I sat down next to Jenna while Radek paced back and forth. “Are you sure you don’t remember anything else? A scent or sound?” I asked gently, ignoring the burning pain in my back. I’d had worse. I could smell Radek’s blood as well as my own, so I knew he was injured. I didn’t think he was feeling it yet.
Jenna started talking after a moment of thought. “Yeah, it was a wolf that attacked me. I could smell him. It was too late for me to defend myself, though – they’d attacked from downwind. There was something familiar about it. I’m not sure what it was. It happened so fast. Why didn’t they take me too?” She looked up at me with big green eyes.
“We don’t know. Maybe they don’t want Madon any more involved than he already is. Or maybe it’s someone you know and they didn’t want you to recognize them. What do you think, Dek?” I asked.
He stopped pacing and had visibly calmed down. “I’ve been thinking about that. I think you may be close in your assessment. Could it be possible that some of Madon’s wolves are involved?” he asked Jenna.
“There’s been some talk from some of the wolves. Not everyone is happy about the DNA testing. My dad is Uncle Madon’s older brother, and his second. Everyone knows that my loyalties are to my uncle. They wouldn’t talk to me about it. I haven’t heard of anyone being too displeased with my uncle. I mean, beyond the normal pack stuff. I know that he would never go against you or your father. If it is some of our wolves involved, then Madon doesn’t know about it.”
“I doubt he would go against Father. I didn’t know that you were Tain’s daughter. I’ve known Madon and Tain since they were born. I remember your grandfather too,” Radek said with a smile.
Jenna’s eyes went wide at the mention of her grandfather. “You know Grandfather too?” she asked.
“Yes,” Radek said without going into details.
I wondered at that story. We needed information, though. That other stuff could wait for later.
“Would you be able to recognize the scent, if you came across it again?” I asked, trying to bring the conversation back to where we needed it to be.
“I’m sure,” Jenna said with a nod and a determined look on her face.
“How much contact have you had with Joshua’s wolves?” I asked, just in case it was one of his instead.
“A lot, actually. When I started with the PIB, my initial assignment was the go-between for the local werewolf packs. Any time there was an incident involving a werewolf in the area, I was called in. That’s what I was bringing Dante, the accident reports and lists of current wolves in the area. Valdimir didn’t want me to email it. I’m not sure why.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in Joshua’s territory. Now that is a wolf that is just sleazy. I would always make sure someone was with me when I had to deal with him. I don’t think it was one of his wolves that attacked me, though. I think it was someone I knew.” Jenna smelled of frustration and anger with a bit of fear mixed in.
I had a feeling that she was a little scared of Radek and me as well. It was only natural; we were strangers and much stronger.
“It’s all right, Jenna. These things happen sometimes,” Radek said gently. I knew he was picking up on her fear as well.
“I know, but Uncle Madon is going to be upset by this. I mean, I’m his niece after all, and I was hurt. He would never let that happen. Then there’s Father. He didn’t want me taking this job in the first place. Now he’s just going to yell at me.”
She sounded more scared of her father than she should be. I glanced up at Radek. He was looking at me. He had caught that too.
The police and fire trucks arrived. Two police officers started walking over to us. Great, another pleasant conversation with human cops, I thought. I got up to stand next to Radek. I didn’t trust him to be able to handle this at the moment. An ambulance screeched to a halt behind the fire trucks. The paramedics began rushing our way as well. I didn’t think I was going to be able to handle this very well either. The officers reached us first.
“I’m officer Montago and this is officer Crinlin. I will need to see some ID,” the tall older one said as he got near.
“I’m Special Agent Kirov. The three of us are agents for the PIB. This is our headquarters. We were near the building when the cars exploded,” Radek said smoothly, pulling out his ID and holding it up for inspection. Well I guess that was partially true. He was leaving out a few details.
“Do you have ID on you? I will need to verify it,” he said, turning to me.
“Mine was just destroyed in one of the car blasts,” I said, shrugging when Radek glanced at me.
The paramedics showed up, but were waved away by the officers.
“And you would be?” he asked, writing everything we said down on a notepad.
“I’m Special Agent Natalya Ignatiev,” I sighed. This was going to be another long night. Was I ever going to get some sleep? I wondered.
“And you?” he turned to Jenna.
“Agent Jenna O’Leary,” she responded.
I was so glad to see Madon striding across the parking lot. Gregory wasn’t too far behind him. They could take over here. I didn’t like standing out in the open like this. I felt like I had a target on my back.
“Officer Montago, I appreciate you coming out here, but this is under our jurisdiction. So unless we have a human body for you, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Radek could have said this more diplomatically, but it would do.
The two human officers looked at each other, then back at Radek. I sure hoped they didn’t argue with him. I wasn’t sure how much patience he had left.
“We do have a lot of other cases, so I guess it wouldn’t be so bad to hand this one over to you guys. I want your word that if there is any human involvement we are to be brought in immediately.” The officer turned to leave.
Madon walked up to us. “What’s going on? Jenna, are you all right?” He sounded and looked pissed.
“Yes Uncle, I’m all right,” she said, standing up.
He visually inspected her. Once he was satisfied that she was okay, he turned to Radek and me. “What is going on?”
“Dante is missing,” I said.
“How?” Madon was visibly surprised.
“We aren’t sure yet. Some information has just been brought to our attention. You might have a problem in your ranks,” Radek said quickly.
“Who?” Madon’s voice had that edge in it again.
“We’re not sure on anything. Jenna got a sniff of her attacker. She said he seemed familiar to her.”
“That’s not good.”
“No. Here’s the deal. No one knows that she can identify her attacker. We need to keep it that way. That doesn’t mean she’s safe. I’m going to leave it up to you. I also need you to sit on this for a little while. Let us investigate what we can and get Dante back. Then we can deal with your pack.”
“If you think I’m just going to sit back while someone in my pack has betrayed me, you better think again.”
“Calm down, Madon. I’m just as pissed as you, but we have to handle this carefully. This is bigger than your pack. You’ll get your justice, just hang tight for a little while.”
“Just don’t take too long, and keep me posted,” Madon said after a few moments. He gathered up Jenna and took her back to his car. Gregory was still standing there.
“Find out what you can here, then call me,” Radek said to him.
Gregory gave him a hard look, but complied when he saw the anger in Radek’s gaze. I guess even Gregory didn’t want to mess with him. I had to almost run to keep up with Radek as he strode silently back to his car. I barely had time to jump in before he started it.
His jaw was clenched. I noticed he wasn’t sitting back against his seat either. We had both received minor injuries. My back felt like it was on fire. I hoped we would soon be back at the house. The ride was deadly silent for a few minutes.
He sent his phone flying in my direction. I caught it. “Call Father; tell hi
m what’s going on,” he said, the barely contained rage evident in his voice.
I dialed Val’s number, trying to keep my own fury in check. It was answered right away.
“Tell me everything and start at the beginning.”
“Dante and the werewolf, Jenna, were attacked. She’s hurt, but will be fine. Madon came and picked her up.” I took a deep breath. “Dante was taken. They rigged my car and Dante’s to blow up. I’m not sure about the other car there. It most likely belonged to Jenna. They were at headquarters when it happened.” I spoke as quickly as possible.
I could feel the rage coming through the phone. I heard a few words in several languages that I never thought I would hear coming from Val’s mouth. He was always adamant that we not use foul language. What surprised me more was that I understood every single one of them.
“Where’s Radek?” Val said in a low, lethal voice.
“Driving.” I was feeling protective of him. “He’s very irate right now. We both received some minor injuries when the cars blew. I don’t think he’s realized it yet.” I knew that was putting it mildly.
“Put the phone up to his ear. Don’t worry, he won’t bite.”
Yeah, that’s what he says, I thought, but I complied. Radek didn’t look at me nor did he take the phone from me. His hands were white from clenching the steering wheel and shifter. My finger brushed his cheek, sending a shot of electricity through my arm. His skin was warm and I could feel the stubble that was starting to form.
Val said, “Radek, this was not your fault. You were where you were supposed to be. I don’t want you feeling guilty. You got that, son? Now, he was taken alive as far as you know. You need to focus on finding out why and how he was taken. I’ll call Madon. I don’t want to believe that he had anything to do with this, but since we know for sure one of his wolves was there, he’s now a suspect. I expect that she was just collateral damage. I want you to move to a different safe house as soon as you are able to. Then go through the lists and see what you can come up with. Check in often. Don’t leave each other for anything. Tell me if you need any other assistance. Just find him, but don’t risk yourselves. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Good. Natalya, this applies to you too.”
“Yes, Val,” I said softly.
The rage was building in me as well. Now they had taken something other than possessions from me. They’d messed with family. I thought of Dante as a brother as well as my partner. The body count might end up being rather large on this one. I was going to make a few and I knew that Radek was thinking along the same lines. After all, Dante was his brother, vampire or not. My mood wasn’t improved by the burning in my back. I’m sure Radek’s wasn’t either.
“Stay safe,” Val said, hanging up.
Radek just glared out the windshield as he drove. I dropped the phone into my lap. The only good thing right now was that my arm wasn’t feeling as bad. The fire in my back was edging out the pain of my older injuries.
Chapter Eight
When we got to the house, he went to set up his computer while I made some coffee.
“We’ll leave in the morning. I need to rest for a while and we need to figure out a way to find Dante. We can start with the lists that Father emailed me earlier. I don’t really know how this is going to help, but it’s worth a shot. We don’t have anything else right now.” Radek ran a hand through his dark brown hair in frustration. Dust and debris fell when he disturbed it.
I followed his hand with my eyes. I liked the sight of his hair messy. A feeling of longing went through me. It made me want to put my hands through his hair and fix it for him.
I shrugged the feeling off. This was Val’s son, I reminded myself again. He was off limits. I explained it away as a letdown of adrenaline from being almost blown to pieces.
Speaking of being blown up, I noticed that he had cuts and bits of metal in his back. The scent of his blood was in the air. We should probably get cleaned up a bit.
“Dek, take off your shirt,” I blurted out. Well, that was a dumb thing to say, I thought.
He turned to me, raised an eyebrow and said, “Excuse me?”
I blushed. “You have shrapnel in your back and so do I. Let’s get cleaned up first, then we can get back to this.” I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea – or maybe it was the right idea. I was confused.
He took a moment, then what I’d said registered. I watched as the pain flashed across his face. He rolled his shoulders and grimaced. Seeing that made me think about how my own back felt like it was on fire.
“You know, I think that might be a good idea. Do you want me to work on you first?” he asked, turning his golden eyes on me.
I knew it would make him feel better to work on me first, so I agreed. My hoodie was easy to remove. The shirts took a little work, but soon I had them off.
He had retrieved the emergency kit from the bathroom. I laid on the couch so that he had easy access to the worst of the wounds on my back. His soft touch on my skin distracted me from the pain. The scent of his blood, sweat and just plain maleness was making my heart beat faster. I felt his hand trace the scars I knew were there, but couldn’t remember why. My breathing increased. I licked my suddenly dry lips. I wished he would just hurry so I could get control of myself.
“Where did you get these?” he asked in a hushed tone.
“I don’t remember,” I mumbled into my arm that was cushioning my head. It took all my strength not to turn over and kiss him. There was no way that he could miss what was going on in my mind. I could smell the lust coming off both of us.
“It looks like you were beaten.”
I could feel his breath on my skin. I shivered, and not from the cold. “It happened a long time ago, Dek. Just concentrate on the current wounds, please.” My voice was strained from fighting the urges I was experiencing.
“Sure, sorry,” he said absently.
I was breathing hard by the time he finished. He then put a salve over the wounds. I let out my breath, trying to calm myself.
“It doesn’t look too bad.” His voice had grown husky.
I was wondering if it had affected him as much as me. “Good,” I said.
He helped me to get back up and put my shirts back on. It was his turn now. He took off his shirt and laid down in the spot I’d vacated. He cushioned his head with his hands and buried his face in the pillow.
I took a moment to look at the perfect muscles of his back and shoulders. They were well defined, even covered in blood. I was just itching to run my hands along the planes of his back. I got myself under control and tried to focus only on the injuries. There was a rather large cut in his lower right back, just above his hip bone. I decided to start there. I first pulled his pants down, away from the wound. I saw and heard him take a ragged breath. I really didn’t want to think about it. I took deep breaths, trying to keep the beating of my heart under control, knowing he could hear it as I could hear his.
I cleaned the skin around the wound with an alcohol wipe. His muscles twitched as I treated his injuries. I leaned in to look for anything that might be in the wound by opening it with tweezers. His scent was coming off of him and messing with my head. I gritted my teeth and finished treating his wounds. He had a small tattoo on his right shoulder blade. I leaned forward to get a better look. When I brushed it with my fingertips, he flinched.
“When did you get this?” I asked breathlessly. It was a tattoo of a tiger and a dragon in a yin yang symbol. It was beautifully done. I traced it with my finger.
“Dante has one on his left shoulder. We got them together years ago,” he replied in a strained voice.
“Nice.” That was all I got out.
He flipped over and brought me down on top of him. His lips were pressed against mine. Sensations raced through my body. I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped. His warmth was surrounding me. He tasted like nothing I’d ever experienced before. Just as his tongue brushed along my lips, his pho
ne rang.
We froze. I would’ve been across the room if he hadn’t been a holding onto me. I glared at him. With one arm around me keeping me in place, he reached for his phone with the other. My body was molded to his perfectly. I was enjoying being in that position just a bit too much. I could feel every inch of him and man I wanted him without his clothes.
“Yes,” his voice came out deeper than I’d ever heard it.
I felt his chest rumble beneath me as he spoke.
“Am I interrupting something?” It was Gregory. I guess it was back to work time.
“Not at all,” Radek said, giving me that smile.
I rolled my eyes at him.
He asked, “What do you want?”
“We’re done at your headquarters. He was taken alive. Do you want to fill me in on what the hell is going on now?” Gregory said. His words were harsh, but respectful. As long as I’d known him, he had been unflappable.
Radek sighed and sat up.
I was across the couch the instant he let me go. What had I been thinking? The fact was, I hadn’t been. His arms were well defined. I was distracted for a moment by the play of muscles as he moved. I averted my eyes so I could get a grip on my emotions or whatever was going on with me. I was far away, yet close enough to hear both sides of the conversation.
“We don’t have anything concrete. But would you have any theories on why Natalya was attacked last night, and Dante tonight?” Radek asked sarcastically.
“Louis? Again? Damn, when are you going to kill that cat?” Gregory said venomously.
“Of course we have no proof, but he has to be involved. He’s always involved in something, and always manages to come out clean too. I don’t think he’s doing this alone. It has to be someone strong enough to take on Dante. They messed with the wrong vamp though. Whoever did this is going to die by my hands.” Radek’s voice dropped and the last part came out more like a growl than words.
“I could try and see if I can contact Dante,” Gregory suggested.
Seizing Darkness (Fur, Fangs, and Fairies) Page 8