“Ask Nova Bandu,” Allcot said, a chill in his tone.
“You’re full of shit.” Dax took another step forward, but I put my hand out, pressing my palm to his chest.
“No, Dax. We don’t have time for this.”
His dark eyes blazed with fury as he stared down at me. “We had all the time in the world five minutes ago before your favorite vampire walked in, didn’t we, Kilsen?”
“Favorite vampire…?” Using all the pent-up frustration still strumming through me, I shoved him, sending him stumbling through the threshold of the bedroom door. “What the fuck, Marrok? Jesus. That was uncalled for.”
“So was releasing the vampire who tried to kill me.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Please don’t do this now, Dax. We have work to do.”
“Not with Allcot,” he said through clenched teeth.
“I don’t have time for this bullshit.” Allcot turned on his heel and headed back toward the front door.
“Wait!” I called and ran after him. “Why did you come here? I thought we were meeting at your mansion.”
He stepped through the front door but paused and glanced back at me. “I have a lead that can’t wait.” Allcot stared over my shoulder, his eyes narrowed in a glare, and I knew that Dax had followed me. “You’re either with me or you’re with him.”
“Give me just a few minutes. I need to grab my weapons.” There’d been no thought process, no weighing the risks, no second-guessing. Wherever Allcot was headed, I was going with him.
“Two minutes,” Allcot said. “I’ll be in the car.”
“Phoebe, no,” Dax said from behind me. “Don’t do this. The Crimson Valley pack is out in full force looking for Willow and Tal. We don’t need Eadric Allcot and whatever strings come with his help.”
“Link, wait here,” I ordered, and the wolf obediently sat next to the open front door. “Good boy,” I said as I turned and ran back to my desk. “Do they know anything about the redheaded vampire?”
“No.”
“Or the shifters that took Pandora?”
“They don’t think shifters took her,” he said. “They think it’s a rival hive.”
I scoffed. “Right. Because some other group of vampires would actually be crazy enough to take Allcot’s lover? He’d annihilate them and the entire vampire community would back him up.”
“We’re talking about monsters who kill people for their blood, Phoebe. They don’t have a conscience.”
I shoved the files I’d been researching into a messenger bag and reached into the desk for yet another spelled dagger. “You don’t really believe that, do you? That all vampires are monsters?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
I shook my head. “You know that’s what a lot of people think about shifters, right?”
“I know what they think. But I also know that shifters are loyal to humans. Do you have any idea what Bandu’s entire mission is here in New Orleans?” He didn’t give me a chance to reply before he continued. “Bandu has turned the pack into keepers of the city.”
“What does that mean, ‘keepers of the city’?” I asked, frowning at him.
“Protectors, Phoebe. They’re out there right now combing the city for Willow and Talisen, and they won’t hesitate to interfere if a vampire steps out of line. People might think we’re monsters, but soon they’ll realize we’re the only thing standing between them and a lifetime of being persecuted by vampires.”
I gaped at him. “Dax, don’t you realize that’s what the Arcane is for, the reason we work for the Void?”
“And don’t you see it’s not working?” he shot back, pulling his phone out of his pocket. After tapping the screen a few times, he shoved the device at me. “See all these photos? They’re of vampire victims. The ones we couldn’t save.”
I took a step back, eyeing him wearily. “Dax, I know there’s a vampire problem. There’s a shifter problem too. But taking sides right now isn’t going to help us get Willow back. I need to go. Allcot—”
“No! You can’t go with him. Can’t you see it’s all a setup? Didn’t you hear what I said to him?”
I’d heard. The problem was I didn’t believe it. Allcot wasn’t pretending to be crazed about Pandora’s disappearance. That fear in his eyes, it had been real. The reason I knew that was because Allcot was a cocky bastard, and in all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen him look desperate. And that’s what I’d witnessed this morning. “I’m going, Dax. I have to.”
“Phoe—”
“No! Listen, there’s a sacrificial ritual that is happening in two days and involves the draining of fae blood. It’s carried out during an event called Asier and is supposed to save supernatural souls, vampires and shifters alike. Or at least that’s what they seem to think. That’s what Willow overheard.”
Confusion flashed in his dark eyes. “Draining of fae blood?”
“That’s right. That’s why they have Willow. So when I say I don’t have time for this, I mean it. I’m going with Allcot. I’ll be in touch.”
Dax was far from convinced, and he shook his head, anger rolling off him in waves. “This is a mistake, Phoebe. He’s dangerous. If you walk out that door, I can’t be your backup on this. I can’t protect you.”
Frustration coiled tightly in my gut. “I don’t have a choice.”
“Yes, you do.” He strode over to me and placed his hands on my cheeks, his determined expression staring down at me. “Choose, Phoebe. You’re either with Allcot on this or you’re with me. It can’t be both.”
I blinked up at him. “Are you being serious right now? You want me to choose between working with you or Allcot?”
“That’s what I’m saying,” he said, softening his tone as his eyes pleaded with me to see reason. “He can’t be trusted. You must see that. Choose, Phoebe. Say you’ll stay with me. We’ll find Willow together. With the help of the Crimson Valley pack, I know—”
“I’m sorry, Dax,” I said, words thick with regret. “I choose Allcot.”
12
Dax stared at the door, unable to process what had just happened. Had he really demanded Phoebe choose between him and Allcot? Jesus, what a fucking idiot he was. Of course she’d chosen the vampire. He was powerful with plenty of connections and Dax had just behaved like a controlling ass, not the type of person Phoebe Kilsen was willing to suffer.
The shifter stormed back to the desk where his partner had been working when he’d arrived. He glanced around, searching for any clues, anything that would give him more insight into what she’d learned at the Void. All he found was a leather-bound book that appeared to be filled with handwritten notes about an old case and a single piece of paper that had fallen to the floor. He picked it up, noting the name at the top—Carter Voelkel. After a quick scan, he realized it was a dossier on the redheaded vampire Phoebe had tangled with the night before.
He wasn’t sure how the old case fit into the current one, but he did know that whatever Phoebe had been working on when he’d arrived had haunted her. He wasn’t so arrogant as to think that she’d suddenly decided today was the day she wanted to climb back into bed with him. Something had spooked her, and she’d dealt with it by trying to lose herself in a fleeting moment of passion.
After tucking the dossier and the notebook into his pocket, he texted Phoebe a short apology, then went to fix the damaged front door, cursing the vampire the entire time. An hour later, he locked up and checked his phone. No response from Phoebe.
“Fuck.” He ground his teeth together and sent Bandu a message. He needed to know if the shifter leader knew anything about Asier.
* * *