“Call me Barrett, please.”
“I wish to thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” I said.
“It’s not a problem. I’m always happy to make time for Mira.” The smile that crossed his lips as he looked down at Mira didn’t reach his eyes, and it looked stiff and forced on his face.
Barrett slid into the booth across from me so that Mira sat between us. I returned to my seat and tried to appear relaxed. Beside me sat a vampire and across from me was an extremely powerful lycanthrope. And both knew I was a hunter. I had definitely been in more dangerous situations, and oddly enough, most involving Mira, but neither creature could do much while we were surrounded by unsuspecting humans.
“How is the family?” Mira opened. Her hands were settled in her lap, just beneath the white tablecloth. I was beginning to realize they easily gave away her anxiety as she struggled to still her nervous fingers.
“We are still adjusting to our recent loss. My mother and sisters have returned to town and are happy to be home again. We are still adjusting to our newest arrival as well.” Lines crept into Barrett’s face, stretching from his eyes and around his mouth in tension. “I hope you are not planning to give me a new bundle.”
“Nicolai is strong and intelligent,” Mira swiftly said. “Has he caused you problems?”
“No.”
“Has he questioned your authority?”
“No.”
“If he had applied to the family, would you have accepted him?” Mira pushed, sitting forward as her voice dropped closer to a whisper. After Mira had staked her claim on Nicolai in Venice, she immediately shipped him here along with Tristan in an attempt to protect both their lives. While she could force the resident vampires to accept Tristan, Nicolai Gromenko had been another matter. He had to take his place in the local pack, which meant getting past Barrett. Apparently, Mira had called in a favor. A big one.
“I might have, but I don’t recall being given much of a choice,” Barrett said in a low, deep voice that seemed to rumble across the table.
“Nor was I,” Mira softly said, sitting back in the booth again so that her back rested against the supple leather. The table fell silent as our server brought over a glass of wine and set it before Barrett.
“Nicolai Gromenko is a good, compassionate man,” I said, drawing the lycan’s hard stare back to me. Mira placed her cool hand on my wrist. Her thumb brushed across the inside of my wrist across my pulse in a caress.
Thank you. The two words whispered across my brain.
Barrett nodded to me, some of the tension easing from around his mouth and eyes. “I have no complaints regarding Nicolai beyond the means of his arrival. I am cautious.”
I could not blame Barrett for his caution. Regardless of whether Mira realized it, I had no doubt that Barrett knew that Nicolai had either been the alpha of his last pack or had been born to be an alpha. You couldn’t have two in the same pack. Either one had to leave soon or die.
The lycan’s gaze drifted back to Mira, who pulled her wandering hand back to her lap. “But you did not come to discuss Nicolai, did you?” Rainer continued.
“No.”
“The girl?” The question slipped past his thin lips in a weary sigh. “A few members of the pack work at the zoo. I’ve been hearing bits and pieces of rumors.”
“Someone from the pack was called to examine the bite marks,” I said, talking mostly to myself as I shook my head. I hadn’t expected Barrett to be so well informed on what was happening with the investigation. But then, was it any surprise that Mira had contacts in the morgue and Barrett had people on the inside at the zoo? It shouldn’t have been.
“Nearly. Our man was out that day and another went to examine the wound. He heard about the findings later that night and reported to me.”
“What are your thoughts on the matter?” Mira inquired, her tone even and neutral.
Barrett paused in the act of lifting his glass to his lips and both of his eyebrows rose at the nightwalker in obvious surprise. “That’s it?” he said returning his glass to the table without taking a drink. “I thought you were here to claim the head of the wolf responsible for this mess.”
“Are you saying it was a wolf?” I demanded. This meeting was taking a turn I hadn’t expected, particularly since I already knew who the culprit was, but just couldn’t find the right words to tell either of them. Having a bori running loose in the area was just as much of a nightmare situation as it was when the animal clan naturi were searching for Mira months ago.
“No,” Barrett sharply said, holding up both hands. “But I saw the pictures and the report of the zoologist. Animal bites turn all eyes away from vamps and over to my people.”
“Have you spoken to your people?” Mira asked. Her left hand slipped back onto the table so that her long fingers now caressed the slender stem of her wineglass.
“Yes, only a couple knew of the woman and those that did knew she preferred to run with your kind. I can vouch for all of my people, even Gromenko.”
I shook my head, a wry smile pulling at the corners of my mouth no matter how hard I tried to hold it in. “Why do I feel like there is a ‘but’ hanging off the edge of that sentence?”
“Because there is,” Barrett grumbled. He took a deep drink of his wine and placed the glass back on the table before he continued. “Just because I can vouch for my pack does not clear my people. It looks like an animal bite. A rogue could have moved into the area, and I don’t know it yet. I can’t be sure for another couple weeks.”
A quick count in my head left me with the full moon in two weeks. Barrett’s powers would be at their peak. I could only guess that he would be able to more accurately scan the region for a rogue, or possibly even call the outsider to him. I wasn’t sure. My experiences with werewolves and other shapeshifters had been limited. And after discovering that many of the things I had been told about nightwalkers were wrong, I wasn’t too willing to risk my life on the information I did have regarding lycanthropes.
“If the killer was a lycan, you’ve got more to worry about than just a rogue,” Mira said, her eyes falling to the table where she traced the tip of her fingernail over the tablecloth. “I’ve been to the apartment and to see the body. There’s an odor clinging to both I don’t think I’ve ever encountered before.”
“Is that why you are here?” Barrett said, his voice hardening to stone as he looked over at me. “To find the killer?”
“I’m here to get this question answered as quickly and quietly as possible, regardless of who the culprit is.” My right hand slipped to the edge of the table and it was a struggle to keep from balling it into a fist. I didn’t think it was prudent at that moment to reveal that the head of Themis also charged me with the task of protecting Mira. I doubted the nightwalker was even aware of Ryan’s wishes on that front.
“He is right,” Mira conceded when Barrett looked at her. “However, I think there is more at work here.”
“The naturi,” Barrett said.
I watched Mira as she nodded, her gaze falling back to her wineglass. Her long red hair fell forward to create a curtain around her face, as if trying to shield her from the curious as she sank into her own dark thoughts. But there was no missing the movement of her jaw as she clenched her teeth or how her full lips flattened into a hard, thin line.
“Possibly,” I said when she seemed unwilling to continue. “I am willing to bet that members of the animal clan can shape-shift.”
“Yes.” The single word escaped Barrett in a hiss. “I have felt them in the area. We enjoyed the break in September when you wiped them from the region, but little by little since your return from Peru, we have felt their presence creep back into the area.” Barrett paused and directed his piercing gaze at me as if he meant to pin me to the spot. “I heard you hunted them in the city. Animal clan?”
“No,” I sharply replied. “Six wind clan naturi at the conservatory.”
“Are there…?” Barrett paused and licke
d his lips before trying again. “Have you seen any animal clan here?”
I understood his caution, his fear. In the world of the naturi, the animal clan held the biggest threat to the lycanthropes. They had the ability to call and control the shapeshifters.
In September, more than a dozen werewolves had been slaughtered at Machu Picchu when the naturi sent them against the nightwalkers ascending the mountain in an attempt to stop the sacrifice that would open the doorway for the naturi. And still more were missing from their packs.
“I’ve seen no member of the animal clan in this area,” I said. “Last night’s encounter was with a group of wind clan members of the naturi.”
“Keep your people close to you at all times.” Mira’s voice was low and seemed to slowly creep across the table toward us. “Hold them together. Stay in their minds. The naturi will wear us down and build their army by picking us off one at a time.”
“I will,” Barrett said with a stiff nod.
Mira blinked a couple times and lifted her head, straightening her shoulders, as if she were waking up from a bad dream. I resisted the urge to lay my hand on her arm. She was fighting back a swell of emotions that were attempting to overwhelm her. I could feel the chaos swirling in her when she thought of the naturi. They had tortured her, killed her people, and killed a human that was very close to her. So much of her world had been ripped apart by the naturi.
When I started on this journey, the naturi were little more than a job for me. I had heard the stories of their evil, the way they killed humans with no thought, no remorse. To them, humans were a blight on the Earth that needed to be expunged.
But that changed when I captured a half-mad naturi called Nerian. During his captivity, he told me more about Mira than any other had been able to tell me. Nerian had been her personal tormentor during the nightwalker’s two-week captivity centuries ago. He told me in gruesome detail the physical and mental torture she had endured. Nerian could relate the intensity of her pain to the tone and style of her begging. And she had managed to survive only because they could not reach her mind during the daylight hours.
When Mira saw the naturi or even spoke of them, her body seemed to relive the pain over again until it nearly consumed her. I had seen the pain reflected in her wide violet eyes and touched the scars on her back where they had carved symbols from their language so deeply she could never heal them.
Mira’s pain gave me cause to hate them. The nightwalker and I seemed to be forever on opposite sides of our own personal war, but I respected her sense of honor and justice. She was loyal to those who earned her respect and kept her word regardless of the danger to herself.
With a blink and a smile that attempted to cloak deeper emotions, Mira looked up at Barrett and extended her hand. “We should be going. We have other matters to look into tonight.”
Barrett took her hand and squeezed it briefly before releasing it. “I understand. Good luck.”
“Before you go,” I said quickly, stopping the shifter before he could slide to his feet, “I wish to ask a favor. It’s for a friend.”
Barrett frowned at me as he folded his hands on the table before him. “I hope you’re not looking to extend my family any further.”
“No, but he does need help,” I said, and then hesitated. I didn’t know how to continue. James couldn’t go through this alone and Themis wasn’t equipped to help him. They didn’t have the knowledge and experience that Barrett possessed. “We thought he was in the clear. He hadn’t shown any signs, but something happened recently…”
Barrett’s expression eased to one of concern. “And you’re sure he’s going to change?”
“He went through a partial shift when we didn’t think he could at all,” I explained. To my left, Mira remained surprisingly silent, though I had a feeling that she was simply waiting until we were alone so that she could pound me with questions.
“Then he’ll have no choice. When the full moon arrives, he’ll have to shift completely,” Barrett confirmed with a solemn nod of his head. “He’ll need help. Fighting the change will only make it more painful the first time. He’ll also need guidance back. His family?”
“No family. No pack,” I said firmly. Barrett had to understand that James had nowhere else to turn.
His brow crinkled as he looked at me and a fresh frown formed on his face. “Is he searching for a pack?”
“No, I doubt he will ever be a part of one. He just needs someone to help him get his feet under him again. Get him through the first full moon. A little advice and guidance. That’s all I’m asking for.”
To my surprise, the lycanthrope only thought about it for a couple of seconds. “Send him to me a couple days before the full moon. The pack will help him.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I replied, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
“You’re not sure he will come?” Barrett asked, his tone jumping in surprise.
“This has all come as a surprise to him,” I admitted. “He may be resistant at first.”
“How old is he?”
“I—I don’t know. Mid-twenties, maybe.” I honestly hadn’t a clue as to how old James was.
“He’s twenty-eight,” Mira interjected, drawing my gaze back to her. For a moment, I wondered how she knew I was talking about James and then I felt it, a shift in power. She was a ghost in my thoughts, listening in undetected when I didn’t think such a thing was possible. I had been so focused on getting James help from Barrett that I had dropped my guard.
“It will be hard on him, but the pack can help. Get him here,” Barrett said and then rose to his feet. “We’ll do what we can.”
I slid to my feet at the same time as Barrett and shook his hand. “Thank you for meeting with us and for your assistance.”
“My pleasure, and please, dinner is on me tonight.”
“Barrett!” Mira started, but the lycanthrope held up his hand, stopping her.
“Accept it as an apology,” he quickly said, forestalling any further comment from the vampire. “I had some of my people speak with your friend recently.” His dark copper eyes returned to my face and he gave a brief bow of his head. “For the trouble. I did not understand the nature of your relationship with Mira.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to argue that I had no relationship with Mira. That our preferred arrangement was one of hunter and prey. That this “friend” status Mira was bestowing on me was complete bullshit. But I kept my mouth shut and tried not to glare. This wasn’t his fault. It was Mira’s.
While I was standing, Mira slid out of the booth and I silently followed her out of the restaurant. It was only when we were both out on the street again in the cool fall air that I felt as if I could relax. I rolled my shoulders and leaned my head toward either shoulder, loosening up the muscles. I hadn’t realized I had grown so tense while talking with Barrett until we were away from the restaurant.
Mira walked beside me, jiggling her keys in her hand. “At least that is out of the way,” she muttered.
“Not exactly informative.”
“I didn’t expect it to be,” she replied, walking around to the driver’s side of the car. She hit the button on the remote, and the lights briefly flashed as the doors unlocked. “I took this meeting as just a kind of warning that you and I are looking into the murder.”
I paused in the act of lifting the car door handle and tilted my head slightly to the side as if I was trying to hear something, but I was actually reaching out with my other sense. My powers flowed out from me, covering the area. The dozen or so lycanthropes in the nearby restaurants muddied up my senses, but as I reached past them, it cleared.
“We have to go now,” I said, looking at Mira over the roof of the car.
“How many?”
“Four and they’re approaching fast.”
Mira looked up at the black night sky as she jerked the door open, as if she expected them to swoop down on us at any moment.
“No
,” I said, jumping into the car as she did and slamming my door shut. “By land. I think they’re in a car.”
“Damned naturi.”
TWENTY
It was only after the tires finished squealing, launching us out of the parking lot and back onto the street, that Mira tried to speak. Battling any member of the naturi was a tricky matter at best.
“What do you mean you think they’re in a car?” Mira snarled, as both of her hands gripped the wheel. “Naturi? Is there something else with them?”
“No,” I said, twisting in my seat to look behind us while struggling to hold onto the armrest on the door. Mira was whipping us down a winding street, continuously keeping me off balance. I had yet to actually see the car, but I could feel them following. They weren’t gaining ground on us, but they weren’t losing any either.
“Naturi are driving the car? Are you serious?”
“Damn it, Mira! You’re a vampire and you’re driving a car.” For a brief moment, I wondered which one of us had actually lost their mind; Mira for her shortsighted bias or me for even participating in this argument. Of course, the thought was shoved from my mind as Mira made a sharp left turn in front of a semi, causing its tires to screech as the driver slammed on his brakes.
“I know! I know! I’m still getting used to the idea,” she shouted, waving one hand in the air.
“Where are you going?” I demanded when I learned to breathe again.
“Highway. I’ve got to get them away from the lycans,” she said as she finally grabbed an on-ramp to the highway, leading us north.
I sat back in my seat, staring forward as I shoved both hands through my hair, pushing it away from my eyes as I tried to think. Mira was still weaving through traffic like a madwoman, but I had faith in her quick reflexes not to plow us into a concrete divider or crush us under the tires of a tractor trailer.
Pray for Dawn Page 20
