Emery frowned. “TailGators? Is it a strip club?”
Deane was already ahead of her. He was searching the name in a browser. He cleared his throat. “It’s in Cutler Bay, Florida.”
“Whatever the place is, I want you both there to find out its significance,” Alaric said. The lodge leader stepped away from Ramsay’s body and gave it a repulsed frown. “Even if he was calling to check in on his puppy, I want to know. The grand consul will be holding an emergency meeting in the coming weeks to discuss these developments, and I want to provide more information about the blood-suckers.”
Deane lowered the phone, turned it off and slipped it in his slacks pocket. Before he could answer, Emery spoke up. “What about Riley?”
Deane looked at his partner. He’d entirely forgotten about the boy. He wanted to investigate the case further, but having to deal with a pubescent teen wouldn’t make it easy.
“I know.” Alaric held up his hand. “Sitting around here may not be the safest place for him right now, not with Marika running loose. What if they come back looking for him? I understand winter break has started. What if you take the kid with you? He could use some sun. I’ll call Cruz in Miami and see if he can help us out.”
“Just take him with us?” Emery frowned again. She adjusted her red bandana around her head and looked at Deane. “You don’t think he’s a flight risk, do you?”
Deane hadn’t spent much time with the kid, and when they had been around each other, Riley had pretty much ignored him. But he wasn’t a baby who required diapers or bottles, so how hard would it be bringing him along? Teenagers were self-sufficient these days. Between Emery, the Society members at the Miami lodge and him, they’d be able to keep him in check. He was confident.
He shrugged. “We can handle him.”
“Hello?” Deane’s townhouse door opened, and Aerilyn came in, carrying two suitcases. “Here we are.”
Alaric’s petite daughter stomped the snow off her boots onto the entry mat and gave him a warning glance. Although she practically looked like a teenager herself, she taught at a local high school and happened to be one of the Society’s guardians, a mentor to youngling shifters. Not only that, she’d already known Riley and had been involved with rescuing him from a closet in Ramsay’s house.
Deane went to take the suitcases off her hands and set them near the stairs leading to the second-level bedrooms. Photos of Riley and his mom smiled up at him from a time in the kid’s past.
Aerilyn turned around and looked outside at the porch. “Are you going to come in?”
Riley stepped inside, carrying a large box. It seemed like he wanted to hide behind it more than anything else. Deane moved closer to take it from the boy, but Riley edged away and mumbled, “It’s fine.”
The kid shook his head, freeing his long brown hair so it hung across his eyes as he stood in silence. Aerilyn gave him a tentative glance before closing the door and explaining to Deane, “It took a lot of time going through everything at the house, but Riley has what he’s keeping. Finn’s helping move things along with his mother’s estate. There’s not much, but apparently Marilyn socked away all the money Ramsay sent her into an account for Riley—a trust. Something he can use when he’s eighteen.”
Deane nodded, only half listening. He gestured at the stairwell then focused on Riley. “Yer room’s the second door on the right.”
Riley simply blinked back at him and rounded the stairwell with his box and thumped upstairs. Aerilyn’s brows furrowed as she watched him go and asked in an undertone, “You sure you’re up to this? He’s pretty depressed and might need a… gentle touch.”
“I promised his ma I’d look after him,” Deane muttered. “If he can grow a thick skin, he’ll be the better for it.”
Aerilyn didn’t seem so certain.
Deane leaned in. “A little sun should put a smile on his face though. I’m taking the kid to Florida.”
The news seemed to take Aerilyn off guard. She sputtered and widened her eyes. “Wow, that sounds like fun. A vacation might be a good opportunity for the two of you to bond together.”
Deane pulled Ramsay’s phone from his pocket and held it up. She stared at it in confusion, so he explained, “We have a lead. Emery and I are connecting with the Miami lodge to investigate this veterinary clinic in Florida. It was the last place Ramsay called. Plus, Alaric wants him out of town if they come back looking for him.”
“So, you’re taking Riley with you?” Aerilyn’s enthusiasm for the trip dimmed. She didn’t appear pleased as she crossed her arms.
“Where are we going?”
Deane and Aerilyn faced the base of the stairs at Riley, who was now without his box and wearing a sour expression. The teen’s shoulders were slouched. His complexion was healthier than it had been when he’d been starving himself of blood, but the kid was still on the pale side. The sporadic supply of chicken blood they’d been able to provide Riley was keeping him from wasting away, though he didn’t seem fond of the stuff.
Aerilyn’s eyes darted to Deane, and it was obvious she wasn’t going to speak, so Deane cleared his throat and said, “Ye’re coming with me to Florida. I’ll be getting some work done out there, and we thought ye might enjoy the change of scene.”
Riley blinked back at him and sneered. “No one asked me what I wanted, but since I’m just a blood-sucker, I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“That has nothing to do with it.” Aerilyn went to her student’s side and put her hand on his shoulder. “What do you want?”
“I want my mom back.” Riley wrenched himself away from her and started breathing hard and fast. “I don’t want to be a freak who has to drink blood to survive. I don’t know why I have to live in a place with someone who doesn’t give a flying crap about me.”
The boy turned around and launched himself back up the stairs, leaving Aerilyn to give Deane an I-told-you-so look. A loud slam echoed through the house, and she shook her head. “That could have gone better.”
“And it could have gone worse,” Deane said with a cocked brow. “Don’t worry, love, things will be right as rain. Nothin’ like the passage of time to cure that raging case of adolescence he’s got.”
“You’ve got a lot to learn about kids.” Aerilyn’s eyes traveled upstairs, then she turned for the door. “Well, you can call me anytime if you need anything. Good luck—you’re going to need it.”
Deane brushed off his suit sleeve. “I don’t believe in luck.”
After she departed, he was left staring at the two suitcases in his entry. Riley had very little, yet Deane recalled a time when he’d had nothing but the clothes on his back and the sooty remains of his life on his blistered hands.
Purchase Now
Half-Blood Secrets (December 2018)
Half-Blood Origins (March 2019)
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Natasha Brown's imagination has always been a distraction. The books she read in the dark past bedtime fed her excitement for fantasy worlds. Once she started writing, there was no stopping her. By day, Natasha's an assistant teacher at an elementary school, and by night she's a book cover designer. Her weekends are spent writing and spending time with family.
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Half-Blood Descendant: A Paranormal Series (Half-Bloods Book 1) Page 25
