by Quirah Casey
And because she was never selfish—because I always was—Mel is dying a painful, horrible death.
And there’s nothing I can do about it.
I feel my breath catch in my throat. She’s dying. Fran’s vision is coming true. I didn’t have enough time to prepare, to try to prevent it.
I'm aware of a sharp pain in my wrist, but my heart is pounding so desperately that the feeling barely registers.
The girls flash through my mind, the way their faces light up every time they see Auntie Mel. I think of Ru, of Marie. I’m not sure who this is going to destroy more, me or them.
There has to be something I can do. Except I know there’s nothing left for me to try. Mel’s life is draining from her body too quickly for me to help.
I can’t stop this, and I have no idea who keeps using this damn chemical, but I’m going to kill them.
Ruthlessly.
I’m going to rip out the throats of every person in this club. Eventually I’ll find the culprit. There will be a lot of collateral damage, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever it takes to avenge Mel.
The pain begins to retreat as I feel coldness overtake me, numbing me. Screams echo in my ears, coming from somewhere behind me.
“Siniy!”
The cloudy shadows clear from my vision, and I refocus, almost reaching to rub my eyes—they must be playing a trick on me.
“Siniy,” Mel repeats, struggling to keep her eyes open. Blood coats her chin, trailing from her still-open mouth. I look to my wrist, where I watch the skin knit back together across a line of tooth-shaped punctures. She bit me.
“Blue, honey, look at me. You have to calm down.”
“You’re dying.”
“No, not anymore.” Her hand reaches up, warm and soft, to graze my cheek. “You saved me.”
“I wasn’t quick enough.” Are we both dead? How the hell did that happen?
“You were.”
“I’m going to kill them,” I growl. “Kill them all until I find the right one.” I manage to get to my feet, but her hand on my wrist stops me before I can storm away. Mel is weak, and I could easily wrench out of her grip, but even the gentle pressure pulls me back to reality. She is not dead.
“You’re losing control,” Mel pleads with me. “Do you not hear their screams?”
Whose screams?
“Listen,” she says sharply.
I try to let go of my rage, and the world outside my mind pours in. I’m suddenly aware of the people around me. Screams echo through the club, bouncing off the walls. I hear a series of thumps as bodies hit the ground.
“That’s you,” Mel says gently, though I can hear the fear in her voice. “It’s the darkness. You’ve let it slip through, and now you need to call it back.”
I shake my head.
“Yes. Do it now.”
A growl tears through my throat, an automatic response to the dominance in her voice.
Stop it, I reprimand myself. It’s Mel. She’s not a threat, and she’s hurt, and you need to take care of her. Nothing else matters.
“Blue, please.”
I lower my eyes, concentrating as I pull the shadows back into myself. They encircle my heart, flood my mind, send a rush of heat into my arms and legs. The screaming around me stops, but I nearly let out one of my own as the power of the shadows overwhelms me. My vision blurs, black spots forming rapidly, until I see nothing but darkness. Unbearable pressure fills my head, making me gasp. I feel like my head is about to explode.
“Breathe,” Mel’s soft voice rises above the pain. I grip her hand. Once again, she is the eye of my storm, my tether to the world.
I push out a deep breath, and after a minute, the pain retreats, my vision returns, and my body cools.
I turn to look at Mel as she struggles to sit up, but it's evident that she can’t. I inhale again, getting my bearings, before I pick her up. “Shut this shit down,” I bark at Cherilyn, whose jaw has dropped, and she nods, heading for the stairs. The music in the club cuts off abruptly, and I hear Cherilyn’s voice as she yells for everyone to get the hell out.
Klara appears in front of me, her eyes wide.
“Stop looking stupid and get to fucking work, Klara. Help Cherilyn clear out the club,” I snap at her.
“Pudding? What do you want me to do with…?” At the deep, accented voice, I turn my head, finding London watching me, forehead creased with worry. The wolf server writhes in his powerful grip. Relief momentarily floods my chest, but within seconds I start to feel the shadows creep back into my peripheral. If I didn’t have Mel in my arms…
He’ll get to live a little longer. For now.
“My office,” I direct London, striding away as quickly as I can without jostling Mel too much. She starts to squirm just as we reach my office door.
“I can walk on my own,” she grumbles.
“No.”
I have my right arm under Mel’s knees, but my outstretched hand just barely manages to reach the security scanner. The door closes behind us, and I lay her down on my couch. I squat, bringing myself to her eye level.
“I almost lost you.” I can’t help myself—I press my hand against her cheek, feeling the warmth of her skin. She leans into my hand, her eyes drifting closed as she lets out a soft sigh.
My heartbeat picks up and I hear hers do the same, as if they’re calling to each other.
“Siniy.”
“It’s okay.” I close my own eyes, trying to get ahold of myself as a wave of emotions overtakes me. Anger, frustration, love.
When I open my eyes, I find Melodiya’s violet gaze already on me. She’s watching me carefully as one of her hands comes up to cover mine, still lingering on her cheek.
We sit like that for a moment: silent, eyes on each other, hearts beating in time. And then I hear the creak of my office door. I flinch, pulling away from Mel, trying to ignore the way she ducks her head to avoid my eyes, her lips pressing into a firm line.
“I called Blaine. He’s on his way,” London says as he waltzes into the room, dragging the poisoner by his shirt collar. The wolf server keeps hitting London, who seems oblivious to the blows.
“You little shit.” I launch to my feet and throw the server against the wall, hearing the distinct crack of bones breaking. He yelps, fur bristling on his skin.
I draw Otmscheniye, ready to decapitate the wolf.
“No, Blue!” Melodiya yells, and I whirl to look at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see London jump to fend off the wolf, who has risen to his feet and lunged toward my throat. London’s shoulder connects with the wolf’s skull, sending them both crashing to the ground. They writhe on the floor in a mass of gold scales and dark fur.
“Shift back.” London orders, securing the beast in a headlock.
The wolf lets out a whimper, and the fur starts to disappear from his skin. London tightens his hold, and the server slumps against him, unconscious.
“What was that for?” I yell.
“We can’t kill him. We need information.”
“He tried to kill someone who belongs to me. His blood is rightfully mine!”
London raises a brow as Melodiya coughs behind me.
“Listen, Pudding, you can kill him later, but for now we need him. Do you have something I can tie him up with?”
I just stare at him.
“Check her desk,” Melodiya offers from behind me.
“Ugh, I’ll get it,” I grumble. There’s no way London is getting into my locked drawers. I grab a length of rope and toss it to London, who catches it with one hand.
“What do you keep rope in your desk for?” he asks as he hauls the wolf into a chair and bends to tie him down.
“For moments like this: to detain people. If I were you, I’d remember that. The rope is chöąt-proof, enchanted by the fae.”
There’s a sharp knock at the door, and London, Mel, and I all glance up, instantly at attention. I fling the door open, half-praying that it’ll be someone I can attack.
Disappointingly, Agent Levitsky stands in front of me, face puzzled, arms crossed over his chest.
“What took you so long?” I snap, stepping out of the way so he can enter before I slam the door shut.
“I got here as quickly as I could.” He’s dressed more casually than usual in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. He looks at Melodiya, who’s sitting up on the couch, looking pale and exhausted, and his face softens. “I heard you were attacked. You okay?” he asks her.
“I’m fine. Give me a sec.” Her cheeks puff out before she sighs deeply and relaxes into the couch.
“Why aren’t you with a healer?” asks Levitsky.
“I handled it,” I snap, sitting on the couch next to Mel.
“You handled it?” Levitsky makes air quotes around the word. “Stendahl said Mel was poisoned with the same chemical that killed Tarae and nearly killed his sister.”
“Yes, and Stendahl’s sister didn’t die either. Because I handled that, too. I know you’re a big-time CDA agent and all, but I seem to be the one fixing most of the problems around here.”
Levitsky rolls his eyes and huffs, turning to look at the tied-up wolf. “I need to call this in.”
“No.” London and I say at the same time.
Levitsky throws his hands up. “It's my job!”
“Maybe so. But you’re going to let us interrogate him first, or else you’ll find yourself bound and gagged right next to him.”
Silence fills the room as all eyes turn to me. Levitsky’s mouth drops open slightly. “Does she always jump to extremes like this?” he whispers in Mel’s general direction.
“Hasn’t changed in a century,” she replies weakly, though the warning look she sends me betrays that she has regained much more strength than she’s letting on.
Her eyes tell me to cool it, to calm down. But I’ll be damned if I let Levitsky take this wolf to the CDA before I get a chance to spill his blood.
“You wanted us to work together as a team, without the CDA, and that’s what we’ll be doing.” There, that sounded reasonable.
The shifter starts to stir in his bindings. “Perfect timing.” I jump to my feet.
“Fine.” Levitsky sighs. “But you need to do this quickly.”
“No problem.” I stride across the room toward the wolf, a growl rumbling in my chest, but London stands and steps across my path, extending a cautionary hand.
“Just want to make sure you don’t try to kill him again, Pudding.”
I roll my eyes and shoulder past him, choosing not waste my breath on an argument.
The wolf blinks a couple of times, and then his gaze meets mine.
“Who are you?” I demand.
“Khrys Liotmen,” he says proudly, catching me off guard.
For a second, I think this interrogation might be easier than I’d expected.
“Who do you work for?”
“Who do we all work for?”
Okay, so he might have a couple of loose screws.
“Why were you here tonight?”
“Why were we all here tonight?”
Yeah, this isn’t going to work.
I call upon Onyx, feeling her appear in my hand—sleek, hard, familiar.
Curses sound from all over the room as Levitsky rushes to my side. “No, no, no! You can’t injure him. I can’t take him in like that.”
“He’ll heal!” I insist, taking a step forward. London moves to block the wolf, holding his hands out, and I raise a brow. “What is this, let’s-gang-up-on-Blue day? I’ll go through both of you if I have to.”
“Extremes again. Look, at least let me try before you start cutting the man up.” Levitsky pleads, eyes wide.
“Fine, fine.” I step back, retracting Onyx into my arm, and I hear a loud whoosh as everyone in the room lets out their collectively held breath. I pivot and take a few exaggerated steps away from the wolf. London watches me for a second, hesitation in his eyes, before moving to stand at my side. His bicep gently brushes against mine, warming my skin. I can feel Melodiya’s eyes on us, but I don’t dare turn and look at her.
“Why were you here tonight?” Levitsky repeats my question.
The server’s face remains blank. “Why were we all here tonight?”
“Did you come here to kill Blue?”
Khrys perks up at that, his posture straightening. “No.” There’s a pause in the room and I know we’re all leaning a little closer, listening, our ears pricked for a change in his heart rate. But the beat stays steady.
He’s not lying.
“Did you come here to kill Melodiya?”
“No.” Thump, thump, thump. His heart continues to tick out a steady rhythm.
“That’s a lie!” I step forward, my own heart lurching in my chest. “You gave her that poison with the intent to kill her!” I feel a hand encircle my wrist, and I lash out, turning and shoving London away from me. He crashes into my desk, papers tumbling to the floor.
“Blue, calm down!” Mel yells, trying to get to her feet.
“You tried to kill her!” I shout into the wolf’s face, fists clenched at my sides. I sense Levitsky approaching me, and I flutter my fingers, twisting the shadows around him. I flick my wrist and send him flying into the wall, a grunt leaving his lips on impact.
“Blue!”
“Why did you try to kill Mel?” I scream, rage and fear and desperation lining my voice.
“I did not try to kill her.” The wolf tilts his head as if to look up at me, but his eyes are unfocused, blank. “That was not the mission.”
“Then what was the mission?” I grip his shoulder tightly enough to feel the crunch of bone.
“Blue!” Mel, again.
The wolf only smiles as my fingers dig deeper.
“Who is M?!” I shout.
“Siniy!”
“You’ll meet her when you’re ready.” There’s a loud sound, like a snap, as he grits his teeth, and then his empty smile falls away as he starts to cough. His body falls forward, head smacking against my stomach. I step away, grimacing. The wolf convulses, his chair squeaking against the floor as it shakes beneath him. Blood begins to pour from his mouth, and for a second he’s Mel, dying in my arms. I blink, hard. The wolf lurches to the side, chair tipping.
He’s dead before he hits the ground.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“You should have let me take him in for questioning,” Levitsky says, his voice low but firm, breaking the silence that’s captivated the room.
I scoff, moving to sit at my desk. “He would never have made it all the way to CDA headquarters. This was obviously a suicide mission.” I light a yada, trying to loosen up. At this point I’m ready to strangle London and Levitsky, who have both recovered from being ragdolled around the room. “You both refused to let me kill him. And then he killed himself.” I laugh bitterly at the irony. “What kind of shit is that?”
“Blue,” Mel hisses, but I wave a hand at her.
“This is all a fucking mess.”
“Because you insist on using brute force and intimidation, and it isn’t working!” Levitsky raises his voice, tugging at his dark hair.
London shakes his head, and I turn to look at him.
“You!” He points a shaky finger at me. “Are fucking insane. Out of your bloody mind, throwing people around like a savage! A lunatic! And you—” He spins, finger now pointing at Levitsky—“are too by-the-book.”
“Ha!” I narrow my eyes at him. “That’s fucking rich coming from you. You haven’t done shit in this investigation.” I take another deep drag of the yada, pushing down the dragon trying to take over from within me.
“If it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t know about all the unaccounted-for byurtids in this town. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be—” he stops short, letting out a deep breath, but I know what he was going to say. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even be working on this team. But he can’t say that, not in front of Levitsky.
“It’s
time for the two of you to get the fuck out of my office.” I shoo them away with my hand.
“Stop,” Mel says. She lets out a shallow cough as she gestures for the other two to sit. For a moment, they stare at her blankly, but then her purple eyes narrow. London is the first to move, sitting down next to her on the couch, while Levitsky pulls out one of my office chairs and takes a seat.
“Now, if you three would shut up for a second and let me speak, that would be nice.” She shifts on the couch until she’s facing all three of us.
“The three of you are not working together, not even in the slightest. What was the point of forming this team if you’re not even going to try to function as one?” She folds her arms across her chest, pursing her lips. “Now, I know I’m not the only who can see that if you guys got on the same page, you’d be able to find the person doing this shit. Easily.”
Levitsky and London nod slowly as they watch her with wide eyes. Mel’s gaze flicks to me. She raises a brow and I shrug. She clears her throat.
“Fine,” I mutter.
“We should clear the air, lay all our cards on the table. If we’re going to work together, we should get to know each other better,” London says.
I shake my head. “It’s not like we’re going into a long-term partnership. We’re working together for a short time, a month tops.” I take a final drag of the yada before putting it out.
“If we don’t at least try, Pudding, you may find yourself stuck with me much longer than a month,” London says, the frustration that lit his eyes earlier replaced with glittering amusement.
I groan. “Fine, let’s get to know each other. Why are you in Lobrooke?”
“I had some business to attend to in the area, so I decided to vacay in Lobrooke for a bit before returning to London. I mean, this is one of the best towns in the world for our kind.”
He’s blatantly lying, not even trying to hide it as he laces his hands behind his head and lazily reclines on the couch, the hemline of his shirt rising to bare his flawless stomach. I shake my head. I remember the night we met, the way he stole Olyvia Hynt from right under my nose. That mission was why he came here originally, I’m sure of it. I just don’t know why he stayed.
