by M F Adele
“This is Mr. Malin’s legal counsel and witnesses to his whereabouts between the dates of May 28th and June 2nd,” Charlie announced.
“Thank you, Supreme Alpha,” Blaire greeted before diving in, keen eyes trained on the officers.
“We’re well aware that you’ve reviewed the video footage provided. We know that an unauthorized visit was made to the Coven Mistress and Master’s home on June 2nd. Before the questions begin, I kindly request written proof of any accusations that are being placed on my clients.”
A middle-aged man, who looked to be in a position of some authority, nodded his head at my sister. He shuffled papers around as he cleared his throat to speak.
“We noticed a back-dated report on the desk of a missing officer yesterday. Before then, we did not know of any visit, nor did we send any officers to question your clients.”
“As we suspected. May we see the report, please? The allegations and would-be charges have yet to be stated in a straightforward manner.”
“Here,” his younger partner replied, passing a sheet of paper to Blaire with a shaking hand.
“The report states that a witness saw your client breaking and entering an occupied residence. A body was found on the premises when off-duty officers arrived. No evidence was found that would point to a vampire attack, though.”
“And what questions do you have for us?” Sloane asked as Blaire read.
“I’d just like to hear with my own ears, Ms. King. Mr. Malin, where were you on May 29th?”
“In Hell,” Trouble responded cheerfully.
“I’m sorry, where?”
“In the Underworld, in Hell. More specifically, we were in the palace with the First Devil and his Equal, Lucifer North and Lilith Fear. We also visited a bar to celebrate the birthday of Hyland Drake with her brother. I’d be more than happy to call them in to give a statement as well.”
“When did you return?”
“June 2nd. Mid-afternoon. We stepped through a portal that we opened in the basement of our home.”
“Why were you in Hell?”
“The dealings of the Underworld are of no business to the pack,” Charlie grated out, but Sloane waved him off.
“We had several celebrations to attend and a meeting with Satan.”
The younger officer coughed in disbelief, and his superior glared before turning his attention back to Sloane and me.
“Right, and before Hell, you were in Nashville?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Malin, are you going to answer any of these questions?”
I pointed to Trouble. “What she said.”
He tilted his head to observe me as he asked, “You had a meeting with the First Devil and Satan?”
Nodding, I relaxed back in my chair. “I did. Satan is a right dick. I also shared a coffee with the Third Devil.”
“When was the last time you were on pack property?”
I whistled, thinking hard about the last time the guys and I had visited Baylor. “Mmm, at least three years, if not longer.”
“Is that all you need?” Blaire interrupted as the officer opened his mouth.
“I think it’s clear that my client was not here and these are false allegations. More than a dozen witnesses are willing to make a statement on his behalf.”
The older officer sighed as his partner collected their file. “Yes, that’s all. Thank you for your time.”
“You’re quite welcome. I hope you catch whoever the murderer is. Since my client was named in this report, we’d like to—”
“It’s already handled, Blaire. There’s no need to press charges,” Sloane told her.
“Never mind then. Have a good day, gentlemen.”
The smile on my sister’s face clued me into their private conversation. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but I knew Blaire well enough to know she’d picked something out of the officers’ minds or off the report.
And I knew Trouble well enough to know that it was… Trouble.
For once, I needed to know more about what was happening. I wouldn’t be kept in the dark while someone was framing me for a murder that I didn’t commit.
After spotting that mountain lion during the fight yesterday, I had been actively trying to avoid my suspicions. Hearing Briggs and Baylor say they thought they knew who it was really put things into perspective.
I knew who the fucking mountain lion was too.
I didn’t like the pieces my brain connected together.
Sparing a quick glance at Palmer, I leaked my rambling thoughts to him.
Jack and Grim talking about brainwashing hit too close to home with the behavior we’d seen from the rogues. They weren’t organized like the shifters from the camp in Kentucky, but they were obsessive over their targets.
They had attacked the guys and me, but hadn’t gone for Briggs. They had left their backs exposed while they tried to take us out, and they hadn’t tried to defend themselves—or each other—once they’d caged us in.
The mountain lion had come to observe their attack, and she’d left quietly when it was a sure failure. I knew for a fact that she would be back, because the object of her desire was too close to let go.
Palmer used the heels of his hands to rub at his eyes as he listened to me.
We all knew who was behind this shit.
Katie was the mountain lion; I had no doubts about that. She was brilliant and manipulative, though she couldn’t understand why Briggs put so much stake in his friends’ opinions.
We’d kicked her to the curb for him when we saw how miserable he was with her. It hadn’t taken him long to bounce from the feline to the she-wolf. We’d hated her too, but it took us months to figure out why.
Anna’s mind had been a vault whenever she was around me. She’d expressed her dislike of Palmer numerous times and had tried to kill Stone after he caught her cheating on Briggs.
When she failed, she’d run back to North Fork with her tail tucked. But not before she warned him that she would get what she wanted as soon as she got us out of the way.
That was what she was trying to do.
I’d bet that report could be traced back to either Anna or Katie, if not both of them.
And I fucking knew… The only thing that had really saved me—possibly all of us—was not traveling to an already established portal to get to the Underworld.
Which would mean that they’d been watching Briggs or had someone doing it for them.
Maybe they thought we’d been at the estate in Nashville since we got back from Kentucky three weeks ago. At the most, they knew we had come back from Baton Rouge, somehow, and had not physically left the house since then.
Either Briggs and Sloane had two different parties stalking them at the same time… Or I’d just figured out who was behind the rogue shifters.
Both were plausible, but I felt like I was grasping at straws. My instincts also felt right.
Katie and Anna didn’t know where we were, but the fae-mage creeper did. He’d sent pictures of us from mere hours before. That USB drive had held images of the pack lodge, Sam’s house in Michigan, and the front gates to our home in Nashville.
“Two birds, one stone,” Palmer acknowledged as he summed up my thoughts.
“They want Briggs; we’re standing in the way. The fae-mage wants Sloane; we’re standing in the way. What I can’t understand is if the fae-mage wants ta take her ta Raguel or if he wants to use her against Raguel.
“We know that Anna and Katie have an unhealthy obsession with Briggs, and we cock-blocked ‘em at every turn we could. If Sloane and Briggs are the only two left ta fight, then they have better chances of bein’ caught.”
I blew out a heavy breath as more questions invaded my mind with no answers in sight. It was an endless circle of needing more information. We would have to sit down and talk all the problems out because one of us was bound to know something the others didn’t.
I pulled Trouble aside, waiting for everyone to le
ave the room so we could have a little privacy. She was the catalyst in all the events. We couldn’t figure anything out as a group if she wasn’t ready to open up.
“You were right. I should trust you more. We should trust you more,” I admitted as Vaughn closed the door behind him.
“But we need you to start doing the same. It’s not always easy for us to blindly follow your judgment calls when you’re not open about what’s going on or what you’re thinking.
“I adore you, and I know you can do incredible things… But you’re mysterious when you need to be more open. It’s hard to maneuver around the secrets you keep.”
“I’m not secretive. I just don’t volunteer information if it’s not the subject being discussed. There’s a difference between keeping secrets and not wanting to talk about things.”
She shrugged. “You guys have seen more of me than most people ever do. If you want me to catch you up on what the rest of the supernatural population knows about me, then okay.
“My mother has been missing since I was an infant. My parents have spent every waking moment searching for her or spending time with Jack and me. I’ve spent my whole life moving between the pack, the coven, the academy, and Hell.
“I’m known for killing people, Novak. Being reclusive and too dangerous to be around comes with the territory. What kind of rumors did you hear about me before you met me? How many of them did you believe?”
She raised a challenging brow before she continued.
“I am a killer, clearly. I’ve been paid to kill. I’ve done it for fun, out of boredom or anger, to protect my family, and more recently, my mates.
“We talked about morals. Even if we’re all murderers to some extent, I don’t have the high ground of saying that I only did it to protect. I'm not a good person. I’m a danger to not only the people I care about but also to the people I don’t.
“That’s why I’ve kept my head down, my mouth shut, done my jobs, and stayed locked away in my ebony tower. That’s why it’s easier to be closed off. But I have been opening up.”
A sad smile tugged at her lips. “Jack jokes about me being afraid of emotions, but that’s not totally true. I’m more terrified of myself. The emotions make me stronger, so I shut them down. I haven’t needed to be more than I am. I don’t want to be stronger, but I know I’ll have to be before all this is over.”
I shook my head, finding it hard to disagree with some of her statements. I had heard rumors about her before I met her, and I’d believed some of them. I understood being scared of how strong you could become or what you were capable of.
“None of us are good, Trouble, but we’re not bad either. There’s a big gray area between the two that we all float in. You can be a savior to some and a villain to others. It’s not impossible to be both, and you don’t need to be anyone’s hero except your own.
“What you need to do is stop trying to put a single label on yourself when you fit so many categories by just being you. You can be bad and still save the world. I haven’t seen you kill anyone for reasons other than justice or to protect people.”
She smiled at me. “Thanks, but if you wanted to know what Blaire and I figured out, then all you had to do was ask. You didn’t need to butter me up. We were going to tell you guys when we got back to the cabin. This isn’t the place to talk about it.”
“Actually, I was hoping for a blowjob,” I teased.
“Later, Vamp. I need to find Blaire and ask her about that young officer’s mind. Were you paying attention to their thoughts?”
“Nope. I wasn’t listening.”
She nodded, biting her bottom lip. “He wasn’t staticky like the rogues, but his thoughts were fuzzy, unclear. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
I pulled her in for a quick kiss and led her out the door. The guys and Blaire were walking down the steps of the wraparound porch as we caught up to them.
Briggs was telling Palmer and Stone about the gym nearby, and I groaned dramatically at their idea of stress relief. Running I could do, but lifting weights and pull-ups were boring tasks that didn’t wear me out.
Trouble linked her arm through my sister’s as we followed slowly behind the guys. Jack glanced back at the girls and stopped when he met Sloane’s eyes.
She looked at my sister and inquired, “Do you hear that static sound often when you listen to thoughts?”
Blaire contemplated for a moment and then shrugged. “Not often, but recently I have noticed it more. Why do you ask?”
“Recently? Like how recently?” I demanded quietly.
“Yeah. I can never get a good read on Dominic. His mind sounds like…”
She stopped mid-step, wide golden eyes on my mate as she finished her sentence in disbelief. “Static, white noise from a television.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered, rubbing my hand over my cheek.
“What is it? What am I missing?”
“Blaire,” Trouble whispered, a little panic crawling through our bond.
“Kade’s mind was like that, and so were the shifters who came to the house asking questions. They sounded just like the shifters from yesterday. I’d been trying to remember where I heard it from, but—”
“But you just remembered,” Jack spoke softly, no blame in his voice as he squeezed Sloane’s shoulder. “And Dom is in charge of the vampires in your absence.”
She sighed, scrubbing at her face in frustration. “Fuck. I know.”
“Trouble, it’s okay. We’ll call Simon. He’s still in Baton Rouge, right?”
“He is,” Blaire told me. “He won’t have an issue keeping an eye on Dom for a few more days. I'll take care of him when I get back. You guys have enough on your plate.”
8
Sloane
Thursday, June 4th
Early Afternoon
My guys were heated as they griped to each other. What I kept glimpsing from their shouted thoughts was that they knew who had filed the report against Novak.
They knew without seeing the report.
Novak’s sister had immediately recognized who it was, saying she’d been a big issue for the guys while Briggs had dated her. Blaire and I knew because the fucking moron had put her name on the police report.
We all needed to sit down and talk about this.
Well, I needed to know how they felt about me killing her. I was going to either way, but I wanted to make sure that they were on board.
Their conversation was leaning in the direction of death, so I was going to assume that was why they were so pissy.
They had apparently wanted to kill her a few months ago.
Shame they missed that opportunity.
The pack’s training facility was a standard gym. There were mats in the middle of the warehouse-style building, a wall of mirrors with weights stacked neatly, and treadmills along the other side. Useless machines littered the rest of the room.
I really hated the gym.
We could be outside, testing our powers and learning from each other.
It felt more useful to get actual practice in, and I was curious to see if we could blend some of our powers together. The guys seemed more intent on rolling around and wearing themselves out.
I didn’t need to strength train, and I didn’t think they did either. I realized that they were just using this to blow off some of that resentment they were collecting.
If they wanted to roll around and wear themselves out, I could’ve helped with that.
In a bedroom or a kitchen or a hallway.
I wasn’t picky. Angry sex sounded amazing.
I didn’t have any complaints about their exercising. I needed the quiet moment to think through the tangle of shit in my head.
Connecting the static sound to Dominic was really shaking me up.
It had been almost two weeks since we were in Baton Rouge, and I didn’t know enough about the SEF47 to pinpoint when he’d used it. I did wonder if stronger supes could maintain control of themselves for a longer perio
d of time after being given the drug, though.
But what the fuck was I supposed to do with this knowledge now? I’d left him in charge of the vampires. As the second in command of the House of Vampyre, Dom was supposed to have their best interests in mind.
I didn’t know which way to go in order to fix my fuck up.
We would have to go back to Baton Rouge, take him out, put someone else in charge, and then get back to our own shit… Or I could let Blair handle it. She was more than competent enough to get rid of Dom, be in a position of authority, and eradicate the drug usage amongst the vampires.
I’d need to make sure she was okay with it, but that choice would mean that we wouldn’t need to backtrack. I could keep looking for the angel—or start looking for him.
I also needed to get into the fae realm and find my father. It had been almost two weeks since we’d heard from him. I had a feeling he was in trouble, but I wasn’t quite sure how to tackle that mountain yet.
And beyond all that, I was having a hard time comprehending the things that Novak had said to me.
It was complicated to interpret all of my thoughts and plans into words. It wasn’t impossible, but it was something that I knew I needed to work on. I couldn’t figure out how to explain to them that sometimes I didn’t think about the things that I did.
I didn’t plan them.
I just did them.
So while they wanted me to be open with them, I really needed them to understand that I had already been more open than I had ever been. It had taken me months to show York some of the things they already knew about me.
We’d only been together for three weeks. That wasn’t enough of a timeframe for us to fully understand each other, and I felt like trust was earned over time.
Yes. It had been a whirlwind three weeks, but it still hadn’t even been a complete month.
We’d been inseparable during this time. Not a single day had gone by where we hadn’t been together or seen each other almost all day or night.
I couldn’t recall ever spending so many days in a row with someone other than Jack.