by Carmen Fox
“We’ll see.” I raised my hand. “I’ll be in touch.”
“See ya, Nat,” Drake said.
Natalie waved at us, and unless I’d completely got her wrong, probably stared at Drake’s ass as we walked out.
Six
The silent journey to Raven’s parents’ house stretched. Maybe my behavior in the library had crossed a line. Drake tried to be helpful by arranging the interview, and picking up the phone I’d carelessly left behind also wasn’t the heinous act that deserved a dressing down.
In fact, I’d been pissy since I arrived. What I couldn’t overlook was that these people—Jonah, Leo, Drake—had lost one of their own, without warning or explanation. The alpha and his protectors ran the pack under a promise of safety, yet Raven had slipped through the cracks. Understandable that this was eating at them.
The humility in calling in outside help deserved my respect, not my petulance.
American flags waved from a handful of porches, angled up in a proud salute. I’d prepared well for my trip and read whatever I could on Marlontown. Patriotism aside, this place bulged under its historic significance. Stories from here had survived across time and space.
Many centuries ago, before Leif Erikson and Christopher Columbus, the local woods had birthed the First Ones of our kind, when a young Native American woman and a male wolf fell in love. Separated by species, they made a pact under the full moon—a pact that had survived to this day as the Moon Promise. The wolf gave her a piece of his animal soul, and the woman shared with him her human soul.
After that fateful night, they’d spend half their lives in human form. They and their offspring would build shelters, hunt food, and live in harmony with nature. Once a month, however, the moon would bring about their change into their animal forms, so they might quench their thirst for freedom and run together without constraints.
Much of our origin story might be romanticized BS to explain our existence. In any case, the moon no longer determined our shifts—certainly not mine, damn it.
“Are you ready to tell me why you’re interested in the travelers?” Drake barely held on to the steering wheel, yet his relaxed posture didn’t mean he was careless. He was not a guy that would allow himself to be in an accident.
I placed my head against the headrest of my seat and continued to study him from the corner of my eyes. Maybe, for once, I could put on my big-girl pants and act like a decent person rather than an entitled diva.
“My father told me about the travelers,” I said by way of apology. “I was simply curious. Who were they? Where are they now? I gotta say, though, Natalie’s books threw up more questions than answers.”
My evasive answer did the trick—of pissing him off. His hands clasped the steering wheel, as if not slugging me took effort.
Maybe it did. He wasn’t the first to feel the call of violence around me.
“So?” I loosened my hair then retied the ponytail.
“So what?”
“So what can you tell me about them?”
“I give you that, princess. You have a talent for using a lot of words to not answer my question.”
“What? I told you why I want to know. I’m curious, that’s all.”
He overtook a car and signaled the driver hello. “Yeah, and I dress up like a fairy every night and prance around the forest.”
I looked at him wide-eyed with feigned disbelief. “I would have never guessed that about you.”
“I’m a man of mystery.” His tone remained cool and matter-of-fact. “Anyway, if you want answers, I want to know why.”
I prodded at the blasted air vent, which was currently angled at my knees. “Fine. If you stop calling me princess, I’ll tell you what you want to know.” I hooked my fingers into the slits and yanked, but all I got were cooler breasts. “You can’t tell Jonah, though.”
He scratched his jaw. “That’s a problem. He’s my alpha.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t need to know everything. If I asked you not to tell him I own pink bunny slippers, that wouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Do you own pink bunny slippers?”
I lobbed a rare and deliberate smile at him. “Maybe. But you dress up like a fairy so I’m ahead.”
Drake chuckled, a sound that ran like a warm shower down my back. “Okay, I get what you’re saying. If the reason you’re interested in the travelers has nothing to do with Jonah or Raven’s disappearance, I won’t tell him.”
Dad had urged me to keep my search for my past a secret, but unless I confided in Drake, at least to some degree, I’d never find out where I came from. What’s more, maybe this town or my mother’s origins held the answer to my inability to exude dominance or turn into my wolf shape.
I coughed, shifted from one butt cheek to the other, and finally settled back into my seat. “Okay then. You see, the thing is, there might be a genetic link between the travelers and my family. And Dad doesn’t want anyone to know.”
“He’s embarrassed?” Drake shot me a sideways glance.
“No. What I’m saying is, like any pack we’d love to trace our lineage back to the first werewolves, but what if it goes the other way? What if I find out we come from a line of thieves or pirates or serial killers? That would be embarrassing.”
“Right.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“No, I get that, but I don’t get why Jonah can’t know about it. He and your father are friends.”
“Still, it’s private. For me, too.”
He cocked his head for a second, then gave a nod. “The travelers weren’t your ordinary Roma travelers. That was the image they cultivated for the humans, sure. But really, they were werewolves who simply liked their own company. They didn’t mix with humans or other werewolves.”
I balled a fist. “You’re speaking in the past tense.”
“That’s because the travelers are gone now. All that’s left is the old campsite. No one knows for sure what happened to them once they moved on.”
“Why did they leave?”
“Many reasons. Some believe they left because of Marlon, our old alpha. Others say they had internal squabbles that led them to break up and move away.” Drake’s focus lay with the road, but his mind seemed to have wandered into the past.
“Is the town named after your old alpha?”
“No, after his grandfather. Anyway, Marlon wasn’t what you’d call tolerant. He had...” Drake coughed. “Issues.”
“The travelers must have been used to getting the cold shoulder.”
Drake’s thumb caressed the curve of his steering wheel, a sensual motion entirely wasted on a truck, before he tightened his grip. “Around forty years ago, Marlon ordered his people to attack the travelers. To kill the males and the children.”
“What about the women?”
“They were to be eliminated too, you know, after they’d served their purpose.” He lowered his voice. “Traveler women might not have been good enough to marry in Marlon’s opinion, but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of brutal fun, right?”
Drake’s words clamped around my chest like a vise. If my mother hadn’t got away, that could have been her fate. On second thought, maybe her precarious situation was exactly why my dad had sided with Jonah against Marlon.
All the more reason for her father to approve of her relationship with Dad. Why hadn’t he?
“Killing the travelers was what Marlon wanted to do, but he didn’t succeed, did he?” I opened and closed my fist a few times. “Your people stopped him, right?”
“It wasn’t so easy. You obey your alpha. End of story.” He shrugged away my rebuke with his eyebrows, but the tightness in his jaw remained. “But yes, eventually, people did stand up. It was a dark period, and when the dust settled, Jonah became our alpha, with your father’s help, I’m told. If those two hadn’t banded together, who knows what would have happened. Still, too many people got hurt in that conflict.”
Drake sounded forlorn, trapped in
a past he could no longer access. He couldn’t have been more than a cub back then, but it was possible his family suffered under Marlon’s rule. Was his past, whatever it was, the driving force behind his interest in history?
I reached out, nearly touching his arm, but ran my hand through my hair instead. “I assume your pack is more enlightened now?”
He moved in his seat, neglecting the accelerator, before wrenching his attention back to the task of driving. “All in all, yes, but the regime change has been an adjustment, for some more than others. Marlon ruled with an iron fist and kept us isolated not only from travelers, but from humans, which is how he held on to our land. Jonah’s more inclusive, but mingling with humans had the unfortunate result that he had to sell our territory bit by bit to make ends meet.”
“That’s a sign of the times though, isn’t it? Werewolf numbers have been stable for centuries, unlike humans, who plant their roots anywhere they go. They multiply and take over. It’s nature.”
“Maybe.”
Drake pulled into a road of smoky-blue single-family houses, each with a wide drive. “This is where Raven’s parents live. Birdie and Pike.” He parked in the shade of two large trees that at least stood a chance at preventing the truck from melting. Rather than get out, he laid his hands in his lap. “Listen. They haven’t moved on since their daughter disappeared.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning they’re hurting. But they’re not bad people. Life hasn’t been kind to them, so tread lightly.”
I pointed a thumb at my chest. “You and I haven’t met, but I have empathy coming out of my ass.”
He rubbed his palm across his face. “Jesus. Maybe we should—”
“Calm down. I’ll be good.” I chuckled. “And please, don’t tell them I’m a princess.”
“You are a princess.”
“Not today. Today I’m a private investigator. Okay?” I shooed him out of the truck. “Let’s go.”
We got out and headed to the front door.
“Does Raven have brothers or sisters?” I asked. “The file didn’t say.”
“Had. A brother. We went to school together. He was hit by a car when he was eighteen.”
“I see.” This family had indeed been through a lot. “Sorry.”
Drake leaned forward and pressed the doorbell. “It happens. It’s all kinds of fucked up, but it happens.”
“Yeah.”
A middle-aged woman with an eighties-style perm opened. “Drake.”
She only stood as high as his chin, but she drew him into a determined hug that forced him to bend low. Their private gesture held a degree of tenderness, and I took a few steps back to give them space.
“Hi, Birdie.” Drake gave a muffled chuckle.
“It’s so good to see you. It’s been too long.”
He slithered out of her embrace with skill and gentle charm. “I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be.” She waved him off. “Life gets busy. I understand.”
Drake moved aside and gestured at me. “This is Princess Kensington. She’s here to ask you some questions about Raven.”
She brushed past his bulk with the vigor of a running back.
I stretched out my hand to create a buffer zone. Unlike her, I wasn’t a hugger.
She took my hand and curtseyed.
It had been years since anyone had done that. Humans weren’t aware of my royal lineage, and wolves from free packs didn’t know the protocol or deliberately ignored my status in defiance of the crown.
“Pleasure to meet you,” I pitched my voice to sound polite yet warm, like my dad had taught me.
“Come in, please.” Birdie smoothed her pleated skirt. “A real princess in our house. This is exciting. Pike!” she shouted. “Look who’s here.”
I gave Drake an annoyed glance and he returned an innocent smile. Hadn’t I told him to leave the title alone? Sooner or later, he’d pay for that, but first, I’d have to ride out the interview.
Pike ambled into the hall and bowed before retreating through the door to the living room, where TV noises clanged loud enough for the neighbors to hear.
So far, so painless.
“Sorry about that, your highness.” Birdie led Drake and me into the living room and prodded her husband with a stern glance.
He got the hint and switched off the television.
Birdie sat down beside her husband and gestured to two wingback chairs.
We sat, and all eyes turned to me.
“Right,” I said. “You know why I’m here?”
“You’re here to help find Raven.” She fingered a blue rectangular pendant on her necklace. “It’s good one of our own is still taking the matter seriously. The humans simply gave up. Said she ran off.”
“I’ll do everything I can to locate her, that I promise.”
Birdie’s sad gaze flitted from me to Drake and her face broke into a smile. “Drake, it is so good to see you. So good.” She nudged her husband. “Isn’t it good to see him?”
Pike nodded slightly.
“Why, Drake and our Ralph were two peas in a pod. Inseparable.” Birdie lifted a flowered teapot from the coffee table and served tea in delicate china cups. She then recalled at length the antics the two boys had got up to in their youth.
I set down my tea. “Excuse my skepticism, but it’s hard to imagine Drake as a gangly teenager.”
She chuckled. “Oh, he was as gangly as they come. Look here.” She opened a photo album. She didn’t even have to get up to get it. It sat right beside her, this link to her past.
She angled it for me to see.
There he was, skinny and without the tats, among a group of boys. Even then, Drake oozed dark intensity. The slightly sloping smile hadn’t changed. If I’d met him at that young age, before I grew jaded and distant, I could have so easily fallen for him.
“This is Ralph?” I pointed to a guy, roughly the same age as Drake, but who had already filled out well for his age.
“Yes. And Dirk, Leo, and look, here’s Raven and Sable, right at the end there.” Birdie glanced up, her cheeks flushed. “Sable was our Raven’s best friend.” Her head jerked back. “Is, I mean. She is Raven’s best friend. They stayed close even after Sable moved away.”
I placed my hand on her arm. “That’s a lovely necklace Raven’s wearing.”
Birdie touched her own. “Pike gave them to us on the day of Raven’s first solo performance. She’s a gifted musician, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“You must find her.” Birdie’s eyes glistened with early tears.
Pike grunted. He sat at the end of the sofa, legs and arms crossed, one eyebrow up.
Not once had he engaged in the conversation or shown any of Birdie’s enthusiasm for this investigation. Maybe he simply didn’t take to me, or his masculinity prevented him from cracking a smile. How good could a private investigator be if she was a woman?
“I’m sorry.” I lifted my head. “Did you say something?”
Drake’s warning cough rolled through the laden atmosphere.
“Nothing. Go on.” Pike pulled his shoulders in, but did so with a sneer on his lips.
A pressure burrowed into the place where my dominance should be, somewhere hidden inside my stomach. A push right now would show him I was twice the wolf he was. But nothing came. I clamped my jaw shut. Focused. Wished.
Not a single drop of pheromones evaporated off my skin.
God, I hated this, this total absence of power. It made me feel weak. Hell, it proved I was weak.
I turned my back to him, wolf-speak for you’re not even worth bothering with, and smiled at Birdie. “Where did Raven like to go? How did she spend her days?”
Her lips trembled. “I don’t know. We used to be close, but then...” She cast a fleeting glance at her husband. “You know how it is when girls get to that age.”
I twisted to fix him with a glare and sharpened my pitch. “Did she go out often, stay out late?”
“I don’t like what you’re implying.” Pike leaned forward and clawed his fingers into his thighs. “My daughter wasn’t like that.”
“What was she like then? You say she was into music. Why didn’t she go to college to pursue her interest?”
“She’s too young for that.” He glowered. “She was better off staying at home, working for me.”
A wolf’s natural lifespan ranged between one-hundred and fifty years and two hundred years. “I agree she was young, but old enough to get her feet wet in life, don’t you think?”
He surged up from his seat. “Do we need to go through this again? What is she going to find that you and Leo didn’t?”
I whipped my head around to Drake, and for a second, control over my face slipped. Jonah had implied I wasn’t the first wolf looking into Raven’s disappearance, yet it hadn’t occurred to me that Leo and Drake had been involved. They’d sure kept that quiet.
Drake kept his cool. He lowered his head, not in submission, but as a lead-in to the meanest glare this side of the equator. “Settle down, man.”
But Pike’s outburst had given me what I needed—the conviction that Raven did have reason to run away, even if it was dangerous to leave her alpha’s protection behind. Luckily, I had found a handful of runaways and returned them safely to their parents over the past few years. If this was all there was to her disappearance, I’d be back in Chicago long before the Moon Festival.
“Do what you like.” Pike waved off. “Raven’s gone. Probably lying dead in a ditch, and this girl’s not going to do any better than you did.”
Drake exploded to his feet. His dominance shot across the room—an invisible bundle of thorns flung with perfect marksmanship. Pike and Birdie straightened as if yanked upright by a rope.
My arms itched, my shoulders stung, but he’d lobbed worse at me. Either I was getting used to his power, or he was going easy on his friend’s parents.
“You will show respect.” Despite everything, he kept his voice steady and polite.
Pike quickly dropped his gaze. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to overstep my mark.”
As fun as it would be to watch Drake flex those delicious biceps of his, Pike didn’t deserve his anger. He was acting like a complete dick, but years of investigating disappearances had shown me this explosive anger again and again. Pike was a grieving father, discouraged by the lack of answers.