by Lyra Evans
“You want to get him, don’t you?” Cobalt asked, studying Niko closely.
Heat spread across Niko’s cheeks. “I want to get all of the fucking monsters who were involved,” he said, words ragged.
Cobalt continued to study his face. “So what have you found?”
Niko hesitated. “I can show you some of the cases I believe are connected,” he said. “I took whatever I could with me before leaving the apartment.”
“Well, this sounds fascinating and all, but I think I’m going to go have that nap,” Coral said suddenly, appearing from her chair and pushing past Niko up the stairs. “Since this doesn’t concern me and I don’t really care. Ta.”
She waved dismissively at them and disappeared into the small bedroom. Niko watched her go, his forehead wrinkling with a puzzled look. Cobalt was suddenly behind him, very close, his sea breeze scent much more powerful now he was clean. Niko breathed in instinctively.
“You were going to show me the cases,” Cobalt breathed. His hand was just behind Niko’s on the railing, his fingertips barely a hair’s width away. Niko froze, wanting to lean back into Cobalt’s warm, hard chest. He wanted to lose himself in Cobalt again, but the aching in his own chest stopped him.
“Right,” Niko said, forcing himself to climb the stairs. He moved more quickly than he intended, already rifling through his files in his go-bag when Cobalt entered the master bedroom. Turning his focus to the cases, something he could anchor to in the hurricane that was his present, Niko gathered up the folders and sat at the foot of the bed. Without much alternative, Cobalt joined him. He moved as though Niko was a deer that might spook at any moment if he got too close. But Niko didn’t notice. Not really. “These are the ones that struck me the most of all of the files I’ve been through. I can’t put my finger on why yet, but I’m sure these hold the answers. They’re connected, I know it.”
Cobalt took the folders from him one by one, and despite the closeness, they never actually touched. The Selkie flipped through the pages, scanning them for relevant details to get up to speed.
“Another case involving Shady Cove?” Cobalt asked, recognizing the neighbourhood from their previous case. “Though it looks like this was a misunderstanding.”
“One of the family members was never interviewed,” Niko said.
Cobalt studied the file again. “Natela Tilia…seems as though she was on vacation in Nimueh’s Court?”
“Except none of the officers ever bothered to follow up with her when she returned,” Niko said. “And that was months later. It doesn’t sit right with me.”
Cobalt cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“The Tilia family is pretty old money. They’re very well connected. Lower ranked Courtiers, but still Courtiers. Natela was in the society pages all the time. No warning for this ‘trip’ to Nimueh’s Court. And no photos of her there. No big ‘coming home’ party when she came back. She seemed like the type to use any excuse to party she could.”
“Seemed?” Cobalt asked, flipping through the papers again.
Niko slumped a bit. “She’s dead,” Niko said.
Cobalt closed the file, his eyes flashing. “Dead? How? Why isn’t that—”
“Natural causes,” Niko said, waving off his thought process. “Death certificate lists a deadly strain of a rare virus. Apparently they caught it too late to do anything about it. It’s the kind of thing you need to treat immediately or you’re fucked. She didn’t notice the symptoms because it presents a lot like a horrible hangover, and she was a big partier, like I said.”
Cobalt stilled. “So what makes you think her strange lack of visibility for a few months has to do with the Woods?”
Niko shifted, trying to sort through the possibilities. “The sudden disappearance from social media and any media at all is suspicious in itself, but the staff were convinced they heard screaming. Frightened enough to call the cops without checking with their employers first. That’s big for these people. And you’ve been to the neighbourhood. The estate we visited had runemagick fucking everywhere. The soundproofing was intense. I’m supposed to believe the staff overhead a video game? How loud do you have to be playing a game to break through runemagick?”
Thinking this over, Cobalt worked his jaw side to side. He nodded slowly. “They are valid questions, I admit,” he said, and Niko offered him the next file.
A quick survey of it, and Cobalt concluded, “A car crash?”
“Officers were called to the scene of what looked like a hit-and-run,” Niko said. “They found a totalled car with a young couple in the wreckage. Neither survived. Seemed as though they’d been run off the road somehow. They hit a tree because of it.”
Cobalt frowned at the file. “It looks as though they identified the likely culprit a few miles down the road,” he said.
Niko nodded. “They found another wreck in their search. Rolled in a ditch. The car was destroyed, but the paint colour matched the transfer on the other car. The driver in this one was a young man with no criminal record. He was dead, too.”
Understanding dawned on Cobalt. “That’s why they closed the case. No one to prosecute. Just a horrible tragedy.”
The crime scene images of that case floated in Niko’s mind. The ruins of both cars were unsettling. “Maybe.” Cobalt shot him a look as if to ask for more detail. “The second car was so badly messed up they couldn’t find either license plate. They could barely make out the make and model, let alone identify who owned it.”
“Who owned it? Wasn’t the driver—”
As Cobalt flipped through the police reports, Niko answered, “Didn’t belong to him. No documentation indicating he ever owned a car of that model. But they also couldn’t identify who did own the car, and no one ever reported one missing or stolen. Plus, toxicology reports on the driver indicated he was under the influence, but the levels in his blood were just barely above the legal limit.”
Cobalt ran a thumb over his jaw. “That’s not necessarily indicative of—”
“But there were indications someone else could have been in the vehicle. There was quite a bit of cash in the car. Too much to make any sense with the people involved. And clothing that wasn’t in the driver’s size. There was also a pair of shoes found on scene, each in different places, and they didn’t match the driver’s size either.”
Cobalt’s brow furrowed. “Odd,” he said. “They didn’t investigate further?”
Niko shrugged. “From what I can tell, they did a search of all the hospitals, but no one came in with injuries consistent with that kind of collision. They concluded the items might just have been in the car for some unrelated reason. Maybe he had his friend’s shoes and clothes in his car, but not his friend. And none of the driver’s friends came forward with any explanations either. So they closed the case for the sake of both families.”
“All right, so you’ve got two somewhat suspicious circumstances,” Cobalt began, but Niko just handed him the next files.
“A cleaning woman disappeared from the financial district,” he explained before Cobalt could even open the file. “She apparently went to work like usual, clocking in at the regular time for her night shift. Did her shift, no complaints or issues, and clocked out. But she never made it home. Neighbour reported her missing a week or so later because her dog was barking. Police investigated but only found security footage of her waiting outside the building for a black car to pull up, then she moved around the car, possibly to get in. No way to verify. Cameras see the car pull away, but no license plate, no indication of where it went. They lost track of her the moment the car left the parking lot. Without more signs of foul play, police couldn’t do much. It’s not against the law for an adult to just up and leave their lives and disappear if they want to.”
“Did they speak with her family or friends? Was there any indication she might do such a thing?”
Niko shook his head. “No one to talk to really. Neighbour said she was friendly and conscientious, but they d
idn’t know her well. Just said she loved that dog and would never leave without it. Police took the dog to a shelter to monitor, but nothing ever came of it. No bodies came up fitting her description either. Cops figured maybe she’d just had enough and wanted a change.” Niko paused. “But there’s been no activity on any of her credit cards, no money debited from her bank account, no log of her ID since.”
“That does seem rather extreme,” Cobalt murmured, though he didn’t entirely seem convinced.
“The Lime Gallery reported a piece missing from one of their shows,” Niko said, skipping along to the next case. “The painting wasn’t the most valuable in the collection by any means, but it was still under the gallery’s care. A painting depicting an unidentifiable woman, nude and in the throes of ecstasy or something. Part of this weird series this artist is known for, apparently. It was set up with all the other pieces for the show, but between the set up and opening for the show, it just vanished.”
Cobalt blinked, a look of mild disgust on his face. “And they closed the case?”
Niko nodded. “Officers found a security guard who lied on her job application to hide her criminal record. She’s apparently sort of a kleptomaniac. Stole valuables from every job she’s ever had. And she was vocal about her disgust regarding this particular painting. When they interrogated her, she claimed she was happy it was gone and destroyed.” Cobalt raised his eyebrows. “Yeah. No one said anything about it being destroyed. So based on a lot of circumstantial evidence, they convicted her. Gallery wrote off the loss and made their background checks more rigorous.”
“And this one is curious to you because…”
“Never found any indication of the painting ever being in her possession. No signs of it or the frame at her place. Not even any sign of its destruction. And she never confessed to the actual crime. Security camera also logged her in a different part of the gallery at the moment when the feeds were cut. Guard in the booth said he couldn’t figure out why the feeds suddenly died, but she returned when he called over the coms within minutes. Not enough time for her to cross the museum, pick up the painting, get rid of it somewhere, and make it back to him. And this painting had been in the news quite a bit because of its dramatic content. And then it just vanishes?”
Cobalt rolled his shoulders. “There certainly are unanswered questions here. But each of these cases is so different, so disparate…how did you identify these above all others that must come through the department?”
Niko shifted, the room suddenly feeling small and warm. He had been avoiding mentioning his most compelling reason for believing these cases to be connected—that he was pointed to them by the glitched number. But there was no way to dance around it if he wanted Cobalt’s help.
“I—I have an informant,” Niko said, stilted.
“That’s great,” Cobalt said, surprised. “Who is it? Is this person willing to testify to anything? Why could they not tell you more—”
“I don’t know who they are,” Niko said quickly. Cobalt fell instantly silent. Jaw tight, Niko went on. “I just got these anonymous text messages. They started one day. Said if I wanted to get to the root of the Woods, I had to dig deep. It started mentioning old cases, giving just enough detail that clearly they knew what they were talking about.”
“But they never gave you a name?” Cobalt asked, suddenly much warier. “And you didn’t trace the number?”
Niko frowned. “Obviously I tried that. But they did something to their number…it was never a phone number, just a bunch of glitchy symbols on my screen. The phone company couldn’t trace it, and even Uri tried to figure it out with the police database, but nothing. It doesn’t go anywhere. Like the messages are coming from my phone, not any network.”
Cobalt’s eyes were wide, the pupils pinpricks. “And you don’t find that suspicious?”
Niko got to his feet, pushing away in frustration. “Of course I do! But—the information was always right. And this is the only person who seemed to really believe the Woods was a thing. Like me. I felt less—” He stopped himself before saying alone. He didn’t need to, based on the look on Cobalt’s face. There was silence for a while, neither of them managing to address the reality of what Niko was saying. “And if it makes you feel better, the glitched number is the only reason I managed to make it out of the apartment building. It warned me about the police. I was already on my way out the door before you knocked.”
Cobalt’s expression remained unchanged, but Niko knew him enough to know this was a mask. What he was thinking just then, Niko couldn’t read. He felt on the outside suddenly, and he didn’t like it.
“Well, whoever this anonymous person is, they can’t be all bad then,” he said. “Keeping you safe certainly does a lot to endear me to them.” With a soft sigh, Cobalt got to his feet, placing the files on top of the dresser. He was close to Niko now, his warmth enveloping Niko even from this distance. Niko ached. “We should do as Starla suggested. Get some rest.” He lingered a moment, and Niko thought maybe Cobalt was breathing him in too. “I’ll—leave you the room.”
Panic flared inside Niko. “Where are you going?”
Cobalt caught his eye, seeing what Niko tried to hide. The fear that he was leaving again. “Just downstairs. The couch is fine for me.”
But as Cobalt moved to go around him, Niko found he really didn’t want to be alone. Without allowing himself to think, he reached out and caught Cobalt’s wrist, stopping his movement. Cobalt waited, searching his face. Niko wasn’t sure what he would find there, he felt like such a mess. Jaw wired shut, eyes cast down, he forced himself to speak.
“Don’t.”
Chapter 7
“Niko—” Cobalt started, but Niko couldn’t. He just couldn’t—think, talk, relive—any of it. He knew what he needed, and he didn’t want to think too deeply about it. So before Cobalt could get another word out, Niko pulled Cobalt to him, hard and abrupt, and kissed him.
For a moment, everything was fine. Back to normal. No manhunt. No conspiracy. No loneliness. No hurt. And if Niko whimpered the barest sound into the kiss, it didn’t matter. Not just then.
Cobalt hesitated for a fraction of a heartbeat, then his arms wrapped around Niko, pressing their bodies together sharply. He poured into the kiss, and Niko took him all in. He tasted just right, just as Niko remembered, just Cobalt. And Niko’s entire body reacted immediately. It had been some time since he’d felt himself get erect without some kind of pain—either applied or threatened—but everything about Cobalt touching him, kissing him, being this close was intoxicating.
His mind swam with all that had happened, a low, pulsing throb emerging at the back of his skull, but Niko paid it no mind. He let himself sink into the embrace, into Cobalt, and pretended as though this was all there was for now. Cobalt’s hands smoothed up Niko’s back, his fingers mowing tracks through the short hair at Niko’s nape, and Niko parted his lips. Tongue sliding over tongue, the kiss deepened and burned, and Cobalt’s fingers were curling around locks of Niko’s hair, pulling gently at first and then with more force.
Niko moaned at the subtle pain, and Cobalt pushed him backward into the dresser. Knobs from the drawers dug into Niko’s back like needles into pressure points, and that familiar pleasure in pain captured him. His cock hardened to its limit, his body already leaning on the precipice of ecstasy. And Cobalt pulled away from the kiss, running his teeth along Niko’s jaw until he could pull the pointed tip of Niko’s ear into his mouth. He bit down. Niko shuddered a moan.
“There’s my Pet,” Cobalt breathed. Another shudder rolled over Niko.
Yanking Niko’s head back with a fistful of his hair, Cobalt exposed Niko’s neck. He latched his mouth there, sucking and running his teeth over the sensitive flesh, while his other hand moved to Niko’s pants to pry open the button and fly. Niko’s fingers scraped at Cobalt’s back, moving to his front to pop open the buttons of his shirt, but Cobalt batted his hands away the moment he’d finished undoing the shirt.
His one hand still fisting Niko’s hair, he shrugged out of his sleeves, revealing the full and glorious expanse of his dark, muscled chest. The Soul Stone gleamed at Niko, calling to him silently, magically, as though it was still somehow tethered to the hollow in his chest.
“Hold on to the dresser if you need something to do with your hands,” Cobalt instructed, denying Niko the chance to touch him. Fingers yearning to press against Cobalt’s naked flesh, Niko wanted to disobey, but the hand keeping his head angled back stopped him. After a moment that did not go unnoticed, Niko reached behind him and gripped a drawer knob in each hand. The rounded metal dug into his palms as he held tight, both to brace himself and hold himself back.
Cobalt shoved Niko’s undone pants to the floor at his ankles, releasing Niko’s hard cock without concern. Niko arched toward Cobalt, searching for friction or anything he could get, but Cobalt pulled back and swung at Niko’s face. His hand collided with Niko’s cheek, the skin stinging red almost immediately. A flare of pleasure surged in Niko.
Without explaining himself, Cobalt then grabbed Niko by the jaw, turning his head so they were forced to look each other in the eye. He smoothed the pads of his fingers over Niko’s reddened cheek and reached down with the other hand to cup Niko’s testicles. Niko’s teeth clenched, his desire rising with every small action. Cobalt’s irises were nearly eclipsed by his pupils now, as he leaned in and captured Niko’s mouth in another kiss.
Then, Cobalt pulled away, leaving Niko with his lips parted and wet, his tongue almost trying to follow Cobalt’s retreat. The Selkie released his hold on Niko, pinning him in place with only a look, and he removed the rest of his clothing. Tossing his pants and underwear aside with his shirt, he stood completely naked in front of Niko.
The view was dizzying to Niko’s tired and horny brain. Cobalt was always a gorgeous sight, but standing there, hand wrapped around the base of his thick cock, his eyes never leaving Niko, was too much for Niko to handle. He needed Cobalt, needed everything, and he could not wait.