“Don’t forget what’s at stake here.”
“Curtis wouldn’t want to put me in danger, and he certainly wouldn’t want me to whore myself out to a monster.” Her voice broke on monster, and my heart cracked along with it and her quiet sobbing.
“One misstep, Selene. That’s all it will take for you to lose everything.” The door opened and shut, and I dashed into the living room. She stood with her back to me, and both hands were middle finger up toward the door.
“Watch this, you bastard,” she said through her tears.
“Good girl,” I said. “I haven’t a clue who he was or why he upset you, but good for you.”
She turned, and her tear-streaked face compelled me to cross the room in two big strides and take her into my arms. She buried her face on my shoulder, and every sob pressed her closer to me.
“There, there,” I said and stroked her hair while mentally kicking myself. What sort of thing was that to say? I sounded like someone’s nanny, and the woman in my arms was definitely not a child. She was in some sort of trouble, yet she’d risked her good will, if that was what it could be called, with the scarfaced gentleman’s leader and then lied for me. The question was, why? I doubted she wanted “brownie points” with the Council, as she called them, or that wasn’t all she wanted.
As for our current situation, my own plumbing had certainly taken notice of Selene’s soft curves pressed against me, and I feared she would notice.
“What’s wrong?” I asked when she seemed to quiet down. “Who was that guy?”
She sniffled and pulled back. “Someone who appears when I least want him to.” She walked to the love seat and lowered herself to one side of it, her hands clasped in her lap. I sat on the other cushion close enough to put an arm around her shoulder, so I did. She didn’t pull away.
“That’s not really an answer. You’re in some sort of trouble. How can I help?”
“No one can help me,” she said. “I need to figure this out on my own. Besides, you have enough on your plate with Otis’s and the security guards’ murders.”
“You never know how things are connected,” I told her. “As for Otis and the security guards, you’ve been keeping something from me.”
She looked out of the window. “I’ve been keeping lots of somethings from you, Gabriel, as much as I don’t want to.”
I scooted closer and leaned toward her. “Like what?” I murmured in her ear.
She turned, which brought her lips mere centimeters away from mine. “Like how this is dangerous for both of us, but I want it and you.”
This boldness was so in contrast to the innocent and guileless Selene I knew that I had to stop myself, but millimeter by millimeter our lips grew closer. She closed her eyes, and I saw the dark mascara at the tips of her copper-colored lashes, more makeup than I’d seen her wear at the Institute, and it was early to be ready for our date.
The cosmetics and clothing clicked into place—she had laid her own trap for me, and it occurred to me that her confrontation with the scarfaced gentleman had been staged. I placed a hand on her chest and stopped her.
Her eyes fluttered open with surprise, and I wanted to think her mouth formed an O of disappointment partially because of the missed kiss, but I knew better.
“Let’s save it for our date tonight,” I said. “I can’t do this while wearing your brother’s clothes.”
“Good point. That would be weird. I’ll take you to your car.”
We parted with an agreement that I’d pick her up at six as we’d originally planned, and my clothing would be back from the cleaners by then, so I could get that as well. I grabbed a cup of tea at a shop and headed home to shower and catch a quick nap. Whatever they had given me at the pub the night before hadn’t quite worn off yet in spite of my long nap, and the effects came over me in intermittent waves.
My cell phone battery had died sometime during the night, which was odd since it had a full charge when I left to meet Jade. When I put it on the charger in the car, it buzzed with several missed calls and voicemails. The first was from Garou asking how my conversations with the Campbells had gone and offering to update me on his attempts to reach the leaders of the Young Bloods, who had so far not returned his calls. Then Lonna had called with “a question, but nothing urgent” about Selene. Finally, Laura from the office had left a frantic message asking where I was and why hadn’t I come in today because she’d typed up my notes and Morena wanted to talk to me, and she’d tried my house several times, and why wasn’t I picking up? When I scrolled through my missed calls, the ones from my office were by far the most numerous. She wasn’t usually one to be flustered. My phone wasn’t charged enough for a call, so instead of going straight home, I headed toward Lycan Castle, where I’d see what was going on and switch my phone out in case the dead battery meant someone had done something to mine.
“What the hell are you wearing?” asked David when I ran into him in the entrance hall. I looked down at the casual clothing I’d borrowed from Selene and forgotten about in my rush. The last time I’d appeared that grubbily at Lycan Castle was in the middle of the eighties when a water pipe had burst in the middle of the night and we all had to scramble to save documents and records. That had also been one of the few times I’d seen Morena out of her normal prim and proper state. Her slightly less gray hair had stuck out at all angles from her head. I still brought that mental picture to mind sometimes when I needed to remind myself she had a human side. David had been on the Continent, but his office hadn’t seen any damage.
“And is that a baseball cap in your hand?”
“Yes, I suppose I must have grabbed it in the car.” I put it on my head. At least now if I wanted to remove a hat, I could.
“What does the B stand for?” David asked. “And were you undercover?”
“You can say I was.” Or at least under the covers. It was a pity nothing interesting had happened, but at least I’d learned I needed to be extra cautious around Selene and her friends. Part of me still wanted to protect her, but I told my chivalry to shove it. She was an adult and could make her own decisions, and if she’d gotten involved in sketchy company, I couldn’t do anything about it except try to have her removed from the Institute before she did any damage.
David followed me up to my office, and in spite of his girth, he didn’t get winded on the stairs. I supposed he had his own kind of disguise, particularly in this version of modern society where people attached more and more judgments to body size.
“Do you need something?” I asked when we were alone on the twisting tower stairs.
“No, I just thought I’d follow you to see Laura’s reaction.”
I turned to see him grinning. “You need to get out more.”
“Hey, it takes a lot to shock her. It’ll be fun to see her flustered. She’s pretty when she blushes.”
I knew Laura was one of us, but David’s behavior made me wonder if they’d shared something in the past or if he wanted to in the future. Not that it was a good idea to sleep with staff, your own or a colleague’s.
He wasn’t disappointed when I walked into the office with him close behind, and Laura looked up, squinted, and then let out a little shriek.
“Gabriel? You look like a plumber.”
“His arse isn’t voluptuous enough for that,” David said with a snicker, and Laura blushed.
“As he is my boss, I don’t want to consider his rear end. Stop being one,” she snapped at him, but the look in her eyes wasn’t angry.
Another thing to think about, albeit a minor one. “What did you need me for?” I asked. “You called me ten times and left me a frantic voicemail.”
“You were supposed to meet with Morena at ten this morning so you could talk about what she found during her visit yesterday. She waited for an hour.”
“Oh, you’re in trouble, lad.” David grinned. �
��I might have to wait around for this one. Knowing Morena, she’ll be on you as soon as she finds out you’re back. She has a sixth sense for when someone she’s mad at appears at the Castle.”
“Her ‘sixth sense’ is more likely a network of staff people who tattle,” I grumbled. I rubbed my temple, where a slight throb threatened to bloom into a full migraine headache. Thank goodness Selene had fed me a decent breakfast so my stomach didn’t react.
The phone rang, and all three of us looked at it.
“Investigator’s office,” Laura answered. “Oh, hello, Morena.”
I waved my arms to tell her to put Morena off, but it didn’t work.
“Yes, he’s here. I’ll tell him you’re on your way.”
“I can’t meet with her looking like this,” I said and tossed the baseball cap into the corner. “I’m going to shower and change, and then I’ll beard the dragon. David, there’s no reason for you to be here.”
Like Laura, he refused to take the hint. “I’ve got nothing better to do right this moment. Besides, you need someone to stall her so she doesn’t invade your shower.”
“Good point, and horrifying thought.” I walked into my office and slammed the door. Fifteen minutes later, I was ready. As soon as I exited the bathroom, I heard Morena’s voice.
Chapter Sixteen
“I don’t care if he was undercover, over cover, or between covers, he needs to see me immediately!”
“He’s not decent, Lady Morena,” Laura told her, her tone soothing.
“Damn right, he isn’t.” But she sounded somewhat mollified. I debated waiting in my office to hear the fun, but then I remembered they’d be able to tell, either through scent or the sound of my breathing, that I was done. I opened the door.
Morena stood in the center of the room with feet planted and fists curled. The image of a two-year-old fireplug getting warmed up for a tantrum came to mind, which mixed so many metaphors it made my brain hurt. The shower had helped my headache somewhat, likely due to the warm water loosening up my neck tension, but when her gray eyes met my hazel ones, my temple throbbed again.
“What’s the rush, Morena?” I asked as she stalked past me.
David caught my eye and pantomimed that he’d texted me something. I nodded to show I understood and followed the irate Council leader into my office.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Morena?” I asked. She stood with her back to me and looked at the fireplace. From her stance, I would guess she glared at it. I took the opportunity to check the text on my now charged mobile: She’s angry bc worried. Go easy on her. That made me pause and back down from whatever I was going to challenge her with.
“This.” She spoke in a low voice and held out a piece of paper, a printed email:
We have your Investigator. If you want to see him alive again, release the Institute formula for lycanthropic reversal. Anything experimental is fine. You’re not moving fast enough on it, so we will.
What followed were instructions for how and when to transfer the information to them and a timeline.
“Well, this would have never worked,” I said. “I doubt the process would move that quickly, and where are they going to find a wizard who’ll do blood magic? It’s a good thing they were bluffing.”
She turned, and her red-rimmed eyes surprised me. Had she been crying?
“You can joke all you want, Gabriel,” she told me in that low, even tone that disturbed me even more than her ranting. “I thought it must be a bluff too, but when you didn’t show up to our meeting today…” Her chest heaved with her breath. “And then we couldn’t reach you, and they sent this.” She pulled a folded photograph out of her pocket, a printout of me sitting at a table with a group of people who all faced or turned away from the camera. I stood out in my white sweater and could pick out who was who because I’d been there, but no one else’s face showed up clearly.
“Still not conclusive evidence that they had me. I was out last night in Inverness. Anyone could have taken that picture.”
“So where were you this morning?”
Another wave of fatigue overtook me and knocked my knees from under me. I plopped into my desk chair. “Drugged up at a hot woman’s apartment.”
Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. “Gabriel, you ass. I can’t lose another…” She shook her head. “What happened?”
“It wasn’t recreational drugs that laid me out. I escaped from the group that was going to kidnap me, but they’d already slipped the substance to me in a drink. I was passed out until one o’clock this afternoon.”
She lowered herself into a chair on the other side of the desk. “How could you be so stupid?” she snapped. “You should know better than to put yourself in that kind of position.”
The return of the old Morena dispelled the awkwardness of her concern. I knew better than to smile, though. “It was part of the investigation, and I didn’t think a drink served to me in a bar by a waiter would be contaminated.” I rubbed my eyes. “Obviously I thought wrong, and my thinking has been screwed up since. I need to tell Garou who I was with. I suppose you’ve told him to try and trace the email?”
“He’s been working on it, but it’s been routed through too many servers and hacked addresses, so there isn’t a clear trail.”
“I don’t suppose you had anyone looking for me?”
“David was supposed to have done that.”
“Well, he found me,” I said with a shake of my head. “The old dog didn’t give me any indication something was amiss, either.”
“That’s him.”
“Right.” I leaned back. “Tell me about your visit to the Institute yesterday.” Had it really been only yesterday? It felt like a week had passed.
“It’s a beautiful facility if you ignore the murders and the fact it now reeks of spilled blood. Oh, and your little friend Doctor Rial is lying about something. Or at the very least hiding something.”
“I agree, but I can’t determine what.” I decided to trust Morena since she had been mostly honest with me. “She’s keeping some odd company, an English bloke with a scar on one cheek. Dark hair, squinty eyes.”
Morena smirked. “Does he really have squinty eyes or is that your impression since the young lady is spending time with him, and you’d rather be the one on her calendar? And is this the one who gave you the concussion?”
“You’ve been talking to Garou.”
“Of course I’ve been talking to him. He’s the chief of our police, and he didn’t believe you when you said you couldn’t remember who attacked you.”
“It’s the truth. I didn’t see whoever bonked me on the head, but it happened after I’d followed Scarface into the alley behind the West Port Inn after he met with Selene.”
Morena tapped her fingertips together. “Something is teasing my memory, but it’s not coming out. I’ll think about it.”
“I’d rather you keep this between us,” I told her. “I’m telling you because you’re our leader, and the situation becomes more dangerous by the day, so if something happens to me, you and David will have to carry on without me. I don’t trust any of the others.”
“Don’t be a sentimental fool, Gabriel, and aside from that ninny Cora—how her father talked me into letting her assume his position on the Council once he died is still beyond me—the Council is trustworthy.”
“Is she a full member?” I asked. “Has she come into her identity? She’s not that much older than I am.”
“It’s different for females. We mature faster. As for you, I can tell it’s happening, which is a relief. You never know what will occur with a human-lycanthrope mix.”
“You’ve mentioned that.” I recalled the strange wave of something that had tried to take over at Campbell’s office. “What will it feel like? How do I know it’s happening?”
“It’s unique to every
one, but you will know when the process is complete. You should feel stronger and have more abilities. Now, getting back to your job as Council Investigator, you need to let me or David know whenever you go somewhere so we can follow up if you disappear again.”
“That’s ridiculous.” The words came out before I could stop them. “I’m not a child or a teenager with a curfew.”
“Right, but someone is after you, and I doubt they’ll stop now that you’ve managed to escape. The alternative would be to take you off the case.”
“Fine.” I felt like a bloody adolescent. “Then I’ll let you know I’m going to the Solstice ceilidh tonight with Selene. I’m hoping she’ll slip and reveal some information that will be helpful. I agree with you she’s involved somehow.”
“I never said that, only that she’s hiding something.” With a smug grin, she stood, and I got to my feet. “I’ll have Laura make you some extra strong tea. Then you best go get ready for your date. You can report to me tomorrow.”
When she left, I sat and put my head in my hands. Whatever had tried to possess me at Bartholomew Campbell’s office stirred from my toes to my groin, but it didn’t make it beyond my middle. I was just too damn tired. Still, it felt like a trap tightened around me, and I wasn’t sure who was behind it, the Young Bloods, the Council, or someone else pulling the strings.
With a sigh, I grabbed my spare phone and my keys and left. David wasn’t in the office anymore, and I guessed he’d left with Morena. For the first time in years, I felt like I had parents. Laura looked up from the electric kettle.
“Are you heading out already?” she asked.
“Yes, I have something to do this evening.”
“Be careful,” she told me, and with a very un-Laura like trembling lip, she put her hand on my arm. “We were all worried about you this morning.”
A sense of foreboding followed me all the way down the stairs and out to my car. Their concern was touching, but it seemed extreme for the circumstances. What did they know that I didn’t?
Blood's Shadow: The Lycanthropy Files, Book 3 Page 14