“Mm-hmm. Who?”
He was falling asleep, but that was okay. Rest was what he needed. “On Ingvar. Found an interesting change in her pattern of behavior. The kind of change that points to a few possible things going on. One being her identity was stolen. While giving that some thought, I came up with another idea.”
“Hmm.”
She smiled at his sleepy attempt to listen. “Go back to sleep, my brave wolf. I’ll fill you in later.”
“No.” His eyes opened a slit. “Another idea. What?”
“That Ingvar isn’t really Ingvar. Remember how you asked me if she’s always had those dark circles? Even you noticed without realizing it. I think another seer from our division, a woman who delved too deeply into the darker parts of our traditions, is behind all this.”
His eyes opened a little more. “Who?”
“Her name is Sola Skarsgard. She was dismissed for practicing the dark arts of her craft. Birdie is researching her. I’m hoping she finds some link that might connect her with Ingvar.”
“Is she powerful enough to build that circle?”
“She could be. I don’t know what happened to her after she was kicked out.”
“Does Ingvar know her?”
Jenna nodded. “Better than I do. They were in school together. Both studying to be seers.”
“Isn’t that a link?”
“It is. But not enough of one. Why would she suddenly take over Ingvar’s body to work all this dark magic? Why not just be herself? What does posing as Ingvar get her?”
Birdie pushed through the door, papers in hand. “I know what posing as Ingvar gets her. Closer to you, Jenna. Sola Skarsgard is definitely behind this, but that’s not her name anymore.”
“She changed it? That already sounds suspicious.”
Birdie shrugged. “She changed it because she got married. And now she lists herself as a widow.”
The small hairs on Jenna’s neck went up. “Birdie, what’s her married name?”
“Guddersen. Husband’s name was Leif. Does that mean anything to you?”
Jenna’s blood went cold, and Helgrind sent an angry whine through her bones. She pushed to her feet. “Yes. That’s the berserker who became a mercenary. The berserker I was tasked with eliminating. The very one who’s come back as a wraith to do the same to me.”
Titus struggled to get up. The wolfsbane still had more control of his body than he did, making every movement a battle. He pushed to his elbows, raising himself as much as he could. “They’re working together.”
Jenna came to his side. “I have no doubt they are, but that’s not your concern right now. You need to rest and kick this poison out of your system so you can be a hundred percent again. Come on, lie down.”
Birdie nodded. “Titus, honey, she’s right. I know you want to help, but you’re not in a position to do that. You’ve got to rest.”
“Women,” he muttered as he fell back against the pillows. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would have been able to hold himself up anyway. His head was spinning ever so slightly. “The two of you are so bossy.”
Birdie laughed. “If you’re listening, that’s all that matters.”
He looked at Jenna. “I’m sure you agree with her.”
She crossed her arms. “Yes, I do. Your health comes first.”
“You realize you can’t leave the hospital either.”
She smiled at him, uncrossing her arms to plant her hands on the edge of his bed and lean in. “I do, but I also know that means more time with you.”
He smiled back at her. It was hard not to when she was being this sweet. And he was madly in love with her, a truth that couldn’t be denied. “That’s very kind, and I appreciate it, but the full moon is coming. We’re running out of time.” Although he was starting to care less about being permanently bonded to her. Yes, it would make their lives harder, but at the same time, this incredible woman would always be with him.
If that wasn’t a win, winning no longer existed.
“I know, Titus. But I can work on things from here. It’s not like I’m going to be sitting around idle.”
“It won’t be the same. You’ll be hampered. Speaking of…” He glanced at the IV in his arm. “This seems unnecessary.”
Birdie clucked her tongue. “No, it isn’t. It’s speeding up the detox process. You remember when Ivy had the incident with wolfsbane? Being in the hospital made all the difference.”
“But she ingested it. I was only exposed to it.”
The look Birdie gave him said that made no difference. “And for all we know, your exposure was worse.”
She was a stubborn old woman, but he knew she had his best interests at heart. “Aunt Birdie, I’m not asking to go to the firehouse. Just home. It would be easier for Jenna to get things done from there. Please, get the doctor. I want to be discharged.”
Birdie looked at Jenna. The nerve. Like Jenna was in charge of his recovery. He was a grown man, fully capable of—a wave of nausea and weakness came over him. He suddenly exhaled, hard, like he’d taken a hard punch to the gut.
Jenna’s eyes narrowed. “Are you okay? You’re white as a sheet.” She put her hand on his head. “I think your fever is spiking.”
She nodded at Birdie. “We definitely need the doctor.”
“I’ll get him.” Birdie ran out the door.
Jenna bent and kissed his forehead, then pressed her cheek to his. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to get through this. You have to. I need you.”
He put his hand on the back of her neck and turned to kiss her cheek. “I need you, too, Jenna. Thank you for being here with me. I know you don’t have a choice, but…”
She pulled back a little so he could see her face. “There’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be than with you. Although there are other locations I’d prefer.”
“Me too.” He smiled up at his beautiful valkyrie.
Birdie returned with Dr. Navarro. “Chief Merrow, how are you feeling?”
“A little nauseous. And warm.”
Dr. Navarro scanned Titus’s forehead with the infrared thermometer. He checked the readout and nodded. “One-oh-three. I’ll have a nurse give you something for the nausea. The best prescription I can give you right now is rest. Sleep will make this easier.”
“I can sleep at home. I’d like to be discharged.” But he already knew the answer.
Dr. Navarro shook his head. “I’m not discharging you until your fever’s gone.”
Titus sighed. “Understood.”
With a nod, Dr. Navarro left.
Titus growled softly. “I hate this.”
“I know, honey.” Birdie patted his leg. “We’ll just set up a command center here.”
“Doesn’t Hank need you at the department?”
“Yes, and that’s where I’ll be. But not until I bring Jenna a laptop she can work on.”
“Thank you,” Jenna said.
Birdie nodded. “What else do you need?”
“Laptop and charger. Pen and paper. Phone charger wouldn’t hurt either.” She tapped her fingers on the bed. “I’m sure I’m forgetting something.”
“Breakfast, anyone?” Bridget walked in, carrying a shopping bag from Mummy’s Diner in one hand and a drink tray in the other.
“Doesn’t that smell good?” A nurse came in behind her with a syringe.
“No,” Titus groused. Not only was he burning up, but feeling like he might barf at any moment was making him grouchy.
The nurse went right to Titus’s IV line and injected the solution into the port. “This should help with the nausea.”
“Oh, sorry,” Bridget said. “Are you sick to your stomach, Titus?”
“A little.”
Bridget’s brows went up. “Just a little? Because you sound ready to snap. You want me to take this food out?”
He took a breath and tried to exhale some of his bad mood. “No, Jenna needs to eat. And I’ll feel better in a minute, right?” He l
ooked at the nurse.
She nodded. “You should, yes. Need anything else?”
“No, thanks.”
“Call if you do.” She left.
Bridget didn’t come any closer with the food. Thankfully. She looked at Jenna. “I’m sorry about the way I reacted in the woods, Jenna. I was mad that Titus got hurt, but that wasn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
“What did I miss?” Titus asked.
“Just your sister being worried about you.” Jenna smiled at him before looking at Bridget. “Thank you, Bridget. I really appreciate that.”
“So we’re friends again?”
Jenna nodded. “We are if there’s a cinnamon roll in that bag.”
Bridget laughed. “Is there any other reason to go to Mummy’s?”
Jenna winked at Titus.
He winked back, the pull of sleep almost too much to ignore.
“Hey,” Jenna said softly. “Why don’t we take this down to the visiting room? I think I can make it that far without the binding spell kicking in. Titus needs to sleep.”
Birdie nodded. “And I need to go get your things. I’ll walk with you.”
“Okay,” Bridget said. “See you later, bro.”
“Bye, honey,” Birdie said.
“Back soon,” Jenna added.
“Later,” he whispered, eyes already closed. He drifted off, unable to do anything else.
The visiting room had a small dining area with three round tables. Jenna and Bridget set up at one of those, but Birdie didn’t sit.
“You girls enjoy your breakfast. I should run and get that stuff for Jenna.”
Jenna pushed a chair out with her foot. “You can stay for a little bit. Twenty minutes isn’t going to change anything. Come on, eat with us. Besides, we need to make a plan.”
“Yeah,” Bridget said. “Plus, I got a ton of food.”
She had too. Pancakes in three varieties—peach, chocolate chip, and plain. A side each of bacon and sausage links. Two cinnamon rolls, which might have been overkill, considering they were the size of dinner plates. Two breakfast platters of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits. And a yogurt parfait with fruit and granola.
She also had a tray of coffees and two bottles of orange juice.
Birdie hesitated. Then sat. “All right, but just for a few minutes.”
Jenna nodded. “We have a lot of work to do, I know that. But fueling up will help. All right, let’s figure out what needs to be done.”
Bridget dumped the packets of utensils in the middle of the table, and they dug in. Jenna went for the peach pancakes and a couple of strips of bacon, plus a coffee. Birdie and Bridget took the breakfast platters and the OJ.
“Okay,” Bridget said. “Where do we start?”
“With Alice,” Jenna answered. “I need to talk to her. She said if she knew who built the spell, it would make it easier for her to undo it. I will tell her everything I know about Sola. It isn’t much, but at the very least, Alice will know the origin of the magic used against us. That has to be worth something.”
“Okay,” Birdie said. “That’s a phone call. And one you should make in about an hour. I don’t think Alice is an early riser, and it’s still plenty early. You could try her now, but I’m pretty sure it’d just go to voicemail.”
“Voicemail is fine. At least she’ll know I’m trying to reach her.” Jenna took her phone out and tapped Alice’s name on her contacts list. The phone rang four times before going to voicemail. She nodded at Birdie and pointed at her phone, mouthing the word voicemail while she listened to Alice’s brief message. Then she spoke. “Hi, Alice, it’s Deputy Blythe. I know who built the spell. A disgraced seer by the name of Sola Skarsgard, now Guddersen. Please call me and let me know what else you need to know about her that will be helpful. Thank you.”
Jenna hung up. “That’s done.”
“Good,” Birdie said.
Jenna went back to her food. She cut into her pancakes with her plastic fork and knife. “Birdie, do you think you can do more of your computer magic and find out where Sola is staying? She never told me. Which brings me to the matter of Ingvar.”
Bridget reached for the little packets of salt and pepper. “That’s the woman you met at Howler’s?”
“Yes. At least on the outside.” Jenna stared at the triangle of food on the end of her fork. “I don’t know what it takes to possess someone the way Sola has possessed Ingvar. What kind of damage it does. Sola must be a very powerful seer.” She had a terrible sinking feeling about the whole thing. “I hope my friend is still alive, but I’m not sure.”
Bridget’s eyes held a world of sympathy. “We’ll find out. We’ll get Hank on this as soon as Birdie figures out where they are.”
“You know…” Jenna put her fork down and pulled out her phone again. “I was texting with Ingvar before I knew what was going on. So really, I was texting with Sola, I guess. Birdie, let’s get that cell number tracked.”
“On it, so long as she hasn’t turned the phone off and pulled the SIM card.”
“Let’s hope. But first, let me give this a shot.” She took a moment, formulated her thoughts, then dashed off a quick text to the number she’d thought was Ingvar’s. What happened? Are you okay? We need to talk.
She set her phone down next to her food. She hated playing dumb, but it was worth it if it got her a response. “Let’s see if she replies and, if she does, what she says.”
“The sun is barely over the horizon,” Birdie said. “Do you think the evil get up this early?”
Jenna chuckled. “I know it’s a long shot.”
“I bet she doesn’t reply,” Bridget said. “For one thing, she knows you’re not stupid. That you’ve by now figured out she’s not only gone to the dark side, but she married it. Even if she thinks you still believe she’s Ingvar, at this point you’d have some serious problems with Ingvar’s behavior.”
“We all do,” Birdie said around a mouthful of home fries.
“That’s the other thing.” Bridget pointed at Birdie with her fork. “Sola saw us all there last night. Not only didn’t Titus keep his distance, he brought three other wolves along with him.”
That gave Jenna an idea. “Hey, wolves have highly attuned senses of smell. Could you guys track Sola down and figure out where she’s staying that way?”
Bridget glanced at Birdie before answering. “We already tried that. Birdie and I went back to the circle as soon as we knew Titus was going to be all right.”
“You did? The runes are still open. Did you see the wraith? Or any wraith?”
Birdie sighed. “No wraiths, but the site is so saturated with wolfsbane, we couldn’t get closer than twenty feet before our sinuses started burning.” She frowned, and her eyes lit with the golden wolfy glow that Jenna had come to appreciate. “We’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Research and police intuition.”
Jenna’s phone vibrated. She flipped it over and read the new text.
You’re right. We do need to talk.
Jenna stared at her phone screen in disbelief. “You guys. She answered.”
“Who?” Birdie asked. “Sola? Or Alice.”
“Sola. As Ingvar.” Jenna chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t know if I should take that to mean she doesn’t think I know who she really is, or if she’s fishing to see what I know, or maybe even trying to set me up, but I can’t let this opportunity pass by.”
Bridget looked confused. “How are you going to do anything about it? You can’t be more than a hundred feet away from Titus, and he’s not going anywhere for a while. And even when he gets out of here, he’s still not going to be in fighting shape.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely a problem.” Jenna thought out loud. “If I learned anything from last night’s experience, it’s that Leif’s wraith form continues to get stronger. Wraiths generally can only exist in dark places until they get stronger, but Leif’s got Sola working with him. As badly as he want
s my sword, there’s a very good chance they could hunt me down here at the hospital. They won’t care what collateral damage they cause.”
“Great,” Bridget said.
“Exactly. I’d much rather control the location where that battle happens.” Jenna ate a bite of pancake. “Wolfsbane takes twenty-four hours to clear a wolf’s system?”
“Typically,” Birdie answered. “It may not take quite as long with him since he didn’t ingest it. He probably inhaled some, though, so it might be six of one, a half dozen of the other.”
Jenna’s brows rose. “Any way to speed that up, other than the fluids he’s getting?”
“Not really.” Bridget put her fork down, picked up her OJ, and looked at Birdie. “Unless you know some ancient wolfy secrets about dealing with wolfsbane that I don’t.”
“I wish I did,” Birdie said. “But we need to think about this. If we’re going to run some kind of sting on Sola, deal with this wraith, and try to save Ingvar, we have to find a way to at least make Titus mobile.” She glanced behind her at the other people in the visiting area. “We do not want some kind of magical showdown happening in the hospital.”
“No, we don’t.” Jenna frowned. “Especially not with the havoc a wraith can cause.”
Birdie looked at Bridget. “You think your brother will help?”
“Titus? I’m sure he’ll do anything to go home.”
“I meant Hank.”
Bridget shrugged. “He might not be happy about it, but I’m sure he will if it means less trouble later.”
“Which it would,” Jenna said. “If we win. We’re in a war now. We have to go forward with that mentality.”
Bridget frowned. “I might be a werewolf, but I’m also just an ordinary restaurant owner. I’m not a battle-trained warrior woman like you.”
Jenna gave her a quick smile. “Understood. And I wouldn’t expect anyone else to do the heavy lifting. But you’re also a strong, capable werewolf. And the bottom line is, I can’t do this alone.”
Bridget nodded. “Just tell us what to do.”
The Werewolf Dates the Deputy Page 19
