by Lexi Blake
Not that they were his subjects. The Fae considered his papa and brother fertility gods. The supernatural world followed his vampire father’s dictates. His mother and sister were worshipped on many planes for their “glow.”
Lee was the odd man out.
Eddie brought me a lovely plush robe. It made me wonder how he’d gotten it out here so fast. I wondered if Amazon had a demonic site as well. Eddie was probably a Prime member. “I was pleased to be able to get you exactly the nutrition you require, Master Lee. And we won’t mention it to the queen.”
Lee grinned as he poured a massive bowl full of sugary cereal. “What happens on the road stays on the road. That’s what Papa says. We don’t ever tell Mama when we get milkshakes for dinner.”
The queen had funny ideas about nutrition.
Of course I might have to take a page from her book soon. I might have gotten pregnant the night before. I had to cut back on the beer. Like all the way. Although he would be a demonic child…
“I hope you don’t mind, mistress,” Eddie was saying. “Mistress Olivia thought you would want to break your fast in your room. She said you sometimes have trouble transitioning from sleep to day and need a soothing environment to aid you. I can bring in a harp. Jenna plays beautifully. Or perhaps you would like a change of décor? And I thought I might schedule a massage for this evening after your working day is through. I have several skilled practitioners on hand. Jaylor alone can give you a six-hand massage. He is Unseelie.”
I already had four hands on me most of the time. “I think I’m good.”
“Anything you require, mistress.” Eddie clapped his hands. “This is perfect. Sorcha, stay outside the door in case they need anything. Ellwis, please go and see if they need help in the kitchens. Your sister went fishing so they’re down a set of hands.” He glanced back at me. “I always try to serve fresh, locally sourced cuisine. There’s a stream close to here and I’ve heard the trout is delicious.”
“Isn’t that past the wards?” I didn’t like the idea of a brownie running around on her own.
“Racha is good at protecting herself. She also has several protective spells on her,” Eddie explained.
“I took care of it,” Liv explained. “The stream isn’t far outside the protective spells. I gave her a dampening charm. No one can smell her, and it will give her advanced warning of anything larger than a bunny coming her way. She’ll be safe. She wanted some privacy.”
Eddie inclined his head Liv’s way in obvious gratitude. “Racha needs more reflection time than the others. I always attempt to find solitary tasks for her. Please let me know when you’re ready for your morning snack, and then luncheon will be served at one. I’ve also placed baskets with snack foods throughout our domicile.”
Could I keep him? Gray might not like the little demon, but I was starting to see his value.
“You are the bomb, Eddie,” Liv said as she walked in. She shook her head as she took in the sight of me still cowering under the blankets.
I wanted the food, but Lee was there, and if he moved his head the wrong way he might see my boobs, and he didn’t need to see my boobs. Ever.
Eddie bowed from the waist. “I endeavor to bring good service, Mistress Olivia.” He nodded toward the door. “And good morning to you, Master Casey and Mistress Meredith.”
The gang was all here. Well, all the ones I wasn’t sleeping with. And not a one of them cared that I wasn’t dressed. Well, except for Lee, and he might be right about the PJs.
“It’s good to see you survived the night, Kelsey. I would love to do some bloodwork.” Meredith sat down, pulling the napkin across her lap. “Your metabolism must be off the charts. I was shocked you came out of it as quickly as you did. If you’d been a regular werewolf, you would have been out for all of last night and most of today.”
“She’s not a regular werewolf,” Lee said with an air of superiority. “She’s a Hunter. It’s way cooler than a werewolf.”
“Casey, would you do the honors?” Liv asked, approaching the bed and grabbing the robe Eddie had laid out for me.
Casey put a hand over Lee’s eyes.
“I wouldn’t look. Eww, she’s like my big sister,” Lee groused. “I don’t want to see any of that. Of anyone. Girls are gross.”
But Casey’s hand did not move as I slipped the robe on and got out of bed. I belted that sucker tight and breathed in the heavenly scent of bacon. So much bacon.
Liv winked my way. “Trent ordered for you this morning. When you think about it, he ordered for all of us. He and Gray said they were going into town and would eat at the diner. Something about wanting to make sure they had a presence there.”
He wanted the sheriff to know we weren’t going anywhere. But without parading around the psycho chick who’d nearly murdered a man in front of him. I was sure they would also ask around about the stray wolf boy.
And maybe talk about the whole “we might have gotten pregnant last night” thing. I was cool with being left out of that. It would likely be all kinds of heartfelt and full of feels. I’d had a lot of those the night before.
“Those two looked awfully cozy this morning,” Liv remarked as she poured coffee.
“I think she means they weren’t fighting,” Lee said, grinning my way. “I don’t get why they were fighting in the first place. Trent had to kill that dude. He was a bad dude. I know he was Gray’s brother, but if Rhys ever goes bad, I’m going to put him down. It’s what brothers do for each other.”
I was glad they had a plan in place in case Rhys ever went Dark Phoenix on us.
“Brothers should take care of each other,” Meredith said, her mouth tight. “I only say that because I didn’t have a family. I would think siblings should have close bonds, bonds that go beyond any other relationship.”
Casey sank down into his seat. There was a plate in front of him, but he wouldn’t use it. He changed the subject because Meredith seemed to need a moment. “Well, I’m glad I got to tell Marcus we didn’t have to tranq you again. How is he that scary over the phone? It’s something in his voice. It just lets you know that he will murder you if you don’t do what he wants.”
“How did the anti-nausea potion work out?” Meredith asked, taking a deep breath before scooping scrambled eggs onto her plate. “I thought you would use it this morning. You must have been terribly sick after all those drugs.”
“Oh, I didn’t take that,” I admitted. I hoped she hadn’t spent too much time making it. “It kind of crashed against the wall.”
“She’s lucky she didn’t cut me up.” Liv sat back, a cup of coffee in her hand and her plate entirely empty. “That’s the last time I try to help your tummy. Poor brownie had to sneak in to clean it all up. She was a little worried that the masters, as she put it, were holding you hostage. I think we need to explain the handcuffs to the Fae creatures. They don’t get kink.”
I stared Liv’s way. “Neither do eleven-year-old boys.”
She had the grace to grimace. “Sorry.”
Lee shrugged. “I know about handcuffs. Mama sometimes likes to stretch and they help her stretch her arms. I’m sure it’s the same with Kelsey. Girls need lots of stretching and it hurts when they do it. That’s why they moan so much.”
“Yep,” I agreed as quickly as I could. “That’s totally why. I’m feeling very loose in the shoulders this morning. Now, Casey, did you find anything out last night? Any missing kids in the area?”
“That bacon looks really good,” Casey said. “I wonder when I’m going to stop wanting bacon. I was cool. I’d gotten over the whole not eating thing and then…”
“She asked you a question, Casey,” Liv said pointedly.
“I would actually like to talk about the eating thing.” Meredith was leaning in. “I find academics fascinating. Other vampires can’t stand the thought of human eating practices. My old master wouldn’t allow me to eat in front of him. I was only allowed to eat when he was out of the house or asleep, and even then he
selected my food choices. That’s relatively normal behavior for warrior vampires, but academics are more indulgent.”
Academics were indulgent for a reason. I should know. I’d lived with one for a year. “When they bond with a woman, they can taste the food she eats.”
“Uncle Marcus is sad because he misses peanut butter cups,” Lee said with a sage nod.
I was pretty sure Marcus missed sex, too, but what he mostly missed was the feeling that someone needed him.
“Academics form deep connections with the women they care about. When it’s strong and true, the bond can help the academic feel what his partner is feeling. Right down to being able to taste the food she eats. It doesn’t have to be a bond with a companion. An academic can bond to any lover.” Had Casey formed a connection with Liv? Or was it Meredith? My BFF had turned a nice shade of pink. Something was definitely going on here and I needed to save her. “But I think Casey is just so young he still remembers how bacon tastes. Now give me the lowdown. I know I lost my shit yesterday, but we are here to do a job. Liv, did you get that spell working?”
There were still wolves out there in the woods. At least I hoped they hadn’t moved on. I would feel horrible if my meltdown cost someone else their life. But I rather thought the wolves wouldn’t move on as long as they had a food source. Jensen might lose more cattle. If there was any chance at all that those wolves could come at us, I wanted a spell in place.
“Eddie and I got one working last night. It’s almost like a magical alarm system,” Liv explained. “If anyone except the people who are supposed to be here get within a hundred yards of the tent, we’ll know. Chimes will sound and we’ll be able to close off the entrance.”
“How does it know who’s supposed to be here?” I was fascinated with the stuff my BFF could do.
“I collected some DNA from each of you,” she said casually. “Hair mostly. Not that Trent has a lot.”
Meredith’s eyes narrowed. “You did what?”
“How else am I supposed to bind a protection spell?” Liv posed the question as though the answer should be obvious.
“You’re supposed to ask,” Meredith shot back.
“It was five in the morning. You wanted me to wake you up? It was way easier to just pull some off your brush. We share a bathroom. Next time I will wake you up and ask if you want to be protected from rabid wolves or if I should leave us all open for the kill because you hoard your hair,” Liv replied.
She was touchy. I looked over to Meredith, who was staring at Liv. “I did ask her to get it done no matter what she had to do.”
Meredith seemed to shrug it off. “It’s fine. But next time, let me know when you’re using my DNA.” She turned back to me. “I got Casey my notes on the medical examiner’s reports.”
Casey shifted in his seat like he was still uncomfortable. “I spent some time with the first murder case. I studied it last night and Lee and I hacked a couple of local systems looking for missing children reports. There wasn’t a lot in the area.”
I appreciated the effort. “If this kid ran away from Lupus Solum, he wouldn’t have been reported missing. Did you find anything new in those case files?”
“I did,” Lee said around a mouthful of chocolate chip muffin. Besides his massive bowl of cereal, he had a couple of muffins, a cheese Danish, and an éclair in front of him.
I stood up and decided it was time to be the adult and edit his choices. Apparently Eddie was just going to have to learn how to say no. I took his plate. He frowned but managed to save his muffin.
“Dude, you’re eating some protein and fruit and then you can have like half of the Danish. Now explain to me why you were looking through homicide reports.” I fixed a new plate that included eggs and oatmeal and melon slices.
Then I fixed one for me, too. The same stuff. The same healthy stuff because I needed to be a better role model.
He took his loss of sugar with the grace of a kid who was used to the maternal figures in his life getting their way. He was perfectly enthusiastic as he began to talk because the one thing he loved more than sugar was sleuthing. I often thought I would have to change the sign on my door when he grew up because he would likely join the family business. “Because they looked super interesting and Casey fell asleep.”
Casey managed to flush. “I was tired. I told him to go to bed. I didn’t think he would look through those files.”
He didn’t know Lee the way I did. “He never goes to bed when you ask him to, and if a file like that goes missing, assume he stole it.”
Casey shook his head Lee’s way. “I told you to research the stuff with the bats Trent asked us to do.”
“Bats?” Meredith asked.
Gray and Trent were worried about the bats. Apparently the fact that they’d stayed in their cave the night before and hadn’t rushed out to scare the shit out of any human in their path was a big deal. “There are a bunch of bats in the caves around here. When we were out the other night, they weren’t behaving the way they should have. Trent said it was like they were trying to stay still, to make as little noise as possible.”
“You think they know the rabid wolf is out there?” Liv mused.
“I don’t know what else would make them behave that way,” I replied.
Casey sat back and gave me a nod. “Well, I did manage to find some reports on local wildlife. There’s a ranger station and they’ve had heavy conversations via email about the fact that the bats haven’t shown in three days. It’s a big deal to some hikers. Apparently there’s a large colony and they swoosh out just as the sun sets and the tourists take pictures. Also, Ranger Winnows is totally boffing the receptionist, but his wife doesn’t know. She’s sent him some pretty hot pictures, if you know what I mean. The receptionist. Not the wife.”
Sometimes Casey had too much fun with his job. “So they’re worried, too.”
“There have been a couple of reports of a massive wolf in the area. Much larger than a normal wolf,” Lee said, proving he could read hacked emails, too. “A couple of hikers saw it. They said they were terrified, but the wolf just ran away when they shouted.”
Meredith shook her head. “Then it’s not the rabid wolf. You’re wrong about this. A sick wolf would always attack. He’ll attack anything in his path, and he wouldn’t be running with a pack. It’s simple natural law.”
Liv’s eyes rolled as she reached for a banana. “There’s always an exception to every rule. The universe loves to turn us on our heads. I get that you like things orderly and neat, but that’s not how this world works.”
Meredith went still and for a moment I thought she would start an argument with Liv. She simply took another sip of her coffee and then gently placed it back on the saucer. “Thank you for explaining it to me, Olivia. I feel so much more knowledgeable now. I lived for too many years in a vampire household. I wasn’t allowed to see much beyond the rooms my master kept me in.”
Liv winced. “I’m sorry I was a bitch. I know you’ve been in this world for a long time and it wasn’t your choice.” She tried for a smile but it didn’t reach her eyes. “There are always exceptions to the rules. I can’t explain them most of the time. I’m sure you would do a better job with the DNA stuff. All I know is Kelsey is good. If she says this is the wolf we’re looking for, then I tend to believe her. Hey, if this is some kind of mutant wolf, you can write a paper about it.”
Meredith gave her back a tight smile. “We’ll see. I would be interested, but I think there’s something more normal at play here.”
Casey frowned as he passed me the files he’d brought with him. “Here are printouts of the stuff the kid and I found interesting. By the way, I need you to buy Eddie for the team or something because he’s got a spell that makes the Internet work like lightning.”
“Eddie’s being trained to take over a household eventually. I’ve heard Papa talk about him running one of our houses when we grow up,” Lee said, gamely eating his oatmeal. “He’ll probably go with Rhys whe
n he takes a goddess or Evan when she and Marcus get married.”
Well, I’d known that would happen. I shouldn’t be surprised we were back to Marcus marrying the queen’s daughter someday. It had been foretold that one day Marcus would marry a woman of the queen’s line. Evangeline was a bright companion. One day she would be exactly what Marcus needed.
But what I needed was to keep these guys on track. I glanced down at the articles and files Casey and Lee had found. They’d pulled police reports and apparently hacked the FBI, too. It was way more information than Lord Sloane had given us.
“I think there’s something wrong with the first murder,” Lee said. “I think the cops overlooked a couple of things, but I also think there’s a connection between this place and Christopher Miller.” He looked to Casey.
Casey shook his head and waved Lee’s way. “You found it, buddy. Feel free to present it to the group. Like we said, there aren’t many missing persons cases. This is a small area but the population has been pretty stable for a long time. Between ranching and tourism, the town has kept up its economy. There wasn’t a ton of crime, so any reports stand out, but Lee found a shocker.”
“I don’t know that Lee should have been working on the actual murder part of this.” I was cool with him learning about the bats and tracking down anything we could find on rabid wolves, but he was eleven.
Casey sent me a stare. “Well, we weren’t having a lot of luck and I seriously wanted to keep working because despite the coolness of this place, the magical walls are thin, if you know what I mean. Your…stretching was very loud last night.”
Lee nodded. “You might take up Eddie on that massage. Mama says it always helps her after a workout.”
I vowed to be silent from now on.
Casey had interesting instincts when it came to research. I’d learned to rely on them mightily. It was why I liked having him out in the field with me despite the fact that he wasn’t great when it came to fighting.
I was also interested in anything that caught Lee’s attention. “What have you got for me, kid?”
