Electric Storm (A Raven Investigations Novel)

by Brutger, Stacey

  “You’re thinking like a human. We’re not human.” Jackson grabbed the doorknob, turning to go. “If you have any hope of trying to keep him, you have to stop thinking of us as human with an extra ability.”

  She took a deep breath to argue, but Jackson had already disappeared. She hated when someone left before the argument was over. Her hair was drying, and the bathroom was growing colder with the door open. She shivered.

  Taggert wrapped his arms around her legs, his head nestled against her thigh. She felt very self-conscious to notice his face so close to the end of the towel, then cursed herself. Jesus, Trish almost raped him, and she was worried about clothes.

  She touched his back then drew away. “Get rid of those clothes and take a shower.” She didn’t want that woman’s scent on him.

  When he slowly straightened, she helped him off with the shirt. “Give me the pants, too. I’ll have them burned.”

  He blinked then complied without a word.

  She averted her gaze, her eyes still seeing the marks on his flesh and it infuriated her. She wanted to find Trish and mark her in kind. She’d insist on healing him if her emotions weren’t so wild. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him more.

  “Taggert.” She waited for him to meet her gaze. “If anyone tries that again, kill them.”

  Not waiting for him to reply, she left the room. “Burn these.” She tossed the clothes at Jackson. He took one look at her expression and complied.

  Once alone, she chose her most conservative clothes. Dark, slim and as unrevealing as possible. She picked up her gloves and carefully put them on, fiddling with them when the shower turned off. She straightened, unaware she’d been waiting for the sound until she heard it. Now that she had, she was nervous as hell and desperate for a reprieve. “I’ll wait downstairs for you.”

  The coward that she was, she escaped to the kitchen to eat. She was too jittery to remain still for long. She didn’t know if it was because her power refused to settle or if she sensed something would happen tonight.

  She feared it would be the latter. Jeffrey Durant wanted something from her, had agreed to become her pack for a reason. Like it or not, she had a feeling she was about to find out.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  EVENING: 11 PM

  Raven saw the strained smile on Durant’s face as soon as she entered the club, and her nerves fluttered to life. The tiny lines around his mouth eased when he spotted her, and she barely resisted the need to twitch under his regard. She didn’t know how to react to him after their last encounter.

  He stood and sauntered toward her, exuding sexiness with a single-mindedness that drew attention to his body. It also drew the admiration of every female in the room and that of a few males as well.

  It took more time than it should’ve to work her eyes up to his face. At his expression, she gulped, repressing a shiver of lust as she struggled to focus on the unease she sensed behind his smile. The large meal she consumed congealed in her stomach.

  Something was wrong. “Whatever you do, don’t react.” Taggert nodded at her order, while Jackson, the barbaric caveman, just grunted.

  She scanned the crowd again as unobtrusively as possible, noting that the place was packed with shifters and vampires. More so than usual.

  Their presence prevented her from being able to use her gift. She couldn’t risk it being traced it back to her. She locked down, shutting everything out. What felt like more than half her senses died when the door clanked shut, leaving her much more vulnerable than she’d ever wanted to feel again.

  Durant stepped in front of her, stopping only inches from her in a way that seemed to suck up all the air. “Is there something wrong with the club?” She couldn’t think what else would cause him such concern.

  “Raven.” Durant enveloped her in a tight hug, and she resisted the urge to stiffen. She was his alpha. If she refused his touch, she’d only cause more trouble. Gritting her teeth, she inhaled his scent of leather, absorbed his warmth and clumsily wrapped her arms around him in return. And surprised herself by actually leaning into his touch.

  Under the lighting, his golden hair appeared streaked. When she continued to stare, she identified what nagged at her...the barely there stripes were identical to his animal’s namesake. Instead of looking foolish, it boosted his charm and added a hell of a lot more wildness to his sex appeal.

  He brushed at her shields, not demanding entrance, more like knocking.

  Polite.

  That was so not a good sign.

  With severe misgivings, she lowered her shield a fraction. Be careful. The guy you’re going to meet is dangerous. He’s heard stories of you and was sent to investigate.

  When he pulled away, Raven nodded. “What’s this about, Durant?”

  “Follow me, but please...just be careful.”

  When she would have pulled away, Durant captured her hand and slowly intertwined their fingers together. If he was in his animal form, his tail would be twitching. What could possibly make a seven hundred pound tiger nervous?

  “Ah, you must be Raven.” A man of medium stature, with brown hair and nondescript features, rose then indicated she should take a seat across from him.

  She hesitated. “And you are?”

  “You may call me Randolph.” The tone was congenial, almost mockingly polite, but the cold, penetrating gleam in his eyes put Raven on alert. It wasn’t that he was hiding something, there was just nothing behind his gaze at all.

  She carefully lowered herself, half-expecting to hear the slam of cage doors. Taggert and Jackson sat at the next table. Both appeared unable to remove their gaze from the mystery man. Curious, she glanced at Durant and saw the same lull in his expression, though he fought it.

  She reached across the table and took Durant’s hand. A sharp pinch like that of a spider bite stung her fingertips when Durant blinked. His expression cleared and color replaced the pallor of his face. “You okay?” Whatever held Taggert and Jackson broke as well.

  Randolph stopped scanning the club and slowly swung his head toward her. “I must say, I’m impressed.”

  Raven tensed and reluctantly met his gaze. “About what?”

  “By touching him, you were able to break my hold over them.” The smile on his face looked stiff. “And you were affected not at all. Very interesting.”

  She sensed more than saw Jackson bristle, but Taggert’s reaction captured her attention when he stiffened. When she glanced in the direction he gazed, she saw why. “Jackie.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Raven very deliberately turned her back on the she-bitch. Randolph had lost his smile. Though he didn’t appear disturbed, the clipped edge to his question said he didn’t like the way her focus had shifted away from him.

  “A person in the club attacked one of mine earlier today. I issued a warning to her about the consequences of doing it again, but apparently not strong enough.” Even before she finished speaking, a waiter dropped off a drink, setting it in front of Taggert with a nod in Jackie’s direction.

  Raven tightened her lips. One wrong move could spike Randolph’s annoyance, but she couldn’t leave the challenge unanswered, especially as it threatened Taggert. “Randolph, I’m sorry for the interruption, but would you mind waiting a moment while I settle this?”

  As much as she wanted to march across the room, she remained motionless for his answer, her muscles brittle as she waited for his decree.

  “By all means. You have me curious.”

  Some of the tension eased, although she didn’t care for the spark of curiosity that entered his eyes as he studied her. Something about his lack of expression stirred a memory at the back of her mind. A horrible suspicion of Randolph’s identity kicked her heartbeat into overdrive, but she could do nothing without proof. “Taggert. Please hand me that glass.”

  He did as told in an instant, hovering by her side. From the slight widening of Jackie’s eyes, she knew her suspicions were true. “Randolph, would y
ou say you are an excellent huntsman?”

  If her suspicions were true, he was the best. A true huntsman trained by the labs to track paranormals. No one knew his identity, as those who lived after meeting him remembered only what he wanted them to recall.

  Amusement darkened his gaze as if sharing a joke between them. “Yes.”

  “Would you care to tell me what’s in this drink?” She slid the glass across the table with the tips of her fingers. Jackie edged toward the door. “Durant, please make sure no one leaves.”

  He rose and signaled the bouncers at the doors.

  Randolph leaned over the glass, careful not to touch anything. “Liquor. Orange juice. Grenadine.” Then his brow furrowed. He inched closer and picked up the glass, his face pinched tight. “There’s something else.”

  He lifted the drink to his lips.

  Raven raised her hand. “I wouldn’t.”

  “Oh?” He very deliberately set the glass back to the original spot.

  Durant led a very reluctant Jackie toward them. “When Taggert came to me, he was heavily drugged.”

  “Impossible.” Randolph spoke the words but something malevolent took shape behind his eyes.

  “It slowed down his healing by days. He wasn’t as alert, less aggressive than he should’ve been, and he was submissive to everyone.” She didn’t spare a glance at Jackie. Something told her not to divide her attention. “He built up a tolerance and went through withdrawals after he came into my care.”

  “Your little wolf isn’t very strong. You could be mistaken.” Randolph met her gaze squarely as if her future depended on her next words. No doubt it did.

  “No.” She recognized the signs of being drugged all too well. Deep foreboding about Randolph’s true purpose for being there sank claws in her gut. He was there for her. If she hesitated or backed down now, they were all dead.

  “Designer drugs. How am I to know you aren’t the perpetrator?” He nodded his head to Jackie. “That you are not using me to get rid of your little pest?”

  Jackie struggled out of Durant’s hold and came to Randolph’s side. “She did it. I caught her drugging him the night she took him from me. She claimed him to prevent herself from being found out.”

  He stiffened imperceptibly, all the hardness rushed back in his face. Jackie must have sensed the change as well for she stopped short of touching him.

  A slow awareness of Randolph’s true purpose dawned. He had come for more than an investigation. A dart of fear sparked in her chest, and Raven resisted the urge to attack. Energy swirled around her like an angry cloud, sinking into her skin a little at a time, as much as she dared take without notice.

  “You didn’t know about the drugs.” It wasn’t a question. The corners of his lips tightened, and she didn’t think he would answer.

  “No.”

  “You came about the murders.” Instead of talking, he bowed his head and another disturbing suspicion rose. “And you think I killed them.”

  “No.” He seemed as surprised as she was by the answer.

  “Then why all the questions?”

  “To gauge your intent now that you are in possession of one of the very few known tigers and managers of one of the three approved clubs on pack territory.” While he said the words, he continued to stare at her with those disturbingly dead eyes.

  “He’s pack.”

  “And you would die for them?” It wasn’t an idle question.

  “Yes.” She didn’t hesitate even though Durant appeared ready to protest.

  “It’s his club peddling drugs. That’s a killing offense.” He reached out, but didn’t touch the glass, his fingers hovering over the condensation that had collected.

  “Kill him and the real perpetrator will only switch to a different venue. They already tried to take him. They stole the life of his employee when she showed up instead.” Now that Randolph was here, everything made sense. Someone wanted to run drugs through the club, and the only way they could get to the shifters was through an approved club like Talons. They dumped Cassie’s body in the killer’s hunting ground to cover their crime.

  She ignored the pounding of her heart, ignored the way everyone near them stilled as if they could taste the menace in the air. Power built beneath her skin.

  “How do you propose to catch this dealer?” An uncompromising, hard look came in Randolph’s expression. “How did you even learn about it?”

  “They’re pack. Are you saying you don’t know everything about the people you live around?” She dodged the question, but she knew that it only delayed the inevitable.

  He gave a slight nod of his head, relaxing a little. “True.”

  She could tell he was disturbed not to have known about the drugs, that he had to have been told. Some of that anger burning below the surface showed in the way he shifted slightly.

  “But how did you find out? Unless you tasted it in his blood.”

  She shivered at the demand for the truth. He wouldn’t be pawned off. If she wanted her pack to live, she couldn’t hide. “I claimed him by blood.”

  Jackie gasped, but Randolph only nodded. “But you recognized the effects of the drugs before then, didn’t you?”

  “Let’s say I’ve seen the effects.”

  Randolph’s hand stilled. “When?”

  “The labs.” She bit the words out between stiff lips, audible to only those nearest them. She hated being forced to admit the painful truth in front of so many.

  A snort of laughter escaped Jackie, her posture loosened and that bitchy smirk came back to her face. “She lies.”

  “Are you lying?” Randolph asked the question, his gaze trained on Raven as if dissecting her. Something about his stillness triggered a buried memory.

  Raven couldn’t respond, finally recognizing what was different about him. He wasn’t a shifter or a vampire. The energy lines she used to gauge a person’s threat level wavered around him, hiding him from her. It took more than just the magic to do that.

  “You’ve been inside one as well.” A snarl worked its way up her throat as her hackles rose. “You’re enhanced. A damn soldier they engineered to protect the humans from us monsters.” Power surged, tangling lines of blue down her arms. The shield she wore parted, and what made her such a killer in the labs peeked out.

  Raven’s chair scraped as she shoved back from the table. She didn’t have to look to know that her eyes had changed to vivid blue. “How does it feel to be a real monster amongst the monsters?”

  “Jesus, Raven. Be quiet.” Durant barely got the words out when Randolph’s power lashed against her skin, searching for an opening.

  Raven snatched the strands, yanked them closer and wove them into a ball. The golden energy was different than her normal blue. It was more volatile and ice cold, scoring her wherever it touched. Instead of fighting it, she absorbed it throughout her system.

  A mistake. The instant the strange power touched her core, her blood felt like it was boiling. The animals inside roared, slashing at the cages to get out, but what scared her the most was that the strange creature surrounding her core gave a lazy stretch as if awakening.

  Randolph’s eyes widened and as quickly as the attack came, the spike died. The energy she’d siphoned fought her as she tried to expel it. The gold lines wrestled with her every step of the way until her body screamed for mercy. She couldn’t get rid of it, the strands clinging to her body like a leech.

  Desperate for relief, she yanked the golden ball away from the animals. She shoved the explosive energy into a cage, pouring her energy around the vault to stop the golden lines from bleeding into her system. Though the pain instantly eased enough for her to breathe again, a slight buzz warned her that it wouldn’t be satisfied for long.

  Ignoring the vague sickness that lingered, she licked her parched lips and studied Randolph for any nuance. “What are you?”

  “No soldier. I never volunteered.” The mask he hid behind cracked. Something dark danced in his eyes, somet
hing that haunted him. Memories of what they made them do. Then like a switch, everything shut down. “When the main lab was destroyed, they abandoned a few of the smaller ones, fearing they’d be attacked next. They went through emergency protocol.”

  “They killed everyone.” Her lips were numb when she said the words. They might as well have said they killed everyone because of her.

  “But not all of us died.” There was a tightening around his jaw, like he’d revealed more than he wanted to share. He quickly changed the subject before she could foolishly probe for more answers. “What do you plan to do about the drugs?”

  It was a truce of sorts. A silent, tentative agreement that he would let her and her pack live.

  “Murder comes first. Someone has been taking and killing shifters. Possibly vampires as well. Until I can find the killer, I can’t divide my focus.” Refusing to investigate was a gamble but as far as she knew, no one had yet been killed from the drugs.

  “Agreed. Would you mind if I did some digging?”

  She stifled a snort at the polite inquiry. “Would I be able to stop you?”

  The smile he returned didn’t boost her confidence. “No.”

  “The only lead I have on the drugs is Jackie.” She avoided looking at anyone but Randolph. “The other person who had any information was murdered yesterday.”

  “I don’t have to stand for this.” Jackie twisted away from the table. She took a few steps when Randolph gave a signal. She soon found herself blocked on all sides. The twit paled and quieted.

  “She’s been using the drugs to gain status. And if I would have to guess, she’s too stupid to cover her tracks.”

  “So she’s not selling it?” He nodded toward the glass.

  Raven paused to think about it. “I think someone gives it to her to play around. She tested it and found she liked to pretend she’s alpha.” The idea had merit. “If I had to guess, I’d say her alpha is as suspicious and wants her gone as well or else he’d be here to protect her from the warning I issued this afternoon.”

  A little grunt escaped the hunter across from her. “A drug like that could be used as a weapon by anyone, rogues searching for power, vampires or even humans who want to put shifters in their place. The drugged shifters would be vulnerable, which would leave the pack vulnerable to attack.”