Death Be Blue (The Terra Vane Series Book 1)

by Katie Epstein

  “It’s a big deal when someone’s family member goes rogue,” Kaleb answered for me. “If a rogue shifter can prove that they’re not a threat to their clan or pack, they get to remain with them until they’re no longer controllable. They can never be let out into the city, and it’s the clan’s or pack’s responsibility to make sure it is so. But at least they get to stay with their family. What would you do if the decision was yours and Chris was rogue? Would you choose to let him go, or to keep him with you for as long as you possibly can? Even if he wasn’t completely himself?”

  The tinge of pain in Kaleb’s voice hinted that he’d experienced something similar first-hand. My heart went out to him. “I get that. But how could they justify making something so dangerous? Surely there was something else they could have done to calm the rogues enough so they could remain living with their families?”

  “That was the problem,” Chris replied. “This was the first thing—and the only thing since—that was chemically successful in calming the rogues. But, in the end, they termed it too dangerous, and both the drugs and the formula were destroyed. Roman was unable to be reformed. He lost his mind and was sentenced to death in the Territorial Shifter Hold six months after he was arrested,” he scoffed. “It’s ironic when you think about it. The only man who’d ever gotten close to controlling a rogue was eventually eaten by one.”

  “What about any side effects?” I asked and Chris raised his eyebrows implying I elaborate. “The ring around the irises, the flammability …”

  “Different species had different reactions. There were reports that their eyes changed but everything else was speculative as it varied from user to user. Then it was no longer an issue once they sealed all the records. The people who lived during that time have either chosen to forget, or are no longer with us. The Consilium went to great lengths to reassure people it was resolved. All before sweeping it under the carpet.”

  “We need to discuss this with Cole and Dan,” I told Kaleb in an attempt to avoid embroiling Chris in the situation any more than he already was. “We’re picking at something big here, and they need to be brought in on it.”

  “Not arguing there,” he replied. “But I’ll let you do the talking.”

  “Coward,” I retorted and he laughed.

  “I’m just smart. Also, I can’t wait to see what Cole is going to say when he discovers we went to see Rudolf without clearing it with the pack first.”

  “You didn’t tell me we would need to do that!” I exclaimed incredulously. I knew a bit about shifter politics, but I wasn’t anywhere near interested enough to know about it in detail.

  “I act dumb, so they expect it of me,” Kaleb replied nonchalantly. “You think with your heart and race in with your head. By me keeping you oblivious, I’ve covered both our asses. That’s why you can tell Cole. I’ll act like the dumb blond while he burns you for getting him into hot water with the cheetah Clan Chief and my dad.”

  “You manipulative son of a—”

  “How about some tea before you leave?” Chris intervened as he stood to go and make us some.

  “I’m sick of tea,” I replied sulkily. “Get me coffee. Really, really hot coffee that I can pour over pretty boy’s head here.”

  “Aww,” said Kaleb as he batted his eyes at me. “You think I’m pretty?”

  “Dad,” I practically growled, and Chris hid a smile before putting his hands up in defense.

  “I’m going, I’m going. Hot coffee. Coming right up.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “Why?” Cole shouted banging his fist on the table. He began pacing in an attempt to rein in his temper. “Every time. Every case. You always have to do something hot headed and stupid.” He turned on me. “Do you know how many problems this is going to cause?” I began to answer, but he completely cut me off. “Shifter politics are sensitive and have to be handled with both patience and respect. The fact you went over my head to question the son of a Clan Chief is unforgivable.”

  Glancing over at Dan, I was surprised when he discreetly nodded his head toward me. It was as if he was trying to encourage me to defend myself, which was unusual. He was always patient with my antics but respected Cole’s decisions regarding me. Now it appeared as if he was urging me to stick up for myself. I glanced over at Kaleb, who had a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. I jumped slightly when Cole turned on me again.

  “Months, that’s how long it’s going to take me to resolve this. Months! And I’ll have to appeal to my father to help maintain relations between pack and clan. All this to get a vision of a blue pill? Honestly, Terra, if I could have your badge right now, I would.”

  He’d been doing so well up until that point. I had been feeling calm and reprimanded. If only he hadn’t gone on to threaten my badge—again—then maybe, just maybe, he would have been able to maintain his ground.

  Shifting in my seat, I attempted to think rationally before saying very calmly, “I don’t believe that when I studied at the academy we were told we needed to bend the rules for shifters.”

  “Alerting me of anything to do with shifter protocol is common sense,” he snapped. “It doesn’t imply bending the rules.”

  “But you’re telling me that we shouldn’t have questioned a person of interest because he is of high rank in the shifter world.” I held his gaze. “Aren’t you?”

  “You know I’m not,” he replied through gritted teeth.

  “Then would we be having this conversation if it had been a vampire? Or worse. A human?”

  He leaned forward, his hands on the conference table, and glared at me. The amber of his eyes threatened to glow as sparks of yellow dared to peek through the blue. “You know how we have to deal with the people in this city, and you know it doesn’t only refer to shifters. Vampires have their own politics and agendas. As do the Fey. I am not playing favorites here.”

  “Oh yes, of course. I forgot that the handbook states we must go against all laws to tip toe around egotistical, arrogant people who were born on the right side of the blanket for their species. I apologize for missing the lecture on how to completely bypass protocol when a citizen has the right name or upbringing. Please excuse me for my ignorance.”

  Kaleb barked a laugh, quickly covering it up with a cough. Cole glared at him then snapped his attention back to me.

  “Are you forgetting that both Dan and I were to be kept in the loop on this?” he demanded, trying a different tactic. “If you’d brought this to us earlier, we could have made an informed decision on the next steps that wouldn’t have created a headache for someone who is supposed to be your boss.” He turned on Kaleb. “And you? Why the hell didn’t you stop her? You know how tentative things can be between the shifters. What went through your damn head?”

  “All we did was follow the trail.” Kaleb shrugged. “How was I supposed to know that The River Blue was owned by Rudolf River? You know I don’t go to that part of the quarter if I can help it.”

  Kaleb had just lied through his teeth, and I was sure Cole could sense it. The struggle of believing his little brother and calling him out as a liar was evident on his face.

  “Everyone, let’s calm down for a moment,” Dan intervened. “Cole, politics aside, the information they’ve come up with all ties together. Especially about this Royal Blue drug.”

  “That’s another thing,” Cole continued, ignoring Dan and focusing on me again. “How the hell did you get that information? You can’t seriously expect me to believe that it was delivered to your door via an anonymous note.”

  “That’s what happened,” I replied tightly, trying to hide the lie in my anger. I didn’t want my stepdad’s name to be used in any of this—even if it was only to share among Cole and Dan. Kaleb and I had come up with a plan to write a fake note and say it had been posted through my door.

  “Look,” Dan tried once more, “it doesn’t matter how we know. The important thing is, we now know why the Consilium red flagged it. There is no way th
ey would want a leak to the citizens of Portiside that Royal Blue has found its way to the streets again. There are enough people with long memories to cause a panic. No matter how hard the Consilium tried to hush it all up before, it would still cause an uproar.”

  “More like a public embarrassment,” Cole scowled as he paced again. “If all they were worried about was an uproar, then they wouldn’t have kept PCA out of the loop.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Dan replied. “Terra’s vision points us to a warehouse where rogue shifters are being chained up and held. We need to find them and discover how it all links together.”

  “I can’t let the other agents in on this.” Cole stopped pacing and leaned against the wall. He was tense, angry. “To do so would play too close to the information regarding the drug, and the Consilium could shut this operation down completely.”

  “Then we’ll do it,” I offered. “We were going to investigate anyway before coming here …” Dan shook his head abruptly as if to shut me up. I quickly diverted. “I meant that we had a lead we were going to follow so we may as well go ahead and follow it. All we need to do is see if any warehouses in the Indicium and Victorian Quarters are like my vision and stake them out. No big deal.”

  Cole was quiet for what felt like an age. You could see every expression of emotion cross his face from rage to resilience and, finally, ending with acceptance. “You make sure that is all you do.” His gaze held mine as he spoke before glancing at Kaleb. “Both of you. Anything else, and I mean anything, you come to me with it first. If you don’t, you’ll have more than a desistance order to worry about. Understood?”

  The urge to roll my eyes was strong, but I managed to resist. Instead, Kaleb and I nodded abruptly in acceptance.

  His reply stopped me. “Good.” He glanced at Dan before returning his gaze back to me. “In my office, Agent Vane. I want a private word with you before I speak to Dan about this. Kaleb?”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  “Stay here and keep Dan company.”

  Kaleb sniggered as I reluctantly stood to follow Cole, so I bobbed out my tongue out at him in retaliation. Cole caught my eye at the same time.

  “Sorry,” I said, raising my hands in mock surrender. I didn’t want to poke the bear—or, in this case, the wolf. Moments later we were in Cole’s office, and he was shutting the door behind him.

  “Sit down,” he ordered, and I hesitated before doing so. He sat on the opposite side of the desk and stared at me for what felt like forever. Finally, he spoke. “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why do you test me at each and every turn?” he asked. But he didn’t sound angry. He sounded tired. It made my temper seep away as the need to coax the pressure from him suddenly hit me out of nowhere.

  “Why do you think I do these things to test you?” I dared to ask him quietly. “Why do you think I do things without thinking when I get results? It’s not fair, Chief Cipher.”

  “No, Terra,” he said eventually, “what isn’t fair is that this investigation fell into my lap. It’s not fair that the Consilium have red flagged it. And it certainly isn’t fair that something has come up from our underground investigation that I’ve got to try and work around without tripping up over the Senates. I need the truth if I’m going to be able to protect this agency at every turn.” He let that sink in, then added, “Who told you about the drug?”

  I stared at his desk, not liking how I felt torn between him and the loyalties to my stepdad. It hurt. But even though I’d protect Chris to the death, I trusted Cole. If he needed the information to protect the agency and our jobs with it, maybe he would do so in the right way. But I also had to remember that Cole was a brilliant manipulator and politician. He was doing an amazing job right now, playing the sympathy angle. Or was he playing? He did look tired, as if he wore the weight of Portiside on his shoulders. And he would have to play this right if we were to stay on the case. There were serious penalties involved for continuing to investigate a red flagged case. It might be the agents out there facing danger day after day but it appeared Cole had his own plate to deal with. Some of that plate—okay, most of that plate—tended to come from my direction, but still…a plate was a plate.

  “Terra?” Cole demanded, a little more firmly this time to interrupt my internal agonizing. “Who are you protecting?”

  “Cole …” I pleaded, and even though I saw his eyes soften, he didn’t back down.

  “It’s Chris, isn’t it?” he realised with a heavy sigh.

  “It’s not important …”

  “Oh, it’s important.” He shook his head. “I should have known. Did you tell him to investigate this?”

  “No. I mean, I didn’t stop him when he offered.”

  “Terra,” Cole practically growled.

  “I told him to be careful. I didn’t encourage him.” I let out a deep breath. “But I suppose I didn’t discourage him either.”

  Cole stood up out of his seat and began to pace again.

  “Look,” I hurried on, “he was careful. He said it came from someone who owed him a favor. It won’t come back on him. Or on us.”

  “You’d better hope not.” He paused by the side of me. “Do you know how much he risked for you?”

  He hovered above me in a dominant position, and I rose in defiance to meet him. “I know he could lose his job. I know that. I honestly would never …”

  “He could go to prison. Losing his job would be the least of his worries.”

  The truth of it had my head hanging in shame as dread filled my stomach. The thought that this could come back and bite Chris in a big way made me nauseous. Chris always had my back. Even when I’d hit him with every teenage angst and mood I’d experienced, he’d been there. He’d put himself between me and my mom time and time again and always stood up for me when it came down to the crunch. He was my dad in every way possible bar blood, and I’d just put him at risk big time. Panic flooded me and I started to consider sending him to the Fey lands so he could fade away for a while to evade any trail linking back to him. He could go tonight. That way, if Cole had to out him to the Consilium, he’d be far away. He’d be gone and he’d be safe. Emotion hitched in my chest at the thought of him being absent from my life. He had always been there at the end of a transmission pod whenever I needed him. It hurt like hell knowing that could no longer be the case. Then my brain was abruptly brought back to focus as Cole hooked a finger under my chin, gently lifting my head up to encourage me to look at him.

  “I would never do anything to put him harm’s way,” he said softly, and his thumb brushed away a tear that had escaped. “I would never do anything to hurt either of you. I’m sorry I pushed you for the information.”

  “He’s all I’ve got, Cole.” I broke, the emotion swirling inside of me from just the thought of hurting Chris. “He’s my family. I wouldn’t risk him for the world. I’ll take the hit. I’ll take it. Whatever you need to do, send it my way. Please, please, don’t risk my dad.”

  I didn’t question anything when Cole leaned in close. The emotion fell away from me as the heat rose in its place. His mouth hovered closer as I tried to understand what was happening between us, the pull, the draw … well … it was unexplainable. His lips were almost upon mine. His hand fully encased my cheek. Then, suddenly, three hard knocks on the door caused him to jump away from me as if I’d caught on fire.

  “Come in,” Cole shouted as he moved back to his desk. I stood there on the spot, completely dumbfounded at the almost-kiss.

  “Hey,” Kaleb said as he popped his head in. He looked at me as if I had ‘Cole almost kissed me’ stamped on my forehead. I didn’t know what to say—couldn’t form a word—so I just stood there, slack-jawed, like a complete idiot.

  “What’s up?” Cole snapped, and I noticed that he managed to return to his surly self soon enough.

  “Dan’s had a call, and he needs to head back to Earthside in about fifteen minutes,” Kaleb waved to me, “and we need to get go
ing if we’re going to cover any of these warehouses by nightfall.”

  “Okay,” I squeaked, glad for the reprieve. I was pretty sure that Kaleb was hovering right now, believing he was saving me from another lecture from Cole. Well, he’d saved me alright. But not from a lecture.

  “Fine,” Cole conceded. He glanced at me before addressing his brother. “Keep out of trouble.”

  “Yes, Boss.” Kaleb threw a salute his way, and then we were out of the door. To safety. To a no-Cole zone.

  Crap. I knew then that I was in deep, deep trouble.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “Okay,” Kaleb said as we headed off in the direction of the next warehouse. Dusk was starting to turn the sky a shade darker, and this warehouse would be the last one we visited for the night. “You’re saying that two of the warehouses we visited may have had traits of what you saw in the vision?”

  “Yes,” I agreed as I gnawed on my bottom lip. I couldn’t quite believe it either. All we’d managed to get from this so far was sore feet and maybe two potentials. My memory was blending the images I’d seen in the vision like a dream I couldn’t quite remember, and nothing was specific enough to rule all the others out. There had been yellow trespassing signs on most of the warehouses, and they all had the same bland appearance. Nothing, aside from the two that had given me a niggling feeling, shouted out that rogues were being held inside them. Not the best reason in the world to get a search order.

  “And you can’t eliminate either of them?”

  “No,” I growled.

  “This is becoming one hell of a case,” Kaleb said as he let out a long sigh. “Now we’re stuck, walking around Portiside City, trying to find something that kind of looks like what you saw in a psychic vision.”

  “Pretty much,” I replied, unable to come up with any other way to track where they could be holding the rogues. Kaleb had tried to catch a scent at each warehouse, but all he’d detected was wolfsbane. Wolfsbane was a great way to throw off a shifter’s sense of smell. And it was something a lot of businesses used. It was a popular protection against potential thieves or nosy competition. If someone couldn’t see or smell what was in a building then that stopped the temptation. Mayra sold a few different versions of wolfsbane protection potions in her shop.