by Ciara Graves
“Find me in a weakened state and take me in for questioning?” I replied.
He paused this time, face set, and a ruble reverberated in his chest. “Mercy, I don’t know how much you know, but I was never going to take you in. Though… no, never mind.”
“Tell me,” I said as we moved further away from the others.
“My latest order was to bring you in within twenty-four hours,” he whispered. “Clearly that did not happen, and my boss was ready to issue a warrant for you.”
I cursed.
“However,” he pushed on, “after recent events I’ve managed to convince him to hold off… on one condition.”
“Condition? What condition?”
He glanced around as if waiting for Bowen or Damian to jump him. “You have to agree to come to the Fed building with me and answer questions about Liam.”
“I’ve told you, I have nothing to do with him.”
“I know, and I believe you, but my boss is a different story. He’s on his way here now, and I need you to agree. If you don’t, then we have to sneak you out of the state, and you’ll be on the run.”
I puffed out my cheeks, weighing my options. Answering questions about Liam wasn’t terrible, but his boss wouldn’t stop there. Rafael had to know that. He would dig into who I was and all the cases I worked.
“Guess I don’t have much of a choice,” I finally said. Being on the run was not part of the plan, not anymore. Not now that Damian was turning out to be someone entirely different. I had to speak with him and get the whole story about what I saw that night.
“Mercy? You’re pale all of a sudden.” Rafael’s face wrinkled with worry. “Do you need to sit down?”
“No, I’m fine. Just what I saw is all.”
“Your dreams? What did you see?” he asked quietly.
I shrugged. “Bits and pieces from my past, nothing terribly exciting,” I lied. Then I grinned.
He frowned.
“There was something else, but not sure you’d want to hear it.”
“Try me.”
“Well, you were there,” I told him. “And we shared one hell of a kiss. It was comforting after what I’d just seen, but like I said, just a dream.”
He moved closer, but then there was a knock at the door, and he stiffened, tucking me safely behind him as Bowen moved to answer it.
“It’s your werewolf,” Bowen announced.
“The three of you go to the bedroom,” Rafael told Gigi, Damian, and me. “The fewer faces he sees, the better.”
He squeezed my hand then moved to the door while the rest of us disappeared into the bedroom. Damian left the door cracked so we could see out.
“Who is he?” I whispered to Damian as a werewolf wearing street clothes walked inside, shaking hands with Rafael and Bowen.
“Fed apparently, but he’s one of the Silver Howlers.”
“And why is he here?”
“We need a werewolf to track the attacker’s blood. Trust me, I don’t like it either, but until this bastard is caught, Sector 18 is no longer safe for you.”
I was tempted to argue it wasn’t safe for him either, but Rafael was guiding the werewolf around the room, so he could pick up on the blood trail of the attacker. Though the blood was old, if left untouched, the scent would remain. My attacker was a werewolf, that was all I could remember. His whole body except his eyes had been covered. The werewolf Rafael called Todd, sniffed around a bunch then pointed to the bedroom door with a frown.
The three of us tensed, but Rafael simply told him the victim of the attack was resting in the bedroom. Todd left it alone and picked up the scent of the other werewolf. He moved to the door then out into the hall, with Rafael and Bowen following.
The day was overcast at least, the snowstorm not having moved on yet, so Bowen wouldn’t burn. Damian held up his hand for us to wait a few minutes then finally opened the door. Gigi stepped out first, saying something about needing to run to the local herb store and replenish her stocks. That was just fine by me because I needed a word with Damian. Alone.
She left in a hurry, and I sat down on the couch. Though I was injured, I felt stronger than I had in days. The dreamweavers had done more for me than I expected. Gave me a chance to have true rest.
“We need to talk,” I finally said.
Damian moved to look out the windows, pulling back the curtains.
“Damian.”
“I heard you. About you trusting this Fed who’s only going to get you in trouble?”
“No. About what you were doing at my parent’s house all those years ago,” I snapped, and he froze. “You, Bowen, Shep, and Wesley. Even Rufus was there. What aren’t you telling me and don’t feed me any more bullshit.” I was on my feet, practically yelling. “I’m sick of being lied to and treated like a child. I want the truth. All of it.”
Letting the curtain fall, he stepped away from the window. Still not facing me. “What did you see?”
“I saw the night you came to warn my parents about this woman coming for them,” I explained. “Who was she?”
“Is she,” he corrected quietly. “I hoped all your memories of those times had been blasted away with the curse. Damned dreamweavers.”
“Damian. Now.”
“It’s a long story, alright?” he growled as he whipped around. There was pain in his eyes. The pain of losses he’d suffered. “Your mother was not the only dragon in hiding. There are countless others out there right now. It’s not just them this bitch is after. Wesley, too. Any she deems powerful enough to be transformed into something greater.”
“Who is this she?”
Damian seemed to be having an argument with himself before he finally spat, “Shuval. Her name is Shuval. She is the reason your parents died that night.”
“I’ve never heard of her. I don’t understand. Why were you all together? I turned Rufus in for a bounty! And there was Bowen. And you—Mom said you were my guardian. What did she mean?” I stormed across the room, finding strength in my anger as I shoved him. “If you were meant to protect me then where were you after I was cursed? Where?”
He made no move to block me as I shoved at him again, giving into my rage.
“We went to your home, but there was nothing left. And you, you’d already been taken into the system.”
“Then why didn’t you get me out?”
“I’m not family,” he grunted. “Not blood-related. I was a guardian, but in name only. Those are just words, and those weren’t good enough to get you out. I lost you for a time. We all did. When I found you again, you didn’t seem to remember anything that happened, and I was grateful.”
“I was alone,” I yelled furiously. “Alone in those horrible orphanages and homes. I was alone for so long.”
“No,” he argued. “You were never alone, not truly. We watched over you from a distance. When you were finally old enough, when the system didn’t care about you anymore, I moved in and took you. It was the only way.”
“And why not tell me then? Why not tell me the truth like the Gathered did?”
Damian turned his back on me again, but I grabbed hold of his shoulder and yanked him around.
“I lost people that night, too,” he snarled. “Your mother and I were good friends for a very long time. She and Eamon were killed that night. Along with countless others.”
“What are you saying?”
“Shuval attacked all those who turned her down. Most were killed. Obliterated. The few of us who managed to escape went into hiding.”
“But why? What were you all to her?” My head ached with so many unanswered questions.
Nothing he said made sense, but the emotion in his eyes was real. All of this, what I saw, what he told me, it happened.
“Your mother was one of many dragons in hiding who turned down Shuval’s offer to join her, and she took it personally. Especially when your parents set out to stop her.”
“From doing what?”
Damian looked to t
he door and pressed a finger to his lips as voices and steps passed by. They kept on going, and he lowered his hand. “We never found out for certain, but she was messing with the natural order of magic. The reapers were involved. Or so we thought, but there was never any proof. She was changing the supes who came to her. And she was gathering followers.”
“For what a war?” I asked, alarmed. “Why not go to the Feds?”
“Most of our number were dragons,” he uttered. “They would’ve been locked up and never seen again. And no one would’ve been around to stop Shuval.”
“Sounds like no one’s around to stop her now,” I shot back.
He glared at me fiercely. “You think you know what hardship is, but you will never understand what it’s like to wake up in the morning and hear fifty of the people you cared for are gone.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that. And you couldn’t do a damned thing to save them.”
Wracked with sudden guilt at his words, I backed away, working at wrapping my mind around what I never knew about my parents. Or about Damian. “And you’re all still fighting against her?”
“Hard to do that when we don’t know where she is. But trust me on this, she’s out there still.”
“How do you know?”
“Liam Manchester. As soon as you mentioned he had fangs, I reached out to as many of us as I could. I told them about him. I asked questions. There was no news of her. Nothing.”
“And Wesley? The night I met with him?”
“Shuval stopped him from talking, just as she stopped Liam from taking you for your powers,” he explained. “She is more powerful than you know, but she is not your concern.”
“Bullshit. How is she not?”
“Until I have any concrete information, you are to go about your days, as normal.”
“After learning about all this?” I argued. “How am I supposed to do that? I can help.”
“No. You have enough to worry about here. There’s a killer to catch and a Fed to deal with. Worry about those problems. If, and only if, Shuval shows her face in Nashville, then will I consider letting you get involved,” he said over my angry sputtering and protests. “I failed at protecting you once. Do not make me suffer through watching you die. I beg of you.”
The scar on my face gave a twinge as he reached out to touch it. His hand paused without touching it. He hung his head, cursing softly under his breath.
“Rest. When Rafael and Bowen return, you’ll be back on the hunt for the killer.”
I stormed off to the bedroom, slamming the door behind me. My entire life had been a lie. One huge lie. Head spinning, I paced around and around the small space, kicking the wall a few times for good measure, then cursing more when I stubbed my toes. My wounds burned, but the pain kept me angry, and that was exactly what I wanted to be. Furious at the world and everyone in it.
How was I supposed to ignore what Damian told me? Pretend like there wasn’t some horrible woman out there corrupting supes? She was the reason my parents were dead. That mage who cursed me was one of hers. I shot a look at the door, wondering how much shit I’d get for what I was planning on doing.
What Damian knew wouldn’t hurt him. I might not be able to go after this Shuval, but I sure as hell could go after the mage who cursed me. It’d be a start. It was a good thing that kiss with Rafael had only been a dream. I’d be much safer on my own for what I was about to get myself into the second this case was closed.
Chapter 13
Rafael
Todd led out us out of the inn and to the main street that ran through town, following a trail only he could pick up.
Bowen walked along with us, not saying a word. The snow had lessened, but the temperature had plummeted. Even I was cold. As Todd turned right, down another street, taking us away from the inn, I found myself glancing back toward the balcony of Mercy’s room.
She looked far better than she had when I arrived and found her bleeding out on the floor. Not that it made me feel better about leaving her, when her attacker was on the loose.
“How much blood you think he lost?” I asked Todd as he paused and dug his boot around in the snow, sniffing again.
“Enough to slow him down, but not to kill him. Sorry, sir.”
“Too bad,” I muttered.
Bowen hissed. “That means there’s plenty left to go around,” he said with a wicked glare.
“You can’t suck him dry,” I argued.
“Then maybe you should look away.”
“Hey, I’m a Fed too,” Todd reminded him, sniffing the air long and hard. He jerked his head to the right, and I caught him wince. “Damn.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Wind changed,” he muttered. “Give me a second… there it is. This way.”
Todd moved past me again.
I frowned, sniffing the air myself. I didn’t expect to pick up on the scent of the killer, but the sharp scent of blood met my nose, all the same, followed by a strange, sickly sweet smell. I sneezed.
Bowen tilted his head, watching me. I waited for him to pick up on it, too, but if he did, he said nothing.
We hurried to catch up to Todd, but he paused at the next intersection, scrounging in the snow with his boot.
“Snow’s making it harder. Hold up.”
A quick glance told me we were the only ones dumb enough to be out in this weather. I would’ve called Todd sooner, but… Mercy. Plus, a blizzard had moved in while she was passed out.
A few curious faces poked around window curtains, but no one came out to confront us.
When Mercy told me about her dream, I’d bitten my tongue and stopped from telling her the truth.
Gigi had been worried Mercy was going to be out for a week or longer if we couldn’t find a way to reach her.
Bowen and Damian had been arguing with each other in the bedroom when Mercy had breathed one word, Rafael. Then her body had stiffened, and her back arched off the couch as if she was in pain.
First, Gigi reached out to hold her down, but instead, she grabbed hold of my hand and joined our hands together.
“What are you doing?” I’d asked.
“Trust me. You can do this.”
“Do what?”
Gigi took one of the glowing blue worms and briefly brushed it against the back of my hand.
“What are you doing?” I was growing tired, my eyelids heavy.
“Bring her back to us,” she whispered.
Then I’d been out. Or at least thought I was.
When I’d opened my eyes, I stood in a grove of trees with snow on the ground. More flurries hovered in the air around me.
I turned around slowly, and there was Mercy.
I’d called her name, held out my hand to her. I was in her dream. It didn’t matter anymore what Gigi had done to me, I was here to get Mercy out, and that’s exactly what I intended to do.
Until she’d approached me.
Then we were kissing. Lost in a stolen moment of time. A stolen dream. There, nothing else mattered.
Mercy and I had wanted the embrace to go on forever. I heard her thought echo the same. But we had to leave the dream and get back to reality.
I assumed she wouldn’t remember, but she had, and like the dumbass I was, I let her continue to think it was all in her head.
What would’ve happened if I told her then it had been real? She grinned when she told me about it, but in a dream, there were no strings attached, no real connections. The second she learned the truth, she would either hate me or… or what? Neither one of us could handle being with anybody. That was what we told each other. A kiss, no matter how right it felt, did not change that.
“This way,” Todd said suddenly and took off at a loping run, taking us to the edge of town and then beyond.
He darted down another side road that looked like a drive. Halfway, it crossed a stream covered with ice.
He skidded to a stop. “Shit. Lost it here.”
“What?” Bowen and I snapped at the s
ame time.
“He must’ve jumped in the stream before it froze over completely,” Todd replied, frantically sniffing the air. He turned his head to the right and winced again.
“Everything alright with your neck?” I asked Todd.
“Huh? Oh yeah. Slept wrong last night. New mattress.”
“Yeah, hate that,” I mumbled in reply.
The strange scent hit me again as the wind kicked up. I moved closer to Todd, curious to see if it came from him.
Then my cell dinged, distracting me.
There was a message from Mercy asking where we were and if we found anything. I texted her back that we lost the trail at a stream and asked if everything was alright there. She took a few minutes to reply, and all I got was the word ‘debatable.’ Whatever that meant.
“Everything good?” Bowen asked.
“Not sure.” I looked around our current location. Several buildings dotted the landscape in the distance, an old barn, a house of some kind, and a few other small structures I couldn’t make out. “Who owns this land?”
Todd shoved his hands in his pockets as he squinted through the snowfall starting to pick up again. “No one last I checked.”
“None of the packs?”
“Used to be part of the Nightshade Furs.”
“Why used to be?” I asked.
“Something to do with owing money to Jaxton,” he explained. “So he seized the land. Colton went after him in court, and well, it’s been vacant for at least two years now.”
A bright flash of lightning caught us all off guard.
I ducked when another bolt cracked nearby. Too damned close.
“Right, thanks for the help, Todd. See you tomorrow.”
He saluted me then took off through the storm, heading back to town. Carefully, I took in every detail of how he moved, but the lightning struck again, and I lost sight of Todd’s form in the blizzard.
From the first time I’d first met him, I sensed he was too close to the investigation. Especially as one of the Silver Howlers. I’d let it drop, but with Mercy having been attacked, my suspicions of any and all werewolves shot up. Including Feds.