by Lola Kidd
“I don’t know about that,” Zach said. “Why would she come here?”
“To talk about the incident with Nolan Lionheart.”
He had him there. It was the perfect reason to have her come in and it made sense. If this were a human matter, they would have already had her come in. The only reason they hadn’t was her human status in all of this. Still, it would be risky.
“What if she figures it all out?” he asked his boss.
“How? I’ll be the one prying around the edges of her mind. You just ask her to come in. Tell her it’s for the beating and that you won’t be taking her statement since you were there too. Conflict of interest.”
Zach nodded. “Okay.”
It wasn’t like he had any other choice. There wasn’t any good reason for him to keep her away from Rhett. This wasn’t going to look bad for him either. It was going to be a simple question and statement. Nothing big. It would be fine. It would be fine.
Maybe if he repeated it to himself enough times it would be true.
Beau clapped his hands. “Earth to Zach. What’s going on with you? Are you even listening?”
“No. I was just thinking this is a bad idea. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I’m not feeling this big-time.”
“What do you suggest then? Rhett asked. “We need to get her in here and we need to be sure that she won’t be in any danger. If her immunity has any holes, it’s going to be bad for her. This isn’t about making sure the story stays inside our community anymore. Her safety is the priority right now. You can agree with that, can’t you?”
“When you put it that way, yeah I can. I’ll talk to her tonight.”
“What exactly is she doing?” Rhett asked.
Zach looked at Beau. “I don’t think we should talk anymore about her latest investigating. I’m going to try and stop her. Depending on how that goes, then we can talk.”
The more he thought about it, the more it looked like he was going to have to come clean with her. He wanted to keep the story from getting out or getting too big, but he also wanted to keep her safe. There was no way he could do both of those things well if he didn’t tell her why it was so important for her to keep her nose out of shifter business. But he wasn’t even sure that would stop her. She was strangely determined even when her life was in danger. He had no idea how he was going to convey the seriousness of this without telling her everything he knew.
Chapter Eighteen
“Slow down.” Tally held the phone away from her ear as Bettina yelled profanities.
“Slow down? You need to speed up. What are you even doing out there?” Bettina huffed. “I can’t believe you aren’t already all over this. A shifter-on-human attack just down the street from you and you’re still answering emails in bed? Come on, girl! Get on the damn ball.”
“I haven’t even heard about this attack yet.”
“That’s part of the problem. Maybe working so closely with a shifter is making you soft.”
“Newspapers are slow out here. It isn’t like I have a Google alert on my phone or anything. I’ve been busy emailing all the professors I could find and just haven’t gotten a minute to check the local news. Also, I have had a pretty stressful weekend. Cut me some slack, please.”
“I’m sorry.” Bettina took a deep breath. “I’m going to email you all the stuff I’ve found and you can go from there. Think this professor thing will go anywhere?”
“Yes. I think it’s a pretty good lead. But we’ll see if anyone will want to talk to me after they learn why I’m so curious.”
“You got the siblings talking. That’s a pretty big get. You can do anything, girl. You’ve got that magic touch...just make sure you keep your hands to yourself when you’re around Hot KOP.”
“Shut up.”
Tally hung up and checked the email that had just appeared in her inbox. There had been a shifter attack overnight. A pretty crazy one that somehow didn’t end up with any casualties. Sounded pretty fishy to her. It wasn’t being too widely reported. Only three stories and one of them was a repost. She wondered how the info had gotten out so fast. She checked social media and couldn’t find any mention of it. Also strange. An attack that big would have gotten some locals talking, but everything was silent as far as she could tell.
This was a good time to talk to her inside source. She would have to wait until he got off. While browsing the article headlines, one caught her eye. There was another small town that supposedly kicked all the shifters out. Her stomach sank just as much as seeing down the barrel of that gun. It was crazy. She was sweating and shaking in bed just reading a headline.
It was what she was trying to desperately keep in the back of her mind. Not let herself think of it too much. She knew that it was something that happened from time to time. And vice versa too. There were humans that had been pushed out of shifter towns. She wondered how her story would affect all that. If it were true, she could see more humans getting scared and kicking out shifters. Which in turn could make the shifters mad and make them start being more selective with their town admittance policies.
There had never been a shifter-human war before. That was the darkest place her mind went if she let it wander too much. What if the humans started evicting shifters wholesale? What would happen then? Nothing good for humans. As far as she could tell, killing a shifter was pretty hard. A dragon damn near impossible for a human. Unless they used very heavy-duty weapons. Stuff that would decimate any humans in the area too. That was the biggest problem. To the naked eye, it was impossible to tell them apart. Any fighting would benefit the shifters way more than humans. They had a hefty unfair advantage. It honestly amazed her that they’d never tried to take over and make humans submit in all this time.
But still, if they were hiding this secret, she wondered just how much danger humans were in. Maybe the shifters could stop it? That had to be true. If they couldn’t the problem would be more widespread and they would be found out. Like this attack last night. The buffalo shifter was still at large but the KOPs were hot on his tail. That made her think that this was a containable problem. Much more reason for her to spill the beans.
Her breathing was returning to normal. If she let her mind go to a dark place, she always found her way out. That was the end game. This was a controllable problem. That’s why she was so hopeful about the mental illness angle. She bet there were shifters going crazy but there was also some secret shifter medicine to make them better. The only reason they didn’t want it go get out was because it would scare humans. She would even bet this was a very old policy that hadn’t caught up with the times. Back in the early days of course humans would be scared of crazy shifters, but not anymore. Now, it would be so much better to tell the truth.
For sure. There was no way her story would hurt people. She was doing the right thing. Her phone rang. She answered it, saving her place in the article. “Tally.”
“Hi, this is Rhett Lungthal from the Lake Magnolia KOPs. I was wondering if you would be willing to come down to the station to give a statement on a crime you saw committed a few nights ago.”
Her mouth was dry. “I didn’t see anything. I think you must have the wrong person.”
“I got your name from Nolan. I think you saw him before anything happened to him and that your life was threatened too. It would be a big help for us if you came and gave a statement. Your name won’t be released or anything. Internal only.”
“Hypothetically, if I was there, which I’m not saying I was. But if I was, I wouldn’t have seen anything except for Nolan. I wouldn’t be of much use to you.”
“Maybe but maybe not. Even just seeing Nolan there before the crime would be helpful.”
This could work out for her if she played it right. She could go in and tell him what she knew while also asking a few “innocent” questions about the story from last night. Plus, she could see Zach on the job. She wondered if he knew she was coming in already. Most likely, but it would still do her good t
o observe him around his coworkers. If the air was tense or off in any way, that would tell her something. Like maybe he wasn’t as trustworthy as he seemed.
“Okay. When do you want me to come in?”
“As soon as possible. If I understand correctly, you aren’t staying in town long and I don’t want you to delay your trip for me.”
“Fine. I’ll see you in about fifteen, twenty minutes.”
“Great. Ask for Rhett if I’m not there to greet you.”
She hung up and quickly got ready. It wasn’t like she needed to look hot and the station was fifteen minutes away already. When she got there, Zach was on the phone sitting at a desk. His eyes opened wide and he gave her a questioning glance when he saw her.
She shrugged and waited to get helped. An older man came out of the back area of the station. “Tallulah?”
“Tally is fine,” she said extending her hand. “Rhett I presume?”
“Yup. Please follow me.” He led her toward the back of the station the same way he came. “Thank you for coming down today. I know it can be scary for a human to get involved in shifter affairs. Thank you for being brave.”
She almost laughed before she remembered that he was being serious. She assumed he knew about her business in town, but maybe she didn’t realize she was the same Tally he was looking for just two days earlier?
Most likely he did but better to play along. “Sure. Anything to help keep criminals off the streets.”
They sat in an interrogation room and she told him everything she knew about that night. It wasn’t a very long story and he didn’t have many questions. The whole thing took less than twenty minutes.
She liked Rhett. He was no-nonsense about the whole thing and very polite. She could see why Zach respected him so much and why he was the perfect choice for chief of the station. He had an air of calm about him and it likely set everyone at ease around him. He was probably clutch to have in a crisis situation.
“All right. I don’t have anything more,” he told her, looking her directly in the eye.
Tally felt a familiar twinge behind her eyes. He was trying to use magic on her! She kept her face neutral. “Great. So I can go then?”
“Of course! If we need anything else, and I don’t think we will, I can reach you at the number you gave?”
She smiled and nodded. “Yup. Have a great day.”
She hurried out of the station past Zach without giving him another look. Well, she hadn’t been able to ask a question, but she had still learned something very important from this whole excursion. What Zach had to say about it all was going to determine her next move.
This was the second time that week that a shifter had tried to use magic on her. They had to know she was immune and that didn’t meant nothing good for her. There was something they wanted her to forget, and she wondered just how far they would go to ensure that happened.
Chapter Nineteen
“She left in a real rush,” Zach told Rhett as he was leaving for the day. “What exactly happened back there?”
Rhett sighed. “I already told you. I tried to compel her and had no luck. I tried the entire time we were back there from the moment I shook her hand. She didn’t notice until the very end of the session. I’ve never seen anyone hold up like that before. I was afraid I was pushing it too far. But there was no effect. She’s going to be fine. Even if they send the Pegasus, he won’t be able to melt her mind or drive her crazy.”
“Which means they’ll have to settle for old-fashioned ways,” Zach pointed out. “That’s not exactly a great thing.”
“No, but at least we know what we’re up against here. Even the Abbott dragons aren’t going to casually murder a human woman. If they tried for that, we know we’re dealing with a very serious problem in the shifter community. Something more dangerous than even we realized.”
“This thing is getting out of hand, isn’t it?” Zach asked.
“How so?”
“This was supposedly a thing against the human woman. I’m starting to feel like I’m going against shifters now. Like I’m a triple agent or something. I don’t even know which side I’m supposed to be loyal to anymore.”
“The side of the truth,” Rhett reminded him. “The only reason we wanted you to get close to this human was to find out what she knew. Yes, you’re lying, but that is with purpose. Not to hurt the human woman. If you feel like you’re doing something that goes against what’s right, against the just conclusion, step back and get off the case.”
Zach nodded. “Thanks. I’ll see you in the morning.”
It had been another long day and he was ready to head home. He was happy to see Tally’s car in his driveway when he got there.
“Hey buddy. Why didn’t you stop and say anything at the station?” he asked her in greeting.
She stared at him. “What the hell was that today?”
“They just needed to complete the report from Nolan’s assault. That case is closed now and they won’t be calling you again.”
“Right, but then why did your boss try to use magic on me?”
Zach stopped taking off his shoes and conjured up his best surprised face. “No. You must be confused. Rhett would never do that.”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” she fumed. “I know what I felt. He was trying to Compel me. That is a fact. My only question is why?”
“Rhett wouldn’t do that. He has...a history. It isn’t his thing anymore. Maybe you were getting a headache from the lights?”
Tally laughed harshly. “You have got to be kidding me. I wasn’t getting a headache. He was trying to make me forget something.”
She was insisting on this pretty hard. He was going to deny, deny, deny but he could see that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He changed tactics on the spot. “I don’t know. How can you be so sure? That would go against everything I know about Rhett. Seriously, there are some really hinky things in his past. He wouldn’t do that to a human unless he was really desperate.”
“I’m immune to it,” she told him. “I know the feeling because shifters have tried to do it to me before. Some very old and powerful shifters and it had no effect. But I know the feeling.”
“Why would someone do that to you?”
“It was my grandparents,” she sighed. “They’re shifters and they wanted me to forget something. They thought they were being helpful, but it didn’t work. In the process, we learned about my immunity. I don’t talk about it often. Never in fact. They impressed upon me that it wouldn’t do me any good if shifters knew about my little talent. You’re the first person I’ve told about it outside of my family.”
“Wow. Thank you. I know humans who have the immunity. There are a surprising number around here. If you’re immune, I can believe that you’d know magic when it was attempted. But I’m still having a hard time believing Rhett would do that to you. Maybe I just don’t want to believe it.”
He leaned back and sighed. He got up and looked around the kitchen for food while he thought of his next move. She didn’t say anything while he asked her about dinner options. He didn’t need to ask if she wanted to stay for a meal with him.
Finally, when he’d began dinner and she was sitting at the table watching him, she brought it back up. “Okay, so why would Rhett be trying to make me forget something? And what would he be trying to pull out? Did you tell him anything about what I’m doing?”
“I haven’t talked to him about you, but you know what, Beau might have said something. I’ll text him now.” He sent a text to his cousin, praying he wouldn’t answer at all.
“So you’ve talked to Beau about me?”
“No, but remember that I called him to go check on Nolan. He gave Rhett your name. If Beau told Rhett I was the one who called him, they might have put it all together.”
“Shit. I didn’t even think about that.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure Beau said anything, but there’s no reason why he wouldn’t. Even if something is a secret between u
s, Rhett’s in the loop too. We’re kind of like the three amigos now.”
She nodded. “Okay. So if Rhett knows that you and I were together, why didn’t he ask you about it? Why try to wipe my mind?”
“Easier. If he could wipe you, he wouldn’t even need to make a big deal about it to me. He could just admonish me and call it a day. But if he can’t wipe whatever from you, he’s got a bigger problem on his hands maybe.”
“How much trouble would you get in if they knew we were talking?”
He shrugged. “Hard to say. I can still play it off as a hookup though. That should buy me some breathing room if it comes up.”
She snorted. “You’re going to tell people we’re sleeping together?”
“You’ve slept over at my house multiple times? Speaking of which, would you like to stay here now that you’re going to be kicked out of your hotel room?”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess that would be smart and it would help me out too. I totally forgot about the hotel thing. Thanks.”
“No problem. That should shore up my hookup plan.”
She arched an eyebrow. “So now that’s the plan? My you move fast, sir.”
“I mean, we are going for as realistic as possible right?”
She laughed. “Right. Now, we just need to figure out how much your boss knows.”
His phone buzzed. Shit, Beau had to be on top of his text messages for the first time in forever. I talked to Rhett. Hoped that was what you wanted to hear. We all know you’re banging that human, ha-ha. Be more careful next time.
That was unexpectedly useful. It was times like these that he wondered if his cousin was in fact telepathic and just hadn’t spilled the beans yet. Though, more likely he was just a very good detective and had thought a few paces ahead. He was giving Zach a story to work with.
“He talked to Rhett,” he relayed to Tally. “I guess they both think we’re sleeping together. I’ll know for sure by the morning. If they think it’s a hookup, they’re going to give me shit and yell at me for being unprofessional. If he thinks I’m working with you, well, you won’t be seeing me again. Or maybe you will when they throw you in the gulag too.”