Caged, page 8
Edwin looked back to Liam. “Is she to become the volva?”
“Volva?” I repeated.
Ruth’s energy flared behind me, and I glanced back at her. Her eyes were green again, her wolf firmly under control, but the way she clenched her teeth until the muscle in her jaw jumped suggested she was still very unhappy.
“A volva is a pack witch,” Edwin explained, ignoring Ruth’s reaction. “My former pack had a volva, and she was invaluable. Since you and Liam obviously work well together, I thought perhaps you were part of the pack. Or about to become one.”
“Shade is a private investigator,” Liam said in a tone I couldn’t quite place.
Edwin’s eyes narrowed, his untouched eye closing more than the pale one. “You aren’t considering making her part of the pack, and yet you would ask her for help with what is unmistakably pack business?”
“Are you questioning your alpha?” Ruth demanded coldly.
“He’s only my alpha temporarily,” Edwin answered immediately. “It’s my understanding of your policy here that once I’ve healed completely, it’ll be my choice to stay or seek entry into another pack. As such, it’s absolutely within my discretion to ask questions necessary to determine whether this is a healthy pack.”
Ruth opened her mouth to object again, but Liam held up a hand. “Shade isn’t here on pack business,” Liam told Edwin. “She’s here with Agent Bradford as part of the task force working on a murder that took place this morning. And, as Ruth said, now is not a good time.”
“So she isn’t here to search for Brenna.” Edwin stuck a thumb in the direction that Stephen had disappeared. “I heard Stephen mention Brenna.”
“Shade and Agent Bradford are here to work a murder case. I’m allowing them to work with the task force because Agent Bradford has extensive knowledge of the victim—the human victim—and is in a position to provide valuable information. Brenna’s disappearance is a part of the case, not the entire case.”
“I see.” Edwin studied Liam for a moment, making no bones about the fact he was analyzing his expression, his body language. Feeling out whether he was lying or not. “So you aren’t considering making Shade part of the pack?”
I fought to keep any emotion from showing on my face. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what emotion would show. Being invited to become part of Liam’s pack would be an honor, an unquestionable indication that he trusted me, fully and without hesitation. I couldn’t deny I wanted that. Wanted that reassurance. But it would also be a huge responsibility. A responsibility I couldn’t take on without a great deal of thought.
One I definitely couldn’t take on while a certain leannan sidhe was in the picture.
Goddess, help me, I really need to tell him about Flint.
“At this time, I have no plans to fill the role of volva with anyone,” Liam answered evenly.
Edwin rubbed his jaw. He glanced from me to Liam, then me to Andy. One bad eye or not, I’d bet he didn’t miss much. It was unnerving to be the focus of that stare.
“You have a powerful witch who’s willing to work with you and share your goals,” he said slowly. “Someone you trusted enough to discuss your missing sibling. Someone you brought here, the place where you bring your most vulnerable. I don’t understand why you would pass up the opportunity to strengthen your pack.”
“Why are you so intent on this matter?” Ruth demanded. “You’ve been given your answer, and yet you persist.”
“I have no intention of joining an unhealthy pack,” Edwin said, his tone growing cold. “Either he doesn’t trust her, and she shouldn’t be here, or he does trust her, but he’s resistant to filling the role of volva for personal reasons. Either option is cause for concern.”
Ruth grabbed the ends of her sweater and jerked them around her, wrapping it tight around her body. “A witch is not necessary for a healthy pack.”
“Though I can certainly understand why someone who’s relied on magic to keep him alive for the past six months might see it differently,” Kristine said gently.
In an instant, the annoyance that had drawn deep creases around Ruth’s eyes eased. She dropped her arms, and when she spoke again, her voice was gentle. “Edwin, I’d like to talk to you more about this later, if that’s all right?”
Edwin considered that for a moment. Then, after one more glance at me, he nodded.
“Good. Let me check my appointment schedule and I’ll get back to you.”
Andy tapped his pen on his notebook, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. He’d been silent for a long time, but that wasn’t surprising. Andy knew the value of observation, knew how easy it was for people to forget you were there, say things they might not have said under questioning.
“So a witch can be part of a pack even if she’s not a shifter.” He looked at Kristine. “Are you part of the pack?”
Kristine twisted the plain gold band on her left ring finger. “I am. But I became part of the pack when I married a member. He applied for the others to accept me, and they did.”
“Your husband is part of the pack?”
A shadow passed over her face, and she wrapped her arms around herself as if suddenly cold. “He was.”
“I’m sorry.” Andy hesitated then looked at Liam. “Would a witch have to marry a member of the pack to join as well? To become the pack—” he checked his notes “—volva?”
“No,” Ruth said quickly. “A pack witch can be any race, it’s at the complete discretion of the alpha. The witch has no special connection to any single member of the pack.”
“Can a werewolf be a witch?” Andy asked.
“Shifter witches are rare, but they exist,” I confirmed. “And they’re very powerful.”
“Many packs realize the value of having a volva, werewolf or not,” Edwin added. “Of course, given that beast witches are so rare, that usually means inviting a non-wolf into the pack. And there are those alphas who struggle to trust a witch who is not wolf. Or witches in general.”
He looked at Liam then, and there was a weight to his stare that hadn’t been there before. The tension climbed, and again I found it increasingly hard to breathe as Edwin and Liam’s auras pressed against one another. Note to self, open a window if there’s more than one shifter in the room.
Liam didn’t fidget, but he also seemed very intent on not looking at me during the discussion of witches. “Is there anything else you need, Edwin?”
The black shifter shook his head. I considered him as he left, reflecting on what he’d said.
“His injuries look a lot better,” I said lightly.
Kristine sighed. “He’s healing nicely, but unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll be able to heal completely. The wizard who chose not to remove the silver immediately did a lot of damage. Not just physically either.” She looked at Liam. “You know he doesn’t mean any disrespect. He just needs to feel safe. For him that means finding an alpha who can see danger when it begins, not when it’s too late.”
“I’m working with him in therapy. I believe he’s making strides,” Ruth added.
A second later, both Ruth and Liam looked down the hall. Once again, they’d heard someone approaching before I had, and ten seconds later, a young man appeared around the corner. He looked like a college student who’d just rolled out of bed after an all night study session, and more of his brown hair stood up than laid down—though it was almost equal.
“Ms. Coleman?”
“Yes, Alan?” Ruth asked. Then realization dawned and she closed her eyes. “We have an appointment.” She glanced toward the office where Paul’s body lay, then at Kristine. “May I use your office?”
Kristine nodded. “Of course.”
“I have to go,” Ruth told Liam, pausing to pull the door to her office closed before gesturing for Alan to come with her. “I’ll check in later to see if you need me.”
Liam nodded, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. “Where the hell is Kylie?”
Andy closed his notepad and put it back in his jacket pocket. “I’m going to go to my office and see what I can learn about Paw Patrollers. I’ll bring back the rest of my files on Adrian too.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Liam said, giving his phone one last disgusted look. “I need to talk to security. Until I know who poisoned Paul, no one comes or goes without my say so.”
“Good thing I already made it inside,” Kylie’s voice said dryly.
I jerked my head to the side to find Kylie standing at the end of the hallway. Blood and bone, with all the traffic coming through here, they should put in a ticket line.
The half-ghoul held her kit in her hands, and her cold blue eyes focused on me. She wore her white lab coat, and the clinical uniform made her expression look even more sterile.
Two men stood behind her with a gurney between them, and Kylie gestured to them as she finally flicked her stare to Liam. “Ready for me?”
“All yours.” Liam waited for Kylie and her assistants to wheel the gurney inside before gesturing for Andy to follow him out. Andy nodded to me, and I waved at him as they left.
Kylie turned her back to me as she knelt beside the body for her initial assessment.
“It’s nice to see you again,” I started weakly.
“Is it?”
Peasblossom patted my neck in silent support. I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry, Kylie. About—”
“About leaving me to explain to the Vanguard why I let a murder suspect walk away?” She turned to look at me over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. It was a good thing.” She turned back to the body.
“How was it a good thing?” Peasblossom demanded.
“Because we’re not friends. We can’t be friends, because if we did like one another, on any level, it would impede you in the task that you gave me your word you would perform when the time comes. It’s better for us to be coworkers who tolerate one another’s company only because professionalism demands it.” She shrugged. “It’s good that you did what you did. It clarified things for me.”
That hurt. I stood there, trying to think of something to say that might bridge the gap I could feel opening between me and the half-ghoul. She wasn’t wrong, not exactly. But it felt wrong.
A hand on my shoulder made me turn. Kristine gave me a sympathetic smile. “Seems everyone has something to do but us. I don’t have an appointment for another hour, would you care to join me for lunch?”
“That sounds great, thanks. I’ll see you later, Kylie.” I waited another few seconds, hoping Kylie would look back at me, or maybe say goodbye so I could read her tone. She didn’t.
I followed Kristine out of Ruth and Brenna’s office and down the hall to the elevator.
The cafeteria was on the first floor, in the far back of the building and to the right. The smell of roasted meat hit me as soon as I walked through the doors. Not surprising, considering the clientele. It was set up like every other cafeteria I’d ever seen, just on a larger scale, and with more red meat.
My mind was still on Kylie as we went through the line for food. Dead bodies didn’t bother me, I’d seen more than my fair share as a village witch. Even so, I opted against a steak and chose a bowl of soup instead. Fortunately for my nerves, they had clam chowder. My personal go-to for comfort food.
Kristine let me stew in my own thoughts as we walked to a table with our trays, choosing a table in the corner away from the handful of shifters also having lunch. Not that creatures with preternatural hearing wouldn’t catch everything we said anyway, but even the illusion of privacy helped.
“I’ve only met Kylie once before.” Kristine set her tray down and settled onto the bench seat. “She’s always seemed a little reserved.”
I took a sip of my Coke, avoiding eye contact while I decided the likelihood that Kristine knew what Kylie was. She was human, but she was also part of a werewolf pack, so—
“She’s a half-ghoul,” Peasblossom volunteered. “She’s afraid when she dies and turns full ghoul, she’ll hurt people she cares about. So she asked my witch to kill her. For real kill her,” she added. “Permanently.”
Blood and bone. I sighed, but when I looked up at Kristine, all I read on her face was sympathy.
“That must be hard,” she said. “To have someone ask that of you.”
“She asked me right after we first met.” I wrapped a hand around my soda, pulling it closer. “She thought I’d be more likely to say yes if we didn’t know one another well.”
“Makes sense. Of course, if you’re going to work with Liam very often, you won’t really be able to avoid seeing Kylie. And it’s hard not to at least try and get along with the people you work with. Friendships develop.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” I mumbled.
“Understandable.” She reached for her iced tea.
I took another sip of my soda, thinking about the tumultuous events of the day. “How long have you worked here?” I asked.
“Three years. But I was married to a pack member for five years before that, so I’ve been around for a long time. Why?”
I tapped a finger on my straw. “Brenna’s patient poisoned himself with wolfsbane and heroin. Then Paul gets brought here, he has some tea, and he dies, likely from wolfsbane poisoning.”
“You want to know if this is common or if the two might be connected?” Kristine guessed.
“It just seems like a big coincidence,” I admitted. “Did anyone ever find out how Kevin got hold of the wolfsbane?”
“Well,” Kristine hedged, “we never found out for sure. Ruth is the only one with access to the wolfsbane. With the amount of wolfsbane found in Kevin’s system, it would have taken every teabag she had on the premises. And Ruth said none of her tea was missing, and none of her stash had been tampered with. She counted her plants at home, and they were all there.”
“Someone could have taken a small piece from several plants,” I mused. “How many does she have?”
“I don’t know. Ruth keeps her wolfsbane secret, again for obvious reasons.”
“So she wouldn’t be open to letting me have a look?”
Kristine snorted. “Um, no. No, I do not think that request would go over well. But if it makes you feel any better, Ruth keeps careful records of her plants. To hear her tell it, she knows how many leaves and how many blooms are on each—”
“Hey!”
I jumped as Peasblossom shouted and pointed at something under the table. “He’s spying on us!”
I jerked back and looked under the table—
And found myself staring into the glowing red eyes of a large fox.
Chapter 8
The fox was larger than a mundane fox, though it did its best to appear small. It wrapped its tail tightly around its body, folded its front legs back, and curled into a compact ball of red fur, with a white underbelly and black socks. Peasblossom glared at it, lifting her grappling gun and pointing it at the beast in warning.
Kristine looked under the table, then made a tsking sound. “St. John. What have we discussed about eavesdropping?”
She pronounced his name “Sin-jin,” so I assumed it was his first name, not his surname. It piqued my interest, considering St. John was not a common name in America. The fox made a sound like an annoyed sneeze. Then energy rolled from under the table, more palpable for being contained in cramped quarters. I stared as fur receded, revealing pale skin and a shock of blond hair that seemed straight out of a surfer movie. It was not a graceful shift, more a cracking of bones and stretching of skin, and my stomach rolled.
He was breathing hard by the time it was over, but he recovered quickly. With only the barest hint of discomfort, he unfolded himself and crawled out from under the table. Naked.
“Dr. Warren.” He stood next to our table, blessedly opting not to put his bare backside on the public seat.
Something about his demeanor struck me. Based on the awkward shift, I’d pegged him for a new shifter. But something about the way he stood comfortably with his hands at his sides, completely naked in front of a total stranger, reminded me of a more seasoned werewolf.
Or a man who spent a lot of time naked in front of company.
St. John braced his hands on the table, leaning closer to me. “And who might you be?”
“I’ll ask the questions here.” Peasblossom waved her grappling gun at him, using both hands to hold it steady. “Why were you spying on us?”
“Curiosity,” he said smoothly. “It’s not just for cats.”
“St. John is a bit of a rogue,” Kristine said. “In so many ways.”
“You don’t smell like our usual clientele,” he continued, tilting his head so the light caught his eyes. Red irises glittered at me. He stuck out his hand. “St. John. Fox shifter.”
I accepted the handshake. “Shade. Witch.”
His eyebrows rose again, and his hand stilled in mine. “Witch?”
“You have a problem with that?” Peasblossom demanded.
An easy smile slid over his lips as he held up his hands in surrender. “Not at all.”
Ice settled into the base of my spine. He’d had an unpleasant reaction to finding out I was a witch. But instead of letting that show, or politely excusing himself, he’d hidden behind a ready smile. I half expected him to wink at me. It reminded me of someone else. Someone who kept a sexy grin ready, whatever the situation.
Peasblossom scowled at the werefox, obviously irritated at his lack of fear of her grappling gun. “What is a fox doing in a wolf pack anyway?”
“There was a misunderstanding,” St. John said dismissively. “A young lady with whom I had a brief acquaintance took objection to my share and share alike attitude. Capitalism at its worst, I’m afraid.”
I looked at Kristine.
“He stole from his girlfriend.” The therapist wagged a baby carrot at him. “A girlfriend who happened to be a witch.”
My voice rose an octave. “She cursed you?”
“Ah, but is it a curse?” St. John leaned against the table, one arm resting on the surface. “I’ve found this new life to be advantageous in several ways.”
