Loraine pulled out the seat opposite us and slipped into it. She fixed her pale gray eyes on us, and her lips tightened a fraction.
“How many have you killed?” she asked.
O-okay. We were diving straight in, it seemed. “Not sure. A lot. We lost count tonight.”
She pursed her lips. “And how did you ... come across them?”
This was the tricky bit. She couldn’t know about the Shedim case, and that Noir and I had gone into the Underground to look for them. In fact, Noir had to stay out of this completely. I shrugged. “Chasing a lead on another case led me to the Underground, and there was a breach in Southside.”
The slight twitch in her left eye was the only indication that this information bothered her.
“I sealed it back up best I could, but I think that’s how they got out.”
“What case were you working on that would lead you to the Underground?”
I smirked. “Come now, you know I can’t divulge that. Client confidentiality.”
The left side of her mouth quirked. “Okay, Miss Bastion. I’ll buy that you stumbled across the Lost in the Underground. What I don’t understand is why you never reported it to the proper authorities?”
Oh, I was so ready for this question. “Proper authorities? You mean the people who locked up a bunch of Lost in the Underground in the first place? The ones that lied to the city about it?”
She pursed her lips, looking like she’d bitten into a lemon.
I gave a little derisive snort. “If you can cover up something like that, imagine what you could do to someone who found out about your little secret.” I sat back and crossed my arms. “I kept my mouth shut and helped to clean up your mess, and honestly, I thought you guys were on it too, but obviously not.” I glanced at Hon. “You seem busy with your metal monster problem. So, yeah, I’ll accept a hearty thank you in the form of cash or check.”
Leo chuckled, not bothering to hide his mirth.
Loraine, however, was not so amused. She studied me with her impregnable stare for a long beat and then dropped her gaze to reach into her bag and pull out a sheaf of papers. She dropped them on the table and then slid them across to me with an index finger. Her nails were cut short and blunt, just like the woman.
The papers got a cursory glance. “What’s this?”
“Confidentiality agreement.”
Like fuck I was signing something else. “No.”
“It’s either that or prison, Miss Bastion.”
Like hell did she have anything on me. “On what charge? Cleaning up the city? ’Cause I’d like to see that fly in court.”
“Oh, there’ll be no court, Miss Bastion. Just a one-way ticket to a cell. You’ve been running an unauthorized investigation business, after all. It’s a cut-and-dry case.”
I clenched my teeth, because that was bullshit, but alarm bells were ringing nonetheless. “I have a valid license.”
She smiled, but it was a perfunctory gesture that didn’t reach her eyes. “Not anymore. It expired two weeks ago.”
Fuck that. I’d renewed it two months ago for an eighteen-month period, but of course, they’d tampered with the database. They had the power to do that, and if they pressed charges, then I was fucked. Dammit. At least that was all she was threatening. They could do much worse. My bravado slipped a fraction.
I pulled the papers toward me and scanned the clauses. It was basic enough, stating that I couldn’t divulge the existence of the Lost or the underground hive. But, whoa, wait a second, what the fuck was the final clause typed in small print so I needed to squint. Agree to work with The Collective, on behalf of The Collective, as and when called upon.
“Ha!” I pushed the paper away. “Take out clause 34 and I’ll sign.”
She smirked. “Well, it was worth a try. Your friends will need to sign also.” Her gaze cut to Hon. “They should have been brought in with you as per protocol.”
Hon rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think we have more important things to worry about, Loraine?”
Loraine’s jaw tightened, and she turned her head stiffly toward Hon. “It may come as a surprise to you, Miss Chance, but we do have our own issues that need to be dealt with.”
“Yeah, well, your issues won’t mean shit if the Genisi aren’t eliminated.”
Loraine took a deep breath and then turned her attention back to me. “Get your friends to sign the contract, Miss Bastion. You have forty-eight hours to do so. I will have a courier sent to your place of business to collect them. Believe me, noncompliance will not go favorably for the Stephenson twins or their business.”
She knew who Tay and Mack were. “I see you’ve done your homework.”
Her gaze flicked to Azren. “Yes. But unfortunately we couldn’t find anything on you.”
Azren remained stoic, giving nothing away.
Loraine arched a brow. “Name?”
“None of your business.”
His eyes narrowed to slits, and he bared his teeth menacingly. Oh, shit. His teeth.
Loraine sat back, stunned. “What are you?”
Pulse pounding in my throat, I fixed a nonchalant look on my face and patted Azren’s thigh. “Azren is a man of few words. He’s part kelpie.”
“Oh, really?” Loraine said something in a low, guttural tone, her attention fixed on Azren.
He glared at her.
Loraine leaned forward, her palms flat on the table, her eyes alight in triumph. “You have no idea what I said, do you? If you were really kelpie blood, then you’d know exactly what I was saying because I was speaking the ancient tongue passed down in hereditary memory to every kelpie blood.”
Fuck, Loraine was part kelpie? She didn’t have the teeth, but shit, that didn’t mean she didn’t have the blood. A weight settled in my stomach, because we were on the way to being so screwed. Think, Bastion. Think.
This time the smile that painted the Head of Operations’ face was genuine. A predatory smile. A shark smile. It screamed gotcha.
“What I want to know, Miss Bastion, is why you have a Shedim living with you?”
Azren’s body rippled with tension. Yeah, big guy, this was why I’d tried to leave you behind. But no, you had to be the protector and come with, and now Loraine was staring at me like I was an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Oh, fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck. Rock, meet hard place. There was no way out of this except the tailored truth.
I sat back in my seat and locked gazes with her. “Well, it all started when The Collective failed to do their job.”
She canted her head. “Go on, I’d like to hear you talk your way out of this one.”
It was my turn to smirk. “You see, it went down a little like this ...” I filled her in on the missing kids, using my connection to The Gables to explain my involvement. I filled her in on the rescue, leaving out Barnaby’s help with the luck potion, and then my capture and subsequent release on signing the contract with Elora. “And that’s how I ended up living with a Shedim. Elora wants me to find one of her Shedim who’s gone missing on this side of the border, a runaway, and Azren is kinda her equivalent of law enforcement.”
“And the contract makes him your employee so circumvents the Treaty,” she clarified.
“Yep.” I held up my hand. “Don’t worry, I checked and it’s just one Shedim, just Azren.” Thank God I wasn’t Pinocchio.
“And you have a copy of this contract?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure. I insisted on a copy while Elora breathed on me with her fiery I-want-to-eat-you breath.” I gave her an incredulous look. “No, I don’t have a copy. You’re just going to have to take my word for it, and while you have us locked up in here interrogating us, more Lost could be roaming the city. Not to mention those metal things. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get out there and do my fucking job.”
Okay, so I was rambling; indignation was my shield, but it was working. Loraine’s tight expression eased somewhat. “The dragon liege had a duty to inform us
of this rogue Shedim in our territory.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll have to take that up with her.” And hopefully she’d cover her own ass and not give away the whole truth. “I’m just doing what I need to keep my skin, and I’d like to get back out there.”
“The Lost and the Genisi aren’t your problem any longer, Miss Bastion. We have it under control.”
Well, that was fine by me. “In that case, we’re done here.”
“No,” Hon said. “No, we’re not.” She pushed off the wall. “The Genisi have attacked her twice now.”
Three times, if you included the attic, but heck, she didn’t need to know that.
“So?” Loraine asked.
Hon made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. “Keep up, Vincent. It means there’s something in her DNA they’re attracted to, which means they’ll come for her again, which means ...” She left the sentence hanging.
“That we can use her as bait,” Loraine finished. Was she clenching her teeth? Yeah, there was obviously no love lost between these two.
“Bait?” Azren spoke up, his voice rough. “No.”
“Aw, sweet,” Hon said. “But you don’t get a say.”
Azren raised his glowing jade eyes to meet hers. “The contract with my liege clearly states that she is my responsibility while I am in her employ. So, yes, I get a say.”
Hon opened her mouth to argue, but I held up my hand. “Enough.” I looked at Azren. “Those things are dangerous. If we can stop them, then I’m doing this.” I looked to Hon. “But first, I need to know what the fuck we’re up against.”
“No,” Loraine snapped. “She doesn’t have clearance.”
Hon took a deep breath, her jaw ticking dangerously. “Then get her clearance. Now.”
Chapter 10
Clearance took an hour. An hour of shitty office coffee and silence, because they’d left Azren and me alone, but like hell was I saying anything that could incriminate us, because even the walls in this place probably had ears.
Azren paced like a caged animal, his movements fluid like silk. He’d shucked off his jacket, leaving his biceps bare, and the tight, thin fabric of his T left little to the imagination; every ripple and shift of muscle was a mesmerizing distraction that made even the machine coffee taste bearable. He raked a hand through his hair, tousling the locks into the just-got-out-of-bed look that made my fingers ache to touch him, to slide through those silken strands and cup the nape of his neck, and—
He speared me with his gaze, pinning me to the spot with the power of his regard. Inky shadows ate at his irises, and for a moment, it was as if he’d touched me, a brush along my cheek, feather-light but definitely followed by a push that tested the barriers I’d been erecting and struggling to hold in place for the past week. What was that and why was my heart pounding?
“Wila?” He sounded confused.
I shook my head. “Later.”
Why was I attracted to the guys who were off limits? And why was the attraction always that little bit too intense? This thing between Azren and me, it was weird and unnatural and out of my control.
The door opened but it wasn’t Loraine that entered, it was Hon and Leo. They took the two seats opposite me, but Azren remained standing. He was getting antsy. It was in the set of his jaw and the curl of his fingers eager to make a fist. But he was putting on a good show.
“I’m going to cut to the chase because we don’t have much time,” Hon said. “You’re just going to have to suspend disbelief and listen until I’m done.”
I nodded. “Shoot.”
She pulled a device from her pocket. It looked like a phone, but then she placed it on the table and tapped it. A projection appeared above us, a galaxy filled with stars and planets, but wait, this wasn’t our solar system.
“This is the Platos system.” She tapped the phone thing again and the image switched to focus on a star. She zoomed in, and nope, not a star, a space station. A fucking massive one. “This is Gateway, my home and place of employ.”
Was she expecting me to believe that she came from space? That she was an alien? Barnaby’s words came to mind. He’d said the metal wasn’t of this world.
“Okay, so you come from another part of the galaxy.”
She smiled and shook her head. “It’s a little more complicated than that. We come from another universe entirely.”
“Have you heard of the multiverse theory?” Leo asked.
My conversation with Barnaby came to mind. “A friend may have mentioned it to me, yeah.”
“Well it’s not just a theory. It’s a fact, and we’re proof.”
“Let me explain,” Hon said. “Think of the multiverse as billions of realities existing side by side by side. Now imagine that some shift, some anomaly, causes them to collide, here and there, and when this happens, thinnings are created—breaches which allow beings to cross between realities. Imagine the damage that could be done if the wrong people were to make these journeys. Imagine how time and space could be corrupted.”
Yeah, I was imagining it, and it sent a chill through my veins. “But you don’t let that happen.”
She gave me a close-lipped smile. “Damn straight, we don’t. Gateway monitors and intervenes where necessary. We make sure the balance is maintained. In some cases, we’re able to close the thinning, but in others, where it isn’t possible, we try to reach out to the inhabitants and build a relationship with them. We have operatives from all over the multiverse working for Gateway or with Gateway at the highest levels of authority.”
So, this was why we’d needed clearance. “And these metal machines are from another universe?”
“Yes. We’ve been tracking them for months. They’re dangerous and they’re on a mission to collect DNA.”
“What for?”
Her expression clouded. “We’re not sure. But we’ve been tasked to eliminate them.”
“So these thinnings ... are they in space?”
“Not always,” Leo said. “Sometimes they can be found on land or over sea. Sometimes they lead to a spot in space, other times directly to another planet.”
“If we don’t eliminate the Genisi, their presence here could affect your future, even your past. The longer we stay here, the longer they stay, the more of an imprint they leave on your history and timeline. Not to mention the fact that your people are in danger. The Genisi don’t always leave their subjects alive.”
My mind was reeling with this new information, with this opening up of my world. That there was more out there, so much more. It made our existence seem miniscule.
“Now you know the truth. Will you help us?”
I locked gazes with her. “Damn straight I will.”
***
It was late, almost midnight, but Noir was in my kitchen dressed in his pajamas and drinking hot cocoa—he’d brought his own. Pajamas and cocoa. Okay, brain was fried. Man, was I wired from earlier and probably shouldn’t be drinking cola, but I was in need of the fizz. Azren was out again, riding through the night, probably recovering from being cooped up in a tiny room for several hours. The beast needed space. I was cooped up until it was time to play bait. We couldn’t risk the metal monsters finding me before it was time, but Azren wasn’t one to be caged. Hound was asleep in the lounge, his huge body curled up on the rug. He’d been hovering outside when I’d returned and refused to go in. It had taken a while for it to click that he was trying not to set off the wards. He’d been unconscious the last time we’d carried him through, but it seemed that he could sense the wards just fine now that he was conscious. Noir had adjusted the wards to recognize Hound. All it had taken was a little blood, which the huge dog had allowed me to take without a fuss.
“The trap’s set for tomorrow night.” I sipped my drink and then belched.
Noir arched a brow and then shook his head as if despairing of me.
“At least it’s coming from the top end,” Trevor said dryly. “You should hear her after a curry.”
&
nbsp; My neck heated. “Um, Trev, TMI.”
“What does that one mean again?” Trevor asked.
He was still getting his head around all the modern abbreviations. “Never mind.”
Noir cleared his throat. “Miss Bastion, maybe we can get back to the plan?”
Urgh, there he was with the Miss Bastion again. “Wila, remember. Miss Bastion sounds so formal, and heck, I just belched at you. Surely we’re past the formal.”
He bit back a smile. “I find you utterly refreshing.”
“Well, thank you.” I took another sip of my fizzy beverage. “Wait, that was a compliment, right?”
He chuckled. “Yes, Miss Bastion, it was, and I’ll start calling you by your first name when you call me by mine.”
Touché. “Fine, Adam.”
His lips tilted in a half-smile. “Okay, Wila.”
Trevor huffed. “Can we get on with the laying out of the plan, please?”
I tore my gaze from Noir’s baby blues. “The plan is to go for a stroll by the old football stadium and wait to be attacked. The Collective will have their elite team on site, as well as the Gateway operatives.”
The old stadium had been closed for decades, and the council had plans for renovating it and building new homes, but as of yet, nothing had come of the plans. It had become another derelict place from the time before—a time when humans inhabited the city, a time when games had mattered.
Noir pursed his lips. “I’m still wrapping my head around the whole multiverse concept being more than just a theory.”
He wasn’t the only one. “It’s kind of crazy. But it makes sense that there’s more to ... everything. I mean, I’m not so arrogant to think we’re all there is.”
“True.”
“Plus, Loraine Vincent taking on board the Lost problem is a huge weight off our shoulders.”
He grinned, and the action lit up his face. “And you managed to keep my name out of it.”
“I did indeed.”
He tilted his head to the side. “You are pretty amazing, Wila. You know that?”
“It’s one of the things they’ll be putting on my gravestone.”
Chronicles of Arcana (The complete collection books 1-4) Page 28