“I swore him to secrecy, darling, because I wanted to be the one to tell ye,” Alexander said. “It was only right that ye hear it from me.”
This was all too much, not to mention horrible timing. I had six months to enjoy my freedom before it was gone, and then I’d have to battle the Council and Summits just to stay in power—a power I didn’t even want. No wonder Charles said I wouldn’t last. He already knew about their plans for me.
Being Queen was the last thing I ever wanted to be, but I’d be damned if I let them take it away from the MacCoinnich family.
I steeled myself as I stared unflinchingly at Alexander. “I’ll do whatever it takes. They’re not getting that crown.”
5
I slept like shit that night. Anxiety ate at me and I could barely stay asleep for more than an hour before waking up and having to go splash water on my face. Eventually I gave up and headed downstairs to watch Netflix until it was time to get ready for work. It was obvious when I walked into the squad room that I’d had a rough night.
“Whoa, Grey, you sure you want to be here today?” Michaels asked as he looked at me from across his desk.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled and stuffed my bag in my bottom desk drawer.
“Did you even comb your hair?” Finn asked from across the room.
“Mind your business, Reaper!” He chuckled and I heard him shuffle out of the squad room.
Cas came out of Briggs’s office while I was booting up my computer and did a double take when he saw me, then came straight to my desk, sitting on top of it.
“Something you need to get off your chest?” he said.
I sighed heavily. “God, I know I look like crap, no need to keep reminding me! I’m fine!”
“You don’t sound fine,” Cas whispered. “Is this about your dad?”
I scowled. “What do you know about Alexander?”
Cas leaned closer. “I heard my Alpha say he was in town. I figured his visit was probably stressing you out.”
My shoulders visibly relaxed. “No, he’s not stressing me out. Alexander is staying with me and Bash, so it wasn’t a surprise.”
“That’s good.” Cas nodded. “Your dad is cool peeps. You should bring him into the office. I’m sure he’d enjoy a ride-a-long.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure he would. And then he’d make me quit the minute he found out how dangerous this job can be.”
“Aw, come on, he’s not that bad. He would have pulled you out by now if he was like that.”
Cassidy did have a point. Alexander also mentioned he trusted I could take care of myself, so maybe I wasn’t giving him enough credit.
“You know what I could use right now?” I got up from my chair and started to pull my hair into a ponytail.
“What’s up, Grey?”
“A sparring session. Let me kick your ass, Chang.” I pushed him, and he laughed.
“Oh, you’re so on! Meet you in the gym in ten!”
Cas hurried to his desk to take off his utility belt and gun and lock it up, and I was digging through my drawers for gym clothes when someone burst through the squad room.
“I need help!” Maximos shouted as he was followed by an officer in uniform from downstairs. “You!” he pointed at me. “You need to help me.”
I snorted. “Are you kidding me? The last time I tried to help you, I almost got written up. Hell, no. Whatever mess you got yourself in, handle it yourself. Or better yet, get your connections up top to help you.” I ignored him and snatched up some clothes when he grabbed my arm.
“They stole the Draupnir,” he whispered conspiratorially.
“They stole what?” I said loud enough for the others to hear.
He grimaced. “Odin’s ring.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right, and they’re coming for me pot ‘o gold next,” I said with a shitty Irish accent.
His grip on me tightened. “I’m not making this up, Curse Breaker. This is serious.”
“What’s serious is the fact that you’re going to get your hand off me.” My eyes silvered.
Maximos released me immediately. “You may not believe me, but you will help me.”
Briggs’s door opened and the short, bald lieutenant stormed out of his office with a red face, glaring at Maximos. “Grey!” he yelled. “Maximos Limogiannis is top priority. I want you and Chang on the case. Clear everything else on your load.” Before I could frame a snappy retort, he marched back into his office and slammed the door.
“Told you.” Maximos grinned, his greasy hair slicked back.
“What the hell?” Cas yelled, throwing his hands in the air.
“Watch him,” I told Cas, pointing at Maximos.
I hurried to Briggs’s office, not bothering to knock, and barged in, closing the door behind me. Briggs was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands, not looking my way.
“What’s going on, boss?” I said tentatively as I stepped closer.
“For fuck’s sake, Grey. Just do your job,” Briggs grumbled.
“Not until you tell me why we’re helping that fucker. Especially since he didn’t want our help originally. I don’t like being toyed with.”
Briggs picked his head up and motioned for me to sit down. I took a seat and he cleared his throat. “He called the Commissioner. My hands are tied.”
“But the Commissioner is human—”
“Doesn’t matter. The SIU is ultimately still run by him. From what I gather, a ring is missing. When you reported to the call at The Third Eye, it was in the vault, but the would-be thieves never got to it. The ring was moved to a secure location, or at least they thought it was, but now it’s gone.”
I leaned forward. “Maximos called it Draupnir. He said it was Odin’s ring. I can’t get a serious answer from him. Briggs, I can’t work under these conditions. I’m not going to be chasing after some comic book character.”
Briggs stared at me for a very uncomfortable moment before nodding. “Do the best you can, Grey,” he grumbled. “Use all the resources you need, including Michaels and Finn, but I want you and Cas running point. The sooner we solve this, the better. I want the Commissioner off our backs.”
“You got it.” I left the office.
Maximos was sitting by my desk with Cassidy hovering near him, and it was obvious he was beyond furious. The feeling was mutual.
I pulled Cas to the side and he told me everything Maximos told him, which only echoed what he already told me and what Briggs just shared. We needed to press him for more details.
“If you want our help,” I said as I walked over to Maximos, “we want full disclosure. It’s the only way this works. And no more bogus stories. I don’t even care about the stupid ring and what it is, because you’re obviously not going to tell me the truth. So, why don’t you tell us where you hid it the second time?”
Maximos sat up straighter. “I can’t tell you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Dude, it’s already been stolen! The location doesn’t matter anymore.”
“If you’re not going to help us, we can’t help you,” Cas supplied, cracking his knuckles like an enforcer.
“I can’t tell you, because you won’t believe me.”
Nothing he was saying was believable, but we had to start somewhere. Maximos sat there in his slacks with suspenders and greasy hair, looking every bit the creep he was. He looked like a crooked business owner. I hated that he had the SIU in his pocket.
“Give me your best shot.” I leaned against my desk. “Where was the ring being hidden?”
He worried his hands before pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbing his sweaty forehead. “At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I placed it on display.”
My jaw slacked. “You placed it in the Met?”
He nodded. “I thought hiding it in plain sight would be safest. No one would think to check there—”
“You were dead wrong about that,” Cas grunted. “Who else knew you were putting it there?”
�
�No one. Only me. Well, and the curator at the Met, but I trust her completely—”
“Mistake number one.” I motioned for him to get up. “Come on, let’s go.”
I went to grab my bag from my drawer, leaving my gun and utility belt behind. Hopefully we wouldn’t encounter any trouble. The ring was the trouble, and now it was gone.
“Where are we going?” Maximos asked as he stood, looking around at Cas and me as we got ready.
“We’re going to the museum,” Cassidy said. “We need to check out the security footage of the theft. Once we find out who we’re dealing with, we’ll have a better idea how to handle this.”
Maximos didn’t argue with us as we left the squad room, not bothering to see if he was following or not. Cas and I were like a well-oiled machine as we headed out of the SIU building and aimed straight for the unmarked cop car. I tossed him the keys and he caught them easily over on the other side of the car. He unlocked it and we climbed inside, waiting only a split second for Maximos to get in. We were leaving with or without him.
We rolled down the windows and Cas pulled out onto the busy city street. Blazing hot air filled the car and the breeze was too warm to cool us down. It was worse for wolves. Halfway through the drive to the Upper East Side, I was airing out my shirt as sweat glistened on my skin.
“They need to get the A/C in this car fixed soon,” I groaned.
“It’s not so bad,” Maximos said.
I turned around from the passenger seat and glared at him. “No one asked you.”
Cas chuckled. “They put the order in. We should get a car from another precinct next week.”
Besides my occasional complaining, we made it to the Met in no time and parked at the parking garage on Fifth avenue and Eightieth street. I hadn’t been to the museum since I was a kid on a school field trip, so I followed Cassidy’s lead as he flashed his badge at the front desk and requested to speak with the head of security.
“Who is the curator you spoke with?” I asked Maximos while Cas dealt with the employees.
“Her name is Ann Leblanc. She’s one of us,” he whispered the last part. “She’s fae.”
“Call her,” I said sternly. When he didn’t move, I practically dug through his pockets myself for his phone.
“Okay, okay! Relax, Curse Breaker,” he mumbled.
“Stop calling me that. My name is Mackenzie. Use it.”
The sound of high heels resonated against the floor and I looked up just in time to see a beautiful woman with a blonde bob swaying side-to-side, reaching out to shake Cassidy’s hand. Her bright, blood-red lips were spread in a smile I couldn’t quite place, and she was dressed like a businesswoman. A very fashionable one. I looked down at my raggedy jeans and t-shirt and then looked back at her. We were total polar opposites.
“That’s her,” Maximos muttered as he passed me and then spread his arms out wide. “Ann, darling!”
“Mr. Limogiannis.” Her smile tightened. “If you were planning to involve the SIU, a heads-up would have been preferable.”
I adjusted my messy hair before stepping in. “The SIU’s involvement should have been obvious, Miss …?”
“Leblanc,” she said, her piercing eyes hitting me. “I still like to be notified of things that involve my place of employment. You can understand that, surely.”
“Of course,” Cas said, giving me side eye. “But since we’re here, would it be too much trouble to request the security footage of the theft?”
She smiled brightly at Cas and took in his large frame. “It wouldn’t be too much trouble. I want this resolved as quickly as possible. I’m sure you do as well.”
“We do,” I said, clearing my throat. “Actually, Miss Leblanc, was there anyone you might have told about the ring being in the museum’s possession?”
“Excuse me?” she said, taken aback. “You think I could be at fault here?” Her hand went to her chest to clutch at imaginary pearls and her eyes darted to Cas, then back to me.
“That’s not what I said at all—”
“We just want to know if anyone else knew,” Cas interjected, since it seemed she had a thing for him. Ew, gross.
She flattened her hand on her stomach and stretched out her neck. “Not at all. I told no one. And I kept it locked in a location only I have access to.”
“Thank you, Miss Leblanc,” I said. “You’ve been a tremendous help. Would you mind showing us the footage now?”
She nodded and waved us down toward an employee-only area. Ann and Cas walked ahead of us and I could hear her talking to him about what she did at the Met, really talking herself up. I couldn’t tell if Cas was into her or not, but I didn’t get a bad vibe from her. She was just a little snooty, which was typical in the fae, so I wasn’t surprised. Cassidy needed someone in his life. But I wasn’t going to play cupid.
We were walking down a hallway when I caught a familiar scent. I couldn’t place it, but I’d smelled it somewhere before. I paused in the middle of the hallway and Maximos stopped with me.
“What is it, Curse—Mackenzie?”
“Uh … I don’t know. Go ahead and catch up with the others. I’ll be there shortly.”
Maximos thought about it for a moment before leaving me behind. When they were a far distance away, I opened my senses and sniffed the area. It was almost like I smelled tea, which honestly was a weird thing to smell. I was a coffee drinker and was never around tea.
I retraced my steps, but when I didn’t catch anything, I decided it was all in my head. I started to walk back to the others when a door opened behind me and I was yanked inside. My body was slammed against the wall and a hand clamped over my mouth.
The room was pitch black, but I could feel a hard body pressed against me, pinning me to the wall and locking my arms so I couldn’t move. My eyes silvered and I switched to night vision to get a good look at my surroundings. It was a room full of art, neatly packaged, that was either being shipped out or had just shipped in. But in front of me was a very familiar face.
It was the man Bobby Wu took me to see.
“Promise you won’t scream?” he said in his somewhat British accent. Those dark eyes drilled into me and his intent was clear: if I screamed, he’d kill me. And I was pretty sure he could.
I growled deep in my throat before nodding.
“Good.” He grinned and removed his hand from my mouth, but didn’t release me. “Now we can have a proper chat.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” I snarled, pushing against his hold.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he smirked. “What I’d like to know is what you are doing here?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I mimicked.
“Smart arse,” he grumbled. “Now, Mackenzie, where is Bobby? He has not been returning my calls.”
I could have been cocky about it and bragged about capturing him with my typical Mackenzie flare, but I decided it would be wiser to heed Bobby’s warnings—this man was dangerous and could kill me easily. I had to be careful and not provoke him. Whoever he was.
I shrugged. “I don’t know where he is. He disappeared a couple weeks ago.”
He took the collar of my shirt with the strap of my bra and pulled it over my shoulder, exposing my skin roughly, where Bobby Wu’s handprint once was.
“Where’s your mark?”
“I told you.” I glared. “I’m resourceful.”
His hand tightened on my shirt collar, stretching it out and rumpling it. If Bash were here, watching this, he’d have a freakin’ fit.
“Will you get the fuck off me?” I nudged him. If he pulled my shirt any lower, it would expose my chest and then I wouldn’t give a damn, I’d wolf out in the middle of the Met.
He released my shirt but didn’t let me go. “If I find out you had anything to do with Bobby’s disappearance—”
“You’ll what?” I jerked my head. “Kill me? I don’t even know who you are.”
His grin widened. “You can call me Úlfur.�
��
I choked on a laugh. “Úlfur? What?”
“You laugh now, but you won’t be laughing for long, little wolf,” he whispered. His weight laid off me a bit and I could breathe better. “You’re right to fear me. You’d be stupid if you didn’t. I know Bobby told you as much.”
I schooled my expression, but wondered how he knew that I feared him. Did I? He made me nervous, but was that fear? No. It could have been something Bobby told him about me. I was reading too much into it.
“I’ll be watching you, Mackenzie Grey. Whatever you’ve done—”
“I didn’t do anything!” I whisper-shouted. “I told you, Bobby disappeared. He was nervous about something. I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was you.”
Those ebony eyes pierced me in place, trying to find the lie I spoke, but I only stared into his eyes, never breaking contact. I wasn’t going to give him any reason to doubt me. There was no way he could find out what we did to the warlock.
He sighed. “If you’re after the ring, you’re too late. Why are you after it?”
“Why do you think? I thought you knew all about me. I’m a cop, it’s my job.”
Úlfur leaned closer, placing his mouth to my ear and I tensed. “Stop searching, little wolf. It’s not time yet.”
Before I could say anything, Úlfur slammed his head into mine and everything went black.
6
“Kenz!” Cassidy’s voice rang through my pounding head and I felt a subtle shake of my shoulders. “Come on, Grey, wake up.”
I groaned, reaching for my forehead and wincing when I touched a sore spot. “What the hell?” I mumbled.
“Thank God.”
I opened my eyes and found Cas squatted in front of me. I was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. My gaze traveled around the room and I realized I was still in the same room Úlfur pulled me into, but now the lights were on and Ann and Maximos were by the door waiting.
“What happened?” I muttered as I tried to get up, flinching when a sharp pain shot through my head.
“I was hoping you could tell me, Kenz. I found you in here, passed out with that lump on your head.”
Stolen Relics Page 5
