by Patti Larsen
At least, I am, now. And with someone like Tallah to speak on my behalf… this could work. And maybe, just maybe, I can have my throne and the man I love, too.
“Thank you, Tallah.” She smiles, hugs me hard. Stranger things have come about in my life since I met Sydlynn Hayle. Who is to say the werenation will turn Sage away if we’re able to clear his name, prove he’s not a revenant but the next evolution of our kind? I know better than to hope, but I will not write him off.
I love him too much, and this strategy of Tallah’s has given me a bright spot to focus on, not just about Sage, but for my entire race. I will drag them into the future. And I’ll use diplomacy and shades of gray to do it.
I turn around, heading back outside. Poor Sage, why did I do this to him? Because I wasn’t thinking as a ruler, but as someone to be ruled. Time to change that, to truly be Sharlotta. Charlotte is a warrior, bred to serve. No more.
My destiny is my own, tied to my people or not.
Instead of finding my love where I left him, I almost run into Piers as I stride out onto the deck and into the sunshine. He catches me, grinning still, eyes guarded.
“You okay?” He lets me go after an impulsive hug, hands in the pockets of his jeans, angular face frozen in his grin. I can feel his pain oozing from him, but I have no idea how to soften the blow.
“No,” I say. “I have to find Sage. And apologize.” For being small minded and short sighted. I have so much to learn.
Piers catches my arm, holds me back a moment. I watch him swallow, see the pain transform into acceptance before he bends and kisses my cheek. “We would have been amazing together.”
I shrug. “I’m sorry, Piers.”
But he’s already pulling away, grinning again, though this time, his eyes sparkle with amusement. “I’m not,” he says. “That’s two bullets I think I dodged. You and Syd, too much to handle, the pair of you.”
My fingers brush his cheek. “Whoever wins you at last,” I say, “she’ll be a lucky woman.”
Piers looks away, off over the water, eyes near transparent from the bright sun. “She’s out there, somewhere,” he says, wistful, sad, before turning back to me with a smirk. “For now, we have another job to do. Find a way for you and wolf boy to be together.” He rolls his eyes. “If that’s what you really want.”
I laugh, hug him hard. “Thank you, Piers.”
“You’re welcome.” He lets me go, turns me toward the sand and the beach. “He went that-a-way.”
I leave Piers there, hurry down the steps and trot down the beach, eyes searching the sand for the dark figure of Sage ahead. Maybe we can make this work. We are different, all of us, the werewolves. Syd will think of something or Piers with his clever mind. Tallah with her diplomacy and me, the new me, unwilling to take no for an answer from my obstinate race. My grandfather will soften when he sees Sage is not a typical revenant.
I’ll make it happen. A grin breaks over my face. I will make it happen.
I’m so wrapped up in my growing hope and happiness it’s several minutes before I realize there’s no one down this stretch of beach. Did I go the wrong way? Another quarter hour of searching and fear has replaced my newfound determination.
Tallah and Piers join my worried hunt, but it’s clear an hour later, the worst has occurred.
Whether by choice or by force, Sage is gone.
***
Chapter Twenty Six
I hover next to Tallah who gives telepathic orders to her coven while my heart stretches out toward Sage. I can’t reach him with my power, and I don’t dare push too hard. I refuse to bring the Enforcers down on the Hensley coven after Tallah and her people have done so much for me. They are no longer disposable, but almost as dear as the Hayles.
Funny how things change when you see shades of gray.
Tallah turns to me in full leader mode. “You can’t find him?”
I shake my head, lower lip trembling despite my attempt to control my emotions. “He’s nowhere,” I say, my voice cracking with strain.
Tallah hugs me with one arm, her energy joining mine, lending me strength. “We’ll find him.”
“We have to,” I say. “He could change at any moment and without me there…” He could turn into a monster after all. Though I don’t believe that of him anymore, who knows what he’s becoming?
“The entire coven is out looking for him,” she says, nodding to Piers who steps out of a black tunnel, concern on his face. “Time you two joined them.”
I hug her and run after my sorcerer friend who has just dropped off some witches in the search grid Tallah has designed. He pauses on the deck, offering his hand, opening a new dark way. “I haven’t felt a trace of other sorcery,” he says. “So I don’t think he’s been taken, at least not through power.”
“That means he left on his own.” I want to sob. What have I done to him? I broke his heart, and without exploring all avenues. I’m as bad as my grandfather.
“Maybe.” Piers gestures at the opening. “Or they took him through physical means. No matter the reason, we’ll find him. After you.”
The darkness embraces me, and I hug it back for once. It draws out my emotions as well as pulling at my power and by the time Piers and I emerge into a small alley off a Los Angeles street, I’m feeling more calm, level.
It’s almost dark again. Last day. Sage could shift at any moment. The sun sets over the ocean as Piers and I gain our bearings. I reach for Sage’s mind again. If he’s in the city, if he’s made it this far, I might be able to locate him just by proximity.
My mind reaches—and encounters darkness.
Piers spins at the same moment, turning me with him, his power roaring out below us in black flames. I feel my body tighten in response, the wolf in me wanting to surface, but I hold her back at the sight of the two young people watching us.
The guy is tall, almost as tall as Piers, with close-cropped, dirty blond hair and tanned skin. He glares like we’re the enemy, though he doesn’t move to attack. The girl, on the other hand, gapes at us, a silver lighter raised before her in one slim hand, her huge amber eyes, reminding me of a demon, staring like she’s seen a ghost.
“Piers Southway,” my sorcerer friend introduces himself. “Charlotte Girard. You’re Steam Union?”
The guy flinches, nudges the girl. “Not a chance,” he snarls. “Get us out of here.”
She twitches, looks up at him, as though only then noticing he’s there. “Kayden?”
He pushes her firmly, her hand convulsing around the lighter even as black flames of his own lick across the ground toward us. But I can see and feel he’s no match for Piers, not by a long shot, and the girl is still too rattled to be of help.
“We won’t hurt you,” I say. “We’re looking for someone. A friend. He’s in danger and we need to find him.”
The girl is still shaken, but she seems to be coming back to herself. “What friend?”
I open my mouth to speak but the guy next to her, Kayden, reaches out and tries to take her lighter. “Now, Zoe!”
She starts, looks guilty and thumbs the lighter into flame. Piers takes a step toward them, the girl’s gaze locked on him, before the pair seem to shrink and dissolve, slipping into the flame before it flickers out and is gone.
Piers curses into the growing shadows, turning to me. “I’m going after them.” He leaves me there, the dark tunnel of his making devouring him, the end snapping firmly shut.
I’m suddenly lonely, missing Sage, missing my pack. But I’ve learned to be on my own, haven’t I, after years of training, courtesy of Andre Dumont? I shudder past the innate need of werewolves to work in a group, knowing I’m probably better off in this instance.
The streetlights come on as darkness claims the city. I step out onto the sidewalk, eyes settling on a sign just down half a block. A biker bar, from the look of it, with a couple of big Harley Davidson motorcycles out front, a narrow driveway beside. What had Anna said about Caine and his people? That a
gang had gone missing?
It was worth a shot. And Piers brought us here for a reason, even if he didn’t tell me directly what that reason is.
The heavy door is silent when I pull on it, and I step into heavy smoke. A large man covered in tattoos, most of his chest exposed despite the leather vest he wears, tries to stop me from going further.
“Private club,” he says in a voice like the depths of the earth.
“I’m looking for Caine,” I say. He grunts like I hit him, glances over his shoulder.
“Not here anymore.” He seems less antagonistic, more curious, eyes traveling over me. I know I look like a college girl, a tourist maybe. But when he meets my eyes, I let him see the wolf and he backs off. Yes, it’s against our laws. But if he knows Caine, surely this isn’t the first time he’s encountered eyes like mine.
“I need information,” I say. “Anyone here who can help me?”
Big boy nods, steps aside. Points at a lean, older man at the table closest to the bar. Cigar smoke hovers in the air, the scent of marijuana, whisky, and beer married to sweat and leather. “Chokehold,” the bouncer says. “Not my problem what happens when you ask.”
I shrug and walk past him. The moment I do, everyone stares, the twenty or so occupants of the small bar. It’s typical biker chic interior, a giant pool table at one end, the chairs studded and covered in black leather. One of the women scowls at me, her heavily made-up eyes and bleached hair trying for forty and failing miserably. I ignore her, moving with confident purpose to the lean, old man watching my approach with a cigar clamped between his teeth. His long, gray braid sits in his lap, leather cap holding it back from his face. He has so many tattoos on his wrinkled arms I would never sort them out, even if I had the time.
I come to a halt in front of him as he pushes back his chair to look up at me. “Caine,” I say, releasing my wolf again, enough he sees what he’s dealing with. “Who made him?”
It’s possible I’m barking up a dead tree, that I’ve made a terrible mistake and broken our laws, showing myself to normals for no good reason. But Chokehold’s reaction tells me I’m dead on target.
“Caine and his bunch are long gone,” Chokehold says in an oddly mild and cultured voice. “But you know that.”
I nod. “I’m looking for his maker.”
The old biker sits forward, rolling his cigar around in his mouth. “Might be able to point you in the right direction,” he says. “You same as Caine?”
I shake my head. “Better.”
Chokehold laughs, startling the woman sitting next to him. She’s younger, too young, in my opinion, to be hanging onto his every word. But I’m not here to save her.
“I bet you are,” he says. “Caine’s a jackass.”
“We’re in agreement,” I say. “Can you help me or not?”
Chokehold drops his cigar to the floor and steps on it before slowly rising to face me. He’s just my height, slim and lean. Which means he’s all kinds of dangerous if he can hold his own against the burly men watching us, no matter his age. I can tell someone like him has proven time and again to be the best, and I will not underestimate him. Just as I can tell by the way he treats me, he will not take my quiet confidence for granted.
“You’re looking for someone else.” Chokehold crosses his arms over his chest.
My heart skips. Is he talking about Sage? “Maybe,” I say. “Young, dark hair?”
He nods. “Asked the same questions you did. Same eyes, too.”
Relief, though short lived. Sage left me on purpose then. And I let him go without knowing it. Worse, Sage is turning without support, with Enforcers out there, maybe werewolves, if Caine has tracked us. I have to find Sage and keep him safe until we know our next step. “Where did you send him?”
Chokehold grins at me. “Didn’t,” he says. “Because I have no idea.” The crowd mutters agreement. “See, Caine and his crew, they weren’t the only ones who were offered a deal. But we all said no.” Is that fear in his voice? “As in, hell no.” More agreement. “In fact, if the dude hadn’t looked so nuts, I would have killed him myself.”
Dude? Sage? No, not Sage.
“Rupe.” I look around. They don’t recognize the name, shaking their heads.
Chokehold grunts. “Some scrawny shit in a suit, but pure freaking psycho. Caine’s just crazy enough to say yes.”
So we were right about who made Caine. Tallah is an expert at supposition. “Liander Belaisle.”
“That’s the one.” Chokehold shrugs. “Sent him off with Cicero and those Knox sibs. Good riddance.” It is fear.
“They came back.” I don’t have to look around this time, the confirmation coming in a wave of anxiety.
Chokehold lets his arms fall to his sides. “I’ve killed lots of people in my life,” he says, voice soft, “for good reasons and bad. But I ain’t never seen such evil before.” He shivers while the others back away. “You don’t feel like him. But you’re the same.”
“Better, I said.” I wink. “Much, much better.”
“Good enough to take him down?” The old man shrugs. “Whatever.” Chokehold gestures at the door. “We told you what we know. Now you get to leave in one piece. And never come back.”
His threat might be real, but we both know it’s empty. I could kill them all if I chose, and they wouldn’t stand a chance against me. But he’s given me all he knows, and that has earned my respect.
I wish there was more, but I’m certain Chokehold and his people would have told me, if only to make sure Belaisle never returns.
The street outside is dark and humid as the big bouncer closes the door behind me. At least I now have solid proof Caine is a revenant. I have witnesses who knew him as human, before Belaisle turned him. That’s something. I also know the Brotherhood is involved.
And I know Sage is okay and on his own, not under the control of the sorcerers. Until they find him. He can take care of himself in normal circumstances, but this mess is far from normal.
I have to find him. My power snakes out, a thin thread, searching for him, only to encounter more sorcery. The alley where Piers and I arrived is occupied again. But it’s not my friend this time.
I cross the street, enter the dark slowly, unsurprised to find the dark-eyed girl waiting for me.
***
Chapter Twenty Seven
“You recognized me.” I close the distance between us though she backpedals slightly, nervous, despite the fact she’s the one who came to see me.
“Yes,” she says, the hand holding her dead lighter in front of her shaking. Her voice barely rises above a whisper. I come to a halt, not wanting to scare her off, but needing to know what she knows. And who she is, exactly.
“You’re Steam Union?” Where is Piers? He obviously didn’t find her, off on a goose chase, at this point. Or pursuing the girl’s sorcerer friend, more likely. He seemed less inclined to talk to us. What’s different about her?
“I don’t know what that means,” she says, voice rising a little. She’s a lovely thing, delicate and slim, with exotic features that make me think of Greece. “What’s Steam Union?”
Well, that’s not helpful.
“You’re a wolf,” she says. “A blonde wolf. But you have blonde hair as a human, too, only it’s black right now.” She seems confused. “And you travel with her a lot.”
I’m immediately tense, hackles rising. What the hell is this? “How do you know me?” I’m certain I’ve never seen her before. She certainly doesn’t smell familiar.
She shivers, fingers adjusting around the silver lighter. She keeps it between us, as though it will protect her from me. But if I want to take her down, I’ll be on her before her thumb can strike a flame.
“I’ve seen you,” she says. “My entire life.”
My wolf chuffs her confusion. Seen me how? “You’re not making any sense.” Who is she?
She shakes her head, as though fighting with herself. “You travel with her, you’re always with
her, I’ve seen it.” Faint horror rises in her huge, dark eyes. She licks her lips, nervous. “I shouldn’t be here. But I had to know if it was really you.”
“Who are you talking about?” I don’t have time for this nonsense. That’s what her gibberish sounds like. If she’s not Steam Union, she’s not helpful. Maybe I’ll come back when this is over—if I can—and have a chat with the odd girl before me. But right now, I have to find Sage before it’s too late.
“You know who I’m talking about,” she says. “The woman with the rainbow magic.”
Everything goes still inside me. Syd. She’s talking about Syd.
“She’s evil, you know.” The girl is shaking harder, pupils dilated, eyes frightened. “You have to get away from her. Don’t let her hurt you.”
Now my anger surfaces, my wolf ready to take her out for the lies she’s speaking. What the hell is this? “Syd would never hurt me.” I take another step closer, Sage in the back of my mind, but my worry for my friend in Wilding Springs taking over while my wolf surfaces in my eyes. “She’s not evil, any more than I am.”
The girl wails softly, though she doesn’t retreat from me despite my rising anger. “I’ve seen it,” she cries. “I’ve seen the end of the world, and she’s the cause of it.”
My heart pounds heavily for a few beats, confusion at war with my temper. “Who are you?”
“My name is Zoe,” she whispers. “Zoe Helios. I’m an Oracle. And I’ve seen everything.”
It takes so much effort not to lunge at her, seize her in my hands and shake her, shake her so hard she stops lying about Syd. “Tell me what you’ve seen.”
Awe seems to take her, replacing some of her fear. “I can’t believe it’s you,” she says, wiping at a tear trickling from her big eyes. “All this time, since I was a little girl. I’m finally meeting The Wolf.” She says it like she’s capitalizing the words, as though it’s a title. “And him,” she says. “The Sorcerer.” She has to be talking about Piers. “That means it’s almost time.” She sobs softly once before pulling herself together, cheeks wet again. Only this time she doesn’t try to dry her tears. “Please, you have to listen to me.”
