Authors: Judy Teel
"So when Cooper, um, your
Aesei
said I was his to protect that kind of painted a giant bullseye on me?"
"When people are already scared, they don't like any kind of change. But I don't think anyone will try to kill you." He handed me the clean plates, so I picked up a towel from the counter and started drying. Most of my meals were out of a box or from a cheap restaurant, but I still remembered the routine from when I was little.
"It's just that...."
"Humans don't make good Were queens?" I speculated.
He passed me the mugs. "That's not it. You could never be
Nuo'lenir
anyway. The
Aesei
gave up his right to be Alpha a long time ago. Before I was even born. And as long as Alpha Ryker is alive, there's no law against the
Aesei
having a human companion."
Though that didn't seem to stop Deg and Rosalind from holding a grudge. "Good to know," I said, hanging my dish towel on the handle of the stove and trying to figure out how I was going to keep their vengeful attitudes from spilling over onto Noah.
"He can't come here without getting invited. And he has to void getting bonded."
My mouth went dry. I blinked at him. "Oh?" I finally choked out.
He glanced at me and grinned. "That's why Rosalind hates you."
"Um..." Had they guessed? Did I look different before they collared Cooper? Did I smell different?
"Because she can't be with him and you can."
Whew, they didn't know. And now one of my new buddy's hatred for me made more sense. "So," I said, giving him a bright smile of my own. "What do people do for fun around here and can we get there without going past the training ring?"
*
*
*
The atmosphere in the Bone Clan stronghold reminded me of human history when innocent lives were lost when fear got out of control. Salem witch trials, the French Revolution, World War II...seriously grim stuff. It'd be nice to think that our paranormal brothers and sisters didn't share our weaknesses, but I'd learned over the years that the four races had more in common than they wanted to believe.
As I followed Noah through the deserted halls of the second tier living quarters, it was hard to believe the place was teaming with families that lived full-time in the stronghold, plus those from surrounding farms that had chosen to come in when the mysterious disease started claiming more and more lives. Talk about a plan going wrong. We'd wanted to be here to avoid getting tangled up in vampire politics, instead we'd landed in the middle of a disaster that felt right out of the middle ages.
"Turn here," Noah said pointing to a narrow hallway that looked like it led to a utility closet, at best. I tramped down the hall after him, followed it around as it curved to the left and came to a dead stop.
A cavernous room opened up in front of me, at least thirty feet high and twice as long and deep. Bookshelves lined both side walls from top to bottom with tall ladders on wheels attached to each one. At the back of the room I was surprised to see actual windows, their design matching the arches of the doors on the breezeways outside. The view through them was a spectacular sweep of pristine forest and another ridge of mountains beyond.
Tables were scattered throughout in various nooks and alcoves, many of them cluttered with books, and something that looked like a small laboratory in the back left corner. My next surprise was the sight of Dr. Barrett bent over a microscope, a pair of round-framed glasses perched on the end of his nose. As we closed in on him, Noah called out a greeting and the doctor looked up.
Peering over the top of his glasses, he spotted us and his expression brightened as we finished off the last few yards and stopped in front of him. "Noah, my boy! And Miss Addison. Delightful. I'll just be a moment."
He turned and picked up a syringe, releasing a drop of what looked like blood into a petri dish. Going to the sink installed in the corner, he threw the syringe into a trashcan and then thoroughly washed his hands. "What brings you to my library?" he asked, sauntering back to us while drying them on a scrap of fabric that might have once been a towel.
"Apparently entertainment," I said.
Dr. Barrett's soft blue eyes twinkled. "Did you finish the stack of books I gave you already, my boy?" he asked Noah.
"All but two," my assigned escort said. "I was wondering if you had any more?"
Dr. Barrett directed him to a cluttered table in a corner and then turned back to me. "And what is of particular interest to you, Miss Addison?"
"For starters, how's Agent Miller? Then after that, how do you know my name? Because the only way that's possible is if you've been doing some digging." I never had been comfortable with people wanting to know too much about me. Now more than ever.
He laughed and tossed the towel onto the stack of papers covering one of three desks strewn around his lab. "Luke will be on his feet by tomorrow. A contusion, just as he said, and a small laceration that only needed a few stitches. We had a good time catching up." He moved past me and strolled to one of the walls of bookshelves. I followed him.
"Now I would like to help you." He picked a ladder and climbed up it as spry as a squirrel. Pushing off with one foot, he glided down a few columns of books and stopped himself expertly when he reached whatever it was he was looking for. He skimmed his finger along the spines of the row of books next to him and pulled out one volume and then another. Tucking a book under each arm, he grabbed the smooth supports of the ladder, braced his feet on them, and slid down like an old-fashioned firefighter.
Ambling back to me, he held out the two leather bound volumes. "These will help you find the answers you seek," he said with a smile.
I crossed my arms. "
Where History and Myth Collide
," I said, reading the title of the top book. "Catchy."
He held up the book under it.
"
Demons Between Dimensions
," I read. "Seriously?"
"I don't recommend reading this one before bedtime."
My intuition started buzzing, but I had no idea what it was saying.
"He's never wrong when he recommends a book," Noah said, coming up to stand beside me. His arms were loaded down with a stack of novels and what looked like a manga series.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
The boy shrugged. "It's always what you're looking for. Even if you don't know it yet."
I took the books from Dr. Barrett and shook my head. "You're not only a doctor, are you?"
"He's half practitioner," Noah piped up. "We're lucky to have him."
Dr. Barrett bowed. "You're very kind," he said in his smooth accent. "Well, I must get back to work." He started for his lab, and then stopped. "As soon as you find your answers, you will let me know, won't you?" he said over his shoulder before continuing on.
I stared at the books in my hand. Most practitioners had more intuition going for them than your average person. Some went beyond that into psychic abilities, though they were rare. Like Noah, most people were thrilled when they found one. As for me, psychics tended to make me squirm. What if Dr. Barrett realized what I was?
The sooner I got all of us out of here, the better, I decided, remembering something I wanted to check into.
"Where can I find Rosalind this time of day?" I asked Noah as we left the library.
"She usually reports to Alpha Ryker after breakfast."
"Then I think it's time I paid my respects."
He swallowed and his eyes went wide. "But—"
"With or without you, kid." Because there was a flaw in Rosalind's incarceration policy where Cooper was concerned and I was very interested in pointing it out to her. If I could do it in front of his brother, even better.
*
*
*
I found my way back to the breezeway without too much trouble, giving me hope that I might actually learn my way around this maze someday. Deg spotted me when I stepped out onto the stairs and sprinted toward me at Were speed. He blocked my progress halfway to the third tier and glowered down at me, his fists clenched.
"Sorry Deg, no time to embarrass you in front of your friends again." I sidestepped around him, but he crossed in front of me again, his face nearly purple with fury. Behind me, I could feel Noah's fear amping up and I hoped he had the sense to turn around and make a fast getaway before things went ugly.
"I'm going to kick your ass," Deg snarled.
I looked him up and down and then met his gaze. A smart-ass comment tried to push past my clenched teeth, but I held it in. There was a time and a place for everything and right now I was on a mission to help Cooper. "Yeah, okay," I finally said when he kept glaring at me.
He stared at me harder, his breath coming faster. I swear, he looked like he was about to explode.
"And now you win?" I guessed.
Stepping down, Deg brought himself level with me and leaned in. "If you're in the infirmary less than a week I'll be disappointed."
"Um...okay." What the hell was this mountainous loser talking about?
"The training ring. Five o'clock." And he stomped down the stairs.
Noah crept up to me, rubbing his hands on his jeans. "Oh man. Oh man," he whispered.
"Did I just get challenged?" I asked, watching Deg stalk across the grass and back to his friends.
Noah shoved his hands in his front pockets and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. "Uh, huh."
"What's happened to good manners? I ask you."
"You shouldn't have kept staring at him."
"I'm human."
Kind of
.
"If you'd dropped your gaze and groveled a little, his pride would've been saved and everything would be okay."
"Then I guess it's a fight, because I don't do groveling." I started up the stairs again. Noah hurried after me.
"Please don't confront the Captain too," he squeaked.
"It's my moral obligation to do exactly that. You see, I've become aware of a serious discrepancy in Rosalind's penal system of a prejudiced type nature."
"Huh?"
"She's not treating her prisoners fairly." I reached the top breezeway and stomped toward the extra elaborately-carved door at the end. Hauling it open, I marched into the cool interior of a long hall and continued toward the only door and the two guards posted outside of it. Looked like I'd come to the right place.
The guards' beady Were eyes landed on me and then slid off to lock onto a point beyond my shoulder. The irritation in their expressions compressed into anger. "He had nothing to do with this," I said, keeping myself between them and Noah. "Ryker sent for me."
Both guards raised their brows at the same time and then the closest one pulled in a breath. "She's lying," he said with satisfaction.
Damn Were noses. "Or I'm nervous because you're, you know, so intimidating to a wee human and all." They gave me matching scowls and I wondered if Weres could be cloned.
"Get her out of here," the second one said to Noah, and I felt his sweaty hand grab my arm. Before I could slap the kid away with the books Dr. Barrett had given me, the door opened and there was Rosalind.
I pulled my arm out of Noah's grip. "Discrimination!" I said, pointing at her.
Her light green eyes narrowed on me and then her gaze landed on the nearest guard. "What is she doing here?"
Ryker came up behind her. I remembered him as a robust, imposing guy with hair like Cooper's, the same dazzling good looks and eyes the color of polished gold. His pale, haggard face and gaze dulled with suffering shocked the hell out of me.
Rosalind stepped in front of him, blocking my view. "Noah!"
The kid grabbed both of my arms and tried to pull me away. I dug in. "How is Cooper more dangerous than a vampire?" I blurted out. "He's collared. At least let him stay in the apartment with Miller and me."
"The law—"
Ryker pushed around her and his gaze bore into mine. "My brother is here?"
"And he's wounded. As long as the PRC's on him—"
"The
Aesei
is here?" he bellowed, and I was surprised something didn't crack and fall down on us...like maybe the mountain. Rosalind and the guards cringed away from him and it felt like Noah was doing his best to be invisible against my back.
The feral wildness of a wolf flickered in and out of Ryker's eyes and sweat beaded up on his pale face. "Bring him to me," he bit out, then he shoved Rosalind out into the hall and slammed the door.
The bolts being thrown echoed like sledge hammers in the silence of the hall and we all stood there, stunned. Then Rosalind's hate-filled gaze locked onto me.
I braced myself for orders that I was to be shot at dawn, but instead her mouth compressed into a hard line and she stalked down the hall, slamming the door to the breezeway behind her. The guards glanced at each other and then at me, and their looks of sympathy scared me more than all the yelling had.
"Come on," Noah said in a low voice, and this time I didn't give him any grief when he took hold of my arm and pulled me back down the hall.
I'd wanted to force the issue of Cooper's situation with Rosalind and had counted on the element of surprise to work in my favor. Instead, I'd made a worse enemy of her and discovered something that I had a feeling nobody was supposed to know.
Ryker was sick.
*
*
*
Noah opted to stay in the hall when I got to the apartment, and I decided that two confrontations an hour were enough even for me, so I didn't push it. Inside, I found Miller on the sofa with his leg propped up on a footstool, reading a book. A tray of mostly eaten lunch was on the cushion next to him.