Secret of the Wolf

by Cynthia Garner

As much as she wanted to say to hell with the rift device, she had limited time to work on the thing, and they needed to get results. She stroked her fingers down his cheek, thrilling to the catch of his breath, the flare of his eyes. He must have read the intent on her face, because he husked, “Why don’t I clear the table and we can take a look at that device?”

  She cleared her throat. “All right.” As he put the leftover pizza and wings in the fridge, she gathered up the plates and used napkins and set them on the counter. Then she unsnapped her fanny pack and took it off, pulling out the rift device and placing it on the table.

  “We have to figure out how to check this thing out without alerting that guy who keeps asking for a password.” Tori blew out a sigh.

  “Did you bring the schematics with you?” Dante asked, standing next to her to look down at the small device.

  “Yeah.” She pulled the paper out of her fanny pack and handed it to him.

  “Ah, excellent.” Dante unfolded the document and spread it out on the desk. He bent over it, studying it in silence.

  Tori got closer to him to look it over as well. She was able to pick out the various parts that made up the radio component, but anything more than that left her confused. She drew in a breath, struck by how good he smelled—like soap and hot, virile male. Holding it in a moment, she trapped his scent in her lungs. After a few seconds she exhaled. If only they had more time…for now she’d keep things directed toward the job at hand. “We make a good team,” she murmured. “You know computers and I know radio communications.”

  “Mmm.”

  His focus was so intent on the schematics she doubted he’d really heard what she’d said. Pursing her lips, she decided to put it to the test. “My brains to your brawn. Your ability to bullshit with my unwavering search for the truth.” Only it wasn’t so unwavering these days, was it? There was still that small matter of finding out if her brother was involved with the werewolf attacks. She pushed that aside for the moment. “You look good in pink while I tend to stick to more muted colors.”

  “Right.”

  A slight smile curved her lips and she shook her head. Typical male. Able to focus on only one thing at a time. While in bed, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; outside of it could be damned frustrating. For now, though, she was having too good a time to be irritated with his one-track mind.

  “All right, so we determined last time that this doohickey is the processor running the works. And if I’m reading these schematics right…” He picked up the device and turned one of the small dials on the top. Another dial, the one that Tori had been using to turn the device on, he twisted to the right.

  Slight static came across the speaker. Dante fiddled with one of the antennae and the static faded.

  Tori carefully sat down, trying not to make any noise, and waited for the guy on the other side to ask for a password. After a minute or so of silence, she glanced up at Dante. “Well, this is new,” she whispered.

  The speaker crackled. She tensed and bit her lip, shooting a chagrined look at him. He shook his head, finger to lips, but humor danced at the corners of his eyes.

  A man’s voice came from the device, speaking in the standard language of the other dimension. He seemed to be filing a report of some kind. Tori motioned for Dante to get her something to write with, and as soon as he fetched a long, thin pad and pen from next to the phone in the kitchen, she began transcribing the message. The man spoke for a few moments, and then the speaker went silent again.

  Dante twisted the dials and turned off the device. “Okay, what’d he say?” He pulled out his chair and sat down.

  “He’s reporting that they’re at twenty-four percent of goal and hope to be at or above fifty percent within the next two months. They should achieve maximum capacity by the target date.” She turned to look at him. “He suggests that we keep turning people into werewolves in order to further supplement our numbers.”

  “Further supplement your numbers?” His face grim, he stared at her. “So now we know it’s not really a rogue, right? Whoever’s behind these attacks is following orders.”

  “Looks like it.” Tori glanced into the kitchen and caught sight of the clock on the stove. “Oh, crap!” She stood. Grabbing the schematics, she started folding them up. If she didn’t leave now, she was going to be late for her council meet and greet.

  “What?” Dante stood, too, alarm on his face. “What is it?”

  “I’ve gotta go. I’m gonna be late.”

  “Oh. Right.” He picked up the device. “Can I hold onto this? I can keep fiddling with it while you’re at your meeting.”

  She hesitated. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Dante—she did. She’d trust him with her life. But Tobias had entrusted the device to her, and she was loath to let it out of her sight. She stared at the schematics in her hand and then looked into Dante’s face. “Here,” she said, and handed him the paper. “Hang onto them. We still need to know exactly what that thing is capable of,” she said, nodding toward the device he still held. She zipped her pack closed. “Thanks for dinner.”

  He grinned. “Such as it was. Listen, why don’t you come over tomorrow night, and we’ll do a real dinner. Lily will be here,” he said almost apologetically.

  “Sure. I’d love to meet her.” Tori walked through the kitchen toward the front door. She stopped in the living room and asked, “Can I bring anything?”

  “Just your gorgeous self.” He opened the front door and followed her to her car. After she got in, he stood there, his arm along the top of her door. “Do me a favor, will you?”

  “If I can.”

  “I got a call earlier from a buddy of mine in Vegas. He said the number of prets moving into the city has more than doubled from last year. And he said a couple of his friends pretty much told him that the same thing is happening in Denver and Albuquerque.” His serious gaze held hers. “And that’s just the number of prets who register with the regional council. You know as well as I do that the real number could be a hell of a lot higher.”

  “Yeah?” She wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

  “Have you heard any numbers for the greater Phoenix area?” At her nod, he gave a sigh. “It might not mean anything, but I think an increase like this in our region needs to be looked into. Can you ask around, find out at the council meeting tonight?”

  “I’ll see what I can turn up, but the councilors tend to keep things very close to the vest.”

  “Just see if they’ll tell you anything.”

  “I will.”

  Dante bent down and gave her a kiss, his mouth lingering, promising at things to come. Then he straightened. “See you tomorrow,” he husked.

  “Bye,” she said, her pulse fluttering in her throat. It took just one touch of his mouth on hers and she was rendered speechless. She kinda liked it.

  As she drove away from him, her mind went back to what he’d said about the increase in pret numbers. She couldn’t help but wonder if that growth had something to do with the rift device. What if someone was positioning preternaturals in key areas in order to…what? Take over the world?

  She dismissed that idea as soon as she thought it. That couldn’t happen. Prets were only ten percent of the overall population on the planet. Even if the number was double what was reported, humans still outnumbered preternaturals seven to one.

  Of course, that would change with the next rift due to happen in just a few months. And in the meantime, there was a pret running around turning people into werewolves, adding to the fold.

  Within twenty minutes, she pulled into the parking lot behind the council building. As she went through the back door and walked down the hallway she saw that one of the guards, dressed in his red-on-black security uniform, was posted in front of the main chamber and another was at the security desk near the front door. She knew at any given time there were at least two other guards patrolling the building or running errands for council members. Others were down in the basement,
either protecting prisoners or taking it easy until they were called.

  Wall sconces placed roughly four feet apart provided ample lighting, and a polished concrete floor that almost looked like wood inlay lent an aristocratic ambiance to the entry.

  Most of the city’s liaisons were already there, gathered in small groups throughout the hallway. The various scents of each pret assailed her. It was like a meeting of the United Nations, only this time instead of a gathering of representatives from various countries it was a gathering of a variety of species, werewolves and other shapeshifters, vampires, numerous types of fey, and humans.

  The low murmur of voices made conversations difficult, but not impossible, to listen in on. The human liaisons in their midst wouldn’t have been able to distinguish separate voices, but her werewolf hearing allowed her to do just that. After a few seconds, she decided no one was talking about anything interesting enough for her to intrude on the conversation. The vamps spoke of some new blood bar that their leader, Byron Maldonado, had just opened. A couple of the fey liaisons argued over who was funnier, the Three Stooges or Abbott and Costello. The group of werecat liaisons complained about the price of milk, which struck Tori as hilarious. She snickered as she walked by, earning her a glare from one of the cats.

  She stopped at the group of werewolf liaisons and said her hellos. She glanced at Ash, standing slightly to the side of the group, his back to the wall. He lifted his chin in greeting. Talk to you later, he mouthed.

  Tori nodded. She saw Piper standing at the window at the end of the hallway. Excusing herself, she walked toward her and bumped shoulders with the other woman. “Hey,” she said.

  Piper smiled. “Hey yourself.” She stared out the window again. “I really hate these meetings. Everyone’s on display like they’re a bunch of meat.”

  “That’s not the way I see it at all.” Tori crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, looking at Piper’s profile. “This is our chance to get an early introduction to the newbies, and they get a chance to see who’s going to come down on them if they screw up.” She glanced back at the liaisons. “We all had to go through this when we first hit town.”

  “All of you except the human liaisons.”

  “Right. That’s what I meant,” she said dryly.

  That drew a laugh from Piper, but then she sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. It just seems like they could send us a file with their pictures and particulars. What good does it do for us to come here in person? It’s a gigantic waste of time.”

  Tori rolled her eyes. “That’s the point I’ve been trying to make for years. So far I’ve only got Tobias on my side and maybe Caladh. I don’t know about the rest of the council.”

  She understood the need to uphold traditions, but when tradition stood in the way of progress, when it impeded her ability to efficiently do her job, then something needed to give. However, until the council as a whole decided it wanted quicker results more than it wanted to lord its authority over its employees, nothing would change. And if the current council president had any say in the matter—and in reality, what he had to say carried a lot of weight—things would stay the same until the end of time.

  Tori gestured toward all of the liaisons. “Doing it this way, I have to say, allows us to attach scents to the names and faces.”

  “Well, that only helps those of you who have an enhanced sense of smell. It doesn’t matter though. You know Deoul will fight to keep things the way they are. Traditions and all,” Piper said as if she’d read Tori’s mind. “God forbid that his liaisons wouldn’t have to kowtow to him in person.” She paused, lips pursed, and sent Tori a sidelong glance. “Any idea how to kowtow through e-mail?” Piper’s brows rose in hope.

  “I haven’t figured that out yet. When I do, you’ll be the first to know,” Tori said and grinned.

  At that moment the doors to the main chamber opened and a guard stepped out. “The council is ready,” he announced. “Please come in.”

  “Here we go,” Piper said on a sigh as she turned around.

  They joined the others and filed into the room. Tori stood next to Piper at the front of the room, about five feet or so from the mahogany table behind which all thirteen councilors sat. About a dozen preternaturals were lined up on one side of the cavernous room that was brightly lit with overhead lights and wall sconces.

  Tori gazed at the group of newbies, searching for both her brother and her cousin. They were new enough to town that they should be here, but they weren’t. Her heart skipped a beat. Oh, God. Please don’t let Rand and Stefan be behind these attacks. She loved them both, but she couldn’t turn a blind eye to the signs pointing toward their guilt. But what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t betray the only family she had.

  Looking back at the council, she lifted a hand in greeting to Tobias, who smiled in return. “I’d like to talk to you later,” he said. “Can you stay after the meeting?”

  Remembering that Ash wanted to talk to her, she glanced at him and he nodded a couple of times. She looked back at Tobias. “Sure, I can stay.”

  “Good.”

  As the guard closed the doors behind the last person to enter the room, the council president stood. “We’ll begin the proceeding by introducing the council members, then the liaisons.” Deoul looked at the sideliners, who all seemed as enthusiastic at being there as they would if they were facing a firing squad. “Finally, each of you will tell us your name, where you lived prior to coming to Scottsdale, why you came to our city, and what you plan on doing to become a contributing member of society. Hopefully, none of you will ever have to deal with the liaisons in anything other than a social situation.” He gave a smile, apparently trying to be humorous.

  Tori didn’t think it was funny, and it looked like none of the newbies did, either, because no one’s mouth so much as twitched as far as she could tell. Some of the liaisons put on their game faces and gave a few forced chortles. She caught Tobias’s eye and had to press her lips together against a grin. He was doing his best to look noncommittal, but she knew him well enough to know that at least in his head he was rolling his eyes in disbelief at Deoul’s attempt at humor.

  The council president cleared his throat and sat down as they began their introductions, starting with Deoul, of course. With his chest out and his voice booming like that of a radio announcer, he told the gathered throng that he was a high elf who came through the rift in 3463 BC, blah blah blah. The three vampire councilors introduced themselves next, then the witches and the lone specter member of the council. Next came the shapeshifters—a wereleopard, a werewolf, and the selkie member of the council, Caladh.

  Tori kept her eye on the last three to introduce themselves, wondering the entire time which of the thirteen councilors besides Tobias were aware of the rift device. And of those who did know, just how involved were they? Did the members support the activity or were they trying to stop it?

  The other fey shapeshifter on the council, Lorcan O’Shea, stood up. With his fingertips on the table, he stated his name and then added, “I’m of the pooka clan of feys and came through the rift in 251 BC.” He started to sit but paused and said, “If anyone wants to go for a ride, let me know.” Mischief sparkled in his hazel eyes.

  Tori grinned. Lorcan was always willing to shift into his horse form and take on riders, the prettier the better.

  The only djinn on the council rose from his chair. “I am Kaleb ibn Kalil. I entered this dimension in the year 908 BC.” He glanced around the group. “I do not reside in a bottle nor do I grant wishes, so do not ask.” He gave a slight bow and retook his seat.

  Tori bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a smile. Kaleb was sensitive about the legends surrounding his people, and dismissive of magic carpets and jeweled bottles.

  The final council member, Galen Kholkikos, got to his feet. “Welcome to Scottsdale. I’m a dragon and, yes, I can breathe fire. You may or may not be familiar with a little incident that occurred in the skies above
Phoenix about fifteen years ago. Some of my friends and I were flying around and were mistaken for a UFO.” He ran a hand over his dark hair. “We didn’t do it on purpose. Honest.” He sat back down amid light laughter.

  The liaison introductions began. Tori was first since she was at the front of the room. She was happy to get hers over with, though there were still about twenty people who had to give their names, group affiliation, and quadrant. Thankfully, only half of the liaisons were in attendance that night.

  Finally, they got to move on to the newcomers to the city. A troll named Trudie from Tazewell, Tennessee, stuttered through her intro, and a werewolf named Wanda from Walla Walla, Washington, was next. They both claimed to have moved to the area because of the drier climate.

  Piper leaned over and whispered, “Seriously? Did they stand next to each other on purpose? You can’t make this stuff up.”

  Tori grinned. “Like you have a lot of room to talk, Ms. Piper Peterson from Peoria.” She snorted back a laugh at Piper’s low growl. Coming from a human, it didn’t carry much of a threat, but Tori got the point. “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “No, you’re not,” Piper muttered. A small smile tilted her mouth. “But that’s okay.”

  Tori couldn’t help but think that Dante would be fascinated by all this. He was like a kid when it came to prets—he was so curious. It really was too bad that the council kept these meetings closed to humans, except for their own human liaisons, of course. Tori held the opinion that the human cops assigned to the various Special Case squads would benefit from this just as much, if not more than, the liaisons did.

  Several more introductions were made, with council members asking questions as they went along, sometimes delving deep into the newcomer’s past.

  Finally, they’d reached the auburn-haired elf whom Tori had met at the club. The slender woman took a step forward. “My name is Keira O’Brien. I’m originally from County Donegal, Ireland, and came through the rift in the Influx of 1419 BC.”

  Murmurs of disbelief went through the room. Tori was just as surprised. Coming through the rift when she did made Keira over thirty-four hundred years old. Except for Deoul and one of the vampire councilors, Keira was the oldest preternatural in the room. And that was saying something.