“His beast doesn’t understand why you’re rejecting them. It thinks if it can take control, it can make you see that they’re a good choice. That they’re a worthy mate. Declan can’t let that happen, because it would mean going rogue. It’s a constant battle. He has to fight to maintain control. It’s bad when you’re avoiding him, but it’s worse when you consciously push him away. It doesn’t help that the South Atlantic Alpha is arriving in just a few days, either. Declan’s beast views him as a threat. It’ll only get worse once he arrives.”
“How do you know all this?” I asked.
“I’m the Hunter. It’s my job to know which Pack mates are toeing the line.”
“And you think Declan is?”
“I know he is. I won’t tell you what to do,” he said, “but you need to see the whole picture. You don’t owe the Pack anything, but I’m asking, as a friend, for you to let up a little bit. Just give Declan a chance. He knows he fucked up, believe me, and you can still be pissed at him, just…put things on the back burner for a little bit. At least until Noah Thorne comes and goes.”
“Fine, I can do that,” I said.
“Can you be his mate while Noah is here?”
“What do you mean?” I arched a single brow.
“Noah and Declan don’t exactly get along, and Noah is going to exploit every weakness he can find. You’re Declan’s. He can’t hide you somewhere until Noah leaves because he carries the mate bond; it’s a visible thing to shifters, and Noah will wonder why you’re not here. If you are here, though, and he realizes that you’re rejecting the bond, he’ll use it to his advantage and he’ll goad Declan into a fight neither of them can afford.”
“You’re asking an awful lot of me,” I grumbled. He just smiled, stupid wolf. I smacked his chest, not that it had any effect.
“Fine,” I agreed.
“Thank you,” he said, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. “I knew you’d listen to reason.”
“Yeah, yeah. Now come on, I need the workout.”
We ran in silence for another six miles, my lungs heaving with the effort while James had barely broken a sweat. His stride was graceful as he dodged fallen branches while I seemed to be doing the slip and slide over snow covered rocks and packed ice. As the Compound came back into view, I pushed myself a little harder, my feet kicking up snow behind me as my imaginary finish line came into sight.
James laughed, easily keeping up with me. “You do realize you can’t outrun me, right?” he said with a glint in his eyes. His breathing was still even, no hint of exhaustion in him.
In a flash, I dropped, swiping out his legs with one of my own while grabbing a fist full of snow. I threw it at him, pelting him in the face and was back up and running before he landed. I laughed at the sound of him cursing. I was fifty yards away from the Compound front gates, and I was running as hard as my body would take me. It wouldn’t be enough, but I had a few things up my sleeves still.
I could hear James catching up behind me. He was making his steps audible, letting me know he was gaining on me. The sound of his boots on the ground was his way of mocking my efforts, but I pushed myself harder anyway.
When James came up beside me, he shot out a hand to shove me off balance. I ducked, narrowly avoiding his palm as I tried to trip him again. He didn’t fall for it this time, but wrapped his hands around my waist and effortlessly tossed me to the side of the trail.
I rolled to land on my feet, the snow cushioning my fall. Some snuck into the collar of my jacket and I jerked as icy coldness dripped down my back.
James laughed, looking over his shoulder as he slowed his pace to offer me a salute. I narrowed my eyes and a wall of fire formed in front of him. He came to a sudden halt, turning to glare at me, but I was already up and running through the wall of flame.
I shouldn’t have turned to look but I did, and got to see James launch himself over the six-foot wall of flames rather than going around it. Showoff. I hadn’t made it very wide because I needed to pull the fire back in. He could have easily gone around if he’d wanted.
Pumping my arms and narrowing my focus, I ran hard for the gates while pulling my fire back inside of me. It came in a rush, giving me a boost of speed. When I was less than five feet away, I felt James’ hands wrap around me, tossing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“You’re getting soft, Naveed,” he told me.
“And you’re about to get burned if you don’t put me down,” I warned without any heat in my voice. He laughed and jokingly patted me on the rear. I zapped a spark at the bare strip of flesh that was exposed on his back from his shirt riding up and received a yip for my efforts.
James took a few more steps, coming to a stop within the gates before putting me down on my feet. My breathing was ragged and I placed my hands on my knees, sucking in a lungful of breath before rising.
“You’re getting better, faster,” James complimented as I swayed on my feet.
“Thanks,” I heaved. “You still cheat.”
He laughed, a deep rumble in his chest that was part growl. “You started it.”
I smiled. Hell yes I had.
Back inside, I stopped by primary class before heading to my room for a shower. Wyatt came barreling towards me as soon as I opened the classroom door. He was a ball of fur that nearly knocked me over, but I’d learned to be ready, so when I saw him launch into the air, I braced myself for the impact of a twenty-pound bowling ball.
Holding him out in front of me so I could stare into his golden eyes that matched both his beast and human form, I gave him a scowl. “Shouldn’t you be on two legs right now?” I asked in a stern voice, biting back the smile that threatened to crack.
He yowled at me and wiggled his limbs, indicating that he wanted to be put down. I gently set him on the ground, and before all four paws touched, he was already on the move.
“He’s leopard more than human,” said Josephine, the primary instructor, coming to stand beside me. She was a gentle woman with curling blonde hair that she kept braided to one side. Dressed in a soft pair of tweed pants and a white blouse with a delicate fox pinned to her right breast pocket, she was the picture of what you’d expect of an elementary teacher.
“Should we be worried?” I asked. I knew shifters had to maintain a delicate balance between their human and beast forms, but I didn’t know if Wyatt would be at risk at such a young age.
Shifters were infected with Lyc-V, the lycanthropy virus. It worked through their system, attaching to each string of DNA in their bodies and mutating the cells to create a hybrid between man and beast. Lyc-V was virulent and infected the host through their blood. The Pack worked hard to ensure their people were disciplined and in control of their other selves, and when they weren’t, the Pack took care of it. That was where having a Pack hunter like James came into play. If Wyatt…No. I wouldn’t even consider it.
“Not yet,” she answered, giving her head a slight shake. “As he gets older, closer to the age of eleven and twelve, if he still spends so much time in his other skin, then we may need to worry. But for now…” She shrugged. “I think he feels safest on four paws. I can’t begrudge him that.”
No, none of us could. I watched for a few more moments as Wyatt ran throughout the classroom, weaving through the desks and chairs and pouncing on his classmates, much to their enjoyment. He stopped to make sure I was looking before continuing his path of destruction.
I smiled and watched him for a few more seconds before I turned to leave. Josephine’s hand stopped me.
“How are you doing?” she asked, her voice light and her smile gentle. I didn’t talk often with Josephine. We only seemed to ever cross paths when I came in to check on the children, but she’d always been kind. Something I appreciated given my current popularity within the pack.
“I’m doing good. How are you?” Josephine was older than I was, forty-seven to my twenty-four years, but she always treated me as an equal despite our age difference.
&n
bsp; Her smile was bright. “I’m doing well. You’ve been causing quite the stir lately,” she commented casually.
“You can ask outright,” I suggested, returning her smile with one of my own, though mine was more cautious than hers had been. We weren’t friends, not yet, but she was one of the few people who didn’t outright dislike me. She laughed, a light, musical sound that caught the attention of the children before they turned back to their studies and play.
“You caught your bed on fire?”
“You heard about that?” I asked.
“We all did, dear.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“You also exchanged words with a few of the women,” she said. My shoulders stiffened, but she placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “We all make mistakes. It’s how we learn.” I released a breath and relaxed my shoulders. “He’s learned from his. Have you learned from yours?”
Josephine’s words the day before had left me unsettled and feeling like an indignant teenager. I’d blamed Declan for a lot of things, but he wasn’t the only one who’d made mistakes in our relationship. Was I being unfair by holding on to my anger?
I shook the thought away as I walked into Sanborn Place. My car had been towed to the Pack grounds, but I hadn’t bothered looking at it yet. I wasn’t ready to send it to its awaiting junkyard grave.
Declan had left a pair of keys for me on the bedside table in my room, along with a note letting me know the vehicle was mine to use whenever I had need of it. I’d considered calling an Uber to get to work, but caught myself when I realized how childish it was to reject the car for no reason other than to assert my independence, so I’d driven the offered Pack Hummer into work.
It took me a few minutes to get used to the automatic transmission and I’d accidentally slammed the break twice on my way over, thinking I needed to press the clutch, but aside from that, the drive had been smooth.
I didn’t get much sleep the night before. I tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable while my mind filled with recent memories of being in Declan’s arms. My subconscious was being a real pain in the ass lately.
Inarus was already waiting for me inside. He’d made himself at home in the office and had claimed Mike’s desk. Mike had been murdered in this very office by a group of vampires, and as a result, I’d inherited Sanborn Place.
Marion Sanborn, his wife, had retrieved all of his personal effects when she’d turned the keys over to me, so the desk had been bare. An unreasonable part of me wanted to make Inarus move and pick a different desk to work from.
“You’ve made yourself at home.” I set my messenger bag on the ground beside my desk and took off my leather jacket, hanging it on the back of my chair.
“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind,” he said, a smile stretched across his face.
I shrugged. “Nope, not at all. Glad to see you settled in.” I smiled, hoping he didn’t catch the lie. Mike was gone. He had been for some time now. He’d been like a father figure to me, having taken me in when I’d had nowhere else to go, but he wasn’t coming back and I needed to let go.
Inarus made his way over to me. “So how did things go with…?” He trailed off, standing awkwardly beside my desk. “Are you doing okay?”
I shrugged again and rubbed the back of my neck. Wasn’t that the million-dollar question? Inarus stood there, waiting for an answer. When he realized I wasn’t going to give him one, he went back to his desk and sat down, propping his feet on top of the desk’s smooth wooden surface.
I cringed. Mike would’ve smacked his feet off the desk and said, “Didn’t your mother ever teach you any manners?” in that gruff voice of his. It was as if I could hear him, even now.
“You had four messages on the machine when I got here,” Inarus said. Only four. That was good. Lately I’d been coming in to eight or nine. Four was a manageable number.
“Did you already listen to them?” I asked, starting the coffee pot I kept in the office.
“Yeah, one was from Olivia Fields. She said she’d have one of the other witches drop off the money for retrieving Marcella.” I frowned. When she’d come to me, I’d taken the job as a favor in exchange for a favor to the Pack in the future and an alliance between the two factions. I hadn’t been expecting payment. Inarus must have seen my expression, because he continued. “She said something about you two not discussing monetary terms and said the money isn’t up for debate. They owe a debt and they intend to pay it.” I nodded. I couldn’t refuse the money. It would be an insult and would cause more issues than just depositing it in the first place.
“And the other messages?” I prompted. I filled my mug and took a seat in my chair.
“A few odd jobs. A man called asking to hire you to watch his daughter again this afternoon while he did some business nonsense—my words, not his.” He waved a hand in the air as he said, “One I’m pretty sure is bogus, a woman claiming that her cat is a vampire and keeps trying to suck her blood on the full moon.”
I scowled. Inarus was probably right. I was pretty sure there was no such thing as a vampire cat, and even if there was, it wouldn’t be affected by the full moon. That was a piece of fiction that’d been woven into shifter lore, not vampire, not that it was true for either.
“And the last one was from a guy named Jackson who wanted a consult.
“Jackson Harris?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“And the man with the daughter, was his name Alexander?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“I watched his daughter before, remember the wet clothes?”
“She’s the water nymph?”
I nodded, frowning. I really didn’t want to work with her again. If this time was like the last, Alexander Drucano wanted me to babysit his daughter and ensure her boyfriend, a merman, stayed away. I guess water nymphs and mermen were natural enemies, not that it bothered Alyssa one bit. She was in a rebellious phase, according to her father.
I groaned, scrubbing my hand over my face. I looked out the window. I had the strangest feeling that I was being watched, but there was no one outside. I shook off the feeling.
“I can take the bodyguard gig,” Inarus offered.
“Really?” I asked, unable to contain my excitement.
“Yeah, I can handle a teenage girl. Piece of cake.” Oh, he was in for a surprise, but I’d let him take it. Damn, it was nice having a colleague to split jobs with.
“Okay, I’ll call Jackson back. He works for the Human and Paranormal Enforcement Division.”
Inarus scowled. Yeah, the HPED weren’t my favorite bunch either, but not all of them were bad apples. Jackson was one of the good guys.
The HPED was notorious for being paranormally racist. They were the closest thing we had to a police force, but their name was deceiving. The HPED didn’t police the paranormal population. They served and protected the human population, and did their best to look the other way if anything paranormal was involved, which was where I came in. Sanborn Place was free to ride the gray area. Jackson had relied on me before when he’d been called in on an attack that involved a dead shifter and a dead vamp. The HPED had cleared out shortly after I’d arrived, but Jackson had gone out of his way to make sure the proper people were contacted and that any loose ends were tied up.
“Did you save the messages?”
Inarus nodded and hit the play button on the office phone resting on my desk.
Jackson’s gruff voice filled the room. “Naveed, we have a situation downtown. If you can come down to…” He rattled off an address close to Riverfront Park. I grabbed a pen and sticky pad, jotting down the address. I handed it to Inarus. He booted up the old MacBook computer and did a quick Google search, pointing to a red dot on the map. Listening to the rest of the message that didn’t provide much more information, I hung up the phone.
“Divide and conquer?” Inarus asked with a quirk of his brow. I smiled. It was good to finally have some real help.
“Absolu
tely. I’ll call Jackson on my way down. Whoever finishes first can call the lady with the vampire cat.” I laughed.
“Sounds good.” We each grabbed our keys, mine to the Pack Hummer, and his to the company car. “Catch you on the flip side,” Inarus said as we both headed out.
I gave Jackson a call on my way down to the park, ignoring the feeling that I was being followed. The streets were almost empty, and despite checking my rearview mirror several times, I had yet to see a car following me.
Jackson didn’t answer, but I maneuvered my way through the snow, finding metered parking on the side of the road. The meters weren’t regulated, since we didn’t have any government entities to control them, but they hadn’t been removed, either, and stood as markers for safe locations to park. Well, they were mostly safe.
At least a dozen HPED personal were milling about downtown, all scratching the backs of their heads and looking otherwise useless. A few heads turned when I made my way closer to their group, but no one seemed overly concerned by my presence until a single man stepped forward, separating himself from the group.
“Thank God,” Jackson called out. Jackson was six feet tall, with an average build. His sandy blond hair was cut short, and his brown eyes were filled with frustration as he walked towards me. He was wearing standard HPED blues, but he had a badge on his right shoulder that I hadn’t seen on him before, and three gold chevron pins on the left side of his collar.
“I’m glad someone is happy to see me,” I said, raising a brow at the now scowling faces turned in my direction. Jackson waved off his men, closing the distance between us.
“Thanks for coming. I was running out of ideas.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I have a bad feeling about this one, but come on, it’ll be easier to explain if you just see it for yourself.”
Indicating for me to follow, Jackson headed inside a large building marked as the Flour Mill and down a wide staircase leading into a basement. Two men were posted on either side of the door that we found when we cleared the landing. Their eyes were wide, their bodies visibly shaking with terror. The Flour Mill was located on Mallon Avenue and on the north bank of the Spokane River, about one mile from Riverfront Park. Despite its name, it wasn’t a flour mill. It’d been built in 1895 and was one of several mills built along the falls prior to the 1900s intended for water power. In 1974, it had been converted into a shopping center full of quaint little shops and restaurants. Chocolate Apothecary had been one of my favorites. They served one hell of a mocha.
Burned by Fire (Blood & Magic Book 3) Page 13
