The DarkWorld SkinWalker Series Box Set Vol II: The SkinWalker Series Books 4, 5 & 6: Blood Promise, Scorched Fury, & Fate's Edge (DarkWorld: SkinWalker)

by T. G. Ayer

  “That’s strange.” The lines on Chloe’s forehead deepened. “I just saw them. They got back from the scene of the murders.”

  I frowned.

  “Storm said they were out doing something for me.” I swallowed hard, and my head felt hot. I glanced up at Chloe. Now I was more than just frowning. My heart was thudding a mile a minute. “He said they were on a mission for me. Not him. And he said he hadn’t heard from Lily and Anjelo for a while because they didn’t tell him where they were going. He seemed to think I would know where they went.”

  “That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard. What is going on with Storm?” asked Chloe almost to herself. With Chloe occupied with her confusion, I pulled my hand free and stepped away.

  I didn’t like the thoughts that I was having. Could I trust Chloe? She worked so closely with Storm, what if he’d influenced her?

  I cleared my throat. “Chloe could you take these two to my father’s place?”

  “You don’t want me to take them back to Storm’s?”

  I shook my head. “I’m just a little worried about where peoples’ loyalties lie. I’m not questioning your loyalty either. I just want to be one hundred percent sure that these kids are safe.”

  “Did they see anything? Did they see the killers?’

  I hesitated, then glanced at the kids. They were stirring, with Alina blinking wide eyes against the bright sunshine.

  “No. They didn’t see anything.” Alina blinked again and watched me. She’d heard what I’d said. “And it’s probably for the best that they didn’t. They’re safer.”

  That was enough of a message to the child, and I could tell from the darkness in her eyes that she understood.

  “They’ll be safe with my father. He’ll make sure they’re taken care of until we can figure out where they can stay. They might have family who will claim them.”

  Chloe shook her head. “But that may not happen until we can find out who is killing the paranormals. Everyone will probably go to ground now.” Then she sighed. “You are right, though. It’s likely the safest option for them.”

  She seemed troubled and I wondered what she’d do now. Would she confront Storm or play the waiting game?

  At least now I knew Anjelo and Lily were back. I needed to track them down to find out what the hell was going on. But first, the kids.

  I went with Chloe to sit beside Alina and Alix—who was now also awake. He was sitting up, pouting, and rubbing his eyes. He was going to be a handful but his behavior earlier was probably just because he’d been tired and stressed. Or at least I hoped so.

  “Alina, Alix. This is my friend Chloe and she’s going to take you to my dad’s house. It’s very safe there and I’ll come to see you as soon as I can. Okay?”

  I asked the question giving the children the impression that they had some say on where they went. They didn’t, but it didn’t hurt to let them think they did.

  The twins exchanged a glance and then Alina nodded. “We’ll go. As long as we go straight to Kailin’s dad’s house.” She gave a firm nod, as if that finalized everything.

  Chloe grinned. “Absolutely. You can even keep my phone with you. Kai is on speed-dial so if you need her just press the button and she’ll be on the other end of the line.”

  Chloe glanced at me and I gave her a grateful smile.

  Jess moved in and said, “Right. We need to go. I’m afraid Saleem has been sent on an errand for Omega so I will take the children to Tukats. I will be right back to take you there too, Chloe, so you can check them out and make sure they are both well.”

  Chloe nodded, and Jess held out her hands. The twins each took a hand without a word and the three of them disappeared from the clearing.

  “Thank you for doing that,” I said, feeling really bad that I had to hang a question mark beside her name. I crossed my fingers and hoped she’d prove innocent. I really hoped, if Storm had gone bad, he’d had the sense to keep Chloe out of it.

  “It’s my job, Kai. You know that. And don’t for one minute think I don’t know what you’re up to.”

  I raised my eyebrows in innocent question. “What do you mean?”

  She sighed. “I can see where the suspicions are heading. And if Storm is up to something, whatever it is he has his reasons and I am positive he’s not endangering any of our kids.”

  Then why did he have to lie to me?

  I wanted to ask the question aloud, but she was not the person to pose it to. Neither was she the person to answer it.

  “I hope so, Chloe. I really, really hope so. I don’t think I can handle another betrayal by someone I care about,” I whispered.

  Chloe nodded and would have answered had Jess not chosen that moment to arrive. The mage gave me a short wave and disappeared with Jess.

  I grabbed my phone from my pocket and sent off two short texts—one to Anjelo, one to Lily—both amounting to little more than ‘where in Ailuros’ name are you?’.

  The brush behind me crackled and Logan walked toward me. He looked drained, and haggard.

  “How’re things going?” I asked, worried now at the toll it was taking on him

  He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m supposed to be used to this type of thing.”

  “It’s always harder when it’s kids.” My voice was emotionless only because if I allowed myself to feel right now, I’d be in his arms, a bawling mess.

  “You’re right. And it’s for them that we need to resolve the situation as soon as possible.”

  I nodded.

  “What did Alina say about the killers?” I met his gaze and gave a short shake of my head.

  “Agent Blake, huh?” Logan grunted. He wasn’t happy.

  “You do know who he is, don’t you?” He’d mentioned someone from his past the last time he spoke about him, but nothing since then.

  Logan looked at me, his struggle clear in his expression. When he shook his head and said, “I’m pretty sure he’s not the man I remembered,” I wondered why he thought he could hide his feelings from me. “And if he is, then . . . “

  “Then what?”

  “Then I’ll have to do something about it.”

  Chapter 35

  I LEFT THE ALASKAN BUSH angry.

  But I held it in, more so because I wasn’t willing to expose my stupid mood to the people around me.

  Because it was stupid.

  There were a number of good reasons why Logan wouldn’t tell me something important, not least being he could get himself in serious trouble if he spilled sensitive information.

  If he was going to tell me anything, he’d do so in his own time. No amount of pushing would speed up that process.

  Logan sent me off with Saleem, who had the grace to look chagrined before he transported me to my apartment.

  When we materialized inside, Saleem paused to study my face.

  “What?” I asked, defensively.

  “Something’s wrong.”

  “Right,” I snapped.

  “I understand.” His smile was rueful. “He gets like that sometimes when he thinks he’s at fault about something.”

  “What the devil could be his fault in a situation like this?” I asked, then paused watching Saleem’s blank expression. “Does it have something to do with the ever-elusive Blake?”

  Saleem blinked. “Perhaps.”

  I wasn’t in the mood for teasing. “Don’t perhaps me, Djinn. I’m worried. What are we going to do about him?”

  Saleem sighed. “You have a one-track mind.”

  “You bet your ass.” I said sharply. “Logan’s hiding something from me and I want to know what that is.”

  “What if you don’t need to know?”

  I’d strangle the next person who said those words to me. “As long as it has something to do with this case then I need to know.”

  “Point taken.”

  “I’m meant to kill this bastard,” I said. My blood promise was ever present in my mind.

  “Have you consid
ered,” Saleem said carefully, “that the blood promise could be Logan’s problem?”

  I frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  Logan could be keeping certain information to himself either to protect me or to protect the perpetrator. “If that’s the case, then he’d better be doing it to protect me, because if he’s protecting the killer then I’m not sure how I’ll handle it.”

  “Whatever he does he will have his reasons.”

  Sage advice from the djinn. “He can have his reasons. I don’t mind them—as long as his reasons don’t stop me from keeping my blood promise. I know he’s not happy that I agreed to it.”

  Saleem’s eyes filled with compassion. “Do you really think Logan would put you in danger by thwarting your attempts to honor your promise?”

  I stopped. Thought about it. “I guess not.” I sighed. “Please tell me why this is so goddamned hard.”

  “Because we care,” he said immediately. “If we don’t care then we’re not as emotionally invested as we’d like to think.”

  “More wise words, djinn?”

  He shrugged, then grinned. “I have my moments.”

  I grinned back at him. He could always diffuse a situation with one of his well-timed grins.

  “So, how are you by the way. You look pretty cheery for a guy who looked like he was at Death’s Door just a day ago.”

  Saleem glared at me. “Hey, I do get to recover as fast of as the walker, don’t I?”

  I laughed. “But seriously, you good?”

  “I’m good,” he assured “But I won’t be if I don’t get back. We have debrief.”

  “They won’t want me there, will they?” Please say no.

  “I don’t think so. Nobody has indicated they want your side of the story. If they do, they’ll come for you.”

  “That’s guaranteed I’ll sleep easy,” I said with a snort.

  He lifted an inquiring brow. “Why would you worry about such a thing? Omega wants you on board. Even with all the mess that’s going on, they’ve been at Logan to bring you in.”

  “Have they now?” I asked, folding my arms. “Funny. Logan hasn’t mentioned it once.”

  Saleem shook his head, his dark hair shifting against his shoulders. “Of course, he wouldn’t. He doesn’t want you to feel pressure. And there are other reasons.”

  “I know,” was all I said.

  We both knew Omega’s respectability in my eyes was in serious question. There were also my current issues with the Walker High Council and my alpha status—although Omega wasn’t interested in my alpha status.

  When my phone beeped and I reached for it Saleem took the opportunity to escape. Coward.

  The message was from Anjelo. I called him immediately.

  “Where are you?”

  The damn it in my tone must have been obvious. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Look, some weird shit is happening. We need to talk.”

  “Where?”

  “The usual place.”

  Which meant O’Hagan’s. And also meant I needed to be more than worried if Anjelo was going all ‘secret codeword’ on me.

  “See you there in half an hour,” I said.

  He responded with a grunt and ended the call leaving me staring at my phone.

  My ringing phone.

  This time it was Dad’s face on the video calling app.

  “Hey Dad,” I said taking in the strained and tired look on his face. I hoped it was just a bad camera phone.

  “I have your two little packages here.” He smiled when he said it, which was a good sign.

  Yeah, I’d take anything I could get right now.

  “How are they doing?”

  “They’re both fine, and the reason for this call. You have one very strong-minded girl there.”

  I felt a glow of pride, as if Alina were my own child. Which was weird because I wasn’t a maternal kind of person.

  Alina’s face appeared on the screen, with Alix showing in the top right-hand corner, peering at the screen with his forehead scrunched. He still looked angry, but markedly less so. It was more than I could have asked for.

  Alina waved at me. “Hey, Kai.”

  “Hi, kiddo. How you doing?”

  She nodded. “Your daddy is nice. I like him.”

  I grinned. “I like him too.”

  She giggled.

  “How’s Alix?” I asked, pretending I couldn’t see him.

  Alina stabbed a thumb in his direction. “He’s here. He’s fine. He ate a lot.”

  “That’s a good thing right?” I asked.

  Alina’s face fell. “Mom doesn’t like it when Alix eats too much. She’ll be mad.” She hung her head.

  “Alina, listen to me.” The little goblin girl looked up at me. “I know for a fact that your Mom wouldn’t mind at all. She will totally understand.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  “How do you know?”

  I paused considering a white lie. Decided against it. “Because I know how people feel when they pass on to the afterworld.”

  “How do you know that?” Her eyes widened, a little suspicious, like a child on the verge of assuming the adult was lying to her.

  I sighed. “Because when I spoke to my sister after she passed into the Graylands, she told me that all a person’s anger and negativity just fades away.”

  “Oh.” The child paused, thinking. “You sister died too?”

  “Yes, honey.” I gave a twist of a smile. “Not too long ago.”

  “I’m so sorry.” She said it softly, then looked up, probably at Dad sitting beside her. “I’m sorry,” she said to him, her face uplifted, her eyes moist. It was the sweetest, most saddest thing I’d seen in a long, long time.

  More surprising was Dad’s reaction. He bent and kissed the little girl on her forehead. “I’m sorry too, Alina. Maybe we can help each other through this terrible time?”

  The girl smiled and in the background, Alix watched, anger gone, eyes wide at the revelation that they shared a deep loss with their new guardian.

  It was a good start. We ended the call with promises from me that I’d come by and check up on them.

  Then I headed out to see Anjelo.

  As I hurried down the stairs, my panther senses picked up odd sounds from the floor below. My panther wasn’t always switched on, but she did remain in the background, always accessible if something strange happened.

  The surreptitious scrape of a heel drew me up short. From where I stood I had a good view over the railing and along the Birdcage to the floor below. They edged around the elevator well, descending all the way to the basement level. From my position I caught shadows where there shouldn’t be any. Someone was creeping up the stairs.

  Nobody I knew would creep up my stairs that way. Nobody I trusted at any rate. I stilled, considering what I should do next.

  I drew on my panther senses and a whiff of the air confirmed three men, the smell of metal said they were armed.

  I didn’t stand a chance.

  That meant the roof, because I’d prefer to not have my apartment ripped apart. This guy looked like he was here to make life difficult for me.

  I tip-toed back up the stairs, past my door to my floor, and up the next flight. At the top of the landing, a single door led to the rooftop. Outside would be concrete floors dotted with air-conditioning vents and fans. A dilapidated old bird coop roosted in the center of the rooftop, the result of a long-dead resident’s hobby.

  Decades ago, when the droughts dried up what used to be arable land, many residents had found the pigeons and other birdlife, a good source of protein.

  Life hadn’t changed that drastically over the last few decades—we just had fewer birds, less farming, less city maintenance.

  And fewer jobs.

  Let’s not forget fewer jobs.

  I kept my breathing low as I slowly pushed open the door to the roof, then blinked at the bright light.

  And at the man standing
there, waiting for me.

  Agent Blake.

  Chapter 36

  THE MEN AT THE BOTTOM of the stairs had stopped their journey upward. They’d been herding me upstairs. And here I thought using the rooftop was the safe choice.

  I’d run from them because even I wasn’t stupid enough to take on three armed men.

  But, I’d just played straight into Blake’s hands.

  I let the door swing shut and backed away, my heels skidding on the gravel.

  I skirted metal duct, keeping an eye on Blake when he swung his weapon at me. As I threw myself onto the floor I caught sight of the sun reflecting on the neon blue flecks marking the barrel. A previous bullet had sprayed poison on exit.

  “I’ve been looking for you, Walker.”

  Lame.

  “You’ve found me. Now what?” I asked coldly, frustrated that I couldn’t see him. His henchmen would be on their way soon, too.

  “Now, I kill you.”

  “You’re very confident.”

  “Easy to be confident when you know you’ll win the fight.”

  More lame.

  “How about you fight and let’s see what happens?” I suggested, keeping a tight grip on my bag. I couldn’t reach inside for my own weapon so the bag itself would have to do.

  He pulled the trigger and I ducked. The bullet whizzed past my ear and slammed into the door behind me.

  I hit the ground. Rolled over before coming to a stop behind an air vent. Blake circled, sending more bullets my way.

  He rounded the vent, plugging a dozen bullets into the ground and into the vent. Bullets hit, concrete chips flew at me, burning a path down to my chin. I ignored the sting, digging into my bag for a gun.

  I swiped at my cheek and ducked around the vent, drawing my pistol free and sending a few shots in his direction.

  He just followed, spraying me with more bullets.

  I waited until I heard him release and reload, and sprang forward, emptying my weapon, aiming at his head.

  Blake moved faster, his next bullet slamming into the top of my gun, sending it flying from my fingers.

  Shit!

  I ducked low, letting my claws flow to the tips of my fingernails, sharp and deadly, forced to use what Ailuros had given.