“We have other things to go by.” Noah kept his tone quiet in deference to the rules. “Like the fact that he controls shadow men and can possess a person.”
She nodded. “Unfortunately, that’s about it. Demons are adept at possession, but not all of them share the same powers or strength. Plus, how many of them have those letters in their names? I’m going to have to compile a list and go from there.”
Noah smiled. “Lucky for you, I’m good at compiling.”
Iva held up her tablet PC. “So’s this.”
Noah actually pouted. It was so out of place on his masculine face that she almost giggled. Her. The girl voted “Most Likely to be Serious” by the other dryads. “Poo.”
She shook her head at him as she approached the front desk. “Hi, Kathy.”
“Hey, Iva.” The young woman behind the desk smiled brightly. “It’s so good to see you again. I’m glad you’re doing better.”
“Thanks.” Iva leaned on the desk. “I need access to the demon files, the older ones in the archives.”
Kathy’s bright smile hardened, turned cold. “We’re finally going after that bastard?” She nodded to Noah. “Alpha.”
Kathy was an owl shifter, one of those who’d taken part in the battle over the Throne when the Ibanescu dragons had attacked. Normally she was a quiet, cheerful girl who loved to read and posted beautiful scenery photographs of Big Savage Mountain. But when it came to protecting those she cared about, Kathy was just as much a predator as her animal, gliding in for the kill with the silent grace of a ninja.
“Kathy.” Noah nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “We need that access as soon as possible.”
Kathy sighed. “I’ll try and get it for you, but you know how he is. Mr. Howell is very protective of the archives.”
Shawn Howell was a pain in the ass, was what he was, but Iva had no choice but to deal with him. “Want me to talk to him?”
Kathy started nodding before she stopped herself. “No, it’s my job.”
She sounded so dejected Iva almost laughed. “I could do it for you.”
“And get me yelled at even more. No, thank you. I’ll call him now.” Kathy picked up the phone and dialed.
Iva turned to Noah. “So. Once we have access to those grimoires we should be able to find out who possesses Peter Bradley.”
“And once that’s done, we set the trap and bait to lure him into the circle.” Noah rubbed his chin. “It won’t be easy. I doubt that we’re the first to try and capture him.”
“Even so, we have to try.” Iva turned when Kathy touched her shoulder.
“Iva? Mr. Howell will meet you in the archives.” She waved as if Iva was going into battle. “Good luck, and Goddess bless.”
Iva led the way to the archives, a part of the library she was fairly familiar with. Coming here was never easy. Dealing with Shawn Howell was like dealing with a mama bear protecting its cubs. A staircase led down two flights to where Shawn kept the rarest of their books. The rooms were kept cool in order to keep the books from deteriorating. Standing alongside one of the doors was Shawn, his gaze sharp as he watched her approach. “Iva.”
“Shawn.” She didn’t bother shaking his hand. Shawn was a psychic, one of Lore’s people. She wasn’t certain what his abilities were, and he’d never volunteered the information in her presence. And he never shook hands with anyone, so she was willing to bet his abilities had to do with touch.
“Only the demonology books this time?” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “I’d hate to have to open more than one storage room again.”
Noah growled. “We’re finding out the true name of the demon inhabiting Pet–uh, you-know-who. Whatever we need, you’ll get for us.”
Shawn smirked. “Wonderful. You brought Fido with you.”
Noah’s growl went from barely there to full-out, pissed-off alpha.
“Sorry, sorry.” Shawn held up his hands. “I meant Alpha Fido.”
Noah went to move around Iva, probably to splatter Shawn Howell all over the nice, white walls, but Iva put her hands around his waist to stop him. “Don’t. He’s the only one who knows where all the books are.”
Noah stopped trying to move past her. “You’re an ass, Shawn.”
“Are you aware of what sorts of tomes are in here, Noah?” Shawn waved his arms around, indicating the different doors. “Some of these are highly magical and need to be under constant supervision. I have Gideon on speed dial in case any of the enchantments begins to fail, and every time someone comes down here I have to reset the wards without a drop of magic to my name. So yes, I’m an ass, but it’s for a reason.” He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to stare Noah down. “Now. Demonology?”
“Demonology,” Noah gritted through his teeth.
“This way.” Shawn led them a few doors down. He took out a set of keys and inserted one into the lock of a door two doors away from the second intersection. “You wear the gloves provided or you don’t touch the books, understood?” He glared at Noah. “Especially you.”
“I’m gonna eat him. Can I just eat him?” Noah bared astonishingly long, pointed teeth. “He’d be chewy, but it would be worth it.”
She patted Noah’s cheek. “Maybe later. Right now we have research to do, my minion.”
Shawn brightened considerably. “He’d look wonderful in the denim jumper.”
“Ass. Hole.” Noah stopped pushing against her, but he still growled at Shawn. “You’ve always been one, even in elementary school.”
For just a second, Iva thought she saw regret in Shawn’s eyes but it was quickly masked by his sneer. “As if your shit didn’t stink back then. Remember, Noah?”
Iva was flabbergasted when Noah blushed and glanced away from Shawn. “Noah?”
Shawn shook his head. “There’s nothing to discuss, Iva. Let it be.” He glared at Noah. “We were kids, and kids can be cruel. Some more than others.” He walked past them, but paused before he hit the stairs. “For what it’s worth, you’ve become a good alpha, Fido.” He left, leaving Iva to stare at Noah in astonishment.
“I have no excuse to give you other than he’s right. I was a little shit, and my wolf...he saw Shawn as prey.” Noah’s expression was one of shame. “I won’t say there weren’t times he asked for it, because he gave as good as he got, but...” He glanced away again.
“I can’t believe it.” Iva let him go, shocked again when he flinched. “Did you ever apologize?”
“I tried to!” Noah ran his fingers through his hair, pulling at it in frustration. “Jesus, I wanted to, but he wouldn’t listen, and now he acts like that every time we meet. He just sets my back up, and I want to punch him.” Noah scowled, his arms crossing over his chest defensively. “Not everyone gets along with everyone else, even here in Maggie’s Grove.”
Iva stared at him. “You’ve never seemed the type to have been a bully, Noah.”
“I wasn’t, it’s... I was...” Noah grumbled something she didn’t catch under his breath. “Let’s just say it was mutual, okay? There were things both of us did that pissed the other off, and I can’t even remember who started it all. And like I said, I tried to apologize for my behavior, but he never did. He never accepted my apology, either. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life groveling to him for being a punk kid when he was just as much a punk as I was.”
“Did you beat him up?” Iva had to find out what he’d done so she could get past this.
Noah shook his head. “It was mostly name-calling. He’d call me Fido, or Buttons or, gods help me, Hong Kog Phooey during gym class. I’d call him asshole or dickhead. If other kids laid their hand on him I wasn’t told, but there was always this sort of ‘don’t touch me’ aura around him that none of us could penetrate. I don’t think he had any friends in grade school. During high school I rarely saw him because I was always with pack mem
bers. When he went away to college none of us even remembered him.”
She knew all too well how hard it was to speak to Shawn. He went out of his way to be antagonistic, but how much of that stemmed from his childhood and how much of it was the real Shawn? She blew out a breath and tried to let it go. “You’re right. It sounds like he gave as good as he got.”
He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “I think he deliberately pushed us away.”
Iva nodded. “Because of his gifts, maybe?”
“I’m not sure. All I can tell you is even if someone tried to make friends he’d do something to make them go away. There was this really sweet girl in third grade who felt sorry for him and tried to befriend him. A couple of days later she wouldn’t even peep in his direction, and she was friends with everyone in class. Some of the guys even talked about beating him up because they thought he’d made her cry, but she talked them out of it.”
“Huh.” Iva sighed. “Definitely his gift, then.”
Noah frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.” Only someone whose gift brought pain would push others away like that. “We’ll talk to Lore about him, maybe find out if there’s anything we can do to help him.”
Noah held up his hands. “Wait. I said I’d apologize. I never said I’d invite him to a barbecue.”
“Ooh, barbecue.” She blinked up at him and grinned. “Can we do that?”
Noah sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Get in the room and start researching, please.”
“But you’ll help him, right?” She gave him her best puppy-dog-eyed look, pleading with him silently not to say no.
“I’ll help him,” Noah mumbled, pushing her through the door and into the room filled with the books she needed for her research. “Now let’s get to work, okay?”
“Sure thing, mate.” Iva kissed his cheek in thanks before pulling on a pair of soft cotton gloves.
Grumbling under his breath, Noah also donned a pair of gloves.
Iva closed the door behind them. On a table was a set of tomes, each one different from the other, each one bearing a title having to do with demons, their powers and their true names. Some of those names had been gotten through the death of the researcher, some had been conjured up by summoners, still others had been given freely by enemies of the demon in question. Each one held the ability to either capture or destroy the demon it was attached to. With that name, depending on the power of the demon, it could be forced into a pact, into a dybbuk box, or into eternal slumber.
Iva was hoping the demon was not strong enough to fight a death spell, but she doubted it. Greer had told her of the power he’d perceived coming from Peter Bradley, how easily the possessed man had almost killed him, Ash and Mollie. The dybbuk box might be the only way to keep the demon from destroying them.
“Here.” Noah pulled one of the tomes to himself. He was extraordinarily gentle with the fragile tome. “You take this one, I’ll read that one.” He passed the book to her and grabbed another, opening it with a delicacy she’d rarely seen in him.
It took them hours to go over the books in front of them, but when they were done Iva was ready to collapse from exhaustion. “We’ve got names.”
“Good ones.” Noah frowned. “You’re going to rest on the way home. My place is closer. Let’s go there.”
She nodded, barely able to keep her eyes open now that she’d accomplished her goal. “All we need to do is match powers to a name, and we’ve got him.”
Noah placed the tomes back where they’d found them, if not in precise order then at least neatly. He took off his gloves and placed them in the waiting receptacle. Those gloves would be washed or disposed of later. Iva was never quite sure what happened to them. “Let’s go, sweetheart.”
She stood up, swaying a bit. She reached for the table to steady herself, grabbing the edge. “I think I’m tired.”
“No shit.” Noah picked her up, somehow opening the door without dropping her.
She put her head on his shoulder as her eyes began closing against her will. “Thank Shawn for me?”
“I will.” A soft kiss was pressed to her forehead. “I promise.”
Iva smiled as she drifted off into an exhausted slumber.
We have names. Soon, we’ll finally get you.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The following morning, Noah was sharing coffee with Iva when a phone call came in. “Hello?”
“We’ve got bad trouble, alpha.” The voice on the other side was vaguely familiar, and sounded panicked.
His hackles rising, Noah asked, “What sort of trouble?”
Across from him Iva paused, the cup halfway to her lips. “What’s going on?”
“Someone shot Kathy Murphy while she was out flying in the forest. One of the local dryads found her and brought her in to the hospital. Kathy says she didn’t catch sight of who shot her.”
“Fuck.” Noah stood, gesturing for Iva to do the same. “I need to get a babysitter, but I’ll be there as fast as I can.” If an owl shifter hadn’t seen a shooter, that meant that the man or woman had to be pretty far away. Were they dealing with a sniper?
“I can come, alpha. I’m Gary, the orderly who spoke to you at the hospital. I’d be honored to watch the children.”
Iva nodded her approval, so Noah agreed. “Thank you. Get here as fast as you can.”
“Will do, alpha.” The young man sounded relieved, as if simply telling Noah of the problem meant that it was already solved.
Noah hung up after a quick goodbye. “Iva, call your brothers and sister. We’ll need them.”
Iva nodded, already pulling out her cell phone. “Any ideas?”
“The Van Helsings.” Noah had been afraid there would be retaliation for the theft of Peter Bradley’s bodily fluids and the deaths of the Van Helsings who’d chased them. “I’m betting there’s a sniper on the mountain.”
“Fuck a duck.” Iva turned away, grabbing two thermoses and filling them with coffee. “Greer, we’re going to need you. Uh-huh. A pack member just called.”
Noah turned away from her conversation to find two large, frightened eyes staring at him. “Hey, guys.” He knelt down so that he was somewhat closer to their size. “I’m going out.”
“One of us got hurt.” Sana was near tears, rubbing her arms as if she was cold.
“Yes. It’s a nice, sweet lady from the library. She’s at the hospital now, and she was able to talk to the doctors and tell them what had happened to her. That makes me believe she’ll be just fine.”
Sana nodded. “Don’t go, Uncle Noah.”
Milo was the one who surprised him. Silently the boy rushed him, throwing himself into Noah’s arms. The boy was shaking like a leaf.
“I have to.” He held out an arm for Sana, who quickly joined her brother. “But I promise I’ll be as safe as I can be. I’m calling in the ruling dryads to help, along with some of our pack. I won’t be alone.”
“Like mommy was,” Milo whispered.
Noah closed his eyes. At some point the children had to talk about the tragedy. He just wished they’d done so when there wasn’t a time limit on how long he could comfort them. “No, not like mommy. Aunt Iva will be with me too.”
“No!” Sana screamed. She clutched Noah tightly. “No no no no!”
The child was becoming hysterical. Even Milo was staring at her in surprise. Noah had no idea what to do until Iva stepped over to them. “I’ll stay here.”
Noah gazed at her in surprise. “Are you sure?”
Iva shrugged. “I think we need to talk to the kids tonight, but yeah. I’ll sit this one out.” She held up her still broken arm. “Besides, I’m not as useful right now as I usually am. I’ll make sure Sana and Milo are safe.”
Noah smiled. “I knew I mated you for a reason.”
“Yup. It was
my coffee creamer.”
Noah shuddered. Really, how could she drink that stuff?
Iva’s grin began to fade. “I’m calling Paisley and Carter. I trust them to watch your back.”
“Should I call back the man who’s coming to watch the kids?”
“No.” Iva began to scroll through her contacts. He’d shared a lot of the pack’s numbers with her just the other day in case she needed them. Seems it had been a good call. “Hello, Paisley? We need you.”
Noah’s attention was grabbed by a soft pair of small hands. “Uncle Noah?”
“Yes, Milo?” The boy was still shaking.
“Don’t die.” His eyes were filled with tears. “I don’t wanna lose you too.”
Gods, the things children understood still amazed him. “I give you my word I will do my best not to die.” He stroked Milo’s hair. “I’ll have my beta and her brother watching my back.”
“Aunt Paisley?” Milo started to relax. “She kicks butt.”
Noah chuckled. “Yes, she does, and she’ll kick mine if I get hurt.”
Milo finally smiled, even if it was a bit wobbly. “Yeah, she will.”
Sana sniffed. She’d buried her head on his shoulder after screaming, crying her heart out. Even Iva’s agreement to remain behind hadn’t completely calmed the little girl.
It surprised him when Sana glared at him with her eyes still damp and whispered, “I hate the Van Helsings.”
Those whispered words were spoken so viciously he had to stare at her for a moment. “Sana?”
She turned her head away from him, her mouth in a stubborn frown. “I do.”
Noah sighed. “So do I.”
“Noah.” Iva knelt next to them. “I don’t.”
He blinked at her. “How come? I want to rip them apart for what they did to you.”
“I don’t hate them.” Iva shivered. “I’m afraid of them.”
Sana immediately left his arms and hugged Iva. “I’ll protect you, I swear.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Iva hugged Sana close. “I’ll protect you too.”
Noah smiled at his family just as the doorbell rang. “That must be my pack.” He took hold of Milo’s hand when the boy began to shake again. “Let’s go greet them.”
Hour of the Wolf Page 22
