by E. A. Copen
The cold way that Reed spoke about assassinations reminded me that I knew he had killed. The only person I’d ever seen him kill was Andre LeDuc, but he had that air about him, and he carried a big, flaming sword. You don’t carry one of those around to slice up watermelons.
“Someone powerful,” I agreed and wished I had a full list of Marcus’ enemies. The list was likely to be long, considering his position of power. Cynthia was just the trigger-woman for someone else, meaning she was the middleman. Middle woman. Whatever. Maybe the list of enemies isn’t so long, I thought, and considered the intended method. Emiko, Marcus’ dead wife, had been the vessel chosen to meet out this person’s vengeance. That alone meant two things.
First, Reed was right. This was personal. Whoever hired Cynthia knew Marcus well enough to know how to hit him below the belt. He’d use his dead wife’s ghost to torture him to death, nice and slow. One of the most mentally anguishing ways to go, being tortured by someone you love. Emiko was Marcus’ one emotional weak spot. After all these years, he loved her with a fierceness that even I could see. He still wore the wedding ring. Not thinking, I touched the second to last finger on my left hand. I understood that connection because I still felt it for Alex. You never forget the first one you love, and you never, ever forgive the people that take them away from you.
Second, it meant whoever was behind this was a person of great means, and Marcus had wronged them. There were probably a lot of people that met the second criteria, but not many that met the first. I only knew of one offhand that met both.
This all went back to the bad blood between the Kelleys and the Continellis. I just couldn’t prove it yet.
Marcus was the best source for that information since I didn’t expect any of the Continellis would talk. Unfortunately, he was out. He’d be safe if he stayed in the hospital since I’d called ahead to make sure security vetted everyone coming in and out of his room.
In the meantime, there was something I needed to make right before anyone else got hurt. I might not have another chance to introduce Sal to his daughter, and if I was going to help her, I needed for him and me to be on the same page again.
Reed cocked an eyebrow and frowned at me. “You have that look on your face, Judah. The one that says you’re about to do something stupid and dangerous. Please tell me I’m wrong.”
“Me? Do something dangerous?” I chirped in mock defense and then returned his smile. “Never.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I went back downstairs to check on Hunter. As soon as I got to his ward, I heard him shouting. The whole unit was on alert. One of the nurses was already on the phone dialing security. I waved to her, flashed my badge, and ran for the room. Two orderlies were already inside, but they were standing near the door with their hands up in a non-threatening position. It was a good thing, too. Hunter knelt on the bed, facing them with his fists pushed down into the mattress so hard that it bent under his weight. He was growling at them, gnashing his teeth. A familiar glow in his eyes told me they’d done more than just give him the green Jell-O.
Hunter wasn’t the only werewolf in the room. Sal stood off to the side just beyond the orderlies. He wasn’t making the same non-threatening gesture. Instead, he was leaning toward Hunter, hands on his hips, and chest puffed out. He’d found a t-shirt or someone had brought him one, but he hadn’t changed out of the sweats. Hunter’s sudden fit of rage was currently directed at the orderlies, but given the way he had his body twisted, I guessed they’d only interrupted whatever Sal had done to upset him.
“Back away,” Sal said with authority to the orderlies without looking at them. “Don’t turn your back. Don’t move too quickly.”
“Should we get the sedative?” the one on the right asked.
Hunter responded with a wolfish snarl.
Turned out, the orderlies were smart. They did as Sal told them. I sidestepped into the room as they backed away and Hunter didn’t even notice me. He just turned his angry werewolf gaze back on Sal and snarled again. “Stop it,” he said, his voice cracked.
“What’s happening?” When I spoke, I made sure to keep my voice low. I didn’t know if it helped, but it seemed non-threatening to me. I didn’t want Hunter to decide I was the better target. “Is he Changing?”
“Not if I can help it.”
I looked at Sal, who was concentrating very hard on the light shining in Hunter’s eyes. “You can stop it?”
“Not easily.” He took a step forward.
Hunter gave a louder roar of protest that made the sink rattle and leapt at Sal on all fours. He wasn’t a wolf, but he moved like one. Sal threw up his forearm and let Hunter sink his teeth into it. Human teeth might not be as good as wolf teeth for biting and ripping into meat, but Hunter’s worked just fine. Blood dripped down from where he bit into Sal. Sal seemed even less bothered by it than he’d been by the orderlies. Hunter shook his head, growling, snarling, and grabbing at Sal. Sal had too much reach. At best, all Hunter could hope to do was brush his clothing.
I opened my mouth to yell at Hunter and took a tentative step forward, but Sal raised his other hand in a gesture that told me to stay where I was.
“Peace,” Sal said in a tone that strangely reminded me of Chanter. “He can’t do any damage I won’t heal.”
“What did you do to piss him off?”
“I came to offer him a spot in the pack.” He glanced at me, almost apologetic if that were possible with the golden werewolf glow in his eyes. “I didn’t realize he didn’t know about Chanter.”
At the sound of Chanter’s name, Hunter dug into Sal’s arm with renewed ferocity. Sal wrinkled his nose and looked back down at Hunter. “That’s enough, pup,” he said and shook his arm a little. “Release my arm.”
Hunter dropped like dead weight to the floor, his demeanor suddenly changed. Big tears rolled down either side of his face, and he pawed them away. “I don’t believe you! You’re a liar,” he shouted at Sal, sniffling.
Sal squatted down, balancing on the balls of his feet. He was careful to keep his head above Hunter’s and still managed to maintain his slight lean forward. “You can smell I’m not lying, Hunter,” he said gently. “I wouldn’t lie, not to you.”
Hunter leaned forward into him and sobbed louder. Sal blinked, looking stunned a moment before his expression warmed and he lowered his hand onto Hunter’s back. “I’ve made arrangements,” Sal said quietly. “The full moon is tomorrow, and we’ll commit Chanter then. On that night, I’d like to formally induct Hunter into the pack.” Sal looked up at me.
It dawned on me that he’d made it a request, and he was waiting for my approval. “What about those who objected? Valentino and Nina?”
“They’re licking their wounds and will be for some time yet. They won’t raise a challenge now. Besides, Hunter is ready. It’s time for him to Change. He might have done it already if I hadn’t been so blinded by my own problems.”
“How are his wounds?”
“Right as rain.” Sal offered a weak smile. “I’ll see to it he’s completely healed. They should be discharging him soon.”
A new wave of thankfulness for Chanter’s intervention struck me followed by the pang of his loss. Hunter would live, and he’d join the pack. Everything I wanted for him was possible so long as Marcus didn’t die. Only Marcus could keep Hunter’s test results from getting back to BSI. If he died, I didn’t know what would happen to Hunter. Or to Mia.
Mia. Here I was beaming over my son’s success while Sal’s daughter fought for her life. And she had to do it without her father by her side. Instead, she had a cold and callous mother and an opportunistic doctor. I’d promised both Zoe and Marcus I wouldn’t tell anyone the details of the case, but dammit, Sal deserved to know. What kind of monster was I, keeping the man I loved in the dark about his own child? I knew too well how much it hurt, not knowing.
My throat grew tight, and I swallowed the tension gathering there. “Sal, is there someone else who can sit wit
h Hunter? There’s someone I need you to meet.”
He pursed his lips and then shrugged. “Ed’s in the lobby. We’re after hours for visiting so they wouldn’t let him come back. I only got back here by dropping your name.” He grinned and winked at me.
Dammit. Now I felt even worse. Once he knew I’d been keeping Mia from him, even for a good reason, he was going to lose his shit completely. He might decide I’d make a better stain on the floor than a girlfriend or mate. The worst part was, I’d deserve it. But I couldn’t live with myself anymore if I didn’t tell him, not after everything he’d done for Hunter and me.
Sal gave Hunter’s shoulder a gentle shove back, but Hunter didn’t dare look him in the eye. “Is it all right with you if I send Ed in, Hunter?”
Hunter wiped an arm under his nose. He nodded but paused when he saw the bloody bite on Sal’s arm. “Sorry,” he mumbled, lowering his head further.
Sal mussed his hair. “Don’t sweat it, kid. I’ve had worse.” He stood and scooped Hunter up as if he weighed nothing, placing him back on the bed. “I’ll send Ed in. You behave.”
“Yes, sir.”
I gave Hunter a hug and a kiss before tucking him back into bed. The nurses at the station all gave me a wary look when I came out to join Sal, who was talking to them. “I’ll be in and out,” he explained, crossing his arms. “But when I’m not here, someone from the pack will sit with him. It’s safer that way.”
The lady nurse, the one who’d had the phone pressed to her ear when I came running, frowned and raised an eyebrow. “For him or us?”
Sal didn’t answer. “If you have any more problems, you call Agent Black first and Daphne Petersen second. She’s a volunteer counselor here. Petersen with an E.” He spelled it one more time for the nurse and had her read it back to him.
I hung back and watched the exchange, unsure whether I should be worried or not. Something about Sal had been different since he climbed out of that pit with Valentino, but I couldn’t put my finger on what. Maybe it was the whole alpha werewolf thing. I’d always assumed it wasn’t anything more special than a promotion at work, being the alpha of a pack. Maybe it was more. He carried himself differently, surer. When I stood in a room with him, I noticed him more. Presence, I thought. He’d always had it, but it just seemed bigger now.
The nurse, who only moments ago had been ready and waiting to take control of the situation, was now all too happy to oblige reading the name back to him. I got the feeling she enjoyed doing what she was told, which didn’t match my earlier impression of her at all when I’d come running through the halls. Sal nodded once, and she gave him a big, dreamy smile like she was a kindergartener and he’d just given her a sticker.
I narrowed my eyes. He didn’t turn around until I cleared my throat. “You ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gestured forward. “Lead the way.”
My shoes squeaked, walking down the hallway. They squished a little if I put too much weight on the heel, and the sound grated on my nerves. I wished I could walk smoothly and soundlessly as Sal seemed to be able to do. Even in big, gaudy flip-flops, he managed stealth. We stopped into the tiny waiting room where Ed was the sole occupant. Sal directed him to Hunter’s room and he went without a word. Poor Ed still looked tired and dazed from the day’s events. I couldn’t blame him.
The elevator was just down the hall from the waiting room. My shoes squished extra loud when I stopped and pressed the up arrow on the elevator. We were on the second floor and needed to go up to the sixth.
“So,” he said casually as we waited, “who is this person you want me to meet?”
My heart jumped. What should I tell him? Should I tell him anything at all or just hope he’d figure it out once he saw her? Maybe he’d see enough physical similarities that he could guess. I hadn’t, but I didn’t have to look at Sal’s face every morning in the mirror. Now that I reflected on Mia’s face, there was no mistaking it. She and Sal had the same cheekbones, the same nose, and a similar chin. Her hair was a mop of tightly curled ringlets while his was straight, but they both wore the same color.
“You don’t actually want me to meet whoever it is, do you?”
I jammed my thumb into the up button again, wishing that would make the car come faster. “What makes you say that?”
“Your heart rate picked up, and your voice has a slightly higher timbre to it when you’re trying to cover something up.”
The elevator car arrived, and the doors slid open at an achingly slow pace. He followed me in and stood at the back of the car in the middle. It was a small elevator and not one of the big patient transport ones, which meant that I’d never be more than two feet from him no matter where I stood. I mashed the button for the sixth floor.
“That’s not fair.”
“Judah, who is it?”
I closed my eyes with the elevator doors. There wasn’t an easy way to tell the truth, and he’d know if I lied. Putting it off until we were already in the room would only hurt him more. I didn’t want that.
“Do you remember when we all thought Zoe was dead? When we went down into the caves, she was so pregnant, she could barely walk.”
“I remember.” Sal’s voice sounded too calm, too patient.
I swallowed and then grimaced. There was no way to tell the tale without making myself out to be the bad guy, was there? “I hate her. I hate her for what she did to you and…and for the whole situation, I’m going to have to show you. There was a time when Ed and I were down in those caves and she was the only thing that stood between LeDuc and us. She was helping us find our way out when she went into labor. I tried to help, but something was wrong. I had to make a choice that wasn’t mine to make.”
The elevator stopped on the fourth floor, and the doors slid open on a couple with a stroller. They had a helium balloon tied to the stroller with a cartoon whale wearing a stethoscope. Silver text lined in pink read GET WHALE SOON! What I had to say was important and inappropriate for sick toddlers to hear, so I gave them a menacing look and pressed the close door button. The mom caught my eye and offered a sympathetic frown. The doors slid closed and the elevator went up.
“I saved the child,” I said once the elevator was moving again. “And left Zoe to die.”
Sal sucked in a deep breath. “Explains why she’s so pissed at you. Seems you didn’t finish the job.”
“There’s more.”
My heart rate picked up again and threatened to drown out my other thoughts, but I fought to give them a voice. This was too important. I needed to get it out now before it was too late. If I was honest, there was still a chance he might forgive me. Maybe.
“The little girl that Zoe delivered disappeared. She was taken from the scene, and I couldn’t stop it. I spent every free moment I had hunting her. Drained my bank account, used departmental resources. I even stole some evidence and gave it to Mara when I thought it might work. But it was all for nothing. The little girl I was working so desperately to find had been under my nose the whole time. Marcus had her.”
“Marcus was raising a wendigo baby?” There was skepticism in his voice. If I’d turned around, I probably would have seen him standing there with crossed arms and a cocked eyebrow. I couldn’t face him.
The elevator slid to a stop and let out a ding. The doors opened, but I didn’t get off.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Not a wendigo. A werewolf, one genetically engineered from samples Zoe brought to LeDuc in his lab.”
He didn’t say anything. Not a word. The elevator doors closed, but the car didn’t move because no one anywhere had pushed a button to go up or down. We stood in a tiny car, suspended in limbo by metal cables. The air was thick, musty, and electrically-charged.
I heard him swallow. “Not LeDuc’s?”
“No. Not Andre LeDuc’s daughter.”
Sal’s hand swept me aside, and he slammed his finger into the console of the elevator so hard that sparks flew out. The door opened partway and then jam
med, but that didn’t stop Sal from climbing through. It wouldn’t have stopped me from getting to my kid either. His shoulders were too wide to fit, so he braced himself on one side and shoved his back against the other door. It bent with a loud screech under his weight and he stumbled into the hallway, sniffing the air.
He couldn’t have known her scent, especially over the cleansers and disinfectants the hospitals used, but he might have known Zoe’s. Whatever he was looking for, he found it and took off in a blur of motion down the hall. A locked ward door stood between Sal and Mia. I stepped out of the elevator in time to see him pull the re-enforced metal door from its hinges. Alarms screeched and blue lights flashed. Several burly men in scrubs lumbered toward the entrance to the ward where Sal stood, sniffing the air and deciding which way to go next.
I fumbled to get my badge out and shouted, “BSI! Step back and let him through!”
Sal gave a low, rumbling growl when one of the guys didn’t stop immediately. The sound stopped the burly man in his tracks. Sal darted for Pod Four, and I jogged after him with no hope of catching up.
“Put this ward on lockdown,” I shouted to the stunned nurses, even though they were probably already on it. I didn’t stick around to find out.
My lungs were on fire from the run to Mia’s room. Sal had jerked that door off the hinges, too.
Han stood in a half-turn, his pen paused on the paper he’d been scribbling on, a look of shock on his face. Sal stood over the crib full of wires, tubes, and monitors, shoulders tense like a predator about to strike. When he reached down into the crib, it was with a shaky hesitant gentleness. He caressed Mia’s sleeping face as if he were afraid his touch might break her.
“Her name is Mia,” I said quietly.
“Mia,” he repeated her name like a spell, and it became one. “Mia,” he commanded, using the compulsion magick of an alpha werewolf. “Wake up.”
Mia’s eyes snapped open. Han leaned forward with a hopeful look on his face. That hopeful look faded when Mia’s body jerked violently and she fell into another seizure.