Finn could feel the tension in the air; it was thick enough to bite through. He looked between Laila and Kess, positioning himself close to Laila. She was his girlfriend, after all, and maybe he could grab her before she mauled the wereleopard.
“Where’s Mebis?” Laila asked in a calm voice. Finn tensed. A calm Laila was never a good thing. It was like standing in the eye of a hurricane.
Kess looked like Laila was the least of her worries, and it was probably true. Finn knew Kess hadn’t been sleeping—she’d been up trying to think of a way to safeguard all of the people depending on her. Thinking that she had failed Mebis—and Finn knew Kess well enough to know the way her mind worked—was making the job that much harder.
“I believe he’s been killed.” Kess said it matter-of-factly, something that Finn hadn’t been expecting. He thought she’d lead into the news a little more gently.
He looked at Laila. Her brown eyes had narrowed, but that was her only reaction to the news. Finn should have realized that a slow preparation of bad news would be wasted on Laila; she was a ‘rip the bandage off all at once’ kind of girl.
Suddenly, Laila swung a fist at Kess’ head. Kess was ready for it though. The wereleopard dodged, throwing her upper body back and out of the way, then popping back up in a fighting stance. Her fists were protecting her face, and her elbows were in tight against her ribs. Finn wondered where she’d learned that, but he had a feeling he already knew. Mebis had been busy during his months of recovery. Those weekly sparring sessions might just get put to good use.
“You had one job,” Laila growled. “Look after my brother. And you couldn’t even do that!” She lashed out with a kick, which Kess deflected with a low block.
“I have more than just one person to look out for,” Kess said, her voice icy calm. “And what, are you telling me that you didn’t think Mebis could take care of himself?”
Finn nodded in agreement. He knew Laila had always thought that Mebis could tackle anything and come out on top—the idea of her thinking he needed protection was laughable. Even though, in some ways, Laila was a better fighter than her brother, Finn knew she still had her brother up on a pedestal. Finn suspected that Mebis knew it too.
Finn also knew that Laila wasn’t fighting to win. Neither was Kess. He knew enough about the two young women to know that they weren’t exactly serious in trying to hurt one another. If Kess had been, she’d have turned into a leopard by now. If Laila had been, Kess would never have seen her coming. Finn grinned—the women in his life made sure he was never bored.
“Don’t try using logic on me!” Laila shouted, going for a chop at Kess’ throat. Again Kess dodged, but made no move to retaliate. “You’re responsible. You’re the head of this territory. His death is on you!”
“Laila!” Finn yelled, knowing that she wasn’t being fair.
“Stay out of this, Finn,” Laila warned. Kess nodded in agreement.
“You’re both nuts, you know that?” He’d had enough. This wasn’t getting them any closer to catching the hunter who’d killed Mebis. “Laila, if you really wanted to hurt Kess, you’d have done it by now, and Kess, stop trying to be a martyr by letting Laila beat the crap out of you!”
The two girls froze. Kess dropped her arms. “When did you get to be so smart?” she asked.
“About the time you both started losing your freakin’ minds.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Can we get back on topic now? We need to figure out what we’re going to do about this hunter.”
Laila eyed Finn curiously. “Fine,” she finally said. “Just one thing.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
Laila hauled off and punched Kess, a hard cross to the jaw. Kess staggered backwards, but righted herself quickly, her hand pressed against her cheek. “Feel better?” the wereleopard managed to get out.
“No,” Laila said. Finn rolled his eyes.
“Me neither.”
“You let him die.” Laila said it as a statement and not an accusation.
Kess nodded sadly. “I didn’t know.” Laila didn’t say anything, just glared at Kess.
“I swear, I will never understand women,” Finn said, shaking his head. He should definitely invest in a yurt. He had a feeling he’d be using it a lot in the coming years.
Laila walked past him, barely acknowledging him. When she was at the door, she turned back to Kess. When she spoke, her voice was like ice. “After you’re done getting some ice for your jaw, you and Finn here are going to tell me everything I need to know about this hunter of yours.” She smiled, and there was no mirth in it, only the promise of pain.
Chapter Eighteen
Kess heard the doorbell ring. She looked up, startled. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Rafe and Finn were out on patrol, Laila had already disappeared, and none of Kess’ wereleopards were due to report for a day or two. She got up from her spot in the library and made her way to the door.
Pausing for a moment in the hallway, Kess felt her heart speed up. She didn’t like to admit it, but she was frightened, perhaps more than she’d ever been. What if it was Lukas on the other side of the door? What if he’d tracked her to her home? The hunter had managed to kill Mebis, and the werejackal had been one of the Keepers of Divine Order. He’d been trained since practically birth to kill people—if Mebis could be killed, what chance did she have? She reined in her thoughts quickly; there was no point in letting fear rule her. If she was afraid to open her own front door, how could she even hope to fight Lukas?
She continued down the hall as the doorbell rang again. Kess looked through the sidelight, and froze in shock. Standing on the front steps, holding a large suitcase, was Cormac. Her heartbeat quickened in that good way it did whenever she saw him. Suddenly an empty place that she hadn’t even been aware of felt filled. But what was he doing here?
Kess opened the door slowly. Cormac smiled down at her. “Hi,” he said.
He was even more gorgeous than she remembered. She opened the door wider. “Hi.” She took a moment and just stared at him, rememorizing his face.
They stood there awkwardly for a moment, until Cormac asked, “Can I come in? It’s a little hot out here.”
“Oh, God, sorry. Come on in.” She pulled the door open wider and beckoned him inside.
“Thanks.”
As he stepped inside, hoisting the suitcase over the threshold, Kess took another look at him to catalogue the changes in him. He was still the same tall, dark, handsome guy she’d fallen in love with. His hair was a little longer in the back than he usually wore it, but his eyes were the same piercing grey that always made her a little weak-kneed when he looked at her. She smiled at him as he turned back around as she closed the door.
“Can I get a hug?” Cormac said, opening his arms.
“Of course,” Kess answered, coming gratefully into the harbor of his embrace. His arms tightened around her and she felt safer than she had in months. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. “I’m so glad you’re here. But why?”
“Finn filled me in on what’s going on,” Cormac whispered against her ear. “I came as soon as I could get away.”
“What about school?”
Cormac shrugged off her question. “Finn said you needed me. School can wait.”
“I’m glad you came,” Kess said again, a tightness in her throat. She couldn’t believe he was here. She would never have called him—and she had never thought Finn would do so. It felt like a dream. She’d been able to put aside thoughts of Cormac to focus on her clan and territory, but now that he was here, she never wanted to be without him again. Their fight from his visit in the summer was forgotten. He was here now, that was what mattered.
Cormac pulled back so he could look her in the face. “Are you?”
Kess nodded. “Yes.” She smiled at him, running a hand through his hair. “I am so happy to see you.”
“I know when I left…”
Kess placed a finger over his lips, silencing
his words. They could deal with that later. “I don’t want to talk about that right now, okay?” She just wanted a few hours to enjoy his arrival before she had to go back to work on the problems the hunter presented.
She wanted a few hours with him.
Cormac took her hand in his and raised it to his lips. “Okay, Kess.”
“I’ve missed you,” she whispered.
He leaned forward and kissed her, just a light brush of his lips against hers. “Same here,” he murmured.
She tilted her face to his, memorizing the lines of his face that had somehow become fuzzy in her recollection over the last months. He was still everything she had ever wanted, had ever hoped for. And he was here when she needed him most. He always was.
It just took him going away for her to realize it.
Kess took his hand, leading him deeper into the house. “Let’s see about getting you settled.”
He pulled against her hand, stopping her. “Kess, I came because I love you. Finn told me about this hunter—and how you might be next. I don’t want to just assume…”
“Cormac?” she cut him off. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She led him back to their room so he could unpack.
Chapter Nineteen
Laila pulled the black hood over her head and tucked the stray strands of her hair inside it. She’d been waiting most of the evening for this Lukas Jaegar clown to either head out for the night or go to bed, but he didn’t seem to want to cooperate. She was tempted to just rush in there and blindside him, but that would probably get her in trouble with the Keepers, and she didn’t want that. She had to do this the right way.
But first, she wanted to confirm his kill. She had to see Mebis.
Laila hadn’t told anyone what she was planning. Frankly, she didn’t care what Kess thought and Finn would only try to talk her out of it. Neither of them seemed to understand that this was her brother, and that nothing would stop her when it came to family.
She saw Lukas exit the building. Kess had given her a good description and a rather haphazard picture taken with her iPhone, so Laila recognized him at once. Her upper lip curled into a half-snarl as she watched him walk down the street. She waited until he had rounded the corner before she began to move.
From the roof, she took the access stairs down to the ninth floor. The building had no security to speak of—she’d checked the schematics and blueprints earlier in the day, then run her own scan to be sure. She used a set of lockpicks passed down from her father on the door and was soon inside. There was an alarm panel next to the entryway to the kitchen, but it wasn’t armed. Laila could have dealt with it if it had been, but she was glad not to have to waste her time.
She followed Kess’ directions to the trophy room. Laila inspected the door for sensors; some collectors were very protective of their prizes, sometimes skimping on personal security to beef up that around their collections. She found nothing to indicate any security measures were in place, so she opened the door and stepped inside. Laila didn’t bother with the light. Instead, she pulled a small flashlight from the tool pouch at her waist and flashed the beam around the room.
Kess hadn’t been lying when she’d said this Lukas guy was some kind of major hunter. She counted two bears, any number of wolves, though all looked to be different variants, and a good start on big cats. Laila stepped between the rows of stuffed beasts, looking for the one that was supposed to be her brother.
The jackal stood in almost the center of the room, surrounded by much larger quarry. Laila walked over slowly, running her flashlight’s beam around the base first. She noted it had been decorated with a natural scene: this one had tall marshy reeds and grasses and the artificial ground gleamed as if wet in the beam of the flashlight. Swampland. She wondered if this was where the hunter had bagged this jackal; if so, it might provide her with a clue as to where everything went down.
She stepped closer, examining the animal. The taxidermist had done excellent work, she observed, trying to compartmentalize her feelings. She put the flashlight between her teeth and ran her hands over the jackal’s coat and head. The ears were large and perked forward, as though listening for something. The coat was a sandy brown interspersed with blondish strands—the pelt of a golden jackal.
Laila knelt to look closely at the face. Her hands stroked the animal’s jaw, running down its neck. The eyes were brown, the color of Mebis’. So was the expression—it was one he often wore when they ran the swampland back home in New Orleans. She gritted her teeth and continued her inspection of the animal, although she had no doubt this was her brother. Laila dipped the beam lower, illuminating the jackal’s paws. There it was. She’d seen Mebis change enough times after his injury to know that the mangled paw removed all doubt. It was her brother, stuffed and sitting in some asshole’s trophy room, like just another common kill.
She rested her hand between his ears and bowed her head. Laila hoped her short prayer to Anubis would help her brother pass into the next world. Then she said a prayer of her own, more of a vow, really. She would hunt this hunter and make him regret the day he’d ever had Mebis in his sights.
The lights flicked on and Laila dropped low, pulling her gun in one seamless motion. Using the various animals as cover, she began to move towards the front of the room. She hadn’t heard either the front door open, or this room’s door open, but someone was in here. She could sense another’s presence.
“You can come out now. I know exactly where you are,” a mellow, slightly amused voice said.
Laila popped up, gun out and in firing position. A tall, impossibly thin young man with dark hair leaned casually against the stuffed grizzly bear that took up one corner of the room. “You won’t need that,” he said, waving at her gun.
“Who are you?” She took in the cut of his black suit and tie. “Lukas Jaegar’s Alfred?”
“Funny,” the young man said, in a voice that conveyed it was anything but. “I could ask the same of you.”
“And I could tell you to get bent.” Laila tightened her finger on the trigger.
He inclined his head to her, his dark hair falling across his eyes. They were odd, his eyes, appearing to have no pupil that she could see. She dismissed it. She didn’t require an explanation of his weird eyes to plant a bullet in his skull.
“But you won’t,” he answered. “Because that would be rude.”
Laila rolled her eyes. Like she gave two shits about being rude at this point. Breaking and entering wasn’t exactly polite behavior. She said nothing in response, content to let him speak. She might learn something useful. He wasn’t carrying anything that resembled a weapon, either in his hands or under his clothes. She could wait. A little.
“Do you like my master’s assortment? I’m sure he’d be more than happy to show it to you personally. An attractive, unique young woman such as yourself would interest him greatly.”
Laila turned her lip up dismissively. Oh, he was threatening her now? She’d love to see his master try. “I know exactly what your master would be interested in.” She threw one last look at the jackal who had been her brother. She vowed she’d remove him from this trophy room, but not now. “And you can tell your master that he’s not the only one who knows how to hunt.” And kill.
The man smiled broadly, and Laila could see that his teeth were all sharp and pointy. There was more going on with this dude than she had time to suss out. He said, “Now why would I go and do a thing like that?” He winked at her. Then he opened the door with one hand and waved her out with the other. “Good hunting, miss.”
Laila stepped through the doorway, gun still trained on the young man in the black suit. She didn’t know what to make of him, but now was as good a time as any to leave. She’d gotten what she came for. Now she had to tell her parents that Mebis was truly dead. Once that was done, then she would hunt Lukas.
The manservant or whatever he was followed her to the door, his eyes positively gleaming with a dark joy. She was closing the front door behind
her when she heard him say, “I hope to see you very soon, Laila. Call on Zamiel if you have need.”
Then the door closed behind her with a click.
Chapter Twenty
Rafe dropped into one of the club chairs with a heavy sigh, dropping his notebook down with a sharp slap on the side table. Finn stopped what he was doing—which was idly flipping through books on hunting big game—and arched a brow at the dejected-looking young man.
“What’s the matter?” he asked Rafe, shoving the book back into place on the shelf. He folded himself into a wingback chair, wiggling to try and get comfortable. He didn’t know why Kess liked the library so much; the couches and chairs in the den were so much more comfortable.
“Nothing, that’s what’s the matter.” Rafe had a forearm draped over his eyes.
“So why do you look like someone just ran over your dog?”
The werehyena gestured to the pad he’d been carrying, not bothering to remove his other arm from across his eyes. “I’ve got nothing on the taxidermy angle. I’ve called to talk to every taxidermist on the freaking eastern seaboard and none of them have ever stuffed anything like a jackal or a hyena before. And they say there’s no way they could have had something ready so quickly.”
“What does that mean?” Finn leaned forward, his interest piqued.
Rafe sat up finally, looking Finn in the eye. “I extrapolated a little bit based on when Mebis’ car was found and when Kess saw him stuffed in the trophy room. I wanted to give the guys I talked to a time frame. And all of them agreed that there was no way they could have a trophy stuffed, mounted, and a habitat put together in that amount of time.” He handed Finn the notepad. “I must have talked to fifteen different guys and they all agreed on that much.”
“What if Lukas put a rush order on it or something like that?” Finn asked as he flipped through page after page of Rafe’s neat printing. He rubbed his fingers together to indicate money.
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