Creepy chills slid up my spine. I didn’t want to know what they were going to outdo. My brain raced as I tried to process. There was a catch. There was always a catch. My coming back here, under this horror-filled roof once again, would be a major stroke in her favor. Anything could happen to me in fourteen days. Plus, if she was willing to take the measures she had to get me here this time, I was clearly missing something about the good Queen’s interest in me.
I planned to remedy that as soon as possible.
My father glowered at the Queen, distaste pulling his lips. The Queen crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
Apparently I was taking too long. “If I agree to swear to your demands, it will come with several of my own stipulations,” I rambled, thinking fast, “or I walk out now and take my chances.”
She shrugged like my meager requests meant nothing. “Name them and we shall see.”
“After my duties are fulfilled at the … party”—it sounded so ridiculous—”I will leave here alive and … untouched.” My skin crawled. “I stay no longer than fourteen days.”
The Queen appeared bored. “Yes, yes, you will be alive. You have my solemn word.”
“During my time here, I won’t be your prisoner. I will enter and leave the premises freely, showing up for my duties when necessary.”
“Yes,” she ground out, her bored look changing to a glint of anger.
Here was the kicker, something I was going to insist on. “And if my mate lives, he will be allowed to accompany me.” I was a realistic gal. There was no way Rourke was going to agree to let me romp around with vamps without him. Plus, once I got him back, I planned on enjoying him.
Before the Queen could answer, Tyler strode to my side. “And she will also be allowed ten bodyguards. To ensure you intend to honor your agreement about her safety fully.”
The Queen’s eyes dilated to full black, her incisors dropping in an instant. There was a horrible hissing as she shrieked, “How dare you question my honor!” The power in the room rose to a suffocating degree and my hand shot to my throat.
My father calmly stepped in front of her and bellowed, “Enough!”
The Queen came up short, still hissing, her fingernails curved to hideously sharp points. Her skin slipping again. Man, I was never going to get used to that.
“Eudoxia”—my father was an inch away from attacking—“you come too close in your threats.”
The Queen trembled with fury. She struggled to tamp it all down. She’d pushed her power too far, now she risked losing her prize. “I will not … I will not tolerate being called without honor in my own home.”
The vampires in the room started to hiss, crowding themselves in behind the wolves. Everyone was on edge.
“Eudoxia, you fool no one,” my father snarled. “It’s very clear to all of us standing here you want my daughter, for some reason I don’t quite understand. But rest assured, henceforth I will make it my greatest quest to find out.” His eyes flashed a brilliant violet. “Understand this now, my daughter is not yours to take. I will never let her go without a fight. We have been forced into an agreement at this time, but the terms she has already brought forth will stand, and in addition, you will hire ten of my wolves as your … guards,” he spat, “and personally guarantee their safety. Make no mistake, Eudoxia, by the time my daughter arrives back here to fulfill her oath to you, she will be full Pack. And she will be protected as such.”
The Queen’s eyes had returned to their normal silver glow, but her incisors stayed put. “Five,” she snarled through her fangs.
My father started to respond, but I interjected quickly, “Five! I agree to five wolves, a werefox, and a witch. Well, a minor witch. If this is going to play out like a job, I want my team.” I added for good measure, “That’s my final offer. Take it or leave it.”
The Queen snapped her furious glare to me, her long canines so white they stood out like ivory knives against her red lips.
“It is done.” Before any of us could react, she swept up the dais. “My vampires will begin the hunt at nightfall. They will first go to the mountains to ascertain Selene’s trail. Expect them at your door in two eves from this day. Be prepared to leave then.” I didn’t want to ask how she knew where my door was. “Now swear an oath to me, little wolf girl.” Her lips spread into a hideous smile, her teeth ridiculously long and sharp, her eyes flashing danger.
Am I really going to do this? “I swear to … ” I recited everything we agreed on carefully, and for good measure I threw in, “And if your two vamps kill my mate, or any other vampire tries to for that matter, my oath to you will be considered forfeit. And I will come back and kill you instead.” Then before she could interject, I added, “This is my Oath of Honor. I give it freely to Eudoxia, the Queen of the Vampires.”
From the screams following us out, it seemed my end of the bargain wasn’t looking so bad after all.
24
Hank was missing. It was the only piece of news I’d received since we’d emerged from the vamp hold. No one knew what had happened to him. My father had decided to give him space to grieve his son before he ordered him found.
Hopefully that would happen before Hank came for me in the middle of the night, hell-bent on revenge for his son’s demise. It wasn’t a stretch to assume Hank knew what his son had been doing, and keeping that kind of information from his Alpha carried a hefty punishment, if not death. But I had enough to worry about without adding Hank into the mix.
After a plane ride home, the wolves dispersed. Tyler and I headed back to my apartment in a cab, my father and James back to the Safe House. We would meet in the morning to come up with a plan.
I’d snagged a T-shirt and some sweatpants at a boutique in the New Orleans airport, so I was presentable enough. I couldn’t help my smell, however, even though I’d given myself a half-assed rinse in the restroom. Luckily, the cab’s greasy takeout stench masked any of my unpleasantness for the time being.
I laid my head back against the headrest and shut my eyes. I was tired and hungry. “So Danny’s been staying at my place, right?” I asked.
Tyler stretched out his legs, jostling me a little. “Yep. He was injured during the attack, broke a few ribs, gushing head wound, so Dad put him at your place to look after things. He was pissed he couldn’t come along.”
I raked my hands through my hair and tried to energize myself. So many things needed my attention I didn’t have the pleasure of curling up and going to sleep. The manhunt for Rourke would take resources and he was my first priority. “God, it feels like I’ve been gone for at least two months, and it’s only been a day and a half,” I said. “I should’ve called Nick when we reached the airport. I was just too tired.”
“Nick was put in charge of the Safe House while we were gone. He’s been updated regularly. He wanted to meet us at the airport, but I told him we were fine.” Tyler cleared his voice, which got my attention.
“What?” I asked.
“Well, there’s been …” He paused for a long second. “… Well, I guess you could say there’ve been some issues concerning that cop Ray Hart. Nick’s sort of been forced to… cover for your absence again.”
My head snapped off the headrest so quickly I had to brace my hands on the seat in front of me to stop my momentum. “What did you just say?” When he didn’t answer immediately, I shot a fist into his shoulder. “Come on! What are you talking about? What issues with Ray?”
“It seems he’s gone missing,” my brother said carefully, glancing out the window, not meeting my eyes.
“What do you mean, missing?”
“It means,” Tyler grumbled, turning toward me, “he clocked in at work yesterday and was scheduled to come by your apartment first thing in the morning, and wasn’t seen again. When he didn’t show up at the end of his shift, they tracked his car … to your lot. Nobody knows what happened to him.”
“Nobody human, you mean?” I said, my voice low and angry. “Why wasn’t I informed
of this before right now? You know how this is going to look—they’ll be all over my ass now. I can’t just waltz back into my apartment, into my life, completely clueless. There could be a whole SWAT team waiting to arrest me.”
“I didn’t tell you on the plane because there wasn’t a damn thing you could’ve done about it. Plus, you were too busy trying to convince me not to help you as a Selective, remember?”
I gave him a searing look. “Well, what did Danny say? If he’s been at the apartment this whole time, he must’ve seen Ray.” I lowered my voice. “You didn’t tell Danny to …”
“No.” Tyler shook his head. “There haven’t been any official orders about what to do about the cop yet. But there will be at some point. That man is a nuisance.”
“What did Danny say?” I urged.
“That’s the problem,” Tyler said. “I haven’t exactly been able to get a hold of him in the last twenty-four hours.”
“What?”
“He’s not answering his phone.”
I rocked my head backward and closed my eyes. “Tyler, you have got to be kidding me. And you haven’t told any of this to Dad either?”
“No, I haven’t. Dad has more than enough to deal with right now. Plus, this is a minor issue.”
“Minor?” I lowered my voice because the cabbie had started to glance back at us in the rearview mirror. “A detective is missing. The very same detective who wants a chunk of my soul. If a fully competent wolf doesn’t answer his phone, that equals B-I-G trouble—trouble I don’t need right now.” I whined at the end, but I couldn’t help it.
Before Tyler could answer, the cabbie stopped in front of my building. I peered out the window, eyeing the redbrick façade for anything amiss while Tyler paid him.
Once we were out, we waited for him to drive off before either of us said anything, both of us sampling the air. There were no traces of supe, Marcy’s spell still in action.
Tyler turned to me. “Listen, Jess, you’re going to have to trust me on this one. If Danny was in serious trouble, I’d know it. Something must’ve happened when Ray showed up, but it couldn’t have been that big or we would’ve found out one way or another. The two of us are just going to go up there and find out what it is and solve it ourselves.” He cocked his head at me pointedly, and then brushed my mind: And we’re going to have to do it quietly.
I finally understood.
The real reason Tyler had waited so long to clue me in. Okay, I get it now. If Danny has somehow hurt Ray without orders, you want us to figure it out and cover it up on our own? Right? Immediate visions of another body-shaped duffel being launched out of my apartment popped into my brain. I brought my fingers up to the bridge of my nose. And then we’re supposed to tell our father … what, exactly?
We’ll tell Dad whatever he needs to know when it’s all done. Once it’s all shored up there can be no complaint, and there’s no reason he needs to know right this minute anyway. Most likely nothing’s going on; it’s all just pure speculation at this point and we don’t need to bother him with our speculation. He read my face. Danny’s on probation almost all the time because he goes off on his own too much. If he’s killed a detective without orders there will be serious repercussions for him. It doesn’t matter if he’s one of the Pack’s best fighters. I’m just saying it might not be a bad idea for us to see for ourselves what happened here first. Get a handle on the situation. After all, we’re just on our way home from a long flight, what do we really know for sure?
“You’re playing with fire, little brother,” I said out loud. “Not your typical style, but I kind of like it.” I grabbed his shirtsleeve. “Come on, let’s go get this over with.”
The smell of fear and something unknown permeated my hallway as we rounded the top of the landing. My wolf was alert, searching for any potential danger. There would be no repeat of the rogue attack.
My brother and I edged cautiously down the corridor, my nose working to categorize the strange scents. Do you know what that smell is? It’s almost like rotting peaches.
Tyler answered. Nope. I don’t recognize it other than it’s definitely a supe of some kind.
That did not bode well for us—or for Danny—or Ray, for that matter, if he was indeed tangled in this. And how could he not be?
Strangely, Juanita’s voice broke the silence, her hearty laugh ringing out in the hallway, followed by a low male murmur. My stress level relaxed somewhat. I glanced at my brother. That just came from my apartment, right? Juanita’s jubilant tone mixed with Danny’s smooth alto became more clear as we continued down the hallway, but since our apartments were directly across from each other, there was a slight possibility my ears were picking up on some kind of echo.
Yep, seems Danny has company. Whatever’s happened can’t be that bad, then, and that means I was right.
He better not have tried anything on my neighbor. Other than those two voices, the hallway was quiet. Our flight out of New Orleans had left at six a.m. It was now ten-thirty in the morning on a workday. Most of my neighbors were at work.
Please. Tyler snorted. Danny can have anyone he wants, he’s not making a move on your elderly neighbor.
She’s not elderly! And she happens to be voluptuous and sexy for her age. He’d be lucky to have her. But he better not have. I’m just saying.
Tyler snorted again.
As we approached my door, I motioned for Tyler to stand behind me. The rotten peach smell was all over, clogging both of our senses. I put my ear to the door to make sure there were only two voices inside and grabbed on to the handle. I gave it a slow turn. There was movement, no catches. I eased it open. “Hello,” I called. “I’m home.”
“Hello there.” Danny gave a little salute from his place on the floor, on what appeared to be a plaid picnic blanket full of empty plates and a couple of red-stained wineglasses. “Glad to see you back in town so soon.”
“Um, it’s good to be back.” I tentatively made my way into the strange scene of my apartment, followed closely by Tyler.
Danny ran his gaze over me from head to toe and smiled, not bothering to get up from his spot on the floor. “Too bad about the outfit, then. But I’m certain flip-flops are going to make quite a comeback this season.”
Juanita sprang to her feet. “Oh, Chica, es so good to see you!” She ran over and embraced me, and I let her because everything was a bit surreal.
“It’s good to see you too, Juanita, but what are you doing here?” I had to ask.
“After all the loud noises,” she said, “I rush over here to check on what es going on, jus like you told me to do, and I find him here alone”—she pointed at Danny—”and he es so nice and tell me he es protecting jour home for you. I believe him after all the bad break-ins and troubles, so I bring him food because he has none. We are keeping watch together, you see, so now jour apartment weel be safe.” I followed her logic fine, even though it wasn’t even close to what I had told her to do. She could’ve gotten herself killed coming over here alone; she’d been very lucky. I was glad she was safe, but the cloying stench of rotten peaches was so intense now that we were inside I had a hard time concentrating on anything she said.
“That’s great, Juanita, and thank you for bringing food and helping keep watch.” I met Danny’s eye over her shoulder. I arched a single brow. Ignoring the horrid smell was not an option and I wanted to know what was going on.
Tyler cleared his voice behind me. “So everything’s okay in here? Right? No problems that you know of?”
Before Danny could answer, Juanita walked over and started stacking empty dinner plates together. “Oh, sí, everytheen es fine. Nobody or nothing bothered us here.”
Danny grinned as he finally stood, his brown hair falling in his eye. “You two must be tired after such a last-minute trip,” he said, placing a plate onto Juanita’s stack. “I was explaining to your neighbor about your sick grandmother, but she’s as good as new, right? Recovered from that frightful injury?”
/> “Um, yes,” I said, picking up the thread. “She’s a sturdy old goat, so she’s already back on her feet. Turns out she didn’t need our help after all, so we came home.”
“That’s such a relief, Chica.” Juanita solemnly nodded. “Grandparents are so fragile.”
Danny put a few more dishes onto Juanita’s stack, then bent down and folded the plaid blanket, turning to us. “You two look like you could use a bit of a freshen-up. You know, to get rid of jet lag? Perhaps a shower? Or maybe your teeth need a good solid brushing? And while you’re tending to that, I’ll just help the lovely Juanita back to her apartment.”
I glanced at my brother. His face was stony. Neither of us was going to like what we found, I guaranteed it. “Um, okay, I’ll go first,” I said. “I’m dying to … brush my teeth.” I started toward my tiny bathroom. “And, Juanita, thanks for taking care of Danny. But you have to promise me one thing: the next time you hear any noises, please call first. Or better yet, lock your door and don’t come out. I would never forgive myself if you got hurt on my account.”
“Okay, Chica. I call first next time.” She winked and headed for the front door.
The bathroom door was shut and I eased it open, listening before I slipped inside. The smell was so thick I coughed, covering my mouth with the palm of my hand as my eyes landed on the only place they could possibly go in the small space—the bathtub. There, lying naked and dead, was my super, Jeff Arnold. He looked awful, his pasty skin and thinning hair only accentuating his crumpled pale visage. “Oh my gods.” I pushed my hand tighter to my face. I knelt down by him, and the stinky peach mixed with death made me produce bile. I had no idea what kind of supe he was, but it was obvious he’d been one.
The front door of my apartment clicked shut, then Tyler was crowded behind me, followed by Danny in the now open doorway.
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