*
I woke up with Curran sitting next to me. He didn’t say anything. He just sat next to me and looked at me.
“Were you watching me sleep? Because I thought we agreed that’s creepy.”
He didn’t answer.
We were alone in the room. Doolittle and his tub, Keira, and everyone else were gone. On second thought the covers under me looked familiar. I was on our bed. He must’ve carried me to our room. I usually woke up if someone moved outside my room behind a closed door. How did I sleep through him carrying me? Doolittle had a habit of slipping sedatives into my drink, because I ignored his instructions to lie down and rest, but the last I saw him he was in the bathtub. Demet and her children had chanted my wounds into regeneration. I recalled a rush of soothing coolness foaming over my wounds. And then George handed me a glass of water.
“George sedated me. Okay, the drugging thing has to stop. Also, if one of them ever attempts to hold me down and pour booze on my wound, I will kill somebody. That’s not an idle threat either.”
Curran didn’t say anything.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He nodded at the wall.
I concentrated. The magic was still up, and as I quested forward, I felt something stir behind the stone. Not a vampire, but something odd. Something I hadn’t felt before. We were being listened to.
Curran’s mouth was a hard slash across his face. He was angry. Monumentally, terribly angry.
I reached over and touched his face, looking for that intimate connection. Hey. Are we still okay?
He took my hand, his strong fingers hot and dry, and squeezed it. Okay. We were still okay. He didn’t have to say anything else.
“Did Doolittle talk to you?” I asked.
He shook his head.
I reached over to the night table, took a small notepad, and a pen, and wrote on it, He tested Desandra’s amniotic fluid. One of the babies could grow wings.
Curran’s eyes widened. He took the pen. Did she sleep with one of those things?
Most likely Radomil or Gerardo is one of those things.
How is that possible?
You have two forms, human and animal. Doolittle thinks that these guys have a third one: human, animal, and monster with wings.
Curran shook his head. “Which one is it?”
No way to tell. The amniotic fluid indicates that one baby is a wolf and the other is something else. The Lyc-V with wolf genes could come from Desandra. They must’ve known or suspected Doolittle found something out. That’s why they wrecked his lab.
Who knew that Doolittle had taken the amniotic fluid? Curran wrote.
Ivanna for sure, I wrote. Radomil’s sister had offered to hold Desandra’s hand in case she was scared. At the time I thought she was a decent human being. Anybody could’ve seen it. Radomil and Ignazio were all brawling in the hallway while Doolittle worked.
A familiar careful knock sounded through the door. Barabas.
“Just a minute.” I flipped the piece of paper over. I’m going to ruffle the packs to see if I can get a reaction.
Anybody who isn’t watching Desandra will be watching Doolittle, he wrote.
Perfect. “I have to go meet with the packs this morning,” I said aloud. “Anything you may want me to pass along?”
“Yes.” Curran took the note folded it and methodically tore it into confetti. “Tell them that there is no escape from me.”
*
The Belve Ravennati were my first stop. We met by a giant bay window in one of the public rooms where soft tan furniture sat arranged around a coffee table. The wolves from Ravenna didn’t want me in their quarters.
I sat in a love seat across from Isabella Lovari. Gerardo sat on her left. His brother was nowhere to be found. Three other people joined us, all with a similar bearing: clean-cut, the two men clean-shaven, the woman’s hair pulled back into a ponytail. They gave off an almost military air, and they watched me with a single-minded attention. This was a wolf pack, and I was clearly the enemy.
Barabas stood behind me, taking notes on a legal pad.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet me,” I said. The swelling hadn’t gone down as much as I would’ve liked, and talking hurt.
Isabella looked me over. “I’m surprised you’re still here.”
“I’m hard to kill.”
“Like a cockroach.”
“Not sure that’s a good comparison. I never had trouble killing small insects,” I said.
Barabas quietly cleared his throat.
Isabella raised her eyebrows. In her early fifties, she had a kind of sharp precision about her. Over my time with the Pack I had watched alphas work. Some struggled, like Jennifer. Some, like the Lonescos of Clan Rat, had a natural ease about interacting with people in their charge. Isabella had neither. She radiated the air of command. It was obedience or else.
“As you know, we’re attempting to discover the nature of the attacks on Desandra’s life,” I said. “Her well-being and the well-being of her children is our first priority.”
“Are you trying to imply that we’re under suspicion?” Isabella asked.
“I’m not implying; I’m saying it. I’d like nothing better than to strike you from my list.”
Barabas passed me a small note card with a single word: diplomatic.
Isabella leaned back. “I’m insulted.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I said. “Last night your daughter-in-law was attacked. Our people were hurt. I’ve got ten shapeshifters howling for blood. I’m looking for someone to hunt. It can be you or it can be Kral or the Volkodavi. I don’t really care. So go ahead. Give me a reason to paint a target on your chest.”
The Belve Ravennati stared at me in stunned silence.
Isabella laughed quietly. “Ask your questions.”
“Where were you last night around midnight?”
“In our quarters. My sons were with my husband and me.”
“Can the guards account for your whereabouts?”
“No.”
Isabella’s wolves turned their heads toward the hallway. Someone large was coming toward us. I leaned forward to get a better look. Mahon. Now what?
The bear of Atlanta approached us, slowly, clearly in no hurry, and came to stand next to Barabas behind me. “Sorry I’m late.”
Backup. Wow. Knock me over with a feather.
The Belve Ravennati were looking at me. Right. Where were we?
I concentrated on Isabella’s face. This was the reason I had come here in the first place. “We have reason to believe we can identify the creatures who attacked Desandra through a blood test. Would you be willing to provide us with a blood sample?”
“Absolutely not.”