Forged by Fire: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Blood and Magic Book 6)

by Danielle Annett

  I couldn’t. He was too important to me. I’d lock it all away and never look at it again. In time, things would go back to normal. They had to.

  Declan looked like he was seconds away from losing control. Something that almost never happened. I needed to clear my head. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing.

  Think of something else. Anything else.

  Declan prided himself on always being in control of his beast.

  I opened one eye and took him in. He was pacing now.

  Thick black tiger stripes darkened his skin just beneath the surface. He hadn’t shifted, but he was close.

  I sat on our bed, my feet tucked beneath me. Think about that old movie. What was it— Boondock Saints! I replayed the movie in my mind. Two brothers set out to bring down evil men. They smoked a lot and swore a lot and they were good looking as hell.

  I twirled one of my daggers between my fingers. I tried to focus on the familiar movie instead of Inarus’ memories.

  Whatever was going on in Declan’s head, he needed time to work it out.

  Inarus had always been a sore spot between us.

  I knew why but looking back, I don’t think I was ever truly interested in Inarus. I’d been hurt and he’d been there. At the time, I’d just wanted a say in my own relationship. I’d wanted a choice and Inarus had openly pursued me.

  Being mate-claimed by Declan had made me feel trapped. Whether Declan was the right man for me or not at the time, didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I’d had no choice and because of that, I’d done everything I could to push Declan away—including taking off with Inarus and letting him kiss me.

  Not my best moment.

  But I didn’t want Inarus. I’d accepted Declan as my mate. I loved him and he loved me. How we found our way to one another didn’t matter. He was mine.

  Explaining that to Declan wouldn’t lessen his agitation toward the man, though. Especially not after he experienced the full weight of Inarus’ feelings towards me.

  Stop thinking about that!

  A cell phone buzzed on the bedside table. I swiped the phone from the nightstand, answering without checking the calling I.D.

  “Naveed,” I said into the receiver.

  “Melody is missing!” Ryan Cavanagh’s voice was filled with alarm.

  Declan halted his pacing and our stares connected. I didn’t need to put the phone on speaker—shifter hearing was impeccable—but I did it anyway and set the phone on the bedspread in front of me.

  Declan padded closer and leaned against the wall beside the bed.

  Melody was my former neighbor and someone I considered a friend. I didn’t have many of those. So if she was missing, I would get to the bottom of it.

  “Start from the beginning.” I encouraged.

  Ryan took a deep breath as though bracing himself. “She’s gone. Her place is trashed. There’s blood. God, there is so much blood. I… shit. You need to get down here. Aria we need to find her. I don’t know if she’s alive. She’s got to be ali—”

  “Ryan, calm down.”

  Panic tinged his words. He was rambling. Ryan was another former neighbor of mine. He, Melody, and I had all lived in the same apartment complex. He was your regular human variety and she was a Harpy who took immense pleasure in aggravating him every moment she got.

  It was her way of flirting, though Ryan never seemed to recognize her antics for what they were.

  “Where are you?” Talking on the phone wasn’t going to get us anywhere. He was too worked up. And in any case, if Melody was missing, I needed to see her apartment immediately.

  “I’m home. I just got here and …”

  “Stay there. I’m on my way.”

  I hung up the phone, sheathed my knives, and grabbed my leather jacket.

  “I’m coming with you.”

  I nodded having expected as much so I didn’t bother arguing. Together Declan and I headed out. If Melody was missing, we had forty-eight hours to find her before the search got a hell of a lot harder.

  The first forty-eight hours of any investigation were critical. It was the best window of time for following up on leads before people’s memory began to fade and before scent trails became too muddled. As time goes on, there would be fewer breadcrumbs to follow.

  I’d take all the help I could get.

  Ryan hadn’t exaggerated about all the blood. She better be alive.

  I didn’t know a lot about Harpies. But I did know that their blood carried regenerative properties. Hopefully her healing could keep up with her injuries and hopefully all this blood didn’t belong only to her.

  The normally beige carpet was stained a rust red. Large swatches spread across the floor in long smears.

  Not only had someone bled, but someone had been dragged to make these sort of marks.

  Blood spatter coated the walls. I got closer and spotted the arc pattern of blood from a knife or sword wound and cursed.

  With this much blood loss, she wouldn’t last long if she healed at human speed.

  I took in the upturned furniture and the blue-black feathers scattered around the living space.

  She hadn’t gone without a fight. Good.

  Two glass table lamps were shattered near the doorway. She’d likely thrown them at her attackers. And a coffee table stood on its side, one of its legs broken.

  Someone had to of heard something. There were no wards on her apartment. Nothing that would have drowned out the noise.

  When I was done here, I’d check in with the rest of the tenants. If anyone knew what happened, I’d find out. There were three other units on this floor. Ryan had originally lived on the fifth floor but had since moved to the second beside Mel’s. Floors five and six were undergoing renovations so there was no point looking for tenants there.

  When I’d lived here, I’d been the only tenant on floor four, but I knew an elderly couple had lived in the unit directly below Melody and they were almost always home. With any luck, they’d have some information for me to run with. Missing persons cases were hard without any breadcrumbs to follow.

  I’d be sure to check in with everyone and get a list from the super of those who weren’t home so I could follow up with them later. I needed as much information as possible.

  Mel wasn’t the type to make enemies. She was a home body. She didn’t even really work. I knew she did something for her caste. But that was Harpy business and she didn’t really ever talk about it. When I’d lived here, she would go out maybe three or four times a month max to handle “harpy crap” as she often referred to it.

  Could this be related to Harpy business?

  I scrubbed a hand over my face. Some friend I was. If this was Harpy business, I was screwed. She was literally the only Harpy I knew and had ever met.

  Why hadn’t I ever pried further? Why didn’t I needle my way into her life more?

  I sighed. Because I had secrets too and at the time I hadn’t wanted her to pry into mine.

  “Aria will find her.” Declan’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and I scowled at him.

  I wasn’t sure if I should be thrilled about his confidence in me or annoyed he was giving Ryan false hope. Declan knew better than to make promises. But I decided it didn’t matter. Melody was my friend. No one hurt my friends and got away with it.

  Ryan seemed to gather himself. His eyes red and bloodshot. He’d always had such a carefree vibe. This was a different side of him I wasn’t accustomed to seeing. He was a musician who brought home a different girl every night of the week. Much to Melody’s horror.

  I’d had no idea he felt anything for Melody beyond friendship and before today, I would have said friendship was too strong a word for what Ryan felt toward her.

  Right now his face was stoic but determined and he rose a few notches in my book.

  Life wasn’t fair but Melody deserved happiness. She deserved to know that the man she’d been pining over the last year did, in fact, care about her.

 
I had to find her. I had to fix this.

  Ryan stepped out of the room and stood in the doorway. He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to hide the moisture in his eyes.

  I hung back, letting him have his moment.

  “I need to make a few calls. I—” he exhaled on a harsh breath.

  He needed time alone to process all of this. I knew the feeling. But we didn’t have the luxury of time. The longer we took, the less of a chance we’d have of finding her.

  “I know this is hard.” I signaled for him to follow me into the kitchen and took a seat.

  Reluctantly Ryan sat, taking the seat across from me. “But I need to ask you a few questions and we need to create a timeline. When was the last time you saw Mel? Has she had any visitors? Has anyone that you didn’t recognize been by this week? Has her behavior been off in any way? I need you to tell me everything.”

  He sighed. He wanted to refuse, I could see it on his face. But after a few seconds he nodded and we got down to business.

  Twenty minutes later, I had all the information Ryan could give me and muttered a silent curse.

  I stared at my notepad in frustration. It wasn’t much but it would have to be enough.

  “Go home. Get some rest.”

  He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. “I don’t think I could sleep right now.”

  “You need to. You look like you just got in from a gig, am I right?”

  He nodded.

  “Alright then. You need sleep. You won’t be any help unless you’re at one hundred percent. Get some rest and sit tight.”

  He shook his head, a silent refusal. “I can’t just sit on my hands and do nothing.” A furrow formed between his brows and he turned away, his jaw clenched.

  “You won’t be. Keep your eyes and ears open. Whoever took her might come back. They might decide to clean up the scene. If anyone suspicious comes by, call me.”

  “You’ll find her, right?” The hushed whisper was filled with more despair than I could process. “I never had the chance to tell her…” he didn’t need to finish.

  I reached out and grasped his hand. “I’ll find her.”

  I was going to hell for this. I shouldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep, but I couldn’t handle Ryan falling apart in front of me either.

  I would find her. And who ever took her way going to pay.

  8

  After leaving the apartment, I headed to Sanborn Place and Declan headed out to take care of some Pack business he had in the city. We wouldn’t be having that lunch date after all.

  Disappointment wormed its way through me. With Melody missing, I didn’t have time to go on a date, but I was still royally bummed out about it.

  Declan and I never had any alone time. Living in the Compound with hundreds of shapeshifters made it difficult to ever spend quality time together. There was always a problem to fix or a dispute to settle. It came with being the Pack Alpha.

  I sighed. No point in dwelling on the drawbacks of mated life. It wasn’t like I could change them.

  Declan had given me the go-ahead to utilize any and all Pack resources. Since this was personal, not business, I had no issue taking him up on of his offering and dialed Brock Tarrow, head of Pack security’s phone number, asking him to meet me at my office.

  Brock was young. Only twenty-five years old, yet he’d managed to make himself one hell of an asset to the Pack, managing the Pack’s security like a well-oiled machine. His mind worked in surprising ways. He saw the little details most people would overlook. I could use someone like him to find Melody.

  Brock stood outside Sanborn Place waiting for me when I arrived, but he wasn’t alone. Standing beside him wearing an I’m too cool for school expression on his face was Caden Castillo.

  What the heck was he doing here?

  Caden was a ward of the Pack and barely over seventeen. We’d rescued him from the H.A.C.’s facilities where he’d experienced God only knew what.

  He still wasn’t talking about it. Not to me. Not to anyone else in the Pack as far as I knew.

  He and Inarus had developed a friendship of sorts given his role in the rescue but from my understanding, Inarus didn’t push Caden for details and Caden never offered any.

  A part of me hoped he was talking to someone. Anyone. The amount of baggage the kid carried could weigh down a linebacker and one of these days, it would catch up to him.

  I hadn’t seen him around Inarus’ room. Now that I thought about it, given how close they’d grown, that was surprising. But seeing him standing beside Brock, maybe it wasn’t all that odd after all.

  Both Brock and Caden were lion shifters. Brock might be taking Caden under his wing.

  I couldn’t complain about that. Caden could use all the positive male role models he could get. Being orphaned was no walk in the park. I’d lost my parents when I was Caden’s age too. It was no picnic but I was glad to see him forging connections within the Pack.

  I parked the Pack Hummer in the lower level parking garage and jogged up the stairs leading to the main entrance, my boots making wet slapping sounds against the rain soaked steps.

  “You got here fast,” I said as I unlocked the front doors.

  Brock slipped past me and I rolled my eyes. Stupid protective instincts. He walked inside and surveyed the room before turning back to face me.

  “We were already in the area.” He shrugged. “What have you got?”

  I threw my messenger bag on my desk and started up the coffee pot. “Melody is missing.”

  While the coffee brewed, I pulled out one of Melody’s shirts I’d taken from her apartment along with a few feathers and handed them over to Brock.

  “The Harpy friend?” He asked.

  “Mmmhmm.” I busied myself grabbing three coffee cups from the top cupboard and a bottle of vanilla creamer from the mini fridge. Personally, I liked my coffee black. Like my soul.

  Kidding. Well, maybe.

  But anyway, shifters didn’t drink coffee for the caffeine kick. They wanted flavor. So I kept vanilla creamer in the fridge those moments when a shapeshifter happened to stop by.

  Raising the shirt to his face, Brock inhaled Melody’s scent before passing the items to Caden, who did the same.

  I gave Brock a pointed look. One he chose to ignore.

  Was this take your teenager to work day or something? I didn’t think Brock of all people needed a reminder that Caden was still a kid but maybe …

  “Details?”

  I sighed. Maybe this was Brock’s way of bonding with Caden, making him feel included as a part of the Pack.

  “She was taken from her apartment. Forced entry, significant damage, and blood galore. She didn’t go willingly.”

  He nodded, his cognac eyes downcast and the gears in his head already turning.

  “I spoke with all of her neighbors who were home. No one heard or saw anything but based on what I can tell, there was a short window of time—maybe an hour or two—when the complex was virtually empty.”

  We were estimating she’d been taken early morning between six and seven A.M.

  The elderly couple living below had left early for a doctor’s appointment but said all was quiet when they left. Unfortunately, they both wore hearing aids and both admitted to only putting them in on their way out. I guess the enjoyed the quiet so their information wasn’t all that reliable.

  Ryan had been at a gig that night and had crashed with a friend until he’d sobered up enough to head home. One of the residents on Mel’s floor worked the night shift and didn’t get home until eight A.M. The other left for work at five A.M.

  I tracked him down by phone and he’d sworn he hadn’t heard anything either and that Melody’s door was firmly closed when he left.

  No one else had seen or heard anything that morning, and given that when Ryan came home around nine—and her door had been wide open when he arrived—she had to have been taken before that but after five A.M.

  If my guess was right, t
hen Melody had already been missing for five hours. We’d lucked out that Ryan had gotten home early. Under normal circumstances, he would have crashed until noon but for some reason he’d felt the urge to get home.

  Call it fate or luck. Either way, I wasn’t complaining.

  “Was Declan able to find anything?” he asked.

  I shook my head. Declan was a weretiger and cats weren’t known for their tracking abilities. Brock was a lion so his nose wouldn’t be much better but he also didn’t rely strictly on scent for tracking. “He picked up Melody’s scent and a few others, but he said they smelled old. The only new scents he’d picked up on were mine and Ryan’s.”

  Brock seemed to mull that over for a moment. “Alright. I’ll have a few of our wolves check it out.” He turned to Caden. “Head back to the Compound and pick up Devin and Delaney and take them down to the complex with you. I’ll give them both a call to expect you.”

  Caden nodded.

  Hold on a minute. “You’re sending Caden to the crime scene?” Was Brock out of his mind? What if the culprit came back? Caden could get hurt or worse.

  Brock gave me an assessing look. “I am.”

  “He’s just a kid,” I argued.

  Caden visibly stiffened but didn’t say anything. A smart kid. But still just a kid.

  “He’s hunter born. He doesn’t have the luxury of being sheltered. He needs experience, especially in tracking, and this is a good way to get some.” Brock folded his arms across his chest.

  “The Pack already has a Hunter.” I reminded him. And there was no way in hell I was going to sit by while they forced Caden into a position he was too young for. He was only seventeen, for chrissakes.

  A Pack’s Hunter was responsible for doling out Pack justice. They acted as the Pack executioner when an Alpha wasn’t present. Responsible for taking down any shifter stupid enough to go rogue whether they were friend, foe, or family.

  The thought of Caden having to kill someone … I shivered at the idea. He’d been through enough in his life as it was. Did Declan know about this? He couldn’t. There was no way he would have a child…