Afterlife

by Dannika Dark

  After a while, the truck put on its left-hand blinker, and I stepped off. Close to home, I flashed part of the way and walked the rest. Wyatt buzzed me through the gate, and as I strutted up the driveway, I noticed Christian standing on the upper balcony. He remained as still as a statue, his hands gripping the stone railing, his gaze fixed on my every move.

  When I walked in, Gem flashed toward the east wing, presumably heading to her secret study. On the upper landing of the staircase, a little red-haired girl tossed a blue rubber ball. It bounced on three steps before it hit the edge and changed its trajectory. Hunter, who was at the bottom, dove after it like a baseball player. Both were in pajamas, although the girl wore an old-fashioned gown that someone must have found in one of the storage rooms.

  She giggled at Hunter’s feeble attempts, and it dawned on me that the same fate that had befallen our victims could affect her too. Maybe the best thing for Shifters to do was isolate.

  “Raven.” Niko greeted me as he entered the room from the hall ahead. “One of the children is missing. It’s bedtime, and she ran off while they were brushing their teeth.”

  Hunter looked at me pleadingly, one finger over his lips. He knew Niko was blind, but Niko wasn’t so blind that he wouldn’t notice that girl’s energy at the top of the stairs once he turned around.

  Did I really want to encourage Hunter to be deceptive? I’d probably regret it in the long run, so I said, “It’s time for you kids to say good night. You can play in the morning. The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you can wake up to play.”

  The little girl jogged down the steps, gave Hunter a big hug, and dashed past Niko and down the hall.

  Niko had on his oversized drop-crotch pants he often wore to sleep, so it looked like everyone was winding down for the night.

  “Would you like to join me in the kitchen for hot tea?” he asked.

  “I need to see where we are with the case. If I get hungry, I’ll buy something from Wyatt’s vending machine with my retirement money.” I directed my attention to the boy. “Hunter, do you want us to walk you to bed? Where’s your dad?”

  Niko swept his hair away from his face. “Shepherd’s guarding the hall while Switch and I search for the girl. Hunter, I think your father is a very sleepy old man. Can you help him to bed?”

  Hunter slapped his hand over his mouth, covering his smile.

  Shepherd strutted into the room, a five-o’clock shadow dusting his face. For some reason, he was wearing a green shirt and camouflage pants.

  “What’s with the getup?” I asked since that wasn’t his usual style.

  He stopped at the foot of the stairs and stretched his muscular arms. “The kids wanted to play war. Guess who was the enemy?”

  I snorted. “Did they beat you up?”

  “Fuck Wyatt and all his water balloons. Sorry, kid,” he said, shifting his focus to Hunter. “I’m trying not to say those words.”

  “My dad said those words all my life,” I said, hands on my hips. “I turned out fine.”

  He gave me a deliberate look before kneeling in front of Hunter.

  I inched closer to Niko and lowered my voice. “What was that about?”

  Niko canted his head toward me. “Some of the kids started repeating Shepherd’s vocabulary, and it upset Viktor. You missed a colorful dinner conversation.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  “He doesn’t worry about Hunter since Hunter doesn’t talk. But try convincing fifteen children.”

  Shepherd held Hunter’s wrist. “Why are you covering your mouth?”

  Hunter shrugged.

  “Did someone hit you? Let me see.”

  When he pulled Hunter’s hand away, everything looked normal. No bruising, no scrapes. Those were typical injuries you saw when kids got together.

  “You had me worried, little man.” Shepherd poked Hunter in the belly, and Hunter giggled and smiled wide.

  When he did, I barked out a laugh. “Looks like someone lost a tooth.”

  Shepherd lightly held his chin and looked at it. “When did that happen?”

  Hunter shrugged.

  “Did he swallow it?” I asked.

  Shepherd heaved a sigh. “Oh shit.”

  “You think the tooth fairy makes toilet-bowl pickups?” I laughed as I ascended the stairs. “G’night.”

  When I glanced back, Shepherd gave Hunter a hug and said quietly, “I love you.”

  That was probably the first time I’d ever heard him say it, and it made my heart melt a little.

  “Hunter will make Shepherd a better man,” Niko said, catching up with me.

  “I thought you were going to make tea.”

  “Maybe later.” When we reached the second floor, he said, “Hunter has softened him in a good way.”

  “Yeah. Kids have a way of changing people. My dad was always a good father, but when he became my sole guardian, he tried to do better. I can’t say he always made the right choices, but Shepherd reminds me of him.”

  “I think having the children here has been good for Hunter. His light is brighter when he’s around them.”

  “Kids need to be around other kids.”

  “It will be hard for him when they leave.”

  We climbed up another set of stairs to the third floor. “Maybe Switch can invite him to hang out with his old pack. He used to teach a lot of kids, and I bet they miss him. It might be good for Hunter to get out and make new friends, especially since we can’t invite anyone over for a playdate.”

  “A play what?”

  “Just a human phrase for getting the kids together. Who knows? Maybe Switch and Shepherd will get along better. Everyone’s nice to Switch, but he still feels like an outsider here since he’s staff and not part of the team. There’s not much we can do about the reality, but it wouldn’t hurt for us to hang out once in a while outside the house.”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea. Hunter has a lot to learn outside of books, and I would imagine there are valuable lessons Shepherd must teach him about being a Sensor. He wears protective gloves in public, but he doesn’t interact with people when we’re out. Taking him on these… playdates would foster that unique education.”

  “Maybe I can take him to see my dad sometime. Crush is great with kids, and now he’s got a dog. I bet Hunter would get a kick out of that mutt.”

  “Perhaps your father can look at Shepherd’s car. I noticed a sound coming from the engine the last time we went out.”

  “Tell him to take it to Graves Auto Repair. My dad doesn’t just work on bikes. My truck is older than dirt, but it purrs like a kitten.”

  “It sounds more like a lion to me.”

  I laughed and eyed the door to the balcony. “Since your room is on the second floor, can you let Blue and Wyatt know I’m back? I’m guessing there isn’t any news, or you would have mentioned it. If they need me, they can knock on my door. I’m more exhausted than I thought and need to lie down.”

  He bowed. “As you wish.”

  “Old man,” I muttered, musing over his joke about Shepherd. “That’s the pot calling the kettle black. How old are you again?” I opened the door.

  Niko casually walked away. “I better hurry back before my knees give out on me. My arthritis has been acting up,” he said from a distance.

  When I walked onto the interior balcony, Christian greeted me with a smoldering look.

  “Niko’s quite the comedian,” he remarked.

  I breezed by him to the other door. “He’s not as funny as the man who’s standing outside like a dad waiting for his daughter to come home from her date.”

  He shadow walked past me, snaking his way down the dark hall until he stopped by a candle in the distance. With his shoulder against the wall, he stood there, waiting for me to catch up.

  “And what are you looking at, Mr. Poe?”

  “Just admiring your gams.”

  “That word is so last century.”

  He turned on his heel to walk alongside me
. “What can I say? I’m an old-fashioned man.”

  “What were you doing out there?”

  “Wyatt’s playing that infernal music again.”

  “Air Supply?”

  “Aye. Probably pining over an old lover.”

  I walked into my bedroom and grabbed the matches on the dresser. “I guess Blue’s keeping an eye on the mailbox then.” I lit the lanterns, including a few candles in the fireplace. The light emphasized every crevice and crack in the stone walls. I sat on the scarlet bedspread, kicked off my sneakers, and lay down, staring up at the painting above the headboard. The bleak, grey landscape reminded me of what Houdini had said: live in the grey. The red trees suddenly looked like blots of violence.

  Christian sat facing me, his back against the headboard. “You were gone for a while. Where have you been?”

  I clasped my hands behind my head. “Can we not be that couple? I have to learn to trust you, and you have to trust me. I know you were gone today, and I don’t know where. You promised me you wouldn’t go to the White Owl, and I believe you. So that’s why I’m not asking.”

  “On my word, I haven’t been. I won’t go there again.”

  I took off his shoe and then his sock. “I didn’t ask, Mr. Stinky Feet.”

  “I beg your pardon? My feet are as pristine as the nuns of Vatican City.”

  I propped his foot on my chest and began rubbing the sole. Christian didn’t have smelly feet, and even if he did, I wouldn’t care. I just loved pushing his buttons.

  “Mmm. I like that, Precious. You have the hands of a saint and the mouth of a sinner.” He glanced at the floor. “I won’t ask where you’ve been, but that’s a curious amount of mud on the bottom of your shoes considering it hasn’t rained recently.”

  “Shut up and rub my feet.”

  My legs parted when he rested my foot on his stomach, and I caught his gaze wandering up to my tight black shorts. It didn’t take long before I felt something hard growing beneath my leg. Ignoring the passion stirring between us, I continued rubbing his foot until he fell in my thrall. Christian closed his eyes and stopped my massage.

  “Lenore popped in this afternoon.”

  “Do you mind? I’m in the middle of a fantasy, and you bring up that woman.” He opened his eyes when I didn’t say anything. “All right. What did she say?”

  “Some of those Shifters wanted their money and didn’t waste time calling her. We should have told Viktor sooner. I thought you were going to talk to him.”

  “I haven’t seen him since returning. Perhaps the children sent him to an early grave.”

  “Anyhow, Lenore seemed okay with it. She’s going to pay everyone who goes through our approval process.”

  “Of course she’s all right with it. It’s good PR. Despite her balking, Lenore considers public relations to be one of the most important things in life. I have no doubt if there was a Breed newspaper, she’d arrange a feature on the front page about her contribution.”

  Christian’s erection lost its enthusiasm.

  “It made us look bad in front of Viktor. I’m not sure if he would have agreed to it even if she did, but we can’t do something like that again. It was a great idea and got people to trust us, but we did it ass-backward. Something like that could backfire on us, and even you warned me not to make enemies with Lenore.”

  He gave me a pointed look. “Did she speak to you?”

  “They both asked me to stay in the dining room. That’s how Viktor found out. He lied for us.”

  Christian’s head thumped against the headboard, and he cursed under his breath. “I meant to speak with him today, but I didn’t think those shitebags would be calling so fast to collect. Was he cross?”

  “I don’t know. It could have made him look bad in front of a higher authority member, like he didn’t know what the hell we were doing behind his back. I’m not sure with them dating if that makes it better or worse. We need to watch our step.”

  Christian continued rubbing my foot. “I’ll speak to him later and smooth things over. ’Twas my idea, so I’ll accept the blame.” He patted my foot and sighed. “Do you want to get that, or shall I?”

  “Get what?”

  A knock sounded at the door.

  I pinched his little toe. “I hate it when you do that.”

  When the door unexpectedly opened, I rolled to my side.

  Blue paused at the threshold. “Sorry to bother you. I just got a message from the Boring pack. I think it was that scrawny guy who suggested that Andy killed his mate.”

  I sat up. “What did he say?”

  “He says Alisa was secretly pregnant. He overheard the Packmaster talking about it before her death. The snitch thinks it was someone else’s baby, and that’s why Andy killed her.”

  “But she fits all the criteria.”

  Blue leaned against the doorjamb. “Yeah, it’s just sad. The pregnancy is worth mentioning to the Relic. We might have to consider that one a question mark.”

  “Thanks for the cheery news,” Christian said, tossing one of my socks to the floor.

  Blue chuckled under her breath. “I’ll let you two get back to whatever it is that you’re doing.”

  When the door closed, I crawled next to Christian and nestled against his warm chest.

  He stroked my hair before giving my shoulder a light squeeze. “If it’s a virus, there’s something else to consider.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Viktor might perish.”

  I shook my head. “He’s not an alpha.”

  “Aye. But who is to say what comes next? You can’t control a microscopic enemy. First it’s the alphas, but does it stop there?”

  Chapter 26

  On Friday night we left early to meet with Graham. Blue and I were eager to present our findings now that we’d found a link between the deaths.

  “I hope he knows a specialist.” Blue gripped the window crank and rolled up her window. “I bet there are secret labs that study this kind of thing.”

  “And I bet there are secret labs that cook it,” I suggested.

  “Why the hell did you take this case? I don’t want this responsibility. If this is a virus and people find out we were involved, they’ll blame us. They’ll either say we didn’t do anything soon enough or that we were the ones who started it. That’s how this always goes.” She wound up her long hair and tied it in a messy knot. “I guess Harper is the only one left on my list. Has she called?”

  I glanced at the backup phone Wyatt had given me. “Not yet.”

  “Do you remember anything about your conversation with her that would suggest Bono was an alpha?”

  I turned the steering wheel at a light and tried to recall every detail. “I think she said something about how he couldn’t start his own pack, and nobody wanted him in theirs, but she might have been implying that he wasn’t an alpha.”

  Blue pointed toward a brightly lit corner. “This is it. I’ll look for him while you park.”

  It was Friday night in the human district. Neon lights drew people to the pizza shops, theater, arcades, diners, and bars. A group crossed in front of my truck, one woman stopping to adjust her bra straps.

  “It could be a while,” I grumped. “Looks like all the parking spaces are taken up. I’m going to have to circle around and see if there’s anything open.”

  “Try valet somewhere.”

  “Fuck that. I’m not giving a stranger the keys to my truck.”

  “Shall I kidnap him so we can go somewhere else?”

  “Please do.”

  Blue got out and looked toward the hot dog stand. “I see him. Do you want me to fill him in or wait for you?”

  I honked my horn at a drunken idiot who decided the front end of my truck was something he could lean on while chatting with his friend. “Go ahead and start. I don’t want to reschedule if he’s got other appointments. I’ll see if I can find a tiny car like Wyatt’s and park on top of it.”

  “Good luck.�
�� Blue laughed and shut the door.

  I coasted down the street and turned right at the hot dog stand. There were designated parking spots on the street, but most people took the train to this side of town due to the lack of parking. The few open garages were valet parking only.

  A group of twentysomething girls lingered by a Porsche to take selfies. Relieved that I’d finally found a parking spot, I waited patiently despite all the honking cars behind me. The girls did their sexiest poses, all decked out in their cutest skirts and heels. It felt like an alternate reality. I could have easily been one of them had I not met Houdini. They were so blissfully unaware of all the secrets in the world living right beneath their noses. When they finally walked around the Porsche to cross the street, I got pissed off it wasn’t their car and blared my horn. One girl shot me the middle finger.

  I circled the block and kept going farther until I was ready to park in a tow zone. “We should have taken the subway,” I sang, regretting we hadn’t researched the location. While I’d grown up in Cognito, I hadn’t been everywhere. I knew about this area of the city, but it wasn’t my scene. It was too crowded and geared toward social groups. By the time I found a spot, I’d turned in so many circles that I didn’t know where the hell I was anymore.

  My thin jacket had a lot of pockets. It was actually Wyatt’s—the first thing I grabbed from the coat closet. One of the phones vibrated against my chest. I should have let it go to voicemail, but we were waiting for just one more call. I dove between two buildings to escape the loud music pouring out of one of the taverns.

  “Hello?”

  “Raven gave me this number. Is this her?”

  “Yes. Who am I speaking to?”

  “This is Harper Nichols. We met at—”

  “I know who you are. How have you been?” I took a seat on some empty crates.

  “As well as can be expected. I have my moments. Talking with you really brought up all those feelings again. Then I got your message, and I didn’t know if I wanted to keep reliving it. A girl has to move on.”