raised my hands in defeat and ignored my wolf’s disgruntled complaints. I followed the twins as they led me to my suite, wondering how long it would be until they allowed me back into the monitoring room to listen and wait for Ryan’s return.

  Something woke me from a sound sleep. I bolted upright, my heart racing from a surging sense of wrongness and apprehension. Chilled sweat beaded my
brow, and while sleepy, my wolf whined anxiously in my head. Early-morning light streamed in through the window; when I had fallen asleep, it had been night.

  I paced, nervous energy coursing through me until I shifted my weight even when I managed to force myself to stay in one spot. Unable to tell what was wrong, I flexed my hands and stared at the silver bars over the windows, a reminder the plush, otherwise comfortable room was a prison designed to contain Fenerec.

  I remembered Ryan hunting; Fenerec could kill, and witches couldn’t heal like I could. If I—or any other Fenerec—turned on them, a witch would likely die. They had ways of protecting themselves and ways of controlling Fenerec, but neither Harriet nor Audrey had opted to enlighten me on the method.

  Until someone came for me, I was forced to endure my anxiety alone. At the rate I paced, I’d wear a trench in the plush carpeting long before anyone remembered I was trapped in the room. The wait annoyed growls out of me, and by the time someone knocked at the door, I was surprised I wasn’t smoking from the ears again.

  “Yes?” I turned to the door, forcing myself to relax my hands. Inquisitors didn’t appreciate tense Fenerec; even I and my wolf picked up on the scent of anxiety when I appeared nervous.

  The door opened. Harriet and Audrey let themselves in.

  I didn’t need any help identifying the stench of their nervousness.

  Jumping straight to the chase had worked well for me in the business world, so I put my experience to good use. If everything was normal, the witches wouldn’t be anxious, and while I hadn’t been a Fenerec for long, I had trusted my gut feelings as a human. I saw no need to change my approach. “What happened?”

  The sisters exchanged a look. I recognized Harriet only because she wilted; Audrey, true to what I knew of her, kept her chin up, her eyes sharp, and maintained the appearance of calm confidence.

  “There’s a problem.”

  My wolf stilled, her attention consumed by the witches, waiting and listening for the news. My gut feeling and sense of wrongness offered insight. Whatever the problem was, it dealt with Ryan. I didn’t know where my confidence came from, but my wolf agreed.