Chaos Burning

by Lauren Dane

  “Ahhh. That’s it then. She got all under the radar because you figured she looked like one of those art-school girls and you like the big-boobed, designer-clothes set. But you played cards and shot guns and before you knew it, it wasn’t the looks at all. That’s the rub isn’t it? All those years we sought out the ladies for how they looked but when you get right down to it, it’s who they are, the magick they throw off like pixie dust that gets to a man.”

  Simon rubbed his hands through his hair. “First of all, Meriel is a gorgeous, designer-clothes-wearing woman. And second of all, Lark is gorgeous too. It’s… yes, it’s that she wasn’t my usual type and so I let her get close. But she’s not one of the guys. And when I saw her fight in the parking lot, when I watched her gather magick last night in the Owen gardens on the roof, it was a total shock to me.”

  In the end it had been that Lark was perfect and he hadn’t noticed. His brother Card would laugh and laugh at him for that.

  “And now?”

  “It’s too late. I want her.” And that was really that. Once he made his mind up about something, he didn’t obsess over fighting it. That was a waste of time. He was old enough to know what his nature was. Old enough to accept who he was and what he came from. Lark Jaansen was worthy on so many levels. Once he’d taken a deep breath of her, once he’d tasted her, it had been the underline on the whole thing.

  “What about the fact that she lives in another state?”

  “I’ll deal with that if and when it comes up. She’s been here over a month and she’s barely mentioned L.A. Her dad calls from time to time. Her mother too. I know things are complicated for her back there. I’m not sure at all that back in L.A. is the place she should be.”

  “Meriel hasn’t been very specific about her personal stuff. I know it’s about her sister. Not so very original but a problem nonetheless. Just… take it easy on her. She’s a tough cookie, yes. But she’s also… I don’t know, fragile maybe?”

  Simon knew it. He felt it too. “The last thing I want to do is harm her. Especially now. She’s in me. I breathed her in. I kissed her and took a good long taste. This is not just a female I enjoy. This one is so much more than that. My beast has chosen and the man seems to agree.”

  “Crap. Your father is going to have some serious expectations once he finds out. If she’s like big-time, forever mate and stuff, he’s going to see it immediately in you. Don’t mess this up. Seriously.”

  “He’s going to love her. She’s just as odd as he is and he loves a woman with a good right hook. Anyway, I’ve managed to get by just fine this far. I’m not an idiot. Also, if you recall, I counseled you out of being a dick with Meriel. You followed my advice and now you’re an old married guy. So shut up.”

  “Sometimes it’s easier to give advice than to take it.” Dominic pulled up the drive in the wake of Meriel’s car.

  Yeah. He got that too.

  Chapter 12

  SHE’D interviewed everyone in the area, including Teodor, who was suitably horrified that this had happened on his watch. It took guts to own something—even when it wasn’t your fault—when it happened on your shift. She admired that.

  “Do you have a moment?” Edwina asked, standing at the doorway to the small space Lark had taken over for an office.

  “I was on my way to meet Gage, but I’ve got a few until I’ll be late. What can I help you with?”

  Edwina smiled. Not in a warm, grandmotherly way. It gave Lark a shiver. She dug Edwina and all her ferocity.

  “I wanted to check in with you. On your progress.”

  “Not a whole lot to check, I’m sorry to say. We’ve moved the remaining prisoner to a safer location. I’ve questioned everyone who was in the building last night and early this morning. No one saw anything. I examined the bodies first thing. There’s a hole, a rather large hole ripped through their shields. Like someone found a small tear and yanked to pull it wider. You’ve got excellent medical staff here so I’ll get more information later today.”

  She nodded once. “Is there anything I can do on my end to help?”

  “You’re an organized clan. I’ve got all I need and when I need more, ten people jump to offer it. I appreciate it.”

  “This offends me deeply. That this garbage got through my wards.”

  “They’re garbage, yes. But chances are they didn’t get through your shields. They got in through the prisoner. Much like Gloria Ochoa used her connection to Dominic to get through his personal warding earlier this year. It’s part of my plan to have everyone checked for such a thing. It’s not impossible to see and Gia Kelly has volunteered to do the scans. She and her granddaughter have some skill with this sort of thing.”

  “They’re rather good at everything down there. I’ve known Sheila my entire life. She’s the smartest witch I’ve ever met.”

  From Edwina Owen, this was the grandest of compliments.

  “All right. I just wanted to check your progress. I appreciate your time and also your willingness to step in and run the hunter team while Nell is out. We appreciate it.”

  It was a challenge to her skill level, this job. A whole new approach to running a hunter squad and she rather liked it. But saying that in the shadow of all the tragedy the clan had dealt with wouldn’t have been right so she inclined her head, showing respect. “It’s my honor to serve.”

  Those words meant something to Lark. She’d served her clan, her people, from a very young age.

  After the meeting with Gage, where they’d set up teams and made some duty assignments, she headed out to the promised lunch with Meriel.

  PIKE Place Market wasn’t a place she’d have chosen for lunch. But it was a nice walk from the office and the day, while chilly, was clear and sunny. She’d take any and all recharging she could get and a good walk in the sunshine was a boost and gave her the time to unravel some things in her head.

  Meriel already waited for her at a small table in the back of the café. As always, serene. Unflappable. Not a hair out of place. She carried the weight of this on her shoulders more than anyone else would have. But she carried it well and Lark respected her.

  “Sit. I ordered us some hot tea.”

  Once they’d gotten some food in front of them, Meriel leveled her gaze on Lark. “Go on. You know you can talk to me. It won’t go any further. I’m your friend and at this point, I’m also the seat of the clan.”

  She told Meriel the story about Helena’s fiancé and the breakup.

  “But she believed you. So what’s her problem?”

  She grinned. “Thanks for that. The problem I think is that the job is not right for two people. Not anymore. She has her own direction she wants to take the hunters. I have a different direction. We used to use our competition in a good way. To boost performance and push each other to do our best. We’ve been competing since we were toddlers. But we could put it away and still be close. We don’t have that anymore and everyone feels it. So the squad is slowly ending up on one side or the other of some arbitrary line. My parents are also in the middle of this between me and my sister.”

  “Which is stupid. What did your father think would happen when he filled the position with two very ambitious hunters?”

  “We learned a lot together. I learned more with Helena at my side than I would have on my own. We had each other to bounce ideas off. To compete with and have an example with.

  “But that time has passed. She and I have done this long enough to have very specific ideas on how to run a squad. My dad made the right choice when he appointed us both. We’re both far stronger for it. No matter which one of us runs that squad, the clan will be better for it.”

  “But this is more. I know you. Not as well as I know, say, Nell or Gage. But I know you and you’re my friend. I’ve known you long enough to see the strain on your face in a way I never have before and this isn’t about the crazy shit going on outside.”

  “We used to be very close. Despite our fighting, she was my best friend. She’s
closed off to me now. She looks at me and sees her failure. I hate that.” Tears flooded her vision and she swallowed them back. “I don’t want to be her living, breathing reminder of that time the guy she loved fucked her over.”

  “It wasn’t your fault. Surely she sees that.”

  Meriel’s outrage soothed more than the other woman could have ever known.

  She sighed. “She does see that. Logically. She knows I never would have even flirted with this guy. He was a jerk. I knew it from day one but I stayed back to let her make her own mistakes. I should have spoken to her earlier. To save her the pain.”

  “Would she have heard you?”

  “I don’t know. She was pretty gonzo over the guy. Probably not. But I should have tried.”

  “Bull. Look, sometimes certain kinds of pain bring important lessons. Those lessons harden you, prepare you for your life and the only way to learn them, the only way to be a better, stronger and, yes, harder person to survive the world outside is to learn those lessons firsthand. Pain forges strength.” Meriel paused and then sighed, shaking her head. “Edwina told me this some time ago and she was right. I’m right now. You wanted your sister to be happy and you gave her that chance. Even now you’re here to let her have the space to be happy.”

  “Don’t make it out that I’m noble. I’m up here for myself. To be able to work without all that context hanging over my head. It’s a selfish thing. I could have stayed and cleared the air, but I came here instead.”

  Meriel waved it away with a perfectly manicured hand.

  “Bull. Oh, you think I can’t see right through that? Let us be your family. Let us be your clan. We’ll need you tomorrow and a year from now. We want you here, which is why we asked you to take Nell’s place for the immediate future. Beyond that? I still think you have skills we need. And we like you.” Meriel grinned.

  For the first time in her entire life, Lark had felt rootless. And the woman across the table from her was offering to fix that.

  “I can’t leave that mess in L.A. Not without at least trying to clean it up.”

  Meriel shrugged. “Sure. But that doesn’t mean you ever, and I mean ever, Lark, need to let anyone make you feel at fault for what someone else has done. Helena should be ashamed that she’s ever let you feel that way because she’s hurting. That’s not all right.”

  The tears she’d been holding back broke loose and she dabbed her eyes with a napkin. “You’re making me blubbery.”

  “I doubt that. I’m saying what needs to be said. What is true. You have a home here, Lark. You have a clan who wants you, who needs you. You have friends. And Simon. Well, you do understand he’s not just going to let you swan back off to L.A., right?”

  She smiled again when she thought of Simon. “He’s way too much male for me.”

  Meriel laughed and squeezed Lark’s hand. “I know what you mean. Look who I’m bonded to. But you and I are a lot alike. We’d be so bored with a man we weren’t constantly challenged by. Takes a lot of skill to manage all that alpha male. But the benefits, well, they’re worth it. And being loved by a man like that? That’s worth it too.”

  “Love? We just had our first kiss. Love is a ways away.” Cripes, she had enough on her plate without a complication like love. The love of a six-hundred-year-old giant wolf in a man’s skin? She really, really wasn’t ready for that.

  “Pfft.” Again the wave. “He’s Lycian. They play around and all that, but once they find the one, that’s it. He’s going to turn all that energy, all that alpha male hotness and protectiveness in your direction.”

  A heated flush worked from her toes to the top of her head as she remembered the way he’d been that morning.

  “That part is pretty awesome. Don’t tell him that. It’d only go to his head.”

  Meriel laughed. “Of course. Stay with us here. Be part of our clan, part of our family. I’m not saying you don’t need to get this stuff between you and your sister fixed. I’m saying you can do it all the while knowing you have a place to come to when it’s over.”

  It was a good offer. One she knew she’d benefit from. One she knew, in the end, her sister would benefit from.

  “I’ll think about it. Seriously. For the time being, I’m here and I’m going to make some changes to the squad. You should see if you like those changes first. Then you can offer me a job. Also, don’t forget about Nell.”

  A shadow passed over Meriel’s face. “I’d like you to put a guard on her. She’ll notice of course, she’s… well, she’s Nell. But I have a sick feeling and I don’t want to ignore it.”

  Lark swallowed hard. “All right. I’ll do it and I’ll let her know. No use trying to hide it and getting her mad when she needs the rest.”

  Her phone rang and she checked the screen.

  “I don’t think this is a good call. Hang on.”

  She answered and nope, not a good call.

  “I’ve got to go. There’s a missing wolf.”

  Meriel’s eyes widened. “And they think it’s connected to us? To this madness?”

  “One of the first things I did when I came to town was connect with the Cascadia Pack. Their Enforcer, Megan Warden, was open to better communication between us. She said you’d been in contact with their Alpha. They had a good experience with us, I guess, which is nice. But I did warn them about these disappearances and told them to call if they learned anything new.”

  “How do we know it’s connected to this?” Meriel stood and they made their way outside.

  “We go and look.”

  Meriel laughed. “Yes, quite right. It’s nice to have you here, Lark. I’ll come with you.”

  “No, you won’t. You’re The Owen. You don’t go to crime scenes. You go back to the office where you’ll be safe.” She nodded to the guard across the street. “Jeff will escort you back.”

  “You put a guard on me?”

  “Hell yes, I did. Three weeks ago. There’s one on Dominic too.” Lark stepped closer. “This is serious business, Meriel. You need a guard. I know you don’t like it, but this is part of my job and I’m doing it. There’s something out there stalking and stealing our people. I’m not going to let you be one of those people. Don’t argue. You know I’m right.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Me either. Deal with it. I’ll see you later. Thanks for lunch.” She hesitated. “And thanks for listening and for all you said.” She’d needed to hear it more than she’d really known going in.

  Her phone was at her ear as she began to give orders, began to fully occupy her job. She sent Gage to the wolf’s house to look there and called in Ginger, who she decided would be her backup on scene. They all were woefully undereducated on this sort of thing. Which wasn’t surprising given the fact that this had been relatively peaceful territory until the last year.

  Peace? Well, that was beginning to feel like a lovely memory. Lark was used to the darkness, had grown up scrapping and fighting to protect her people. But Seattle wasn’t that way. Hadn’t been that way.

  It was a shame to lose ground, a shame to have to train people how to effectively use an automatic weapon or use their magick to rebound spells to take out the caster.

  But none of that changed reality. And reality barreled down on Seattle and Clan Owen like a runaway train. And it was beginning to look like it was more than just the witches who faced the rising darkness.

  Chapter 13

  SHE found herself squatting in a stinky alley some hours later, taking one last look at the spot she knew the wolf had been taken from. Mage energy was everywhere and she didn’t have any real doubt that it was their current problem that was responsible for the snatch and grab.

  Megan Warden stood with a heavy sigh. “This does not please me.”

  “Join the club.” The wolf had been snatched from his place of work. From the parking lot just beyond where they stood. “This wolf, he’s a regular attendee at pack stuff?”

  “He’s a highly ranked wolf. No way any ave
rage, even any above-average wolf, witch, vamp, whatever, could have taken him down. He’s nearly seven feet tall and huge. He’d have changed if he could.”

  Lark had asked one of Megan’s wolves to change so she could watch the way their magick worked. So she could compare it to the energy signatures in the parking lot and the alley.

  “Can everyone please step away? Get back inside? I’d like to look the place over. Ginger, with me.”

  Megan looked at her sideways but had her people leave.

  “How often do you use your othersight? In general when you’re working?”

  Ginger thought for a moment. “More lately than before. Usually if I have to secure a scene. But we don’t have to do that very often. Even after… well, you know what I mean.”

  “I do. But your othersight is an important tool. You should use it all the time. It should be second nature. Starting now.”

  Lark threw her shields open and invited her magick to rise, to fill her, to let itself be used. The earth beneath her surged in welcome. Even with the dire circumstances they faced, the earth still welcomed her, which was a good sign.

  “Use it now.”

  When she opened her eyes, her othersight sprang to life, casting an entirely different sort of color palette all over the area.

  Lark walked slowly, looking carefully at the different energy signatures. “We had the wolf change for us.” She pointed to the left. “Right there. You can see the green and blue. Lots of shifter magick around, but there’s none of that except for just there.”

  She straightened and then moved closer to the mouth of the alley where it fed into the lot. The dark, murky sludge wasn’t just visible to her othersight, the thickness of the aura, the dirty, ugly sludge of it was something her magick slid over as she instinctively drew her shields up. “Careful here.”

  Ginger paused. “That’s not a mage.”

  “No, that’s a turned witch.” She huffed a breath. “This isn’t really a surprise. We knew they were working with the mages. But up until now they were mainly in the background. So did the turned witch stand and watch the snatch or did the victim know them and went willingly until it was too late?”