by Zoe Perdita
“Yeah yeah. You take him to Ari so he’ll be pissed at you and not me,” Alwen said and gave his boyfriend a sweet smile.
Sharp returned it with a grin and nodded. “I can handle him.”
Felan waited until they were out of range of Alwen when he said, “Thank you.”
Sharp huffed. “Humans, even magic users, don’t get certain things. Ari’s fine. Bump on the head. No concussion, but. . . . I’ll let him tell you.”
“You’re not as territorial as you were before,” Felan said as they pushed past a few other officers on the scene.
Sharp shrugged. “Neither are you.”
Felan snorted. He’d put on a show the first time he met the other alpha, just because the wolf was a rogue and he’d never trusted wolves like that. Though, Sharp had proven to be a good man on more than one occasion. And if Ari trusted him, Felan would try to do the same.
The activity around the house drew a crowd. Someone was putting out yellow crime scene tape, and Felan’s stomach clenched.
What the hell happened?
Once they got to the ambulance and the medics moved out of the way, Felan let out a breath.
Ari scowled at a woman dabbing his head. She smelled like a shifter. A cat. “Who taught you bedside manners?”
“Probably the same person who taught you, Gold. I’ve heard plenty of stories. Why do you think I’ve never shown up at your place?” the cat asked.
Ari snorted and noticed Felan. For a moment, he almost looked ready to smile. The early morning light lit up his bright green eyes, and his face relaxed. Then, the scowl deepened, and the moment passed.
“Figures. I told Seth not to tell you, and look what happened.”
“I told him,” Sharp said and shook his head at the medic. “He needed to see you.”
“Who says I need to see him?” Ari said as the cat moved away without another word.
“I do,” Sharp growled, gave Ari a hard look, and stalked back to do whatever it was he needed to do.
If he hadn’t, Felan was pretty sure he’d have shoved the other alpha out of his way just to get to Ari’s side. “Where are you hurt, and what happened?”
“I said I’d call you if I wanted to see you,” Ari said and flinched as he sat upright, throwing his legs over the edge of the stretcher. There was a bandage on the back of his head, and Felan smelled the hint of blood on the air.
Ari’s blood.
He bit back what he wanted to say and gave Ari a hug instead, tight enough to feel his heart throbbing under his ribs. “Tell me what happened. I’m not leaving until you do.”
No point telling Ari he’d thought the worst and feared spending the rest of his life regretting every damn decision he’d ever made.
Ari’s arms didn’t wrap around him the way Felan wished they would, but they snagged on his shoulders and squeezed enough that he could tell Ari had been scared.
“Burglars broke in. I called Seth, but they knocked me out before he got here,” Ari said, voice muffled into Felan’s shoulder. “I think they were shifters of some kind.”
Felan frowned. He leaned back but kept his hands on Ari, like the healer might fade into dust if he let go. “They went to your room and knocked you out? Why didn’t you hide?”
“You sound just like him,” Ari grumbled under his breath. “I was trying to hide. It’s complicated, and I—shit. I think they’re dead, and that’s why the cops are keeping me out here. Conner already questioned me for about twenty minutes. They don’t think I did it, I hope.”
Felan eyes widened. “How did they die, and who’s him?”
Ari, typically, smirked at that. “Jealous? Don’t be. It—If I tell you, I don’t think you’ll believe me. It’s not important who. Just that these assholes broke into my house and tried to kill me. I don’t know how they died. Ask Sharp since you two are buddies now.”
Ari stood up and stalked toward the nearest officer.
Felan followed.
Ari was lying about something, that was obvious. Did he have a secret lover? No. Felan would’ve smelled him in the house, and the only rooms that smelled like anyone besides Ari were the healer rooms on the first floor. Well, he hadn’t actually gone upstairs in ages, but he didn’t catch a hint of anything. And there was no way a human could hide their scent from a wolf unless they were downwind of him. Not really possible in a house with a proper ventilation system.
The officer let Ari and Felan past the tape (Sharp must’ve said something, Felan guessed), and they met Alwen at the door.
He frowned at Felan and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re done here, for now. But if you remember anything give me a call. The crime scene clean up crew has a number, if you want to call them. Otherwise, that’s all I’m officially supposed to tell you. Unofficially, can we talk inside?”
“Yes,” Ari said and strode in.
He didn’t pause at the doorframe the way Felan did to sniff the air.
The scent of blood assaulted his nose. The musk of shifters mingled with it as well—foxes—and the chalk outline of their bodies graced the floor, complete with the puddle of blood on the hardwood. Regretful in so many different ways, one of them being how long it would take to clean. The smell would take years to fade.
Ari marched past the scene as if it weren’t there, though Felan noticed him go a bit green as he led the way into the sitting room.
Nothing had been disturbed. The antique couch and settee, both upholstered in gray brocade silk, were just as uncomfortable as he remembered as he sat on one, next to Ari, regardless of the look the healer threw him.
Alwen sat in a chair, and Sharp loomed behind him after he shut the door, knuckles white where they gripped the chair’s back.
With another alpha in the room, Felan should be standing too, but the slight tremble that racked up Ari’s spine told him he was better where he was.
“I told you not to confront them. Why the hell were you downstairs?” Alwen hissed and leaned forward. His purple eyes were wide with worry, and he gripped the knees of his jeans, scrunching the material in his fingers. Probably in an effort not to touch anything unless he had to. From what Ari said, Alwen’s control of his power wasn’t great.
“Downstairs?” Felan said and looked at Ari, who frowned and glanced at the piano in the corner.
Felan’s chest tightened. Kian used to play the piano for hours. He’d forgotten that after all these years. For one thing, he hadn’t been in this room in ages. Ari usually only let him into the entryway or one of the healer rooms and not into the rest of the house proper.
“I heard the piano and thought I was wrong about the burglars, but then I realized I wasn’t and tried to hide. Then they found me and knocked me out. I have no idea what happened to them afterward. Now can I see what they were trying to steal? Did they break that hourglass?”
“The one with blue sand? It’s fine,” Sharp said and his hands slipped from the back of the chair to Alwen’s shoulders. The seer looked up and smiled, strained, but honest.
Ari should be smiling like that at him.
“Wait. You heard the piano? Who did you think was playing?” Felan asked and tried to catch Ari’s eye.
Ari wouldn’t look at him. He dropped his gaze from the piano to his hands. “Not important. How did they, uh, die? It looked bloody. Do you think someone else broke in and—”
“There’s no sign of a further break in,” Alwen said and sighed. “We’re not sure how they got in at first either, to be honest, but we can send over an expert to give it a look.”
“Expert? You mean Fisk, don’t you?” Ari deadpanned.
Alwen’s mouth quirked. “Yes. Fisk. He’s not a police consultant so you’d have to pay whatever fee he came up with. But if a shifter broke in here, he’d be your best bet to figure out how. And he’s not sharing his knowledge with us so . . . .”
Ari scoffed. “You know what the Black Wolves are charging these days?”
“Not a clue,” Alwen said and shrugge
d. “Your windows and doors were all locked from the inside, and we didn’t find any sign of forced entry. Unless you let them in or forgot to lock something, we’re stumped.”
Felan snorted at that. “Isn’t it your job to figure out how? You’re a detective. Detect.”
Sharp’s eyes met Felan’s with a steady gaze. “If we found how they got in, we’d let you know.”
Felan nodded, grudgingly.
Ari frowned at everyone. “No, I didn’t let them in. Do you—they think I killed them?”
Sharp spoke first, and Felan’s ears perked. “No. You couldn’t have because you were out cold and that thing was standing over them when I arrived. Alwen was in the car calling backup. We both know you couldn’t have done it, and we’ll back that up in court, if need be.”
Felan stood. Stared at Sharp. “What thing?”
Sharp’s mouth thinned into a hard line. “It looked like a wolf, but it disappeared when I got close to it. Vanished into the wall.”
“And this brings us to the biggest problem of all. Not only is this entire situation steeped in shadow folk secrets, but it looks like a ghost wolf committed those murders. At least, that’s what he thinks,” Alwen said, pointing at Sharp, and let out a small chuckle that didn’t really hold any humor.
Felan stared between them. This little conference hadn’t cleared much up. It just raised more questions—questions he knew he’d have to pry out of Ari to get any sort of straight answers. Especially why Ari came down the stairs at the sound of the piano. But the most troubling part . . . .
“Ghost wolf?” Felan asked, raising his brows. “So a shifter who can vanish at will killed the burglars? Were there claw marks? Teeth marks?”
“Yes. And I think we know how to do our job,” Sharp growled, his scars warping his face, and he crossed his arms. “What else do you want to call a wolf that vanishes into a wall? I don’t like the idea anymore than you do. But Alwen believes in ghosts. Why not a shifter ghost?”
Alwen shook his head. “I never said ghosts could harm people, just that they exist because I’ve seen them. If you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine. Most normal shadow folk do.”
Sharp shook his head. “I never said I didn’t believe you.”
Felan gritted his teeth. He’d read enough about ghosts. Been in places that were supposed to be haunted, and while he felt a shimmer of something outside of the ordinary, he wasn’t sure he’d call it a real spirit. If ghosts were real, how come the streets weren’t overrun with them?
Ari stared at his hands, both fists strained. His jaw clenched. “I’ve never seen a ghost wolf in my house. Have you considered it was something magical that killed them, and it looked like a wolf?”
“No, because that makes even less sense than a goddamn ghost wolf!” Alwen bit out. “Look. I don’t know what you’re hiding, but you can trust us. If this was some kind of self defense thing you set up, let me know. You don’t hurt people, Ari. I know you.”
Ari finally moved. Ran his fingers through his hair and his expression cleared from a scowl. “It wasn’t me or anything I set up. If it was something I have in my home, I didn’t have any control over it since it’s obviously never happened before. Can I start cleaning up now? I have a lot of work to do and this isn’t how I wanted to start my day.”
Alwen nodded and patted Ari’s shoulder as he stood to leave. Sharp did the same thing, and Felan’s gut clenched at that touch. Even more at the knowing look Sharp gave him after he did it because it held the one thing Felan never wanted to see from an alpha younger than him.
Pity.
Sharp pitied him for not having Ari by his side.
Damn if that wasn’t the most pathetic thing in the world.
And Felan couldn’t bring himself to say anything about it because it was true. He’d brought them both to this point.
Once they left, Ari got up and moved toward the sitting room door. He paused before he stepped out, and Felan had an idea why. The blood and chalk outlines. No one wanted to see that in their own house. He touched Ari’s shoulder gingerly.
“Want to go through the kitchen instead?”
“Yes,” Ari grumbled, but there was no heat in it. No force. It sounded more like a breath of wind than a word.
Felan didn’t say anything as Ari stalked to the back rooms. He left the healer to it and started making coffee and something to eat. It seemed like Ari was always just slightly more agreeable if fed, like a cat.
When Ari came back his brow was furrowed, and he slumped on a kitchen stool. “They messed up my piles.”
“Did they take anything?”
Ari looked at him, eyes hooded. “No. That’s what’s weird. They said they couldn’t find what they were looking for. I heard that, but—”
The fire that simmered in Felan’s gut earlier flared to life now. He pushed a plate of fruit and toast at Ari (who never liked eggs, from what Felan remembered), and poured a cup of coffee. He set it down with a clink next to the plate. “Want to tell me the real reason you waltzed right into the middle of danger when Alwen told you to stay put? The piano? Really?”
Ari’s mouth twisted like he was about to raise his voice. Then he shook his head and sighed. “I wasn’t lying. I went downstairs because I thought I was wrong about the break in. I thought someone was playing the piano as a joke, and I was going to catch them at it, but that’s not what happened. And I tried to hide. Believe me. I didn’t want those, whoever they were, to catch me. I didn’t even see them. They snuck up behind me.”
He wasn’t lying about this. Felan knew Ari well enough to tell the difference, especially since he wasn’t that good at it most of the time.
Felan poured his own cup of coffee. Added two teaspoons of sugar and took a sip. “Who did you think was playing the piano in the middle of the night?”
Ari tore into the toast before he answered, swiping a stray smudge of strawberry jelly from his bottom lip. “I think I imagined the piano playing because the burglars didn’t seem to hear it at all.”
That was interesting.
“Magic?” Felan ventured.
“You tell me, scholar,” Ari said and picked at the orange slices on his plate.
“I’ve never heard of a spell like that, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It could’ve been an object that was meant to make a sound and everyone who heard it heard something different.”
Ari gave him an unimpressed look. “Fine. Maybe. Go figure out what it was and leave me alone.”
Felan shook his head. “You’re saying that after you almost got killed and some mystery shifter killed two foxes to protect you? No. Never.”
Ari wrapped his hands around his coffee mug.
Felan curled his own fingers to keep from reaching for them. Touching them. Kissing them. Doing all the things he wanted to do but couldn’t without Ari getting even more pissed at him.
“They were foxes?” Ari asked, finally.
Felan nodded. “They were. Didn’t you have a fox here last night?”
“That wouldn’t have been the same fox,” Ari said, eyes burning when they met Felan’s gaze.
“How can you be sure? Did you see the bodies. If he was casing the joint or whatever it is burglars do—”
“Because he’s mute, and those two were talking, number one. Number two, he’s a good kid who wouldn’t do that, alright? He has a baby to take care of. He’s not going to throw his life away.”
Felan nodded and told himself to trust Ari’s instincts, even if it was difficult since the healer wasn’t a shifter and couldn’t really tell right off if someone was lying or not. “Do you want me to call this Fisk person?”
Ari shook his head. “I don’t think he’d talk to you. I’ll do it.”
“Then I’ll sort the storeroom while you eat.”
Felan finished his coffee and left before Ari could tell him to get out again.
The healer was right about the storeroom and the piles being a mess. Sorting through them took u
ntil nine a.m., when he would’ve gotten up normally after the previous night’s activities. His stomach growled by the time everything was back to the way they’d left it.
Ari was still in the kitchen, and he’d tossed together some kind of breakfast sandwich with toast and eggs and bacon. “Here. Eat it. Fisk is coming over soon.”
Felan smiled as he took the plate. “I thought you hated eggs.”
“I do on their own, but they go in things so I keep them stocked. If you want another one, cook it yourself,” he said and rubbed at his eyes.
“This is perfect. Thank you, Ari,” Felan said and kissed him on the top of the head before Ari could move away.
Ari stood still for a long moment then shook his head. “Shut up and eat it. I’m going to clean up the mess those two left on my floor.”
Felan gripped Ari’s shoulder. Squeezed it until he felt the bones beneath the flesh. “Wait until the burglary expert comes. He might need to see it if he’s a shifter.”
“Yeah. A cat. Know what makes him an expert? He’s a burglar too,” Ari said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I need a shower.”
Felan bit his lip. Ari shouldn’t have told him that. Now he was going to spend the next hour thinking about Ari naked and wet, and it wasn’t going to do anything to improve his ability to keep his hands to himself after what happened last night.
It doesn’t mean anything.
That’s what Ari said, but since they were mates, how could it not mean anything? How could those words come out of Ari’s mouth when he kissed Felan like that? When his hands wandered and stroked and were so fucking compliant.
Needy even.
When he heard the shower go on upstairs, he took a deep breath and stalked into the sitting room to examine the piano. A thin layer of dust coated the cover, and it didn’t look like anyone had actually touched the thing in years.
It probably wasn’t even in tune.
He lifted the cover and pressed a few keys lightly.
Yeah. He was right.
Felan let a wry, pained smile cover his lips when he thought of his little brother and the hours he spent working on his music. Practicing the same piece over and over again. Perfecting Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata because it was Ari’s favorite, and playing it whenever the healer acted out of sorts.
