Bloody Broken (A Bloody Series Book #2) (6 page)

    “If you need anything, just ring me. I’ll be up around 4:00. Too bad the King wouldn’t spare any of his special sunscreen for this trip. I could use the extra hours.” Dom laughed.

   “I’m sure he thought it unnecessary.” Adam put in impatiently. Dom must have sensed his need for privacy. He nodded and left the room. Luckily his room was down the hall and around the corner, not on another floor or he would have hopped on the elevator. As soon as his door was closed Adam went back to the elevator doors and pushed the button. He had to wait for it to travel up four floors. When the doors opened Victoria stood there with her arms crossed, glaring.

    “What?” He laughed.

    “I hope you were having fun. At least three people in the lobby thought I was crazy, just standing in here riding the elevator like a child.” She huffed.

   “Come on, they’re gone now.” He tugged on her hand, leading her back to his door. He tried to temper his excitement at sneaking Victoria into his room. It felt naughty, like he was at summer camp, or some such nonsense. When the door closed behind them he turned to her.

    “So, what do you want to do?” He asked. She was just looking around the room.

    “What?” She glanced over.

    “What do you want to do?” He asked again, smiling.

    “I don’t know. You have a Ouija Board?” She mocked him, catching his child-like enthusiasm.

    “No. Silly girl. Are you hungry? We could order room service. Or rather, I could order room service for you, as I don’t eat food. I could eat the waiter.” He said brightly, to see if she would laugh. She did.

    “That sounds good. I haven’t eaten since lunch.” He walked to the kitchenette and back to hand her the menu. She took off her jacket, or rather Matt's jacket, and flopped down on the couch. He picked the jacket up and flung it behind the desk against the far wall. She didn’t comment, just raised her eyebrows, and looked back down at the menu. The jacket had been offending his senses all night. While she was distracted by the menu, he took the time to study her figure. She was so small. He would call it delicate, if he didn’t know her personality so well already. If anyone were foolish enough to call her delicate to her face he was sure they would become immediately acquainted with her right hook. He took the seat to the left of her and studied the line of her jaw and where it connected to her ear. He was entertaining sliding across the space separating them, and placing a kiss in that exact spot when she looked up at him. He met her gaze, wiping any thoughts off his face that might have strayed. He wore an expression of polite curiosity, he hoped.

    “I guess the porterhouse, medium rare with a baked potato. If that’s alright with you?” She looked almost shy now. It didn’t jive with her strong personality, and it made him curious but he kept his thoughts to himself.

    “That’s fine. I’ll call down. Anything to drink?” He lifted the receiver, asking politely.

    “Ask for their best Merlot. A bottle please.” She looked away from his crocked smile. If she wanted to get drunk, who was he to deny her? Tonight might get interesting after all. He placed the order, noting their estimated time of arrival in twenty minutes.  “Now, are you going to tell me what has been going on here in Boston?” He asked as he sat back down.

    “It goes much further back than Boston, and involves too many others. Others that I can’t speak for.” She said to the coffee table.

    “I understand. Just tell me what you can. Please.”

    “You said you were in charge of Investigations? You’re close with the King?” Her question caught him off guard.

    “Yes. Along with a few others, I run Investigations. I’ve known the King for some time. Since the former King Niles brought him over in the 1930s. Why do you ask?”

    “Because what I’m about to tell you could start a War, and I need to know if you’re truly equipped to handle it.” She looked up then. Deadly serious. He stared for a full thirty seconds before responding.

    “Tell me everything.”

Chapter Five

    She took a deep breath and tried to think on how to begin. She decided to trust him, despite every part of her training that screamed trust no one. If anyone was capable of providing help and hopefully understanding, it was Adam. He saw to it that Stephan and his band of thugs were taken out. He did the job she couldn’t do. So, she was going to trust him.

    “I can’t tell you how I know the things I do, just please trust that everything I’m about to tell you is true.” Another fortifying breath and she continued. “In 1959 I was staying in Boulder, visiting family, when it was brought to my attention that some disappearances had been taking place in the city. It wasn’t until a friend of mine went missing that I realized all the disappearances were Were females. As I dug deeper, the trail was leading to the upper levels of the Masters Pack. I managed to piece together a case of evidence as long as your arm that proved Beta Orleans was trafficking female Weres out to foreign Packs for favors. I didn’t manage to find out what these favors were before he realized I was on to him, and he tried to have me killed. He almost seceded, if not for the help of a friend I would be frozen in a block of ice in the Rockies right now. The Beta spread rumors that the missing girls were the work of a serial killer. Thankfully, it was reported that I was dead, and I was able to go to ground until now. I’ve been silently tracking the Betas dealings and it’s all led up to evidence that he is behind a plot to overthrow Master Orleans and Out the Weres to the humans.”

    “He was behind the attack in Ohio?” Adam asked incredulously.

    “Yes. That’s why I was there, in Columbus. I was doing all I could to stop them when my cover was almost blown and I had to run. That’s why I had to come here, to Boston. Colin thought it was time I had a more active place in the fight. I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop them, Adam. I just couldn’t risk getting caught.” She wasn’t going to cry. But the guilt ate at her. It had since the attack happened. Adam looked as if he would try to hug her, but she leaned back against the couch and he leaned back too. If he comforted her she would cry. And she didn’t disserve his comfort.

    “The group I’m with now, the one you thought was another group of terrorists? They’re the ones who have left the Pack and are standing with me to stop him. Devin Keller, our leader, left the Pack five years ago and that’s when he approached me about really starting an offensive. He was the Masters right hand and knows the ins and outs of the Pack better than anyone. Everyone else has joined for their own reasons over the years. Some lost sisters, daughters, wives to Beta Orleans. Some disagree with his plans to Out us.”

    “Keller, if he was the Masters right hand why did he leave Orleans vulnerable?” Adam asked suspicious.

    “He didn’t so much as leave, as was kicked out. He had a mission given to him by the Master that he failed and they fought over it. He was banished. Colin too. He was one of the Masters guard and left when Devin did.”

    “Why did you never go to Master Orleans with this information yourself?” He asked.

    “You think I didn’t try?" She closed her eyes, remembering the scene perfectly. "He's a very stubborn man. He chose Beta Orleans himself a hundred years ago. To admit he made a mistake would undermine his authority. That’s how he sees it anyway.” She opened her eyes to see Adam's look of astonishment.

    “If he were a smart man, he would investigate any plot to overthrow his dynasty, even if it undermines his authority. Hell, he may not have much authority to save if Beta manages to succeed.” He got up when room service knocked on the door.

    “Thank you for understanding,” she said when the bell hop left. “I was practically alone until Devin came along. But it’s all coming to a head now. With the attacks in Columbus and what I learned today, I think he’s going to move soon.” Adam looked up from setting the plates down on the table in front of her.

    “What happened this week?” He asked. She grabbed the plate and sat back, trying to gauge how much she should tell him.

    “Last Friday morning I received an anonymous email, in the account I only give to the women we manage to save. It didn’t say anything other than to meet today at the Florentine Cafe at four o’clock. The meeting Friday night didn’t go well. Colin didn’t want me to go but Devin agreed it was worth finding out what the meeting was about. I said that back up wasn’t necessary; I didn’t want to scare off whoever arranged the meeting. Colin threw a fit. The Florentine is around the corner from the Pack headquarters. He said it reeked of a trap, but Devin said if Beta Orleans knew enough to send me an email, he knew enough to find me and bring me in himself. So I went ahead. When I got there a younger female Were was waiting. I knew her in passing from Boulder but had never officially spoken to her. She told me that she knew what I had been doing, about trying to stop Beta Orleans and that all my work was about to amount to nothing if we didn’t hurry.” She spoke between eating her steak and potatoes. When she finished he poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her.

    “And you think she’s trust worthy?” He asked.

    “If you would have asked me last week, I would have said no, but I think she’s telling the truth now, yes.” She sipped the wine. It was quite good.

    “Why trust her now?” He asked. She realized they were sitting on the couch facing each other, scooting closer as they talked.

    “You remember when I asked about your back up at my place?” He nodded. “I knew you were lying.” He looked like he didn’t believe her. “Really. That’s why I attacked when I did. My mother was Native Inuit. Her Pack was known for their…special abilities. I almost always know when someone is lying to me, and I can sometimes see things before they happen. It comes and goes though.” She kept sipping her wine. Her gift of seeing the future had allowed her to see that the meeting would be safe. She had only ever told her closest friends about her gifts. Colin, Devin, and some of the few friends she had left in her old life knew the truth. The others thought it was a joke.

    “What did Devin and Colin say about the information?” Adam asked.

    “I never got a chance to tell them. They never came into the pub because a bunch of Vampire assholes were surrounding the place.” She glared at him.  He didn’t even have the decency to look guilty. He just smiled that stupid grin that made her want to slap him. The one that said “Devil be damned what you think.”

    “So here we are. What are we going to do now?” He looked around the room as if it would offer up some sort of answer.

    “Don’t you want to call someone and tell them what’s going on? Like the King or somebody?” She asked. He glanced down at his watch.

    “Anybody I try to contact at this time of night is going to be indisposed
.
Trust me.” He laughed. “I want to hear more about you. You said your mother was Inuit. What about your father?”

    “My father wasn’t around a lot.” She wasn’t going there. “What about you? I don’t know anything about you other than your name and profession.” And that he was hotter than a wolf in a blanket.

    “It seems lately that’s all there is to know.” He said quietly, sparking her interest. Now she really did want to know more about him, not just as a diversion tactic.

    “Tell me about your family. You said you had a brother?” She tried.

    “Yes. Stellan. He’s my twin.” He smiled. She smiled too, getting the joke about Stellan being the better looking brother. “We’re from England originally, obviously. Our Sire was a woman named Emma; she was intended as Stellans wife. She turned us both when they were married. We lived together for many years, but I went my separate way after awhile. They have since separated as well. Now Stellan is the face of the Kings human business dealings.” He told her. She could imagine turning both men in that woman’s place. Just knowing there was another Adam out in the world was blowing her mind.

    “And now you run the Investigations. My, my. You’ve certainly made your way up in the world.” She teased.

    “I will have you know, I was the son of a Duke in my human life.” His accent thickened and he sat straighter on the couch, nose in the air. She gave a snort at his attempt at being pompous. He smiled.

    “How old are you?” She asked. He glared.

    “How old are you?” He shot back. She glared back. Turn about was fair play though.

    “I turned eighty-two in March. You?” She asked, daring him to answer.

    “I’m not one hundred percent sure but I believe I’ll be reaching eight hundred soon. My mother had fourteen children so eventually they stopped writing down when we were born. I was born at the end of winter I remember that much. Maybe our birthdays are the same?” He said lightly. Her jaw had dropped and she was sure she was making an ass of herself but couldn’t quite get her mouth closed. Werewolves were long lived but damn. He didn’t look a day over twenty-eight. Vamps were lucky bastards. He reached over and shut her mouth for her.

    “What did you do before you ran away from the Pack?” He asked, throwing her off. She couldn’t tell him the truth, so she told him her dream. The one that would never have been possible and surly wasn’t possible now.

    “I was a midwife,”  she said softly. He misinterpreted her sadness for the loss of her old life, and placed his hand on hers in comfort. She was mourning the life she had never had.