“I’m the alpha! I’m supposed to negotiate!” she objected. “I get no respect around here. Bunch of unruly werewolves.”
Tommy walked in at that moment and stopped, looking at them suspiciously. “Why do you two look so happy?”
“Something has gone right for a change,” Amber said, heading toward the kitchen. She was pretty sure Tommy had been stress baking again, so there should be more pie. As suspected, a fresh one was on the stove, still cooling. “Oh, did you make apple this time?”
“Yeah, but what happened?”
Ceri walked into the kitchen carrying Captain Jack who was straining to reach Woggy on top of her head. The pixie had ahold of her hair like reins and was taunting the cat by staying just out of reach.
Amber waved a hand at Genevieve. "You explain."
Genevieve happily launched into an explanation of not only the meeting they'd just had with Paul Greer, but also everything that had led up to it. Amber dug out a piece of pie and listened contentedly. She'd been worried about Tommy after the fight at the warehouse the day before, but with all them together right now, the pack bond was practically purring with contentment. Her pack still felt safe together.
Derek had borrowed her truck and met Bernard for coffee this afternoon to discuss the damage to the warehouse. She took a big bite of pie to distract herself from thinking about that anymore. She was furious that someone targeting her had damaged something so important to her brother. He'd taken a huge risk coming out here with her to start a business, and so far, it wasn't exactly paying off.
The road that went past their house wasn't very busy, but a few cars still drove by every hour. She had learned to tune out the noise unless one slowed, or turned down their driveway. She frowned as a vehicle that definitely was not her truck slowed and drove into their driveway.
"Who is that?" As soon as she spoke, she realized there was more than one car. There were at least three.
Tommy frowned. "I have no idea. It's not Deward."
She set her pie down and walked to the living room, peeking out the window. Her heart dropped into her stomach. "The police are here."
Ceri dropped Captain Jack and ran upstairs. "Give me two minutes before they come in!"
Amber turned back to the others and tried to remember how to breathe. They had to be here for Evangeline. "You two should leave. Go out the back. Can you carry Eloise?"
"I'm not going anywhere. And they aren't coming in this house without a warrant," Genevieve said stubbornly.
There was a bark from outside and Amber cursed, looking outside the window again. They'd brought a K9 unit. There's no way they could sneak Eloise and Evangeline out the back now, the dogs would notice immediately. Ceri had better be working some serious magic up there.
The demon mark twitched under her skin and Angel appeared. Because, of course, this needed to become even more complicated.
"Why are the police here?" the demon demanded.
She glared at him. "If I knew that, we would have been gone before they showed up."
"Are you talking to the demon again?" Tommy asked, staring hard at the air next to her.
"Yes." She let the curtain fall back as Detective Sloan stepped out of the first car. She was starting to get sick of this guy showing up. It was never good news.
"That is so creepy," Tommy muttered.
"What do I do?" Amber asked, looking at Genevieve.
"Answer the door like normal. If he asks to come in, ask for a warrant. Be polite."
Amber nodded and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She really should have asked Shane how he slowed his heart rate like that. This would have been a great moment to look perfectly calm.
There was a brisk knock at the door. "Police, open up!"
"You cannot let them in! Evangeline is just upstairs. Why haven't you gotten her out?" Angel demanded as she walked toward the front door.
"Shut up and trust me."
She opened the door wide, but stood in the center of the doorway and crossed her arms, looking Detective Sloan in the eye. Behind him, six other officers were waiting, one of them heading toward the side of the house with his police dog.
"I would ask if there's been another alpha death, but something tells me you didn't bring all these people with you just to update me on the case," Amber said drily. Her heart was pounding in her chest.
“An anonymous tip was called in, naming you and your pack as harboring Evangeline Bissett. I have a warrant to search the house." He lifted an official looking piece of paper to emphasize his point. "Please step aside, I don't want this to get ugly.” The detective looked run down. His suit was wrinkled and the lines around his eyes had deepened since the last time she’d seen him; when he’d been warning her about Donovan’s murder.
“You can let him in now," Ceri whispered from the bottom of the stairs, just loud enough for her enhanced hearing to pick up.
"It's not going to get ugly, but I would like to see that warrant," Amber said, stepping back and inviting him inside. She had to trust Ceri right now. There was no time for arguing or worrying. The police were coming in whether she wanted them to or not.
“If they find her, you are dead,” the demon threatened, furious at her compliance.
She ignored him and waved the detective inside. “We have nothing to hide.”
Angel practically growled at that remark. He circled the detective as he walked in, trying to read the warrant over his shoulder.
“I’d like to see the warrant,” Genevieve said, holding out her hand. She and the detective stepped to the side, and he handed over the piece of paper.
Ceri grabbed Amber’s arm and dragged her back a few steps. “The house is helping.”
“What?”
“Shh, just…act normal. The house won’t let the police find them,” Ceri whispered quickly before walking away and joining Genevieve and the detective.
Amber stood off to the side watching two officers head upstairs, with Angel following close behind, her heart pounding in her chest. How the hell was she supposed to act normal in the midst of possibly breaking her deal with a demon?
She heard her bedroom door open and had to dig her nails into her palm to keep from running over and demanding they get out. She'd always hated people going into her private spaces, but that feeling was amplified by the wolf's instincts. Everything inside her was screaming that there were intruders in her home. Her den. The wolf snarled impatiently as she stared down the hallway.
“What the hell is that?” One of the officers demanded, sounding alarmed.
“Oh crap, Woggy.” Ceri jogged toward her room. “Do not hurt that pixie!”
“No, the...is that a cat?" he sounded even more appalled.
Captain Jack hissed loudly before being shushed by Ceri.
No one upstairs was shouting yet, so that must mean they hadn't found Evangeline or Eloise. She focused intently on her hearing and realized she couldn't even hear their heartbeats anymore. What the hell had Ceri, or the house, done with them?
Amber was distracted by the sound of her truck pulling into the driveway. She wanted to pull out her phone and warn Derek, but she thought it would look suspicious. Frustrated, she headed toward the front door so she could at least meet him outside so he didn't panic.
He parked haphazardly in the middle of the driveway and jumped out of the truck. She jogged toward him and managed to intercept him before he made it to the porch.
"What the hell is going on?" He was practically shouting. So much for not panicking.
"They have a warrant because someone claims we have that demon girl they were talking about on the news in our house. It's total bullshit, but I had to let them in," she said, trying to sound as exasperated as possible.
A muscle in Derek's jaw jumped as he ground his teeth tightly together, but he stopped freaking out. "Who is trying to pin this on you?"
She shrugged. "No clue, though I could probably make a couple of guesses. One of the council members has
been kind of pissy since I made it through the Trials."
Detective Sloan walked out of the front door and headed over to them. He held out his hand to Derek. "Detective Sloan, I don't believe we've met."
"Derek Hale," her brother said shortly as he shook the man's hand.
"I need to talk to your sister alone for a moment," Sloan said, putting his hands in his pockets.
Amber almost agreed but decided that with Derek's current level of anger, it might be better if he stayed. "My brother can hear anything you might have to say, if it's all the same to you."
Derek looked surprised at that.
Sloan shrugged. "Alright." He sighed again and scratched his bristly jaw. "I didn't want to run this warrant. The tip that got called in was clearly from someone that had it out for you, in my opinion, but it wasn't my decision to make."
"Who was it?"
He shook his head regretfully. "I can't tell you that. Just keep an eye out, alright? I shouldn't be warning you about this at all, but my investigation into Lockhart's death is turning up some weird inconsistencies with the other murders. I don't think they're connected, but I can't prove it. Yet."
"There's a second sorcerer?" she asked in surprise.
"I think so."
"Are they working together?" Derek asked.
The detective shrugged. "I don't know. Sorcerers are generally loners, but they could be working together for a time. It's impossible to tell right now. Just watch your back, alright?"
She nodded. "Thanks for the warning. You keep going out of your way for me, and I appreciate that."
He smiled ruefully. "My sister was bitten, like you. I wish she'd managed to find an alpha."
"Is she an omega?"
"No, she killed herself before they could put her in the System." He nodded and walked off, his shoulders hunched with exhaustion.
Amber watched him go, her arms wrapped tightly around her. "We should get back inside."
"How––"
"Later," she said sharply.
They walked silently back toward the house. In her peripheral vision, she saw a curl of smoke drifted up from Thallan's porch. She almost hadn't seen him watching from the shadows.
She frowned. Maybe she was wrong about who had called in the tip. The alpha council and Selena Blackwood weren't the only people with reasons to hate her. Thallan wanted to punish the demon and didn't care who got hurt in the meantime.
Chapter 58
CERI
Ceri almost walked into a wall. The house was showing her everything all at once, laid over her own vision, and it was extremely disorienting.
Hiding Evangeline and Eloise had been fairly simple, but it definitely wasn’t easy. The house’s wards had come alive as soon as the police had pulled into the driveway. It sensed their intent and had reacted to protect them. With only a little coaxing, the room Eloise and Evangeline were in had simply…disappeared. They were still here, but they also weren’t. She wasn’t sure where the house had put them and was trying not to think too hard about it.
The police had been here for almost an hour already. Most of the nerves had faded into frustration and boredom. She was also tiring from the effort of maintaining a connection to the house, but she couldn’t risk letting it go.
Amber had planted herself in the middle of the living room and was simply glaring at everyone touching all her things. Genevieve was following Detective Sloan around prying for further information. She glanced over at Tommy. He was holding up surprisingly well but had hidden in the kitchen with Woggy and Captain Jack. That was probably for the best.
One of the officers walked down the stairs, then waved Sloan over. “They’re not here. We’ve searched the place up and down. Carter even cast a finding spell and she came up empty-handed.”
Ceri could barely contain her sigh of relief. Now, if they could all just leave she could finally release the magic.
The front door popped open and Detective Sloan looked back at it, brows furrowed.
"Oh, sorry, it does that," Ceri said with a slightly hysterical laugh as she hurried over to close it. "So windy out here."
"Windy. Right," Sloan said skeptically.
The house pouted a little and she tried to send reassuring thoughts. It had only been trying to help, but that was only going to cause more questions.
She surreptitiously patted the wall behind her back like she was soothing a nervous dog. Sometimes the house felt a little like a dog. Eager to please, extremely social, and boisterous. The more she connected to it, the more alive it became as well.
"Alright, make sure you put everything back where you found it, and let's get back to the station. We all have a lot of paperwork to do tonight," Sloan said loudly.
The officers started heading outside one by one until only Sloan was left. Thankfully, they hadn't torn the place apart completely. They had been thorough, but under Sloan's watchful eye, each of them was considerate about the way they conducted the search.
Sloan paused in the doorway and nodded in Amber's direction. "I hope I don't see you again anytime soon."
Amber snorted. "Likewise. Have a good day."
He walked out and the door slammed shut behind him. And locked. Ceri cringed, but Sloan didn't turn around. He seemed as eager to leave as they were to have him go.
"What the hell was that?" Genevieve whispered.
"The house is...eager for them to be gone," Ceri said quietly. "Amber, can I let Eloise and Evangeline out yet?"
"Wait for them to be off the property," Amber said, listening intently to the cars drive away with her head cocked to the side.
It was a painfully long minute as they all waited with bated breath for the last car to drive away. As soon as Amber nodded, Ceri darted upstairs and pressed her hands against the blank wall where their room used to be. It was simply gone as if it had never been built. The magic was similar to The Market, the way it compressed space without the slightest consideration for the laws of physics.
"Where is their room?" Amber asked in alarm.
"One second," Ceri said, panting with exertion as she coaxed the house to release them. It was a little nervous, and required some reassurances, but finally it groaned and everything snapped back into place.
She stumbled back and finally dropped the connection to the house. Her vision cleared and she blinked rapidly, feeling disoriented all over again.
The door to the bedroom flew open and Evangeline burst out of the room panting, her hair wild. “Never do that again.”
Ceri rushed over. “Where were you? Are you hurt?”
“We were…flat. It’s like it just…squished us. But it didn’t hurt it just…mush…” Evangeline could barely speak, she just kept bringing her palms together like she was crushing something between them and shaking her head.
“This house is weird,” Genevieve muttered, looking around suspiciously.
Ceri glared at her. “It saved all our asses today, be nice. Tell her she did a good job.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Genevieve sighed but looked around with a softer expression. “Thank you.”
Ceri felt the house perk up. The picture frames in the hall all jiggled happily, which made Gen’s face go pale.
“She’s happy,” Ceri said gently. “She likes it when we talk to her.”
Genevieve gave her a fearful look and nodded, then hurried back downstairs.
"Do you want some pie?" Tommy asked tentatively.
Evangeline gave him a hateful look. "Don't even talk about food to me. I think I'm going to barf."
Ceri laughed and glanced downstairs, realizing Amber had disappeared. She was arguing quietly with someone only she could see. Fear twisted in her gut even though the danger had passed. This had been close. Too close.
Chapter 59
CERI
Ceri hadn’t slept in almost twenty-four hours. Her body still ached and every sound and shadow made her twitchy. She couldn’t relax until this so
rcerer was gone.
Which was why she was standing on the sidewalk outside of a nightclub at one a.m. Her cousin, Siobhan, was holding court in there, and had summoned her here with promises of information. This wasn’t the type of place she wanted to bring Amber, or any of the rest of the pack.
She’d gotten the message when everyone was asleep, and had used a spell to leave without anyone noticing. Derek might have seen her leave, but he hadn’t said anything if he had. The thought of Derek made her head hurt even worse. She just needed to find out what Siobhan knew, then she could head back to the house and tell the pack. The note on her nightstand let them know where she was just in case something went wrong. But that was unlikely.
She sighed and headed toward the back door of the club. Her hair was a frizzy, curly mess, and she was wearing leggings under an old, beige cardigan, but tonight she did not care. Siobhan could mock her all she wanted as long as she told her where the sorcerer was so she could end this nightmare.
The back door was the employee entrance, but it wasn’t locked, as usual. One of the shot girls looked up curiously, but didn’t ask any questions. People were always coming and going back here, and she didn’t look like someone trying to sneak into the club.
Bass thumped overhead, a never-ending beat since the club never closed. Vampires had lobbied hard for that win years ago. After all, two a.m. was just the middle of the day for them. They owned most of the nicer clubs now and found both their living and their daily meal in them.
She pushed the door that led from the break room into the club open and the music grew louder. The neon, flashing lights hurt her eyes as she looked around, trying to remember where the VIP section was. She’d always come here already drunk when she was younger, so some of her memories on the layout were a little fuzzy.
An argument just loud enough to carry over the DJ caught her attention and she saw a group of three, well-dressed young women getting turned away by a bouncer. Behind him was a short staircase roped off from the rest of the place. It led up to the VIP section that had the best view of the peasants that couldn’t afford to gain access to it.
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