“Confidence is something that people are drawn to, and I have it. It’s the reason you’re good at your job and people gravitate to you. I guess in a way we’re quite similar.” He beamed. “I’m the prettier of the two of us.”
“And I’m the more modest,” I countered.
The low rumble of his chuckle filled the room. “Perhaps. Insecurity or self-effacement would not serve me well as Alpha, nor should it.” Asher lifted his lips into a smile, his pale-gray eyes full of the undeniable Alpha intensity. “Do you believe my confidence is unearned?” he asked.
The question gave me a moment of pause. I could think what I wanted about Asher, but he did what was necessary to protect his pack. He built a network of contingencies to guard them in the event that humans or supernaturals turned against him. He never relied on the support or assistance of supernaturals because the shifters felt the supernaturals hadn’t been advocates for them in the past.
Alphas shared the same qualities, toeing the imperceptible line between confidence and arrogance. They crossed it often. It was that confidence and dedication to succeeding and protecting their pack at all costs that earned them a loyalty I didn’t see in other sects.
Neri and Adalia wanted to stop Ian, like Asher, but Asher went to Dante’s Forest with me. They offered the service of their guards, those who were committed to protecting the king and queen, whereas Asher, the leader, protected those who were in his pack. There was a distinct difference in the way each group operated.
When Asher took over as Alpha of the Northwest Pack, it was his leadership and long-term thinking that led the pack to become a corporation, giving them a stake in society and more power. So, his confidence was earned. The arrogance, on the other hand, he could definitely benefit from bringing down a notch or two. Maybe by fifty percent. No, seventy-five would be good. A solid ninety would be perfect.
“I think you’re a good Alpha,” I admitted.
After several moments of companionable silence, he said, “And I think you’re a great death mage. There’s hardly ever any death around you,” he teased. He just didn’t know the struggle.
We shared a smile and as I sipped from my water glass I cast a furtive look in his direction, only to find him doing the same.
“Why didn’t Sherri come with us?” I asked, not only curious but desperate for the looks between us to stop. I wasn’t sure how we’d gotten to that strange place, but I wanted to exit fast.
“We split duties.” His silver eyes were steely and heavy. “She’s following leads on the Xios and other things.”
“Other things? Like what?”
There was a slight twitch in the muscles of his forearm. The companionable silence became weighted. After several moments of silence I finally said, “You can trust me, Asher, you know you can.”
“If it were just my business to tell, I wouldn’t have an issue discussing it. Our history has earned you that.”
Had it? It was contemptuous for the past year. It wasn’t mutual disdain, just me seething with anger at the very sight or mention of his name.
Awareness dawned. “Sherrie doesn’t trust me,” I said, shocked.
Doing a quick inventory of our interactions, I couldn’t remember anything that warranted her distrust of me. “Did you tell her you suspect it was Cory who released Ian?”
His head barely moved into the nod.
“Why would you do that?” Despite my efforts, my tone was razor-sharp.
“She had the right to know who was responsible.”
“You didn’t know for sure. It was just speculation.”
He took a long draw from his glass, taking a contemplative look into it, before he finally lifted his eyes to meet mine.
“I knew the moment I asked you. I could tell when you spoke. You were protecting someone. There are two people you would trust to be with you during that: Madison and Cory. Madison can’t do spells. That left Cory. When I asked you yesterday, I wondered if you’d continue to lie to me.”
“I wasn’t lying to you, I was protecting Cory,” I disputed. Although I did lie to him to protect Cory. “Telling Sherrie makes it seem like he did it on purpose and you know damn well he didn’t mean to do it. It could just as easily have been me.”
“Then you would have been culpable as well, and to her, your association with him makes you untrustworthy.”
That was more sobering than the water I drank. Putting the glass down on the table, I moved over to the chair directly in front of him. My eyes met his and held them, something very difficult to do with a shifter, even harder with an Alpha. No matter how warm they were, the moment the look seemed like a challenge, something dark, predacious, and vicious rose in their eyes. No amount of shoring of confidence adequately matched it. Eventually I gave up.
“You’re being unfair and irrational. It wasn’t intentional.”
“Intentional or not, does it make him any less to blame?” he asked in earnest. I knew this was coming from a place of frustration, anger, insurmountable despair. Great tragedies often originate from those dark dwellings. Muscles around his neck bulged from him clenching his jaw.
“Intent always determines responsibility,” I countered.
That earned me a glower of incredulity. “Really? ‘Intent determines responsibility.’ Hmm. I believe this is where we part regarding philosophy.”
“Asher, how many times will we have this conversation?”
He and Sherrie could have their distorted views. If it didn’t affect Cory, I’d mark them down as peculiar shifter policies and never think of it again. But this belief could have real-life consequences for Cory, and I had to do what I could to mitigate it.
Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair, disheveling it. “I don’t hold anything against Cory. Him coming here has satisfied his debt to me and my pack, but I can’t speak for Sherrie or make her trust you. Magic should be handled responsibly, and he didn’t. He did a spell that released Ian from the Veil. Why would Cory want him here?”
“It wasn’t to release Ian. It was to see the Veil and possibly visit it. He was curious after I told him about my experience there.”
“You’re able to go through the Veil?”
“It’s a long story,” I said dismissively.
“We have time.”
I glanced at my phone on the table. It seemed like we had been in the air longer, but it had only been an hour.
“Just as I keep your confidences, I must keep those of others. But I’ll tell you what I can, if you make a promise to me.”
“What’s that?”
Shifters have many flaws, but loyalty and honoring their promises wasn’t one of them. They weren’t tricksters either, wording things in a way that would allow verbal gymnastics to avoid compliance. They were a direct bunch and expected the same from others.
“You have some influence. Cory isn’t responsible for this and no one can retaliate against him. None of the shifters. No friends of shifters, allies. No one. Do we understand each other?”
White-hot anger had entered my voice, which had the opposite of my intended effect. It sounded like I had challenged Asher. Bad move.
“Erin, that hardly sounds like a request but a demand. I would go as far as to say a threat.”
My voice softened, losing the edge and heat. “I’m trying to make an arrangement with you. Do we have a deal?”
He nodded once.
“There are some people I can borrow magic from without any consequences. As I thought it would be with you.”
“And you can see the Veil?”
I nodded. “And travel through it.”
“The people you are borrowing magic from are . . .?”
“A confidence I must keep.”
Mephisto was strangely secretive about his magic to the point of practicing discretion when using it because magic left a fingerprint that often could be linked to the user.
Another nod showed understanding. I would keep his secrets as I would keep others. The shared
information eased the tension in him. I relaxed in the chair and decided I wanted more wine. I was confident that Cory was safe from shifter retaliation, but I still felt as if I had an unspoken debt to the shifters that I must satisfy. Perhaps it was guilt, but I had to find a way to break the magical hold Ian had over the shifters.
CHAPTER 11
Was Asher being irrational? He had every right to be upset, but with the situation, not Cory. Needing a distraction, I repositioned the cold pack on my shoulder and leg and started flipping through my spell books, going over the same spells as if they would change. There wasn’t anything that worked as well as the Xios to send Ian back. I hadn’t found a spell to remove his immunity to iron either, and that had become my primary focus.
Frustrated with my unsuccessful search, it seemed like the only option was to make a deal with a demon, and I wasn’t that desperate. Yet. It was a demon spell that led to Ian’s immunity to iron. Demons don’t usually reward until they’ve enjoyed living in your body throughout the agreed-upon time. Once summoned, they are limited to staying in the summoning circle. Once the payment is decided upon, your agreement and blood—because all dark magic begins with blood—allows them to become corporeal to inhabit the host. Ian killed the demon after he was rewarded. Hosting a demon is taxing on the body, but Ian was still strong enough to brave the demon circle where the demon was corporeal, and kill him.
A wave of panic flooded me. I’d never been without options. Scrolling through the pictures on my phone, I looked over all the objects Asher had, then I went to the pictures of the dragons’ collection, whom I’d met after I was hired to retrieve items stolen during a poker game. The dragons and I had a strained relationship built on mistrust—needless to say, it wasn’t a thriving or healthy one. They were a source. Sort of.
Like me, the dragons found things too. Unfortunately, they found things in a person’s home, and they helped the person lose the things. They had stolen from the wrong people, which was when I was brought in. When I needed to find a D’Siren for Victoria, the dragons saved me a trip across the country by having one in their possession. On the first job, I had taken a picture of their hoard of treasures; that was weeks ago, and I was positive they would have more by now. The pictures were taken so quickly, I wasn’t sure if it adequately showed their inventory.
Finding rogues was always easier than finding magical objects. People are just snitches by nature—not out of malice but because they assumed that if a bounty hunter, which most people considered me to be, was looking for someone, that person had done something wrong and should be off the streets and made to answer for their wrongdoing.
Magical objects were different. If one was being sought after, most people assumed the object was worth something and they’d wait for the highest bidder. If it wasn’t money they wanted, they were inquisitive about why I was searching for it. It became a delicate dance where some people only cared about the money and were good leads and some, well, let’s just say, “found” objects. I’d pay for the object, add my surplus to my client, and get paid.
The pictures didn’t show a Conparco Shield, but that’s not to say the dragons didn’t have one. Grabbing my phone, I prepared for the unnecessarily impertinent witch who was romantically linked to one of the dragons and apparently their spokesperson.
“What?” the discourteous witch asked after my second attempt to contact them.
Hello, Sunshine.
“Hello, Lexi,” I greeted her in a cloying voice, refusing to give her the satisfaction of letting her rudeness get to me. Or that’s what I’d tell anyone to make myself look like the bigger person. My bright ebullient voice irritated the hell out of her.
“What do you want, Erin?” I could just picture her pixie face pinched into a scowl.
“How are you, Lexi?” I was going to kill her with kindness. My cloying voice didn’t get the expected results. I thought the worst thing she’d do was voice her discontent, grumble something rude, or insult me. But the call disconnected.
Erin, don’t yell at the tetchy little witch. Don’t say “bitchy, much,” no matter how appropriate it is.
I ushered the frown off my face, soothed my irritation, and made a vow not to use any of the four-letter words and creative eight-letter ones that were coming to my mind too quickly.
A deep voice answered the second call. Maddox, the younger and more mercurial of the two dragons. I had managed to ingratiate myself to him after gifting him a Glanin’s claw. He didn’t hate me. And using him to shield me against Lexi’s magical attack seemed to have earned me a soft spot with him.
“Maddox?”
“Yeah.”
“I need your help, please.” I gave him the highly edited and condensed version of what was happening, leaving out that Ian had escaped from the Veil, and explaining that the Conparco Shield was needed to stop Ian controlling the shifters. Being a shifter himself, I knew he would be more agreeable to help.
“What does it look like?”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to send it to this phone.” The number I had for them was a burner phone, given to me by Lexi.
His voice dropped. “Give me a minute.” When he came back on, the background noise had changed. I could hear the rustle of trees. He gave another number to send the picture and after receiving it, he got back on.
“We don’t have anything like that,” he told me.
“Thank you. If you find it or anything that looks similar, will you let me know? I’m sending you another pic. If you have one, I’d really appreciate it.” I wasn’t ready to tell him what the Xios was for. If he knew how important it was, whatever he wanted for it would increase significantly.
“We don’t have anything like that, either.” He paused for a moment. “Erin, if you want to continue to work with us, don’t antagonize Lexi, okay?”
“Greeting her and asking how she’s doing is antagonizing her? I had no idea it would irritate her, please extend my apologies.” There had to be an Academy award in my future.
“Obviously you think I’m naïve, Erin.” His affable tone turned stiff. I guess my performance wasn’t as believable as I thought. “We can work together, but if Lexi dislikes you, it’s not going to happen.”
It was time to make amends. These people weren’t a resource I wanted to lose, especially not because of my inability to stop antagonizing the woman who might be the leader of their little group.
“Maddox, I really appreciate your help. Have you been to Kelsey’s?”
“Once, when it first opened, but it’s so hard to get reservations.”
It wasn’t. During my bodyguarding detail, I figured out quickly that Victoria turned people away to give the place the illusion of exclusivity.
“I do work for the owner and I’m sure I can get reservations. Maybe we all can have dinner,” I offered.
“Lexi won’t come and Zack won’t go without her.”
Great. I didn’t want to spend an evening with her sneering and me trying to indulge the prickly witch. “Maybe the two of us?” I suggested.
“It’s a date.” I could hear the grin in his voice. Maddox was back on Team Erin. I’d correct him on it being a date—more like a business dinner—but for now, he could think what he wanted.
I had never considered Mephisto a resource, and as I walked up to his door, feeling the aches and pains in my body with each step, I wasn’t convinced he was, but I was desperate. The worst he could say was no. I couldn’t look at his collection of objects. Come to think of it, the worst he could say is that he had the Xios and the Conparco Shield and had no intention of giving either to me.
“He’s in his office,” Benton offered after answering the door. He made the strenuous effort of pointing his finger before returning to his spot in the room near the door where he kept a cup of coffee and a book which he enjoyed reading while relaxing in a leather wingback chair. I thought his job consisted of being the answerer of the door and escort through the house. It seemed like the latter was
no longer part of his job description.
Don’t strain yourself with all the effort, Mr. answerer of the door, pointer of the finger.
In a particularly mischievous mood, I pretended a momentary directional lapse. “Is it that way?” I asked.
Benton wasn’t having any of it. His lips moved from the resting amiable small smile to a tight flat line. It became overwhelmingly obvious that he was content with letting me roam the mini-mansion until I stumbled upon Mephisto’s office.
“No.” With that terse response he returned to his book. I was committed to the scene, so I stood, seemingly flummoxed about which direction to go. He read a page of the tattered paperback, slowly. Then for several beats his eyes looked forward in deep contemplation. From my angle, I couldn’t see the title, but I really wanted to give whatever held his attention a try. He dragged his eyes in my direction. I expected irritation but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes that spoke volumes: “I have all day, you’re the one who needs to speak with Mephisto.”
Jabbing my finger in the correct direction, I said, “I guess it’s that way.”
“Very good, Ms. Jensen.” He let out a light chuckle before biting it into silence.
Touché, Benton. You win this round.
“Come in, Erin,” Mephisto directed before I could announce my arrival by knocking on the slightly ajar door. His back remained turned to the door, his attention on the picturesque view. From my position, I took in the breathtaking sight, from the floor-to-ceiling window to the flourish of trees, exotic colorful flowers, clear blue sky. The lure of the outdoors intrigued me but not as much as it did Mephisto, who seemed to have a peculiar fascination with it. Was it because he was without it? Or was this just a general appreciation for nature’s beauty?
The light walls were a stark contrast to his head-to-toe midnight attire.
“You needed to see me?”
His stolid appearance didn’t belie the whetted curiosity in his eyes. Were my parents really Vera and Gene? Was I The Raven? Most importantly, not only could I navigate between the worlds in the Veil, but I could bring things out—the thing he wanted.
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