Rogue Belador: Belador book 7 (10 page)

Score.
Evalle would be headed home empty-handed soon. “Great. You know who the owner is.”

“Yes, it’s Mother Mattie. She leads a small, but powerful, coven of our oldest witches
and
she sits on the council, but ...” Rowan’s voice drifted off. “I don’t see how it could be Oskar.”

Evalle was missing something.

Shouldn’t Rowan be happy to get her friend’s familiar back? Speaking of which ... Evalle cast a glance at Storm’s SUV, where she found Oskar awake. He stood with his front paws on the window, watching them. His gaze went from Rowan to Evalle as if intent on keeping up with the conversation and waiting for a verdict.

That wasn’t creepy. Not a bit.

Hooking her thumb in the truck’s direction, Evalle asked, “So that’s Oskar?”

Rowan took one look and said, “Yes.” She didn’t sound very happy to confirm the familiar’s identity. “He’s been with Mattie for over forty years.”

“I didn’t think dogs lived that long.”

“It’s
not
a dog, Evalle, and he’s very dangerous. In fact, no one should have been able to put their hands on him. That couldn’t happen unless …” Rowan lifted her fingers to her lips, looking worried. “Unless Mother Mattie was out of the picture.

“You mean she’s ... dead?”

“No, not dead... wait a minute.” She pulled a cell phone out of her robe pocket and ordered the phone, “Call Mother Mattie.”

She put the call on speaker. It rang and rang, but not loud enough to wake a baby inside the house. The longer Rowan waited, the more tension Evalle picked up.

Rowan stared with disappointment at the phone and terminated the call. “This is bad.”

When Rowan said something was bad, Evalle took note. Pushing away from where she’d been propped against the short wall, Evalle asked, “You think something has happened to Mother Mattie, too?”

“I’m sure of it. She keeps her phone handy, and Oskar even closer. I told you we have missing witches. If the Medb are behind this, and that would be the first place I’d look, VIPER is playing with fire by ignoring us.” Rowan glanced up. “Did you find
any
evidence of the Medb on that ... what was it?”

“A ten-foot-tall creature that held a dark, shadowy glamour until we fought it, and no, there was no sign of Noirre or scent of Medb. If they did create it, the Medb managed to hide their singed lime odor and—”

Energy flooded the air.

Evalle snapped to attention, turning toward the source in the center of the yard.

Rowan stepped down to stand beside her.

Power whipped around Evalle, then a massive chestnut-colored horse appeared ... with a man’s upper body in place of the horse’s head and neck.

A centaur.

Not just any centaur. Deek D’Alimonte.

This night would not end.

Or it
would
end, but not well.

Chapter 9

Evalle tried to swallow against the dread clogging her throat. Call her a pessimist, but there could be nothing positive about the unexpected appearance of a bazillion-year-old centaur. She really had no idea of his exact age, but he was ancient. She said, “Hi, Deek.”

Menace poured off him. He cut a scathing look her way, acknowledging her with one acidic word. “Alterant.”

The horse part of Deek’s body had to go at least eighteen hands at the withers. From there, the neck of the horse blended into the torso of a man built for fighting Spartan warriors.

Like really
capable
of battling those impossible-to-kill warriors.

In his centaur form, Deek towered over Evalle, and she was tall for a woman. He struck a mighty pose. The guy was oblivious to being in the middle of suburbia, and seemed unconcerned that one of Rowan’s Midtown neighbors might notice him.

Evalle had also seen Deek in his human form, and she’d call him hot if not for the insane ego that came with the whole package. So, yes, he
could
shift.

He chose to be in this form.

Rowan demanded, “What do you mean by coming to my home and in that form,
centaur
?”

Did these two know each other?

Deek amped up the death threat in his glare. “This is not a social call,
witch
.”

Yep, that sounded as if they were familiar.

If any more tension built between Deek and Rowan, the ground would split open and spit fire next. That’d be funny if it wasn’t an exaggeration.

Two houses down from Rowan’s, an engine revved to life and the car began backing out of the driveway.

Evalle interrupted the glare fest. “Humans are going to see, uh, you, Deek.”

“Don’t insult me by suggesting that I can’t shield myself from a human, Alterant. They see me only if I choose so.”

“Don’t
you
insult a guest at my house, centaur,” Rowan warned.

Clearly, names were not allowed at this impromptu meeting.

The driver of the car passed by and never noticed the strange half-man, half-horse, or Rowan dressed in fluffy lingerie.

Rowan went back on offense. “What are you doing here?”

Crossing his arms, Deek said, “Searching for Mattie’s familiar.” His gaze swiped over to Storm’s truck, making it clear he’d found said familiar. “What’s it doing here, and where is Mattie?”

Evalle decided to let Rowan take the lead, since these two knew each other. No one wanted to get caught between an angry witch and a scary centaur.

Rowan watched him as she would a grizzly about to attack, but her voice changed with a thread of suspicion. “Why are
you
asking about Mattie?”

Deek took a menacing step forward. “I answer to no one, witch.”

“You do when it comes to my council members.”

He leveled another laser look at her, wrinkling his nose. “You think I want to harm Mattie? If I wanted to harm
anyone
, you would not stop me.” His horse hooves shuffled about, while neither he nor Rowan gave an inch.

Evalle had not known Deek to be a patient person. Who would give in first?

Deek surprised her when he finally conceded, “Mattie is someone who matters to my niece. Now, where is she?”

This could escalate quickly if someone didn’t help diffuse it.
Guess that’s my job.
Evalle offered, “Deek, Mattie is missing, and I was on a VIPER team that found her familiar, Oskar, after we killed a creature that had him cornered in a building. I brought him here to try to find the owner. Rowan just called Mattie, but she got no answer. Just before you showed up, Rowan was saying she’s sure something has happened to Mattie. We don’t have any lead on where Mattie is, or if someone
has
her, or why they took her if she was kidnapped. That’s it in a nutshell.”

His attention shifted wholly to Evalle. He studied her for a moment, then a sly smile lifted his lips as if he’d come up with a clever idea. “
You
will find Mattie, Alterant, and return her home immediately.”

Evalle had planned to help Rowan in any way she could, but Deek was not making this
her
responsibility. “I don’t have authority to do that because VIPER is not allowing agents to give aid to the white witches.” She sensed Rowan tense at that, so Evalle quickly added, “But I absolutely intend to do everything I can to help find Mattie.”

“Do not confuse my words, Alterant,” Deek warned in a calm voice that would freeze water. “That was an order, not a request. You
will
find her, or have you forgotten our last conversation?”

“You have no say over Evalle,” Rowan argued, hands going to her hips, which was probably the safest place for those dangerous fingers.

But Evalle had no argument. Deek had her. She owed him an open-ended debt.

During a Medb attack, Tristan had accidentally teleported Evalle into Deek’s private office above the Iron Casket nightclub. Due to very old agreements, VIPER had no authority on Deek’s property. Visions of Deek threatening to lock her in his dungeon assaulted Evalle’s mind. She’d been at his mercy, and agreed to repay the debt in exchange for Deek allowing her to leave alive. The centaur could have held her forever, or until Tzader, Quinn, and Storm came after her, which would have ended with them dead.

Or he could have just as easily smoked her with a flick of his fingers.

Evalle put a hand on Rowan’s arm. “Actually, I do owe him a favor.”

“See, witch?” Deek said with a smug look. “’Tis as I said. The Alterant will find Mattie.”

Evalle wouldn’t go quietly into the night, though. “You’re far more powerful than I am, Deek. Why can’t you locate Mattie? You found Oskar.”

“Because I have you to find her.” He was pleased with his answer.

Rowan leveled a narrowed gaze on him. “What is Mattie to your niece?”

Fury stirred in Deek’s dark gaze, but it settled after a moment and he shrugged. “Mattie’s sister is my niece’s godmother.”

Rowan looked away, thinking, then snapped her fingers and turned to Deek. “Caron? The Fae princess?
She’s
Mattie’s sister?”

Sister? Fae princess?
Evalle recalled rumors of Deek
having once been involved with a Fae woman who broke off the relationship. Word was, Deek proceeded to create a nightclub so shiny and sparkly it would be irresistible to any Fae, and named it the Iron Casket.

Not exactly subtle about his hard feelings over the breakup, since iron was death to many Fae.

Deek’s hooves pawed at the lawn. “Caron and Mattie are
half
sisters.”

“What’s up with Caron? Why can’t a Fae find her own
half
sister?”

“Caron is none of your concern,” he grumbled back.

“You don’t want to tell Caron that Mattie is missing,” Rowan said, sounding as if she’d figured out something. “Why?”

Evalle wished she could send Rowan a telepathic shout to stop aggravating Deek, but Rowan didn’t share telepathy with Evalle.

Glaring clearly had no effect on the witch, either. She continued jabbing that sore spot of Deek’s. “You listen to me, centaur. Don’t come around here making demands when you’re not willing to offer any substantial aid
or
explain why an all-powerful Fae can’t help.”

Deek released a fierce growl that could send a herd of lions running.

He snarled, “If you must know, they aren’t speaking. Mattie sided with me when Caron and I separated.”

“Oh?” Rowan appeared genuinely surprised.

“I last spoke with Mattie a month ago when she called to inform me that she’d invited Caron to visit this weekend. Mattie wanted to make peace with Caron before my niece’s birthday. I went by Mattie’s house to have her promise to contact me if Caron got out of hand. Caron and I are
not
communicating.”

That sounded final. Evalle had been on the receiving end of Deek’s anger, and could only imagine him and a Fae going at it.

Deek said, “When I found Mattie missing and came here, I expected to find Mattie’s familiar dead and have someone’s head to hand Caron when she arrived, but if that’s Oskar, Mattie must still be alive.”

Evalle thought on that. “Did you teleport into Mattie’s house, Deek?”

“No. What kind of barbaric men are you around, Alterant? No man just barges uninvited into the home of a woman like Mattie.”

Evalle rolled her eyes, noting he’d narrowed that to a ‘woman like Mattie,’ which probably meant all others might be fair game. “Then how do we know she’s not there and unconscious?”

“Because I teleported in to check on her.”

“Wait, what?” Evalle mumbled.

Deek’s eyes narrowed to thin slits and light glowed from them. “I went in
after
Mattie failed to answer my phone calls and my knock,” he said slowly, as if Evalle was a moron for not realizing the obvious reason he’d teleported in at that point.

Engaging in verbal battle with an ancient centaur would serve her as well as asking Sen to personally give her a mani-pedi. Evalle asked, “Did you notice anything out of place?”

“Other than Mattie and Oskar missing, no,” Deek replied. His hooves danced around then he settled down, tail swishing. “Be forewarned. While Caron may be angry with Mattie for siding against her, she will allow no one to harm her family. If Caron arrives to find Mattie missing, she will level this city and every other one in her path until her sister or her sister’s body is returned.”

The way Deek kept moving around gave Evalle the idea that he was going to disappear soon. If she had to settle a debt with Deek, finding Mattie would be ideal, since she planned to help Rowan anyhow.

If
she found Mattie.

But Evalle wanted a witness to the terms of her deal this time. “Deek, do you agree that if I find Mattie, my debt to you is paid in full?”

“Did you say
if
, Alterant?”

“I meant
when
,” Evalle corrected, even though she had no idea how she was going to make good on that.

Rowan crossed her arms and cocked her head with challenge. “That seems reasonable to me.”

Deek had been somewhat calm until Rowan spoke up. “Do not interfere.”

Evalle sent Rowan a please-don’t-help-me look and waited for Deek to agree or not.

It didn’t take long. He said, “If you return Mattie safe and sound before nine on Saturday morning, the debt will be considered settled.”

“Why by nine on Saturday?”

He smiled with victory. “’Tis the time that Caron is expected to arrive at Mattie’s house.”

Deek raised a hand and Evalle rushed to stop him before he vanished. She shouted, “Wait. What about Oskar?”

“Do not allow harm to come to him, or you will face me.” Deek flipped his hand and blinked out of view.

The door on Rowan’s house opened.

She and Rowan turned at the same time.

Trey walked out, running a hand back and forth through his disheveled hair. He had a thick, sleep-drenched voice. “What’s all the shouting about? What’s going on out here?”

Rowan waved him off. “Nothing that requires you to be up. I’ll check on the baby.  Get your sleep and I’ll fill you in over breakfast.”

Evalle said, “Sorry to wake you, Trey.”

He nodded. “Call me if you need me.”

She knew he meant telepathically and replied, “I will.”

Once Trey closed the door, Rowan told Evalle, “I would be glad for this additional attention on finding Mattie, but not the timeline. I’ve heard stories about Caron. It was ugly when she ended her relationship with Deek.”

“I can imagine.”

“Maybe not, since it was before you came to Atlanta. The city thought a tornado had hit. Word was that Caron selectively struck every property Deek owned, and he owns a lot. She managed to do it without any loss of life, but she doesn’t care one bit for VIPER, or shielding humans from the knowledge of nonhuman existence.”

“Got it.”

“I’m actually shocked to find out about Deek’s connection to Mattie. He never gets involved with anything that isn’t extremely important to him. Just coming to look for Oskar says a lot. Who knew that Deek had a soft spot for a little old white witch?”

“His niece is pretty important?”

Rowan said, “He’s raised her since her mother, Deek’s older sister, died.”

“How could the sister of a centaur die?” Evalle wanted to know.

“Deek is the only one who knows the whole story. I’ve only heard rumors. I hate to give him any credit, but he raised his teenage sister and his niece.” Shaking off a thought, Rowan said, “Mattie has never spoken about her family, Deek, or his niece that I know of, which was wise since that’s a volatile situation. Caron is just as dangerous as Deek indicated.”