by Amy Boyles
Oh wow. I held my breath. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “What does that mean?”
Stone cranked the engine and pulled out onto the street. “It means I’m only around when I’m supposed to be. I check on Gabby. I make sure she’s safe. I patrol the supernaturals, trying to figure out exactly what could be the threat that’s going to come after your daughter or the town, but other than that, we separate. You and I. I don’t want my presence to cause you pain.”
His words seeped into me. I didn’t say anything as he drove back to my home. I mean, I guessed that’s where he was going because he hadn’t told me.
Stone pulled up outside my house. My fingers curled around the door handle. “You still coming for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow?” I said weakly.
Stone gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles whitened. “If that’s what you want.”
“Why is it up to me to make the decision?”
“Because, frankly, I don’t want to torture you.”
I tried to laugh it off. “You’re not torturing me with your presence. I can handle it. Not a big deal.”
Stone nodded. “Then I’ll come.”
“Okay.” I opened the door and slid out.
Right as I shut it, he said, “Because being around you is torture for me.”
The door sealed, and he drove off before I could say anything.
I yanked the ends of my hair. An emptiness filled my stomach. I pushed it aside, knowing that what needed to happen was that I had to solve this mystery before the supers decided they’d waited long enough to find a killer and it would be okay to finger me.
I needed to talk to George and Phillip again, because I had the feeling they knew exactly what Antonio was searching for. The only person who could help me meet them was Dex.
Ugh. As much as I wanted to put off calling him, I couldn’t. I went inside, greeted my family and headed off to my bedroom, where Gabby followed me. While my toddler started picking things off my bedside table, I fished my phone from my purse and dialed my undead husband.
“Everything okay?” he said in greeting.
“I need a favor.”
“Anything.”
Like, that was not what I needed to hear. Why did he have to make himself so available to me? It was irritating.
“I need to talk to George and Phillip. They’re hiding something. They know what Antonio is looking for and I believe their cousin might have been involved in Cal’s death.”
“You’ve made some discoveries.”
“I’ve been busy. Anyway, we need to get information out of them.”
“Hmm. Let me think about that. I’ll pick you up after dinner and we’ll head over there. How’s that sound?”
Terrible. “Great.” The less time I spent with him, the better.
I got cleaned up, doing my best to put Stone out of my mind. His words about my presence being torture rocked me down to the bone. I’d had no idea it was as hard for him to resist me as it was for me to resist him. Part of me wanted to be with the angel no matter what. The other half knew it would never be. Spending his life serving humanity was more important than spending it with me.
But let’s face it—what girl didn’t want a hunky angel to give it all up for mortality and her love?
But then, when reality hit, what sort of job would Stone get on earth? It’s not like he could be a scientist or anything. He didn’t have a degree.
Okay, I pushed all silly thoughts from my head and got ready to go beat down some werewolves.
Vordrid sailed into my room. “Have you looked in the book for help on werewolves?”
“Oh, not really,” I said. “Ever since I beat the curse of that thing, I haven’t thought much about it.”
“I suggest you see if it can offer any wisdom. You may need it.”
Vordrid left without a word. I had to admit he did have a point. I retrieved the book from my closet and cracked it open to the chapter on werewolves.
Yes, they had their own chapter.
When dealing with creatures of the lycan family, there is one sure way to get a piece of information from them.
Oh, this sounded good. I read on.
The method is simple—you must invoke the power of the wolf clan. A hunter does so by naming the clan the wolf belongs to. Any wolf who lies after that does so under penalty of death.
Okay, so all I had to do was know the name of the clan and I’d be golden. There was one way to make that happen, use the book’s power of sight. However, since I’d beaten the power of the book a few weeks ago, I didn’t know if I was still capable of using the tome in that way.
Well, I guess I’d just have to find out.
Problem was, calling on the power drained me—like to the point where I generally fainted from exhaustion. But Dot had told me that since I could now use the power without losing my life force, my abilities with the book would be limited. So, I might not get tired and I might not be psychic anymore. With Dex coming so soon, I couldn’t risk it either way. I’d have to wait.
Dex might already know the bit about the clan, though. Having been a hunter himself.
I tucked the book into my purse and waited outside for him to arrive. I wasn’t ready for a big meeting between him and Gabby. Truth was, I didn’t think he deserved to be around her.
Yet.
He pulled up a few minutes later. I hopped into an Infinity SUV. “How many cars do you have?”
His lips curved into a warm smile. “Enough that it’s fun. Want me to loan you one?”
I bristled at his easy comfort with me. “No thanks.”
“Been waiting long?” he said.
The heady smell of spicy cologne permeated the cabin in a good way. “Not at all.” I buckled up and turned to him. “So. Did you get us in to see them?”
Dex raked his fingers through his hair. “George will see us. Phillip is apparently sick. Has mange or something.”
I narrowed my eyes until I felt my brows pinch. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”
Dex nodded. “Yes. A very bad one.”
“Phillip does not have mange.”
Dex’s lips curled with mischief. “No, but he is sick. George said he’d see us briefly.” Dex’s blue eyes washed over me in a way that made my cheeks flame. “You look nice.”
“Thanks,” I said curtly. “Listen, I’ve been reading the section of the book on werewolves.”
“I already know the clan’s name.”
I scoffed. “I can’t believe you beat me to it.”
Dex flashed a smug smile, one that made my bones melt. “I used to live this stuff, remember?”
“How could I forget?” I mumbled.
“Funny. I thought you had.”
My temper flared. “I never once forgot that you knew everything, Dexter Taylor. You were smarter than me, a better hunter than me. You were what I longed to be.”
He ran a finger down my cheek. His touch jolted me.
“I didn’t say you could touch me.”
“You didn’t say that I couldn’t.”
“Pretty sure when I told you we were now natural enemies, that it was implied.”
I pulled his hand away as he spoke. “I’m not that bright. I didn’t figure that part out.”
I shook my head. “Whatever. Back to the task at hand. George knows what Antonio is hiding. I want that information as well as Antonio’s address. We need to pay him a visit.”
Dex dragged his gaze from me back to the road. “Yes, ma’am.”
George let us into the living room we’d talked in the day before. I swear a new hunting trophy had sprouted up overnight—an elk’s bust lay off to the side. It hadn’t been mounted to the wall yet.
“Is that new?” I said, pointing to it.
George rubbed the back of his neck. “Just in from the taxidermist. Beauty, isn’t he?”
I shrugged. Dead heads weren’t exactly my thing. I decided to slice right into the business side. “You know what Antonio’
s looking for, don’t you?” I said. “Tell us.”
George started to chuckle. I shot Dex a look that said it was time to pull out the big guns.
Dex coughed into his fist. “George, don’t make me call on the name of the clan.”
That sobered up Georgie boy real quick. He cuffed his forehead and sighed. “Cal took Antonio’s ability to shift at will, so Antonio can’t make the change on his own. It happens when he least expects it.” George shook his head as if frustrated. “Years ago, Antonio was given a stone to help him control the transformation. Cal was so crazed about the whole getting out into the public idea, that he stole it in the hope that the people of Normal would see Antonio in werewolf form.”
I tapped my foot. “Okay, we’d guessed that so far. Where’s Antonio live?”
George thumbed the bottom of his neck to the tip of his chin. “He’s always been kind of a drifter. Doesn’t tell anybody that sort of thing. Sometimes he crashes here; other times he stays somewhere in town. He’s not that open with us.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. Why would it be? Why make it so I could wrap up this entire case in a day and half? “Do you have a phone number for him?”
George shook his head. “He likes the old ways. Doesn’t have a phone. Just shows up.”
Dex and I left the house. “I don’t know about you, but I’m more disappointed than I am hopeful.”
“Why? Because we don’t have an address or a phone number?”
I nodded.
“Come on, that’s not the Andie I know.”
I shivered against a breeze that cut past me. “You know the BC Andie—before child. I am now PC Andie—post child.”
Dex nodded. “You want me to acknowledge that you’re different—you are. I used to call you warrior princess hoping that one day you’d believe it. I see that now you do. Yes, Andie, I know you’re not the same person who watched me fall over a cliff to my death. I recognize that and accept it. It’s you who doesn’t accept me.”
I closed my eyes, pushing away the emotions threatening to break through the surface. “Can we just stick to the case?”
Dex paused. I felt that he wanted to say more, but after what had happened with Stone today, I just couldn’t take another heavy conversation about relationships. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is,” I said, opening my eyes.
Dex pressed his lips together. “Okay. What we know is that Antonio hasn’t found whatever he’s looking for yet.” He opened my door for me and then crossed to the other side and slid in. Dex drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “If you were going to take someone’s prized possession and get rid of it, what would you do?”
I shrugged. “I’d pawn it.”
Dex smiled at me. “I like how you think. Let’s go check the pawn shop.”
We drove down to the Red Brick district. I didn’t say anything, and neither did Dex. Good. I didn’t need to talk to him. My head was a jumbled mess as it was.
We reached the traditional three-balled sign of a pawn business and parked. It was pretty quiet on the streets of Normal. I mean, it was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Most people were either at home with their families or they were out seeing old high school buddies. Me, I was stuck trying to solve a mystery with a vampire.
Don’t even mention his super sexiness.
Because Dex certainly was.
My undead husband held the door open, and I stepped inside. There were objects everywhere—piled on top of each other, crammed into corners. Nearly every available space stacked with items. It was like a curio shop on steroids. The store sold everything from push lawn mowers to deer heads, rifles to Rolex watches. It had a little bit of everything.
A wiry man with thick, half-moon glasses stood behind the counter. He folded his newspaper and smiled at us. “Evening.”
“Evening,” Dex said.
“What can I do for y’all?”
We walked over to the counter. Dex leaned on one hip and hovered over the glass. He tapped muscular fingers on the surface. “We’re looking for something.”
“We have lots of somethings,” the man said.
“So you do,” I murmured.
Dex nodded, smiled at the man. He had the gift of making folks feel at ease immediately—as if they were old friends from the way back machine. “This would have been brought in about a week ago. It would’ve been a stone—possibly set in a piece of jewelry—a reddish stone, like a ruby, and it would look very old.”
“It would?” I said.
Dex nodded. “It would.”
Hmm. Did shifters and werewolves live longer than I knew of? I needed to do some reading up in the book.
The man scratched his chin. “I do remember something like that.”
I blinked. “You do?”
He nodded. “Yes. A big guy brought it in, tough sort. Just moved into town, he said.”
Dex and I exchanged glances.
“That’s him,” Dex said. “Did you buy it?”
The man shook his head. “He was asking too much for the piece.”
“Can you tell us what it looked like?” I said.
“Sure. It was a stone set in a gold etched box.”
“A box?” I said.
The man nodded. “Yes. The stone made up the lid of it. Very expensive and very old.”
“Since you didn’t buy it, did you have a suggestion for what he should do with it?”
The man shook his head. “No, not really. I told him if he decided to drop the price, I’d be interested.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Dex and I headed out. We stood on the street for a moment.
“How’d you know it would be old?” I said.
Dex shrugged. “I’ve been doing some research. That sort of magic was most likely handed down. My guess is someone else in the family had the same problem and had a magical amulet or whatever created. Antonio’s mother probably had it. She would’ve kept it in case one of her children needed it.”
I knocked my fist into my palm. “Okay. So what do we do now?”
Dex glanced up and down the street. He looked back at me. His lips curled into a smile. “We wait. The wolf will be out tonight, and he’ll come here. He’s narrowing down his choices.”
I rolled my eyes. “So is this going to be like last time? We’re not going to get arrested, are we? Because tomorrow’s Thanksgiving and I have a lot of cooking to do.”
Dex flashed me a perfect smile. “We won’t get arrested. I’ll make sure of that.”
Suddenly the fact that he just assumed I’d go along with whatever he wanted irritated me. “And what makes you think I’m going to help?”
Dex’s face darkened. He studied me, the intensity of his gaze making my throat dry. “Because we’re doing all of this for Gabby. If you don’t help me stop this werewolf, then we’ll all be exposed. If that happens, this place will become headline news, and that makes Gabby vulnerable.”
My pulse quickened. “What are you saying?”
Dex’s jaw clenched. “I’m saying our daughter will be a target. The evil that’s coming will know exactly who she is, and it will take her.”
EIGHTEEN
My power instinctively flared at my fingertips.
Dex shot me a look. “Do you want the whole town to know what you are?”
“They already do, remember?”
He crossed to me and grabbed my arms. “Calm down.”
I pulled away from him. “How do you know all this?” The lightbulb glowed inside my pretty little blonde head. “Vordrid. He told you.”
Dex nodded. “He conveyed the gist of what’s going to happen. My guess is the rip in the veil that occurred a few weeks back started the sequence of events that puts her in danger.” He rubbed his knuckles along his jaw. The move was so sexy, and it was one of Dex’s defining gestures that always made my stomach do flip-flops.
Unfortunately today was no different than any other day. I sudde
nly felt an incredibly strong pull toward him.
It immediately annoyed me.
“Come on,” he said, reaching for my hand. “Let’s go get some food and we’ll talk about it.”
I shook my head. “Aren’t you ever hungry for other things? You know, blood? Every time I see you, all you want is a cheeseburger.”
His gaze grazed over my neck in a way that caused heat to bloom on my cheeks in big, splotchy streaks of red. Trust me, I knew from experience exactly what I looked like in this moment.
Yes, I had ugly splotches of color covering my face from embarrassment.
Dex’s lips coiled in amusement. See? Even he knew I was uncomfortable. But he enjoyed it. It made me want to kick him in the shin.
“There are other things I’d like to eat, yes.”
I crossed my arms. “You mean you want to bite me.”
He clicked his tongue. “The idea of biting you in many places has crossed my mind.”
My knees nearly buckled. What was going on? Why was my body betraying me like this? My skin, legs, arms, all of it were supposed to be as mad and angry at Dex as my brain.
But doggonit, the rest of me just wasn’t acting that way.
He took me to the nicest steak joint in town. The place specialized in hot, gooey lemon rolls they served at the end of the meal. They were pretty much known all across the state for the confections, and people bought them by the dozen and even shipped them throughout the country.
We sat down in the dimly lit restaurant. It was mostly empty, thank goodness. I didn’t need a scene like last time.
“We’re just lucky they’re open,” I said.
Dex winked at me. “They were about to close but suddenly felt the urge not to.”
“How does your power work?”
Dex shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not really sure. It’s different than when I was human; it’s broader, more blanketed in scope. I can manifest things like the cage and the flower, but also influence people.”
I grunted. “I can’t do anything like that.”
He gazed at the menu. “I know. Vampire magic is different, and when it mingles with witch magic, it’s even more powerful.”
I rolled my eyes. “Makes it easier to show off, I bet.”
