by Michele Hauf
He was actually glad Jacques wouldn’t be accompanying him today, because the place he had to visit, he wanted to go to alone. And face the man alone. His father.
He eyed the necklace he’d found in the abandoned shed. Too familiar. And though it had been years since he’d spoken face-to-face with his father, the faintest tendril of his scent lingered about the chain.
Was Colin Sauveterre in pack Royaume? He didn’t want to believe his father could be involved in the V trafficking, but if Colin was still involved with a demoness, anything was possible. The last time Kir had spoken to him—eight years ago?—he was still seeing Ed’s mother, Sophie. Things could have changed since then.
Kir hoped they had and that Colin wasn’t involved with demons or selling V.
Should he have asked Ed to come along with him today? When they’d initially found each other after Colin had told Kir about his half brother, they’d shared little about family life and more about casual stuff, best local bars, things they preferred in women, cars. But over the years Ed had dropped info about Colin and Sophie. That they were living in the 12th arrondissement. He visited them sometimes but not often.
Kir had listened with a sinking heart. Ed had a better relationship with his father than he did. Perhaps that was the real reason he couldn’t embrace his half brother without judgment.
Now he pulled the Lexus up in front of the small house in the 12th that edged the 11th arrondissement and sat not too far from the Port de Plaisance de Paris-Arsenal that fed north from the Seine. Mere blocks from the Opéra Bastille, the neighborhood was strictly humans. And the one werewolf.
His father had once said the best place to hide was in plain sight.
Kir agreed with that. To a point. He existed alongside humans and so had to walk among them, but he knew it was wiser to hide his truths than invite the retaliation the humans would reap should they begin to believe in such creatures.
Approaching the purple door that fronted the narrow two-story his father lived in, Kir picked up the scent of sulfur. And his heart dropped. This was going to be the toughest visit of his life.
* * *
Bea found the pack compound with ease because Kir had driven by it many a time and, once, he’d brought her in when he’d needed to talk to his principal. Etienne was a nice man, and when around him she’d sensed no hatred from him regarding her being a half-breed. But at the time she had only been inside the compound for minutes and hadn’t been introduced to anyone else.
Kir had told her he’d be in and out because the investigation required he do a lot of footwork, but if she was hungry around noon she should stop in for lunch. She’d bagged a meal she’d made herself. Salami sandwiches and fresh-cut cantaloupe. She’d spread mustard on the bread, which she hoped Kir liked. A sprinkle of cinnamon over the mustard had added a sweetness that satisfied her taste buds.
She was admitted into the compound with a nod from the woman who sat in the lobby. Bea was pretty sure her name was Violet. The plain brick building could be mistaken as a business that mortals might visit. Though there were no signs indicating what it might be, Kir said a few humans did wander in on occasion. Thus, the receptionist was positioned out front to redirect them elsewhere.
“Is Kir in?” Bea asked as she strolled around Violet’s desk toward the hallway that led to the inner sanctum.
“I’m not sure. I didn’t see him leave, so you might get lucky and find him. I like the color of your dress.”
Bea clutched the salmon swish of skirt that went all the way past her knees and didn’t cling. “Thanks!” She’d specifically chosen something not low cut and had worn flat-soled sandals in anticipation of running into the monster-in-law—er, mother-in-law.
Bea couldn’t help a giggle at her moniker for Madeline. She could entirely understand why Kir’s father had felt the need to leave the marriage if she was such a stick-in-the-mud. But he’d left her for a demon?
Interesting. She wondered how Kir felt about that coincidence. His father had apparently loved a demon enough to end his marriage. And now the son was married to a possible half demon. That fact must kill him.
Bea shook her head. “Don’t go there. I will never be to Kir what Madeline’s rival was to his father.” Whatever that was.
She spun into Kir’s small office and found it empty. No handsome wolf sitting behind the desk, sleeves pushed to his elbows to expose muscled forearms. She’d entirely expected a scene out of one of those TV shows with all the letters—like CSI or NCIS, or whatever it was. Her shoulders sank. She set the paper bag on his desk and sat on his spinning chair. Maybe he’d show if she waited. That would give her time to snoop.
* * *
Kir knocked on his father’s front door. In his pants pocket, he clutched the chain and pendant he’d found in the amusement park shed. He didn’t want to do this. He’d avoided this confrontation for years. Since he’d been eight years old?
The door opened and the man he could never forgive for abandoning him smiled widely, his pale blue eyes crinkling in joy. “It’s been so long, Kirnan. Come in, come in!”
The old man looked the same, as he probably would for another hundred years before time started to show with wrinkles and gray hair. There were days Kir envied the humans for their short life spans. They only had to endure family for so long.
And then he regretted having that thought. He didn’t hate his father. Their relationship was simply distant and strained. It seemed they never had much to talk about. And it always felt like something new and awkward every time. So long as he didn’t flaunt his demon girlfriend in Kir’s presence, he could deal.
Hell, really? No, not really.
Colin Sauveterre led him into a bright living room with comfy leather sofa and chairs. A big-screen TV hung on one wall and artwork depicting odd geometrical designs mastered the two parallel walls. He’d never taken his father for an art lover. And the delicate glass vase on the coffee table? Hmm...a woman’s touch.
Kir clenched his fingers into fists.
“It’s always too long between visits, Kir,” Colin said as he gestured Kir sit in one of the chairs.
Really? It had been nearly a decade since he’d last seen the man in person. “You do know where to find me, Dad,” he offered, finding it difficult to release his fists.
“The compound? I’m never sure if your mother will be there.”
“You also know where I live. Mom rarely comes by my house.”
“Again, I can’t risk that encounter. Besides, I don’t want to intrude on your life. I know how you feel about me.”
Hearing it spoken so matter-of-factly tightened the muscles at the back of Kir’s neck even as it splayed his fingers into grasping claws. But he wasn’t about to feel guilty for real feelings. Maybe.
“It’s good to see you now. What brings you here?” Colin sat while Kir remained standing.
“I’m on an investigation for the enforcement team,” he said.
“Another pack engaging in the blood games?” Colin wondered, then shook his head. “Vampires are certainly not my favorite breed, but that doesn’t give me, or any other wolf, the right to harm them for fun and profit.”
Yes, Colin had instilled in Kir that sense of honor, that all breeds were equal. And, yet, Kir had not followed that teaching after learning his father had left his mother for a demon. A child’s heart is a fragile thing and not something that could be easily mended.
“It’s something different this time,” he said. Crossing his arms over his chest, he strode to the window to scan outside. There was no yard to speak of and the next building was an arm’s reach away. “You know about V-hubs, Dad?”
Colin shook his head and stroked his Vandyke-style beard. “No. Should I? Why are you here if you say you are on an investigation? Am I under suspicion? Son, you know how I feel about the blood games.”
“Dad, do you recognize this?”
Kir held the chain with the iron circle before him. His father gasped, then caught hi
mself and stood.
“Looks like something I once owned,” Colin said with a shrug. “Lost it, though. There must be any number of such things out there. Certainly I know it was not an original. Are you accusing me of something, Kir?”
“This necklace—” he set the chain on the coffee table “—was found at an abandoned V-hub. An ever-moving, mobile hotspot where V is sold.”
“V?”
Was he really going to play it this way? Kir knew that was the very necklace his father used to wear all the time. Because it still bore his scent.
“V is vampire blood. Demons buy it, or so I’m learning. They drink directly from the vamp and get some kind of euphoric high from the infusion of human bloods mixed in the vamp’s system. Jacques and I talked to one of those vampires who managed to escape. He told us it was demons, but we also have reason to believe a pack could be involved.”
“And you are accusing my pack of such a crime? Pack Royaume is discreet and small. They follow me. I would never condone such a crime as harming another for profit. You know that!”
He did know his father possessed that kind of honor. Or so he once had. And Colin had just verified for him that he was in pack Royaume. How had a lone wolf managed to be accepted by another pack? Kir knew nothing about the man now.
At that moment the front door opened and in breezed a woman who pulled a blue silk scarf from her long brown hair. Her eyes brightened at the sight of Kir and he nodded to her, even as his spine stiffened in disgust.
“Sophie,” he acknowledged his father’s girlfriend. A demoness. Edamite’s mother. The reason his father had abandoned him when he was eight.
“Kir, it’s been so long. I’m so pleased you’ve stopped by. Isn’t it wonderful, Colin?” She strode over to his father and kissed him on the cheek. “I won’t bother you two. You must have so much to talk about. I’ll bring in some lemonade, yes? Oh!” She bent to pick up the necklace from the coffee table. “You see, Colin? Here it is. I told you it would show up. He thought I’d lost it,” she said to Kir as she strode out into the kitchen.
Kir swung a look to his father, whose jaw was tight.
“I think it’s time you leave, boy,” Colin said. The scent of his rising aggression grew obvious.
Fists tight again, Kir faced down his father. “Tell me what’s going on, Dad.”
“Trust me when I say I have no clue. But I will. Soon enough.” They maintained a tense stare. Kir wasn’t about to back down. So he was surprised when his father did. “Please. Will you leave me to talk to Sophie?”
He shouldn’t. Sophie had just put herself at the scene of the crime by claiming the necklace. But Kir sensed his father was telling him the truth and that he didn’t know what was going on.
“I’ll have to keep an eye on the house,” he said. “Standard procedure.”
“You are your mother’s child, Kir. Always playing by the rules. The pack is everything. Dare to take a chance on life, will you? I promise it will reward you richly.”
Kir strode to the door and gripped the doorknob. “I have taken a chance. I was married recently. Part of an arranged agreement between the pack and the Unseelie king.”
“You allowed yourself to be forced into marriage? How is that taking a chance on life, boy?”
“It’s working out well.” And he smiled, because Bea was one awesome thing in his life right now. That chance he’d taken? It had paid off. “I’ll be in touch soon. Know that you and Sophie will be tracked wherever you go.”
Colin heaved out a sigh. “I’ll come to you if there’s anything you need to know. I promise you that.”
Kir nodded and left his father’s house. If Sophie was running the V-hubs behind Colin’s back, and utilizing his pack to do so, he certainly hoped Colin would do the right thing and walk away from her.
* * *
At the sound of a female rapping her long fingernails on the desktop, Bea sat up from snooping in the bottom drawer of Kir’s desk.
“Uh, monst—er, Madeline.” She kicked the drawer shut and clutched the paper bag with Kir’s lunch in it.
The woman’s blond hair curved over one eye, giving her a smoking temptress look that did not jibe with her high-collared, all-business navy blue pantsuit. “Are you rifling through my son’s private things?”
“Uh, no.” Well, yes, but. “Just blank paper and envelopes in there.”
“You were looking for something, you filthy faery.”
“I—” Bea snapped her mouth shut. The look in Madeline’s eye was too familiar. Malrick had used it often. Condemning. Hateful. She wanted to cringe and hide in the shadows, but none were available in the bright office. “I brought Kir some lunch,” she managed, though it took all her courage not to cry.
“Smells like mustard,” Madeline said. “Kir hates mustard. You don’t pay attention to your husband, do you? What are you good for? Who let you into the compound?”
“I...uh...” Could she run?
“Give me that.” Madeline snatched the bag. “If Kir smells this, he’ll retch. He’s out on an enforcement call, so you should leave.”
“I was going to wait—er, yes.” Madeline stepped aside, a hand to her hip. With escape in view, Bea wasn’t about to stay and participate in a losing battle. She slipped out the doorway and scampered down the hallway.
All she could think was Kir had the mustard in his icebox so he must like it. And then she wanted to unfurl her wings and fly swiftly down the hallway, but with a look over her shoulder she spied Madeline watching her retreat, the lunch bag crushed in her grip.
Violet called goodbye to her as she ran out the front door. Racing down the street, Bea’s tears slid across her cheeks.
* * *
Kir found Bea curled up on the easy chair, gazing out the window at the rain streaming down the glass. She had clothes on. He had to admit that was a little disappointing.
When he sat on the chair arm, she sighed heavily.
“Bad day?” he asked.
“Terrible. I went to the compound to bring you lunch.”
“You did?” He kissed the crown of her head. “I’m sorry—if I had known, I would have waited for you. I probably just missed you.”
“Yeah, well, your mother didn’t miss me. In fact, she wishes to miss me a lot. She’s just...not nice.”
“Give her time.”
“You say that like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.”
“I know it’s not. Parents can be...difficult.”
He slid onto the chair and managed to pull her onto his lap in the process. Bea hugged him and tilted her head against his chest. “Tell me about your day, my big strong wolf.”
“It was probably as challenging as yours was.”
“Oh, I doubt that. But, then, mustard wouldn’t have killed you.”
“Mustard?”
Bea sighed again. “Just tell me about your day?”
“Jacques and I have been investigating a case that involves a pack and demons selling vampire blood. It’s complicated. But our investigation led me to Colin Sauveterre today.”
She lifted her head and met his gaze. “That’s the same surname as yours.”
“My father. He’s...” Kir shook his head. “I don’t know if he’s involved, but I think his girlfriend is. She’s demon. I don’t like her. Never have.”
“Because she is the reason your father left you when you were little?”
He nodded. Swallowed. “If she is going behind my father’s back...”
The stroke of Bea’s fingers over his beard gentled his growing anxiety and Kir bowed his head against her hair. He didn’t want to talk about work or his father. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he learned Colin was really involved.
“Can I get lost in you?” he murmured. “Forever?”
“I will certainly let you try. Kiss me, lover. Let me distract your thoughts from dire things.”
He tilted his head and she met his mouth in a firm and lingering kiss. It
tingled and warmed and it didn’t move or try to open his mouth. It didn’t have to. Their connection was solid. And Kir knew he had found something wonderful in his pretty faery wife.
Chapter 16
A week later Kir hadn’t heard from his father. He’d told Bea that could be a good thing or a really bad thing. The watch they’d put on Colin’s house hadn’t turned up anything suspicious, which only made Kir nervous. Bea felt awful for him that his father may be the very criminal he sought. She hoped it wasn’t so. But all she could do was hug him when he came home at night and make love to him before they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Now she sat on the end of the bed. The house was quiet. Kir was away at work. Afternoon sunlight filtered through the window in cool shadows. A weariness she’d never before felt gave her reason to draw her senses inward to do a sort of mental check on her body. And...she sensed something new.
So could that be the reason that drinking Kir’s blood from a goblet hadn’t seemed to perk her up? Why she wasn’t able to fully access her faery magic to make the flowers grow? Because she was...
Bea spread a palm over her belly. It was flat, yet she felt a tickle within, in her very center. And while she’d never been in this condition before, she sensed a certain knowing. Something beyond herself had entered her life. And it stirred within her.
Was she?
She got up and padded into the bathroom to study her naked profile in the mirror. To imagine having Kir’s child was— She’d never given it thought. But to consider it now made her smile.
His species thrived on family. And Kir would want more than anything to have a big brood. Could she give him that family?
Her smile fell and she turned away from the mirror, shaking her head. “It could be faery. Or could be wolf. It could be half and half. Or...it might be demon. He could never handle that.”
Could she?
“Hey, Short Stick!”
