by Heather Karn
“Remind me again why I have to sit in the middle where there’s no leg room?” I grumbled as Shannon handed the bags up to Luella before coming back to her seat beside me.
“Because your legs are too long to sit here with Jackson at your feet.” The witch winked at me from where she stood waiting for Jackson to leap into the truck. “Plus, you’re the only person Raven can bite in frustration who won’t die.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t lean over her to bite you,” Raven grumbled, sticking his hand inside one of the bags on my lap to dig out a breakfast sandwich. While we waited for the witch and wolf to find their seats again, Raven inhaled the meal. Luella passed a water bottle up from the back and he took it from me when I handed it over as we rolled out of the gas station.
A few blocks later he turned us into a hotel that I wasn’t sure was even open anymore since it appeared run down, but then I caught sight of the neon open sign near a dimly lit office. The building wasn’t completely run down, but it certainly needed a new paint job. Raven had been right when he said we’d be conserving our money.
“I have to say I’m relieved. This is better than the last place you stuck us,” Luella mumbled from the back before opening her door. “Let’s just hope the room doesn’t stink or I will complain.”
“And I’ll cut your tongue out,” Raven shot back. Someone desperately needed some sleep.
The small glimpse he’d given me of fatigue earlier hadn’t resurfaced, but Raven was moving much slower than normal as he climbed out and moved to the truck bed to grab his duffle bag. Then again, we’d all been cramped in this truck for hours without moving. We’d been given one bathroom break but half of the car had slept through it, and I hadn’t needed to go then. I did now.
“Hurry up,” I whined at Jackson as the others crawled out of the truck. “I have to pee.”
“Koda, you always have to pee,” Avery chuckled, sliding down from the truck. His shock of blond hair reflected off a nearby street lamp, and again I was reminded that Raven was right that we needed to stop for a few hours. The snow leopard’s short hair was a mess. Whatever he’d used to style his hair had it standing at every angle as well as being plastered to his head in various spots.
“Well it’s not like it hasn’t been twelve hours.”
My grumbling fell on deaf ears as the team made our way to the hotel office to check in. We were in various states of disarray and the male clerk behind the desk took in our appearance right away and asked what accommodations we wanted. We were in luck that they still had a room available since they were renovating half of the rooms. However, that was where our luck ended. It held a king bed and a couch, and the hotel didn’t even have cots.
Without blinking, Raven paid the man and led the way to our room for the night. Or what was left of it. All the while I looked for signs of who had the bed and who got the floor. No one was claiming spaces. Either they’d done this so many times that they knew where they’d sleep or none of them cared.
“Okay, Luella and Avery, you’re on guard duty,” Raven announced the moment the door closed behind Lee as I surveyed the room. Thankfully it didn’t stink, and it appeared far nicer than the outside of the building. “If you notice anything out of the ordinary, I mean anything, wake me.”
“Yes, boss.” Avery chuckled when his best friend glared at him. He moved to the other side of the room and made himself comfortable in an executive swivel chair near a desk that had seen better days.
“Koda, use the bathroom,” Raven ordered next, and I was all too happy to toss my bag on the ground and lock myself into the tiny space that was just big enough to hold the sink, toilet, and shower. There weren’t nearly enough towels and washcloths for all of us, but I’d worry about a shower later.
“I’m next,” Shannon squealed, barely allowing me to exit before she ran me over to close herself in the bathroom.
One by one the others used the bathroom to relieve themselves or shower. Too exhausted to care how dirty I was, even after the attack, I face planted on the bed and waited for someone to tell me to move. When large hands rolled me over to lift me off the bed and reposition me under the covers, I didn’t fight them, already too far gone into sleep’s hold. Even when the bed dipped beside me a few minutes later, I barely registered the movement. This had been one of the longest days of my life, and it was coming to a close. A light in the corner clicked off, plunging the room into darkness.
Chapter 2
Warmth against my back threatened to drag me back under when my mind wandered from sleep with the sound of voices. It wasn’t how I’d normally wake up in my bed in the mansion, or even at my parents’ house, so my brain fought to focus on the real world instead of the dream world I’d left seconds ago. Lee’s familiar voice mingled with a now familiar baritone voice. Avery.
My eyes popped open as memories came flooding back like a tsunami. The attack at my parents’ house. The letter from my father. Our trip to St. Louis. Climbing into bed…
Lee’s laugh originated from across the room, as did Avery’s voice and Shannon’s light chuckle. That left three others unaccounted for, and one of them was sleeping pressed up against me, not quite spooning, but well within my personal space. Well, there were two options. As much as Jackson joked and teased about me wanting to see him in his skin, he was devoted to Shannon. He’d be by her side no matter where she was, which meant the large frame behind me was Raven. Luella wasn’t quite as tall and bulky.
I nudged him with my elbow until he grunted acknowledgement, still waking up himself. “Your side of the bed wasn’t comfortable?”
“I don’t have a side.” His voice, usually silky smooth, had a husky undertone this morning, which did weird things to my insides, like turning them to goo. I quickly blamed it on lack of food and sleep deprivation. However much sleep I’d gotten hadn’t been enough, and I’d crashed before eating a morsel.
“Then what do you have?”
“The middle.”
“Oh.” I guess there was a reason he was pushed up against me. “Then who’s on the other side?”
“I am,” Luella groaned.
“Weren’t you supposed to be on guard duty?” I asked, rising to lean on my elbow to stare at her over Raven’s body. She lay on the covers while Raven was under them with me. He opened one magenta eye to stare at me.
“I am,” the naiad replied with a smirk. “I can guard from right here. Plus, all the other available spaces were taken, so I made Raven move over. It’s not that easy to guard the room from the middle of the bed.”
My stomach growled when my eyes landed on the fast food bags on the desk. “Is there anything to eat?”
Avery stood, Raven’s truck keys jingling in his hand. “Nope. Sorry. We were just discussing that. Lee and I are going to go grab more food. That all right, boss?”
Sitting up, Raven blinked at his second in command. “Yeah, that’s fine. Be back soon. I want to be out of here in an hour. If no one else wants the bathroom, I’m going to shower.” Like me, Raven still wore his clothes from yesterday. Neither of us had bothered changing into pajamas, though I was now aware that at some point someone had taken my boots off.
Raven eyed me for a moment, and my gut fell when his lips quirked up into a sly grin. When he rolled his body over me to reach the floor and his full weight rested on me, driving the air from my lungs, it was all I could do to suck in oxygen while I attempted not to slug him. Rarely did he show such amusement, and as he grabbed his bag and shut himself away, I rolled to face the middle of the bed. Bad move. Luella stared right at me, a wicked twinkle in her aqua eyes.
“Don’t even tell me you’re reading something into that,” I hissed at her, my words punctuated by the hotel room door clicking shut behind my brother and his trainer.
“Oh, I am,” Luella laughed. “If it was anyone else laying over there, he would’ve literally kicked them out of bed. He’s easy on you.”
“And nice. Don’t you dare forget nice,” Shannon quipp
ed with a giggle.
The shower turned on in the bathroom and I wished I’d beaten Raven to his destination. It was the only place to hide in this room, and I wasn’t nearly brave enough to follow him in and brush my teeth to escape these two. Plus, the teasing would only worsen if I made any move like that, even to hide from the snickering women. A canine chuffing joined them, and my patience snapped. Grabbing Raven’s pillow, I chucked it in Jackson’s general direction. I missed, of course, giving the others more to laugh at.
With nowhere in the room to hide, I slid from the bed and bolted for the door. Safely in the hallway, I breathed a slight sigh until footsteps on the other side of the door drew closer. Not wanting to face anyone, I tore down the hall and around the corner, heading toward the lobby and exit. A little fresh air couldn’t hurt, although I’d certainly looked better than I did this morning.
That was proven when the new clerk on shift in the lobby did a double take when I turned the corner and strode toward the door. Either that or it was because I’d forgotten my sunglasses upstairs and he had a full view of my magenta eyes, a sign that I was a vamlure and a blood drinker. He squirmed behind the desk, trying not to show his unease around me. If I was in a better mood, I would’ve stopped to tell him he was safe from me. The musky scent of badger hung in the air, which wasn’t at all appetizing. Not only was I obviously picky about my men because of my species, but I was becoming a blood snob. I couldn’t keep taking it from Raven, but the few times I’d drank blood from shifters, I found it less than satisfying, and certainly less tasty.
The sun was about an hour above the horizon, meaning we hadn’t gotten much sleep, but it was all I’d be getting today. There wasn’t time to go back to sleep, not that I wanted to now that I was awake. St. Louis was an hour away, and as much as I tried not to, I hoped once again that the man my father wanted me to meet up with would still be at the location my dad had listed in the letter he’d given my birth mother to give to me. The chances of that were slim to begin with, and if Gerald wasn’t there, I had no idea where to start searching for him, if he even made it out of the city alive.
Breathing in deep, I closed my eyes and sifted through the scents around me. The city was just waking up and more smells drifted on the slight breeze. Most were shifters, but there were some humans and magic users mixed in. Those made the skin on my arms prickle. Just yesterday I’d been attacked by magic users because of the pendant that was still stuffed into my pants pocket bearing the mark of the Third House, House Takal. It was supposed to have been destroyed long ago, and this Gerald was supposed to tell me how I ended up with the pendant.
Opening my eyes, I studied the buildings up and down the side street where Raven had found this place. It was off the beaten trail, but still close enough to downtown that the sounds of early morning commuters could be heard from where I stood. Tall buildings rose above those surrounding us. Upon closer inspection, this area appeared almost deserted. Being so close to St. Louis, it didn’t surprise me that cities nearby would’ve suffered from the magic that destroyed the huge city.
The hotel door opened behind me, but I didn’t bother to turn around. I could recognize Luella’s soft footfalls anywhere, as well as her scent. She stopped beside me, staring out at the rundown buildings and crumbling parking lot with me.
“Are you armed?” she asked without looking at me, still surveying our surroundings, and I wanted to kick myself. Instead, I held back a sigh and rested balled hands on my hips.
“Nope. Why would I do something smart like that?”
My sarcasm wasn’t lost on Luella. She shook her head but didn’t scold me. We both knew I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture.
“Wanna talk about it?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“None of it?”
“What all are you thinking I want to talk about?”
She shrugged, her voice no longer chipper, but mellow. It was a tone I’d never heard from her, so I paid attention. “Oh, I don’t know, how you were attacked, or that your dad left you a note with a pendant of a House that was supposed to have been destroyed almost two centuries ago, or that this whole search is probably a dead end? Let’s not even get started on how much Shannon and I want you and Raven to get together and how hot your brother is, for a human anyway.”
Luella winked at me when I scoffed. She was trying to cheer me up by the end, but it didn’t last long. Melancholy stole back in soon enough. At least until Raven’s truck came into view and Avery signaled to enter the parking lot. I could almost taste the fast food breakfast, and my stomach growled.
“I’m sure you’ll feel better after you eat. But you should make sure to leave enough time to clean up.” Luella patted my shoulder, heading for the truck as Avery parked. “You know how much of a stickler Raven is for his schedules.”
That I did, so I followed Luella to the truck and took the first bag of food handed to me and picked out a sandwich for myself. Shoving the rest of the bag into Lee’s hands, I opened the wrapper hiding an egg and bagel sandwich and took a large bite. By the time I’d followed the others inside, the sandwich was half gone and the clerk appeared more at ease with me focused on food other than him. He really didn’t have to worry. Another whiff of his scent and I was positive I wouldn’t drink from him even if he was the last person on Earth. No one was that desperate.
Raven was finished with the bathroom by the time we reentered the hotel room, but the door was shut and Jackson was missing. Obviously our canine companion wanted a chance to take care of human business as well. The sight of Raven pulling a shirt over his head, leaving the rest of his torso bare for a brief second as I followed Avery inside nearly made me choke on my last bite of bagel. I’d seen him shirtless before, but I’d forgotten how toned his muscles were, and how powerful. It was almost a shame to hide those ripped abs under any piece of clothing, but then again, they were a distraction, so maybe it was best to hide them.
Gulping down the sandwich in my mouth, I swiped the paper bag from Lee’s hands to snatch another sandwich before anyone caught me ogling Raven. I didn’t need more teasing, or for him to notice my attention anywhere but his face. With another bagel in hand, I strode to my duffle bag, ready to claim the bathroom when Jackson finished.
Raven eyed me waiting beside the closed bathroom door. He studied me for longer than I liked, so I arched an eyebrow at him. A grin lifted one side of his lips. It was times like this I wished for grumpy Raven. I knew what that version of the man was thinking. This hot and cold version confused me.
“Ready to go?” he chuckled, swinging his bag onto his shoulder.
“I haven’t had my turn in the bathroom yet,” I countered. “And it hasn’t been an hour.”
“I’m ready to go. Let’s move it.” Raven pounded on the bathroom door, ordering Jackson to get out. The door opened a minute later and a canine snout finished pushing it open before a wolfie Jackson entered the main room and I raced in after him.
The mirror was still fogged, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t like I could wait for the humidity to clear out of the bathroom. Raven had his schedule, and I wouldn’t make him wait.
After one of the fastest showers of my life, I finished cleaning up and stepped out of the bathroom. The room was empty, except for Raven, who leaned against the wall opposite the bathroom door. Even though his arms were crossed, they were relaxed, and he wasn’t glaring. I halted mid-step to stare at him, unable to come up with any ideas of why he was still here besides to escort me outside, but wouldn’t we have all left at once in case there was trouble? Not that there had been trouble when I’d stepped outside weaponless earlier.
“I asked the others to leave so we could have a moment.” His voice was soft, but I heard his words with ease now that I’d drank blood, one of my many changes. “Apparently, I’m not doing my job and making sure that you’re all right, more than physically, anyway. Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Who told you that?”
“I hear things,” was all he said in explanation.
Rubbing one of my temples, I let my bag drop to the floor. If he wanted to do this, I’d get it over with so we could be on our way. We were losing time, time we didn’t have, and I was so close to finding some form of an answer I could almost taste it. Whether that answer was that we wouldn’t find Gerald in St. Louis or that we’d miraculously find him alive and well, I wasn’t sure yet, but I’d take either conclusion. We just had to reach the city for me to find out, and this was cutting into our driving time.
“Physically, I’m healed,” I told him, referring to the wounds I’d received during the attack while I was at my parent’s house where an invisible person, chameleon, witch, and cyclops had laid a trap for me. “Mentally, I’m still trying to understand what all of this means and how they even knew the pendant was going to be there. I’m not even sure that has anything to do with what happened, but if it does, we’re wasting time. I need to find Gerald, whether he’s in St. Louis or not.”
“And you realize he could be dead, right? More than half the city perished when the warlocks were ordered to destroy the threat by any means possible.”
“I’m trying to be optimistic and realistic about this, but thank you for the pessimism. I wouldn’t want to leave that one out.”
Raven’s lips twitched in an almost smile. “Yes, I didn’t think you would.”
“Good. Now, let’s go.” Snatching up my bag, I made it one step before Raven’s hand came down on my shoulder and held me in a vise-like grip.
“I’m serious. How are you?”
“Holding it together.” It was the truth. I had no idea how I was supposed to feel. “I’ll be better when I know if he is or isn’t at that address.”
“Then we’ll go, but please, come to me if you need to talk. Or to one of the others if you aren’t comfortable talking about your feelings with me. I know I’m not the easiest person to open up to, but I want you to know you can come to me, and I’ll try to do better with checking on you.”
