“It sounds like you have it all planned out.”
He frowned. “Lucia has been with me in the hospital. You didn’t visit.”
“I didn’t want to get in the way.” I avoided his eyes. “And, you know, research. I was the only one who could identify the thing.”
He cleared his throat. “I think I understand. Ava, there’s no need for any tension between us.”
He was talking about the kiss.
I forced out a laugh. “Of course not! I’m just stressed about this wendigo. When do you think you’ll be able to hunt it again?”
“As soon as you’re ready,” he said, looking surprised. “That’s why I’m here.”
“You want me to come with you?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t think Icarus is fond of me anymore.” I hesitated, afraid to say too much.
“Nonsense. His bite wasn’t out of aggression. It was a warning. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
I shook my head. “No, but maybe I would be better off teaming up with one of Shay’s recruits.”
He looked puzzled. “They’re already teamed up. You and I going with Icarus is the best solution, but Shay’s organising his recruits as we speak in case we come up with something.”
“You really get things moving,” I joked.
He hesitated. “I heard that your quick actions likely saved my life,” he said. “I know I lost a lot of blood. So thank you for not panicking.”
“Oh, I definitely panicked. And it was Icarus who helped hold the shirt over your wound while I ran to get the others. It wasn’t a big deal. And it was kind of my fault you got hurt in the first place.”
When he frowned, I shook my head. “I’m going to run next door and tell the others that it’s a wendigo. Feel free to stay here and give Shay a call to update the recruits.”
“We’ll need to take this book to the Senate to convince them to help me set up this search,” he said.
“I’ll be right back.” I left him, feeling like the biggest liar on the planet. I should have told him. Even if he didn’t remember, it was only right for him to have all of the information.
Esther, Val, Peter, and Carl were sitting at Anka’s table with Emmett and Dita when I arrived. Anka got up to prepare me a plate of food, but I refused.
“I’m not staying,” I said. “I just came to tell you I found the creature. It’s a wendigo.”
Anka dropped the ladle. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve heard of those. They’re evil, disgusting creatures. I thought they were all hunted down and killed.”
“Apparently not,” I said wryly. “I have to go with Phoenix to the Senate to convince them to organise a proper search for this thing before it kills anyone else.”
“That bad?” Carl asked.
“It used to be human until, well, I’ll let Anka tell you about it. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but you’re all off the hook with research.”
“Are you okay?” Esther asked.
“Just hoping we don’t waste too much time on the Senate,” I said. “See you all later.”
Drained, I left the room, but Peter followed.
“Hey,” he said, stopping me at the front door. “Do you want me to come with you?”
I shook my head. “I’ll only be there as a witness. Shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Those people tried to lock you in a cell. You probably don’t want to see them again anytime soon.”
“It has to be done.” I sighed. “Thanks anyway.”
“You going to start looking me in the eye now?”
I stared at my feet and heaved a sigh. Between Peter and Phoenix, I felt as though I were being dragged all over the place.
“Listen,” he said, lowering his voice. “I’m sorry if kissing you messed up your head, but I—”
I met his eyes. “I’m just too tired for serious, Peter, and you can’t give me casual.”
“Try me.” But his gaze was already too intense.
“Emmett changes everything we do,” I said. “Our history makes everything between us serious. I’m not prepared to jump into that again.”
“Well, maybe I’m not interested in waiting around anymore.”
“Fine.” I held up my hands. “You’ve just proved my point. We can’t even have a casual conversation together.”
“Ava…”
“I’ll see you around.” I left him there, feeling uncomfortable. In my late twenties, I should have been capable of figuring out what I wanted, but my emotional growth had been so stunted for so long that I was still mentally in my teenage years. I had one hundred years of servitude ahead of me.
Do I really need something else to tie me down?
Back in my house, Phoenix was preparing to leave. “I’ve found some references in a couple more books, but this one is the most informative. Well done on finding this, Ava.”
Phoenix never gave his praise so freely. I gave him a suspicious look, wondering if he would have praised me had I not forced him to feed on my blood.
“The Senate have agreed to meet us to hear how our investigation is going,” he said, pulling on his jacket. “I didn’t tell them about the wendigo.”
“Why?”
He grinned. “I want to see their faces.”
I couldn’t help smiling back. “Me, too, actually.”
“What if the rest of the Senate don’t believe you about the wendigo?” I asked as we travelled to the meeting place in his official Senate car.
“I’ll just have to make them.”
That was good enough for me. If anyone could manipulate the Senate with words, it was one of their own.
“The newspapers have been going on about the lack of a funeral for Mac. Of course, nobody cares about Greg,” I said. “Even though he was a better man.”
He shot me a questioning look. “Greg tried to kill you.”
“He couldn’t help himself,” I explained. “The shifters aren’t used to having no alpha.”
“But Esther isn’t trying to kill people, is she?”
“Of course not. Esther’s never been like the other shifters.”
He fell silent for a moment before saying, “There was a funeral. It was quiet and rushed and better than he deserved. What he did to those shifter women was unforgiveable, no matter how his accomplices try to
sugarcoat
it.”
“What happens to the shifters who helped him?” I asked.
“They will be imprisoned until their new alpha arrives and decides what to do with them.”
“And if he’s like Mac?”
“Then he won’t get the option to decide.”
“What about the women?”
“Many of them are in the clinic. Some are… too feral to be taken care of in a normal hospital.”
I felt apprehensive. “Where are they being taken care of?”
“Somewhere safer,” he said. “The doctors caring for them are hopeful that the next alpha will be capable of bringing them to their senses before the babies are born.”
I shivered. “The whole situation is sick.”
“It’s opened the channels to something we didn’t know how to address,” he said. “The shifters may be out of control, but some have come to us with names. We’re weeding out the monsters in the pack, and we will have justice.”
The coldness in his tone chilled me. What kind of justice would he have wrought on me when he found out what I had done to him? The average person didn’t want to wake up to a mouthful of blood. Nobody but a vampire wanted a mouthful of
tainted
blood.
When we arrived at the courtroom, a handful of protesters were waiting outside, holding up signs telling us we should exterminate the werewolves and the shifters before the end of days befell us.
Terry was guarding the door. He nodded at us. “Go right on in.”
“Demon.” An old woman spat at me. “You’re as bad as those murderous animals.”
I recoiled from her hatred. I had ended the lives of many creatures in the war. Perhaps I really was the same as every bloodthirsty being I professed to hate. Except I didn’t hunt down the innocent, and I certainly didn’t wake up every day wanting to hurt anyone.
So why let this woman make me feel less than anyone else?
I’d had enough of that as a child. Something inside of me cracked.
What happened to me being strong?
“That’s enough out of you,” Terry said. “Don’t have me move you on again.”
But I held the woman’s gaze as her companions cheered. “How are you any better? Spreading your hate and bitterness into the world because an ego the size of a mountain is telling you you’re always right. At least I’ve saved lives. At least I’ve
helped
people. What have you ever done?” I turned my back on the group and marched into the courtroom.
“Media training would help you ignore those types,” Phoenix said as he followed me.
“Maybe ignoring them lets them get away with being massive pricks,” I snapped.
“Or perhaps all they want is attention, someone to listen to their worries.”
I gritted my teeth and took a seat at the front of the room. For a change, the Senate was already waiting, even Daimhín. She must have hurried to make it so soon after dark. A shiver ran down my back when the doors opened one last time. I didn’t have to look to know that Regis was behind me.
Who the hell keeps calling this guy?
Phoenix obviously agreed. He glared at the Senate. “This is a closed meeting.”
“The paragons have a right to attend,” Layla said apologetically.
“Unless there’s something you’d prefer to keep secret,” Regis said in a smug tone.
“On the contrary,” Phoenix said, his demeanour completely shifting. “I have good news.”
Daimhín let a little sound escape that might have been relief. “What have you found?”
“You all know we were attacked by an unidentified being,” Phoenix began.
“You were in hospital, I believe,” Regis called out. “You must be very confused. Besides,” he continued, “just because a werewolf attacked a creature who fought back in its escape doesn’t mean that creature is responsible for any of the murders.”
I turned in my seat to give him a disgusted look. “Are you kidding me?”
Regis gestured toward me. “I thought this was a closed meeting. Why is the defected nephal always here?”
“Ava may be tainted, but she’s my witness,” Phoenix said. “May I continue, or are you planning on interrupting every sentence? This could go on all night.”
“Go on,” Regis said, waving his hand as though he were the bloody queen.
“He is right,” James said. “Just because you got in the way of a fight between a werewolf and something else doesn’t make the werewolves innocent.”
Phoenix flexed his fingers. “I’ll start at the beginning then. We have searched all of the known crime scenes and come to some conclusions based on what we discovered. We found bones with strong bite marks on the farm with the missing cattle, and those marks do not resemble those made by werewolves. In that same location, we also found a patch of hair and skin that does not belong to a werewolf.”
“It could belong to a cow,” Daimhín said. “What of it?”
“The hair was a good match to that of the creature who almost killed me.”
“That puts the creature at the farm,” Callista said. “Killing cows isn’t quite the same crime as killing humans.”
“Both murders happened in closed, tight locations that a werewolf would never attack in. And both bodies were dragged to a more-open space afterward.” Phoenix beckoned me forward. “My testimony of the attack may be easily dismissed, but Ava Delaney was there, too. She saw everything, and she delved into the belongings of an ancient hag to put a face to the name. Show them the book.”
I handed the book to Willow, who grimaced. “It’s a wendigo,” I explained. “Dangerous and violent, it can’t stop killing because it never feels satisfied. If it doesn’t have a master, then it’s all the more dangerous.” I watched the expressions of the Senate turn to horror and revulsion as they passed the book along. “They’re supposed to have been exterminated, but this is what attacked us, and this is a better candidate for the deaths than any werewolf I’ve ever seen. No matter what you think of the werewolves, we need to organise a search for this wendigo before anything worse happens.”
I looked back to see the paragon’s reaction, but Regis was already gone.
Daimhín pushed aside the book in disgust. “I don’t need to see it. I already know what a wendigo is. I just never imagined it possible for one to turn up here.” She leaned forward. “We must eliminate this threat as soon as possible.”
“How are we going to find one creature in an entire country?” James asked.
“Shay can organise a search,” Phoenix said.
“But the logistics of it will—”
“We don’t have a choice,” Daimhín said briskly. “My vampires will help.”
“I don’t think that’s a great idea,” I said.
She glared at me. “Are my people not good enough to help now?”
“It might get messy with the werewolves there.”
“The vampires could guard the surrounding areas, make sure that innocents don’t wander onto the wrong path,” Callista offered.
Daimhín relaxed in her seat, appeased.
“What if the creature flees?” Willow asked.