by Chloe Neill
The rest was up to me.
When I walked back into the room, Theo, Lulu, Connor, and Alexei were waiting.
“About fucking time you showed a little fang,” Lulu said, nodding as she looked at me. Theo and Alexei had similar looks of approval.
I’d have summed up Connor’s expression in a single word: Yes.
“That’s going to make quite an impression,” Theo said.
“That’s the idea,” I said, wiggling my fingers around the corded braid of the katana handle, feeling for just the right grip. And enjoying the satisfaction when my fingers settled into just the right places.
I hoped I wouldn’t need to use it to shed blood in a room of Connor’s Packmates and kin. But that didn’t make me a little regretful I wouldn’t be able to use it at all.
* * *
* * *
They were assembled in the main room. Everett and Cash leaning lazily against the fireplace with cigars. The rest of the clan exuding nervous energy and plenty of anticipation.
Georgia joined Everett and Cash, while Alexei and Theo slipped into the back. Connor and I cut straight through the middle of the room, to the shock, surprise, and fury of several clan members.
There were outbursts from shifters, and I caught “blade” and “bitch” thrown around by some of them. I glanced back over my shoulder, met every gaze in turn, and dared them to step forward. To transform talk into action. And knew that none of them would.
“Quite a dramatic entrance,” Cash said, then puffed on the cigar. “You want points for flair and originality?”
“We have an update,” Connor said, voice flat and all pretense of politeness gone. And then he laid it out.
“Beyo, John, Zane, and Marcus,” Connor said. “Members of your clan who’ve become interested in a cult called the Sons of Aeneas bought magic from the spellseller in Grand Bay in order to change themselves into more powerful creatures. They did that in order to punish Loren for his harassment of Paisley and his role in her death. The magic turned them into human-wolf hybrids, and they’re responsible for the recent attacks, Loren’s death, the Stone farm attack.”
Behind us, the crowd erupted with noise. I didn’t turn around, but could feel their anger at my back, the magic as hot as fire.
Everett’s face showed every expression—shock, disbelief, anger. Cash remained stoic, his only movements the occasional puff of his cigar.
“That’s quite a story,” Cash said, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd. “And an interesting way to turn attention from you and your . . . paramour,” he said, giving me a look so twisted with loathing and lasciviousness, it made my skin crawl, “to the clan.”
He stubbed out the cigar in a glass ashtray on the high mantle, then turned to Connor, hands on his hips. “In other words, you blame us for the crisis. That’s not going to release you from the Obsideo.”
“We blame no one,” Connor said. “We’re just presenting the facts.”
Cash snorted. “The facts always depend on who’s telling the tale. You have actual, biological proof that Zane and the others turned into these ‘hybrids’?”
Connor arched an eyebrow. “Four members of your clan were present at the attack and saw the hybrids.”
“And saw no transformation.”
“Beyo transformed on a public street in town,” I said, and Cash just rolled his eyes.
“Beyo is unconscious and hasn’t told his side of the story. Bring me a clan witness, and we’ll talk.”
“You want DNA samples?” Connor asked.
“I’m asking you for anything other than this tall tale you’re dumping at my door. Look, Zane’s a problem child. We know it. We’ll deal with it. But there is absolutely zero chance he pulled something like this off.”
“And his visit to the spellseller?”
“You think a two-bit, third-rate sorceress is telling you the truth?” Cash’s laugh was a humorless bark. “She sells garbage from China and has no appreciable skills.”
“Okay,” Connor said, crossing his arms. “I’ll bite. What’s your theory?”
“I have no idea,” Cash said. “But all this started when you walked in that door. I don’t know what kind of witchcraft you brought into our home. I won’t let you turn this clan against itself. I won’t let you use it to win political points with your father”—he looked at me again—“or the Houses.”
Casually, he put an arm on the mantle. “We’ll see what Beyo has to say. Then we’ll know the truth, at least as far as Beyo is capable of giving it.”
“And if someone dies in the meantime?” Connor asked.
Cash’s gaze was hard and brutal. “Then we’ll wonder how you managed to predict what would happen. You want to be released from the Obsideo, I suggest you go back to the drawing board.”
* * *
* * *
We walked out of the lodge, assembled again in the clearing near the horseshoe pit.
“He’s using you to cement his own power,” Theo said. “Clever. Dickish but clever.”
“Yeah,” Connor said. “It’s not a bad spin for short-term thinking. Spin the problem as caused by us, or complicated by us, or unresolved by us. Problem is, it falls apart in the long term.”
“Because the clan falls apart in the long term,” Georgia said grimly.
“Yeah,” Connor said again. “We already know he doesn’t trust the younger shifters, and we’ve handed him proof he was right. If he was smart, he’d use this situation to cement the elders’ power—call it proof the younger generation isn’t fit to rule. Instead, he’s focused on Chicago versus the clan or vampires versus the clan.”
“Outsiders versus the clan,” Theo said, and Connor nodded.
“Exactly. Even if we’re going, the intraclan struggles will still be there, simmering. Eventually, that pot boils over.” He looked at Georgia. “You should consider putting more guards on Beyo.”
“I want to object and say Cash wouldn’t try to hurt him. But that would be a lie.”
I nodded. “He’s an eyewitness. The only certain link between clan and creatures.”
“Beyo has responsibility here,” Connor said. “But he’s not responsible for everything. Cash takes Beyo out, and he’s got a very tidy answer to his very thorny problem.”
“Blame it on the spellseller and the bad egg,” Theo agreed. “And everything’s hunky-dory until the hybrids come back.”
“Short term,” Connor said again. “He’s just arrogant enough to think that if he can solve the immediate problem, he’ll have plenty of time to address the rest of it.”
“A fucking disgrace,” Georgia said, gaze narrowing at the lodge. “This clan has become a fucking disgrace.”
“Unfortunately,” Connor said, “I’m inclined to agree.” And he watched warily as Maeve approached us. She was alone this time, and the obvious malice in her eyes was gone. Her expression was blank, so it didn’t give me any idea of what she was actually thinking.
She nodded at Georgia, then turned to Connor. “That was quite a story you told.”
“Not a story,” he said. “The absolute truth.”
She looked pained, but nodded. “I don’t want to believe it, but I know Zane and the others. They’re arrogant, sometimes stupid, and always complaining about the elders.”
“Do you know anything specific about the creatures?” I asked.
She shook her head. “We weren’t friends. Just acquaintances. It’s not the kind of thing they’d have talked to me about.” She looked away, then back at me. “Could we talk?”
I lifted my brows. “About?”
“You’re going to make me say it aloud in front of everyone?”
I watched her for a moment. “Could you give us a minute?” I asked Connor.
He watched Maeve just as I’d done, considering, then nodded. “All right
. Meet us back at the cabin.”
“Sure.” I waited until they’d walked away, then lifted my brows. “Well?” I asked Maeve.
Her eyes flashed, but this time I thought I saw respect in them. “You’re a hard-ass—you know that?”
“I’m a vampire.” I gave her a toothy smile. “So that’s a compliment.”
“Fair enough.” She cleared her throat and didn’t make eye contact for a long moment. “Miranda was rude about the Connor thing. I thought she had information about you—knew something about you using him. I don’t know you very well—”
“You don’t know me at all,” I said.
“That’s fair,” she said after a moment. “I only know what I saw in the media, and what I’ve heard.”
“From Miranda.”
“From sources,” she said. “There were rumors this was just a game for you. And I took those rumors for fact, because I didn’t take the time to, you know, talk to you about my concerns. To be up-front. I just assumed and accused and was wrong, so now I look like the asshole. Because it’s pretty obvious that you aren’t using him.”
“Finally, something we can agree on.”
A corner of her mouth quirked. “I don’t like you, but I kind of like you.”
“I’d say the feeling’s mutual.”
She offered a hand. “Truce?”
I watched her for a moment. This hadn’t been my fight. But we were going to need all the allies we could get. “Truce,” I said, and we shook on it.
* * *
* * *
Georgia asked around the resort, and no one had seen Marcus, John, or Zane in a few days. And no one had any idea where to find them. Apparently, the comings and goings of twenty-something shifters weren’t monitored.
With no trails to track the beasts and no more leads until we talked to Beyo, we gathered in the cabin. Lulu sat on the patio, using a white pencil to sketch the landscape on dark paper. I cleaned my sword while Theo worked remotely on his screen. Connor lay on the couch, eyes on the ceiling, frowning as he considered, evaluated, debated.
There was a knock at the back door, and we all looked warily at it. “I’ll get it,” Connor said, rising. “Elisa has a tendency to threaten people with her sword.”
“It’s not a tendency,” I said, sliding a piece of rice paper down the length of the blade. “It’s training.”
Alexei was preceded by the smell of meat and sauce, and he walked into the kitchen, holding a tower of pizza boxes. “I ordered dinner.”
“There are only five of us,” I said as Lulu came inside, apparently drawn by the scents. “How much pizza do you think we’re going to eat?”
Alexei placed the pizza on the island, began to spread out the boxes, and shrugged. “One of us is a vampire.”
“All right,” I said, holding up my hands. “We need to clear up this vampire eating thing.”
“The thing where you eat everything in sight?” Lulu asked, peeking beneath a lid.
“I literally do not do that. I’m very discerning.”
“Picky,” Lulu mouthed.
“So not constantly voracious,” I said. “I’m not going to eat an entire pizza, and I don’t think anyone else in here is, either.”
“Speak for yourself,” Theo and Connor said simultaneously, then looked at each other, nodded fraternally.
“This is not a war you will win,” Lulu said, putting an arm around me. “So let’s just eat and be merry and wait for someone to tell us where the bad guys are.”
“Aw,” I said, leaning into her. “You’ve been paying attention.”
“As minimally as possible. Where’s the pepperoni?” She flipped up a lid. “Bingo,” she said, and grabbed a slice, began eating from the point.
“I also have beverages,” Alexei said, pulling a bottle of honey-colored liquid from his jacket.
“I wouldn’t say no to some mind erasing,” I said. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards. Alcohol didn’t work the same way for vampires as it did for humans; I could relax, enjoy a pleasant buzz. But that was usually the end of it.
“What is it?” Connor asked, and Alexei passed over the bottle. “Hell’s Glen Fifteen,” he said, then looked approvingly at Alexei. “Good choice.”
Theo whistled. “That’s quality.”
Connor nodded, looked at me. “This will be good for your training.”
“Training?” Lulu asked suspiciously.
“The wolf thinks I need to learn to appreciate good Scotch.”
Lulu snorted, chewed pizza. “Good luck with that. She drinks chocolate wine.”
Connor scowled, bit into his own slice of supreme. “So I’ve heard. It’s a disgrace.”
“Hey, we found something to agree on!” she said cheerily, and gave him a high five.
“You’re both hilarious,” I said, but was secretly pleased they weren’t sniping at each other, even if at my expense. Since I didn’t really care what I drank, it was a low-drag bargain.
“Found another option,” Alexei said, looking through one of the kitchen cabinets. He pulled out a tall bottle. “Moscow’s Own is not a vodka brand I recognize.”
“Hard pass on that one,” Theo said as Alexei found glasses in another cabinet, handed them out. “Light or dark?” he asked, holding up the bottles.
Lulu held out her cup. “Light me up, so to speak.”
Alexei twisted off the screw cap—a sure sign of quality liquor—and poured a finger’s worth.
Lulu just looked at him, cup still outstretched. “Don’t be stingy.”
He poured another finger, which apparently satisfied her. She took a drink, winced. “Good lord. Is there a basement beneath the bottom shelf? Because this is awful.” She smacked her lips. “Like if someone burped legitimate vodka and bottled that.”
“Then you can find the next bottle,” Alexei said, brows raised.
“Great. I’ll find something halfway decent.”
“If your stomach isn’t strong enough,” Alexei said, “you could always pour it back into the bottle.”
Eyes on Alexei, Lulu tipped back the cup, finished it off, then held it out again. “Next.”
Alexei poured her another finger.
I crossed my arms, watched them. “I’m not sure if it’s better or worse that she’s found someone other than you to fight with.”
Connor chuckled. “It does make for a change. And he’s still a shifter, so at least she’s keeping it in the family.”
Since neither whiskey nor vodka sounded to me like a good match for pizza, I grabbed a bottle of blood from the fridge.
Theo cleared his throat. “So, at the risk of being a complete asshole, could I try a sip?”
“Sure,” I said, and offered him the bottle.
After a heartening breath, he took a drink, then winced, handed it back. “Not for me. It’s like drinking pennies.”
“I’ve never eaten a penny, so I’ll take your word for it.” I took the bottle back, finished it in a single gulp.
Then realized the others were watching me.
“Sorry,” I said, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Too vampiric?”
“No,” Connor said with a light in his eyes that was hard to mistake.
“It’s cool,” Theo agreed, then cleared his throat again, looked down at his slice. “And I should probably just eat this pizza.”
“Wise choice,” Connor said with a grin. “Wise choice.”
* * *
* * *
We ate and talked like normal people—not a collection of Sups trying to solve a problem and release a handsome prince from an evil spell.
The Scotch was poured, sipped. “Jesus,” I said between coughs, fairly certain someone had replaced the alcohol with gasoline.
Lulu snorted. “I told you. It’s not her thing.”
<
br /> “Take even tinier sips,” Alexei said, ignoring her. “Just enough to wet your lips. You’ll taste the caramel that way.”
I sipped again, barely touching tongue to liquid. And, okay, if I breathed just right, I could detect a mellowness that wasn’t awful. But liking it might be a challenge that required immortality.
“At the risk of blowing up this great party,” Theo said, swirling the whiskey in his glass, “do you think Cash is going to be satisfied with whatever you tell him?”
“Words?” Connor asked. “No. Evidence? Maybe. Ultimately, Cash will believe what he wants. But he can’t avoid Beyo forever, and we’re going to find the rest of them. The clan will see the truth, and there’s a pretty good chance it will change the balance of power.”
“In that case, we look forward to the big reveal,” Theo said, tipping an invisible hat in Connor’s direction.
“Have you heard from Ronan?” Lulu asked.
“No,” I said. “It’s day two, so they’d still be feeding her. I think he’d tell me if she hadn’t made it, at least so he could blame me for it.”
“Lot of guilt throwing in Minnesota these days,” Lulu said. “What happened to Minnesota nice?”
“Only applies to humans,” Theo said.
“I guess.”
“Will you be able to . . . control her?” Alexei asked.
It was the kind of question that might have rankled, if there hadn’t been genuine curiosity in his eyes.
“No,” I said. “Even Masters don’t control the vampires they make. They usually have a telepathic connection, and a Master can call the other—make them come to the Master. From the way my father tried to describe it, there’s a more general connection. Not parent and child, exactly, but something protective. But she didn’t have much of my blood, so that probably won’t happen here.”
It wouldn’t be tested unless Ronan allowed me near her again. And he didn’t like or trust me.
