“Anything else I should know?” I asked.
“Try not to get shot in the gut again.” She gave me a disapproving look. “If the bullet hits the implant in your uterus, you may not realize it and you’ll be in trouble.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it. It hadn’t even occurred to me that could have caused a problem.
“How did you know I got shot? Is there scar tissue or something?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But I heard about.”
“Wonderful,” I muttered under my breath.
Did the supernatural world gossip about everything that happened to me? I was beginning to think there was a daily news website somewhere broadcasting every significant event in my life.
“You can get dressed now.”
I slid off the table and grabbed my pile of clothes I’d left on a chair. The doctor started to leave the room, but then I remembered I wanted to ask her something.
“Wait,” I called out before the door shut.
She ducked her head back in. “Yes?”
“What’s the consensus about Nik and his ruling Fairbanks?”
Her eyes shuttered. “I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask.”
Actually, she was the best person because she was in a position of trust. Her patients would feel comfortable talking to her.
“If you’re worried I’ll tell Nik, don’t be,” I reassured her. “I just want to know where most people stand.”
She took a step back into the room and shut the door. “You didn’t hear this from me, but it isn’t just the werewolves who have lost faith in him. Some of the other races are ready for a leadership change as well. Things have been…difficult in recent years. Most people just want peace and security.”
I nodded. “That’s all I wanted to know. Thanks, Paula.”
“No matter how this goes,” she squeezed my arm, “take care of yourself. I hope to continue being your doctor until you can safely have children and then I want to be the one to deliver them.”
It was funny she brought the subject up, considering the fact that if Ariel’s plan worked then that would become a possibility. Not that I was in any rush. I wanted at least a century or two to get to know Lucas. God knew it would take that long to get the man to open up.
Chapter Twenty-one
Kerbasi and I pulled up to the house. None of the lights were on. Cori must have gone to bed already and the teens were gone. It left me with a pit in my stomach, thinking about how I’d had to send Emily away. What kind of parental figure was I when I couldn’t keep her safe?
She’d called in the morning to reassure me she was fine and her teachers were emailing her homework assignments as I’d requested. Lucas had taken her and Hunter to his house in Juneau. Fallon had sent two of his most trusted guards there to watch over them, though he didn’t think they’d need the protection. I still felt like I’d failed her in some way by not being able to keep her in Fairbanks. She shouldn’t have had to leave.
Kerbasi didn’t say a word as he headed for his shack behind the house. He looked tired and there were paw prints on his the back of his green shirt. I made a mental note to ask Paula to let me see the latest video footage of him the next time I visited.
Once the guardian was out of sight, I headed for the woods next to the house. I hadn’t gone more than fifty feet before Josslyn stepped out from behind a tree. The vampire had on a long, black sheath dress—because that was the thing to wear when lurking about in the woods at night.
“What do you want?” I asked.
She hadn’t been waiting this close to my home without a reason. Josslyn knew I would have picked her up on my radar.
“To talk about Nik.”
I leaned a shoulder against the tree. “Why?”
“We must convince him to hand over leadership to Derrick and leave Fairbanks.”
She wanted him to leave? Give up his position here? I’d assumed that was part of the allure of why she’d wanted to return to him.
“He’s not going to give it up easily,” I said.
“No.” She smoothed her dress. “But if he doesn’t I fear things will only get worse for him.”
I straightened. “What do you mean?”
She shifted from foot to foot. It was only then that I noticed she didn’t have any shoes on. Her toes, painted with pink polish, peeked out from underneath the dress. I supposed even Josslyn had to draw the line at high heels in the woods.
“You wonder about where I was for the last few centuries.” She looked away. “Everyone does.”
That was a swift change of topic. “What does it have to do with Nik?”
“More than you’d think.”
She looked fragile standing there. Her skin was pale and luminescent and her hair ran past her shoulders, sweeping down her back. Who had she been when she was human?
Josslyn touched the bark of the tree nearest to her, tracing its edges. “I heard you found the sensor compound in Idaho.”
“I did.”
“There are others like it in Europe, but even larger,” she spoke in a bitter tone. “The population of your race has grown more than many people think.”
“Okay.” I found that interesting, but still didn’t see what it had to do with anything.
She looked up, tears swimming in her eyes. “They held me in one of those compounds—chained in a basement—for three centuries before I got away. My blood was used so they could heal their injuries and stave off death from illness. They never gave me human blood in return. Only sensor blood. I was forced to lie helpless year after year, decade after decade, as they used me in whatever way they wished.”
The air caught in my throat. That was why she was so weak despite her age. I’d never heard of a vampire feeding on sensor blood for that long, but everyone knew it was a bad idea to try it. And the way she was treated—it was a miracle she wasn’t more withdrawn from the world.
“I’m sorry.” I took a step toward her, but stopped when she backed away.
“It was not your doing.”
“How did you get free?”
She wiped at her cheeks. “A powerful man rescued me. He’d come to learn of my captivity and convinced the sensors to let me go.”
“Who?”
She shook her head. “I cannot say. It is why I do not speak of the topic at all with Nik. He would not understand that this is the one thing I must keep to myself. I owe my rescuer that much.”
“Do you care for him?” It wouldn’t be that surprising under the circumstances.
“No, not in the way you think. I feel…obligated toward him.”
Her face was closed off now. Whatever was going on, she didn’t want to talk about it.
“I’m still not understanding what all this has to do with Nik,” I said, choosing to let the topic of her rescuer go for now.
She lifted her chin. “For two years after I was freed I stayed in London, rarely going out. It took a while before I could bring myself to be around anyone other than my benefactor and his people. But during that time I heard things—things that could be dangerous to Nik.”
Josslyn wrung her hands. “You must understand Nik was my lover before I was taken. During the time I was held in captivity the only thing that got me through it was thinking of him and hoping we’d be together again. After I got away and discovered he was in danger, I had to warn him.”
“Why? What is it about Nik that makes everyone target him?” I’d only heard minor excuses so far. Sure, he was stubborn and often rigid in his principles, but that wasn’t enough to make people want to kill him for it.
“Surely you’ve figured it out?” She looked at me incredulously. “I’d thought it would have been rather obvious.”
“Just tell me,” I said through gritted teeth.
She stared at me for a minute before answering. “He’s an ardent supporter of sensors. It’s in his blood. He might not have agreed with how they handled things during the war, but he’s never given up believing in their right to control our population. There are many who hate him for that.”
Nik came from a long line of sensors, though he didn’t inherit the ability himself. He’d made it clear to me more than once that my “gifts” came with a sacred duty to protect humans from supernaturals. We’d butted heads often about how far those duties went.
“Okay, fine. They don’t like him for supporting sensors, but what about Zoe? She went so far as to support their leader during the war. Why isn’t she on their shit list?” That’s what got me. No matter what she did she was never held accountable by angels or supernaturals. At least not to any severe degree.
“No one could kill Henrik Neilson without suffering great punishment—as Lucas discovered.” She gave me a pointed look. “Zoe was working to get close to Henrik so she could put a stop to his madness.”
I laughed. “She got close to him, alright. So close she got pregnant by him before he died.”
Josslyn froze. “She told you that?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Well…” She cast her gaze about. “She never was very conventional in her ways. I suppose with time that would have calmed the man’s zeal for killing supernaturals.”
And once again people made excuses for Zoe. It was downright baffling.
“Yet Nik gets all the animosity simply for being supportive of sensors. Why did you return to him after everything you went through at their hands?” One would think she’d have stayed far away from him with his beliefs.
Her gaze locked with mine. “Why are you with a man who has killed countless members of your race and continues to show nothing but hateful disregard for them?”
Touché.
“Hey, he’s getting better.” Sort of.
“And I have hope that I can save Nik before it’s too late.”
I crossed my arms. “So what do you want from me?”
“To help convince him to give up Fairbanks or at least cede some of his power to Derrick. It is the only way his enemies will consider letting him live. They have to see he won’t be a problem for them anymore.”
“How can you be sure?” She might want to save Nik, but there was more to this than she was telling me. “And why do they need him contained?”
“I cannot tell you that.” Josslyn gave me an apologetic look.
“Is Derrick a part of this?” Was she playing both sides?
“Not that I know of.” She shook her head. “I believe they simply want him in power because he can be more easily influenced than Nik.”
“Well, that’s a comfort.” Was everyone being manipulated by a higher power these days?
She gave me a grave look. “You must let Derrick see Zoe, as well. This insistence you have on keeping them apart is hurting Nik more than anything else. You have to see that.”
“No. Forget it.”
Josslyn gave me an exasperated look. “Why ever not? It could be enough for the men to resolve their differences and come to some sort of understanding.”
“Maybe because too many people seem to want it and that is setting off little alarm bells in my head. I don’t know who is influencing you or Derrick or anyone else, but whatever this is about…” I paused. “I’m not buying into it and I won’t help your cause.”
She lifted a hand toward me. “Please, Melena. If you care for Nik at all you will try.”
“Tell you what. Give me the name of the man who rescued you—along with the names of anyone else involved—and I’ll consider helping you.” That seemed fair, considering what she was asking me to do.
She dropped her hand. “I can’t. Even telling you as much as I have could get me killed.”
Which made her all the more suspect.
“Are the people influencing Derrick also influencing you?” Because if that was the case, I needed to tell Nik he had a spy in his midst right away. The danger to Josslyn be damned.
“No. I swear it.” She gave me a desperate look. “I haven’t spoken to any of the people involved since I met Nik at the fae city. The only reason I came here was to help him.”
“How do I know you haven’t been compelled so I can’t tell if you’re lying?” I’d run into that problem before. As long as the person believed what they said, it would register to me as the truth.
Josslyn almost smiled. “After three centuries of drinking sensor blood, no one can compel me—though I’ve kept that secret to myself until now. It is the one good thing that came from my experience.”
I hadn’t considered that, but it was likely true. If three doses of nephilim blood could make me immortal there was no telling what prolonged exposure to sensor blood had done to Josslyn.
“Fine.” I worked through the many thoughts buzzing around in my head. “I believe you, but I’m not letting Derrick see Zoe. The most I can promise is that I’ll do my best to protect Nik.”
She sighed. “I’m afraid it won’t be enough.”
“It will have to be.”
Chapter Twenty-two
“Can you hand me that cleaning rod when you’re done?” Cori asked, not looking up from the barrel of the H&K .45 she had in her hands.
It was her favorite gun and she knew how to handle it well.