Shadow's End (Elder Races #9)

He had never lain in wait for so long, or hunted with such extreme care. His prey had never been quite as dangerous as it was now, nor had the stakes ever been quite as high.

The part of him that was a predator had to admit it felt good to take action, good to be moving toward some kind of resolution. Now that he had begun his play, events would escalate. The pace of the hunt would take on its own life.

Cloaking himself, he changed into the gryphon and launched into a short flight that took him into the heart of Manhattan. Circling down upon an exclusive boutique hotel, he changed back into the man and strode into the lobby.

His destination was a three-bedroom suite several flights up. He rapped on the door and waited.

There was the soft sound of muffled movement, then the door opened. The woman who answered it was human, rather tall, dressed in jeans and a black turtleneck, with an athletic build and blond, shoulder length hair.

She was around thirty-eight or forty, Graydon guessed, or at least she had been when she had become a Vampyre attendant. She was attractive in a clean, spare way, with the sharp, intelligent gaze of an experienced soldier.

“You must be Claudia Hunter,” he said.

The woman smiled. “I am, and of course you’re Graydon. It’s nice to finally meet you in person. Come on in.” Turning, she raised her voice. “Precious, our visitor has arrived.”

Noting with approval the businesslike Glock she wore in a holster at the waist of her jeans, Graydon followed her into the living room area of the suite just as another male unfolded his long body off the couch.

The male was Wyr and young, perhaps mid- to late-twenties, and he carried a canine scent. He had a kind of handsomeness that smoldered, with dark burnished skin, bitter chocolate eyes and rather overlong black hair.

He was also very large, easily as big as Graydon, and that was not something Graydon was used to running into very often.

“Luis Alvarez,” said the young Wyr, holding out one hand.

“Nice to meet you.” Graydon shook hands with him, grinning. “Your partner calls you ‘Precious’?”

Luis’s dark gaze cut over to Claudia, and his face changed. The difference was at once both subtle and, to Graydon’s experienced gaze, remarkably telling. Inwardly troubled, he kept his own expression neutral.

Luis said softly, “Inside joke. The first time Claudia and I met, I was injured and in my Wyr form. I couldn’t shift back into a human for a while.”

Claudia chuckled, her own affection for Luis obvious. She said to Graydon, “He is one big-ass, mean-looking dog. I had to name him Precious.”

If Graydon was not mistaken, that big-ass, mean-looking dog had mated with his non-Wyr, human partner.

And Wyr mated for life. Luis would never leave Claudia, never stop in his devotion to her, yet she had a different nature entirely.

If she ever felt the need, she could leave Luis, and eventually that decision would kill him. Their lifespans were also quite different. She would age quicker than he. When she died, he would too. It was a hell of a thing for a member of another race to take a Wyr as a lover.

Of course, it was a hell of a thing for the Wyr, as well.

Belatedly, Graydon caught up with what they had said. He put two and two together.

“Wait,” he said. “Are you the two that discovered the magic-sensitive silver mine in Nirvana, Nevada? The one where the owner kept slaves in a small pocket of Other land to mine the silver?”

Both Luis and Claudia sobered, their smiles dying. Luis replied, “Yes.”

“I’ll get everybody a cup of coffee,” Claudia said. She walked out of the living room.

Graydon said to Luis, “That explains your Peacekeeper background.”

Luis nodded. “I was an investigator for the Elder tribunal and met Claudia in Nevada. I was close to death when she found me. She saved my life. After the case was concluded, we took time off. When we decided to look for a job, we had some very specific requirements.”

“One of my requirements was I needed to become a Vampyre attendant,” Claudia said, as she walked back into the room, carrying coffee mugs. “Short of becoming a Vampyre myself, which I don’t want to do, being an attendant is the only way for a human to significantly improve their health and lengthen their life.”

Ah. So she knew that Luis had mated with her.

She handed a mug filled with coffee to Graydon, meeting his eyes with a direct, steady gaze, and he realized she had seen how troubled he had become. He murmured a thanks and sipped the hot, black brew.