by Kelly Meding
“It’s a theory, yes.”
“It’s a clever theory, Marshal Harrison. One I believe I must bring before Alpha Kennedy immediately.”
“Really?”
“Yes. If he agrees with your reasoning, then an investigation must begin. We cannot afford to let our people die.” Gideon glanced around our small group. “While I know other childless werewolves have been taken from Florida, I also overheard Alpha discussing the issue with Rosalind. They said other Packs have also been experiencing high rates of infertility in the current generation of childbearing age.”
“So this isn’t just the two Packs,” Jaxon said.
“No, and we must go. Now.”
We still hadn’t looked at the Davis house, but the other three hadn’t been any real help. I told Tennyson what was going on during the trip back to the Alpha’s home. He didn’t have much of a reaction, and I couldn’t help wondering if he’d already suspected as much about the other Packs—and whether or not he was holding on to information.
Both Rosalind and Kennedy bristled when they recognized Tennyson, but Gideon didn’t give either of them a chance to complain. He laid out what we’d discussed in the Riggs home. Kennedy didn’t look happy that Gideon had eavesdropped, but he paid attention to the whole idea of a pathogen or magical whammy causing the widespread infertility. He and Rosalind excused themselves to the corner of the room to discuss, and I couldn’t hear them, but Gideon stood with his ear tilted in their direction.
Gideon gave us a subtle thumbs-up moments before Kennedy resumed his throne, with Rosalind at his side.
“I must extend my thanks to you and your friends, Marshal Harrison,” Kennedy said, and my respect for the guy increased because he actually sounded sincere. “You were able to see our problem from a new perspective. All eighteen Pack Alphas have been in contact about the unusually high number of young people unable to conceive. We realize it’s a widespread problem.”
“But your religion, for lack of a better word,” I said, “prevents you from using medical science or forensics to investigate why your young people are infertile.”
“We do not consider ourselves to be religious in the way humans do. Spiritual, yes, because we live with two spirits inside of us. The spirit and soul of our human shape, and also the spirit of our mother goddess Danu. We live as our ancestors have lived for millennia to honor Danu. It’s why forced wolves are not treated as Pack. They lack her spirit.”
“I understand honoring your mother goddess, but you allow some Pack to live in man’s world, to use and create technology, and to act like any other human being.”
“It’s necessary to sustain our Packs. We can grow our own food, but we can’t produce the amount of meat we need to eat, even by hunting these lands, not with so many mouths to feed daily.”
Something about that struck a chord with me. “Who do you get your meat from?”
He deferred that to Rosalind, who replied, “We have three independent contracts with both cattle and hog farmers. Organic only.”
“So given our theory of a pathogen, is it possible your meat supply has been contaminated?”
“We have highly developed senses, Marshal.” I swear she sneered right down her nose at me. “We’d be able to taste any foreign chemical in the meat.”
“Not if it was developed by someone with access to werewolf physiology. You and your people are extremely isolated here, and I imagine you don’t watch a lot of CNN. There are shadow agencies, and maybe even legit ones, who are experimenting on Paras. If someone really wanted to sabotage the Packs, they’d have the know-how to hide it from your super taste buds.”
A touch less sarcasm, djinn—the werewolves are proud people.
I clenched my jaw. I’m proud, too. So get the hell out of my head.
Rosalind’s expression remained mild, but fire glinted in her eyes.
“Please, Alpha,” Chandra said. “If you won’t allow us to do blood tests on your Pack members, then allow us to test samples of your meat. We have access to labs that can search for anything artificial.”
Alpha Kennedy nodded. “That is a compromise I will allow. However, if our meat supply is somehow tainted, why isn’t it affecting all of our people? We currently have fifteen active pregnancies with females under the age of thirty. And those missing who lived in the outside world purchase their food from big box chains.”
“I don’t know, and that’s what we’re trying to find out. It’s possible whoever is poisoning your meat supply is tied to your missing wolves, and it’s also possible it’s a coincidence, but I do not believe so.”
“It’s also possible there is no contamination,” I said, “and that the cause is magical in origin.”
“Why would any magical being have an issue with the Packs?” Alpha Kennedy asked.
“I don’t know. And it’s entirely possible that if the infertility is magical, the magic user is being forced or coerced right now.” And I really wished my mother was here, because she has a keen sense of magic. We could stick her at a crux and Novak could—no. Oh no, not going there.
Ew.
Chandra had to know someone local who could give the place a read for magical signatures. And if she didn’t, maybe Will Carson did. Either way, I was committed to finding the missing werewolves, discovering the source of their (likely) unnatural infertility, and I wouldn’t stop until I brought them all safely home.
Chapter 6
Chandra took the Jeep halfway back to town so she could get enough internet signal to send our fingerprints to the Werewolf Registry, as well as deliver our meat samples to whatever lab she had in mind.
The rest of us continued exploring the Davis house, as well as speaking to other neighbors of the missing werewolves. The younger Pack members were upset and worried about their missing friends. The elder members were concerned, but confident the missing would be found, because Alpha Kennedy wouldn’t relent until that happened.
I bit my tongue more than once over their faith in Kennedy, because I saw no sign he was doing anything to find the kidnapped wolves. But he wasn’t my leader, and I didn’t need to have unshakable faith in him like his people did. All I needed to do was watch my tongue and find those wolves.
Despite the Pack having nearly a million acres—and being the largest Pack in the States—the members lived fairly close together in what amounted to one single town, with only a few outliers in the vast forestry. It gave them huge swaths of safe, private lands on which to run during the full moon, or any time they wanted to shift and go on a hunt. While I understood having a dual nature, I didn’t understand what it felt like or meant to shift into a completely different physical form.
The only one of us who did was Jaxon.
I found myself watching him more intently as he interacted with the wolves. Many sniffed him, but few inquired what he was. They all knew we had abilities, and skin-walkers were rare enough that most people have never met one. And he’d told me he transformed into a stag, but I had no visual for it. No clue what he actually looked like in that form.
As we chatted with several families in a large park, he caught me staring and winked. The simple gesture should not have sent a little wobble through my belly. It shouldn’t have but it did. He didn’t seem like the type of guy I normally went for. Then again, the only person I’d “seriously” dated in the last six years was Vincent.
Except I’d apparently dated Jaxon, too. And I still loved him, or I wouldn’t have lost those memories. But I had no actual feelings toward the man one way or the other right now. Less a stranger the more time we spent together today, but still not a friend. Barely an acquaintance. We worked well together professionally, but there was also a blank aura around him I couldn’t explain. As if magical residue from the sidhe’s spell was still blocking me from truly getting to know the man.
I caught Jaxon staring again and glared. He looked away.
This is impossible. He’s a distraction I should have left in Maryland.
He was also a heck of a good investigator.
Chandra returned to the land around six, and we met her back at the Alpha’s house. Her face said it before she announced, “The meat isn’t contaminated with any foreign substances that we could detect.”
“So if your theory that we’re being targeted is correct,” Rosalind said, “then the infertility is being caused by a magical source.”
“That’s our working theory now, yes. I’m sensitive to certain kinds of magic, but not all, and I’m not powerful enough to sense older magic or spells cast by men.”
“So we need a different magic user to figure out if the Pack is being whammied,” I said.
“Exactly.”
“Do you know any?”
Chandra shook her head. “I know my fellow moon witches, but no other magic users. I reached out to my other squad-mates while I was off Pack lands and made a few inquiries, but nothing has panned out yet.”
Novak eyeballed me, but I cut him a hard stare and hoped he interpreted it as, Don’t you fucking dare bring up my mom.
He didn’t speak.
“We shall not solve this problem tonight,” Kennedy said. “I invite you all to stay for dinner. We’ll be eating quite soon.”
We all exchanged looks, probably individually hoping dinner wasn’t raw meat, because I honestly have no idea what a werewolf diet looks like.
“We accept your generous offer, Alpha,” Chandra said.
Considering how the morning started, being asked to stay shocked the shit out of me. Rosalind led us through another door and into a huge dining room. The long wood table looked like something out of a medieval castle, with heavy wooden chairs lining both sides. Two big chandeliers hung over it, with actual lit candles on them, and at the far end, a stone fireplace roared with a stunning blaze.
A woman and six kids of various ages were arranging themselves around the table. Rosalind introduced us to the woman—the Alpha’s mate, Claire—and the six children, who were their collective spawn. When Kennedy entered the room, the youngest—a round-cheeked boy who couldn’t be older than three—toddled over and reached up. Kennedy swooped the boy into his arms and kissed his cheeks.
In fact, he went around and kissed all his children, before kissing Claire. And it wasn’t a show for us. It looked so natural and practiced that I believed it was simply how he behaved. The big, bad Pack Alpha was completely owned by his family.
The kids were curious about us, too, and Kennedy explained we were helping him find the missing Pack members. As platters of roasted pork and vegetables went around the table, I found myself quizzed by a pixie-faced girl who was probably eight or nine. They’d interspersed their guests amongst the children, and I wasn’t prepared to deal with kids and their blunt questions.
“You look too young to be a Marshal,” the girl said.
“Well, I am twenty-eight,” I replied as I cut into a piece of pork that smelled amazing.
“Oh wow, that’s old.”
Across the table, Jaxon snickered.
“But you don’t look that old.”
Iblis save me from annoying children. “I have really good genes.”
“So do you have any really cool superpowers?”
I shoved a roasted carrot into my mouth to stall.
“Shiloh is very strong,” Jaxon replied for me. “It takes a lot to hurt her. She’s also very smart, a good leader, and she cares about other people. Those are incredible superpowers, don’t you think?”
The girl shrugged. “I guess.” To Jaxon, she asked, “What do you do?”
He leaned across the wide table, which was ripe with chatter from all ends, and said, “I’m a skin-walker. I can shift into a stag.”
“What’s a stag?”
“A really big deer,” I replied.
“Oooh, can I see?”
“Maybe after dinner,” Jaxon said with a wink meant for the child, but Sweet Iblis, why was that so adorable?
He’s good with kids. Do I already know this about him? Did we talk about kids when we dated?
The conversation around us shifted, and I paid attention to my food. The only person not at the table with us was Tennyson. He’d volunteered to remain outside now that the sun had gone down, so he could concentrate on his vampire voodoo and telepathically conference call his information sources.
I have to admit, the telepathy made me all kinds of jealous. It was the only reason I was able to “tell” him the words to bind me to the Rules of Wishing last week. Thankfully, a wisher can only bind a djinn once, unless they know magic, too, so Tennyson shouldn’t be able to do that again.
I hoped. Vampires and djinn were cousin races, so theoretically he shouldn’t have been able to bind me at all.
The werewolves consumed a lot of food, even the kids. Gideon and Rosalind were also there, as well as two others whose names I didn’t catch, both older females. Everything about the meal was homey, comfortable, and warm—exactly as I imagined a family meal would be. I didn’t remember many meals like this growing up, because my dad was frequently away on djinn business, or because he’d been summoned.
But no matter where he was in the world, no matter what business had his attention, he was always there for my birthday. Mom, too.
“Shi?” Jaxon said.
I snapped my head up. “Yeah?”
“You okay? You went a million miles away just now.”
“Thinking about the past when I should be focusing on the present.”
The two older women cleaned up the empty plates and platters, and then presented us with a massive peach cobbler. I was stuffed and turned it down, but the little girl next to me who’d already cleaned her plate of a huge portions of meat, potatoes, and carrots took a hand-sized slab of cobbler.
My hand-sized, not hers.
I mean, my djinn side comes with a very healthy metabolism, but wow.
Shiloh, I have information, Tennyson said in my head. I do not wish to disturb the meal by entering.
I pinched the bridge of my nose to stave off the slight throb in my head from that little telegraph. Unsure of the protocol for leaving a werewolf dinner table, I angled toward the head of the table. “Alpha Kennedy, excuse the interruption, but my associate has news to share,” I said.
Kennedy waved a hand at me. “You may leave, don’t worry. We aren’t terribly formal about that.”
“Thank you. The food was amazing.”
Chandra, Jaxon, Novak, and Gideon all excused themselves, and we approached Tennyson in the foyer. He seemed smugly impressed with himself which, let’s face it, is really his factory default setting.
“What’s the news?” I asked.
“I have located Danu on the mortal plane.”
Gideon’s eyes bugged out. “Seriously? Danu is here?”
“She is.”
“Where?”
Tennyson’s gaze never left mine, and his eyes flashed bit bits of blue. I groaned out loud, because this was the part of our deal I hated.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“What do you mean, what does he want?” Jaxon replied. “Shiloh, what kind of deal do you have with this guy?”
“Favors in exchange for his help, okay? And if he located Danu, then he’s being helpful.”
Jaxon scowled. “What kind of favors?”
“The favors are between myself and Shiloh,” Tennyson said. “This was our agreement.”
“Don’t worry,” I said to both Jaxon and Novak. “Tennyson isn’t out to hurt me, and anything sexual is one hundred percent off the table.” That didn’t really mollify my fuming teammates, but whatever.
“Oh, did we agree to that?” Tennyson asked, knowing it would make Jaxon fume—which, of course, the skin-walker did.
“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth. “What’s the favor?”
“A single drop of your blood.”
Surprise jolted down my spine, but before I could react, Jaxon was in Tennyson’s face with a gun pointed at his temple. �
��What the fuck do you want her blood for, vampire?” he snarled.
Whoa.
Tennyson merely smiled at him, his eyes swirling depths of crimson. He was fast enough to snap Jaxon’s neck, though, so I grabbed the butt of my own gun, which was full of silver nitrate bullets. I trusted Tennyson, but only so far.
He didn’t move, though. “The young djinn has tasted my blood more than once,” Tennyson simply said. “I think it’s only fair I be allowed a taste of my own.”
“Yeah?” Jaxon replied. “And what if you can’t stop after just one drop? What if you decide you want to turn her?”
“I have never in my five hundred-plus years turned an unwilling human, and shan’t begin now. Shiloh is too rare of a find to alter her thusly.”
Rare a find? Am I an antique now?
“Jaxon, back off,” I said. I squeezed his shoulder hard enough for him to flinch, then lower the gun from Tennyson’s head. “Thank you for caring, but I can handle this.”
Jaxon holstered his gun and turned to face me. His eyes gleamed with anger and fear, and deep inside them, I spotted a hint of the mighty stag waiting inside to free itself and protect me. “I agree you’re a rare find, Shi,” he said with a hitch in his voice. “I can’t lose you.”
My heart absolutely did not pitter-pat over that statement. Nope.
“I’m a tough girl,” I said. “It took multiple direct blows to the head, a concussion, a fractured skull, and melon-baller to the lung to take me down last time.”
“And my blood is the only reason she is alive now,” Tennyson said. “Shiloh, do you agree to the price of my assistance in locating Danu?”
I held Jaxon’s gaze another beat, telegraphing as much confidence as I could. Hoping he really did know me well enough to trust me and back off. “The risk is worth speaking to Danu. Maybe a goddess can get us a direct line to the missing wolves and we can end this.”
His scowl only deepened before he nodded his assent.
“Thank you.” To Tennyson, I said, “Yes, I agree. A pinprick on my finger somewhere in private.”
“Agreed,” Tennyson replied so smugly I kind of wanted to punch him.