Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (28 page)

"They won't want me there, will they?"
Please say no.

"I don't think so. Nobody has indicated they want your side of the story. If they do, they'll come for you."

"That's guaranteed I'll sleep easy," I said with a snort.

He lifted an enquiring brow. "Why would you worry about such a thing? Omega wants you on board. Even with all the mess that's going on, they've been at Logan to bring you in."

"Have they now?" I asked, folding my arms. "Funny. Logan hasn't mentioned it once."

Saleem shook his head, his dark hair shifting against his shoulders. "Of course, he wouldn't. He doesn't want you to feel pressure. And there are other reasons."

"I know," was all I said.

We both knew Omega's respectability in my eyes was in serious question. There were also my current issues with the walker high council and my alpha status--although Omega wasn't interested in my alpha status.

When my phone beeped and I reached for it Saleem took the opportunity to escape.
Coward
.

The message was from Anjelo. I called him immediately.

"Where are you?"
 

The
damn it
in my tone must have been obvious. "I'm sorry," he said. "Look, some weird shit is happening. We need to talk."

"Where?"

"The usual place."

Which meant O'Hagan's. And also meant I needed to be more than worried if Anjelo was going all 'secret codeword' on me.

"See you there in half an hour," I said.
 

He responded with a grunt and ended the call leaving me staring at my phone.

My
ringing
phone.

This time it was Dad's face on the video calling app.
 

"Hey Dad," I said taking in the strained and tired look on his face. I hoped it was just a bad camera phone.

"I have your two little packages here." He smiled when he said it, which was a good sign.

Yeah, I'd take anything I could get right now.

"How are they doing?"
 

"They're both fine, and the reason for this call. You have one very strong-minded girl there."

I felt a glow of pride, as if Alina were my own child. Which was weird because I wasn't a maternal kind of person.

Alina's face appeared on the screen, with Alix showing in the top right-hand corner, peering at the screen with his forehead scrunched. He still looked angry, but markedly less so. It was more than I could have asked for.

Alina waved at me. "Hey, Kai."
 

"Hi, kiddo. How you doing?"

She nodded. "You daddy is nice. I like him."

I grinned. "I like him too."
 

She giggled.

"How's Alix?" I asked, pretending I couldn't see him.

Alina stabbed a thumb in his direction. "He's here. He's fine. He ate a lot."

"That's a good thing right?" I asked.

Alina's face fell. "Mom doesn't like it when Alix eats too much. She'll be mad." She hung her head.

"Alina, listen to me." The little goblin girl looked up at me. "I know for a fact that your Mom wouldn't mind at all. She will totally understand."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"How do you know?"

I paused considering a white lie. Decided against it. "Because I know how people feel when they pass on to the afterworld."

"How do you know that?" Her eyes widened, a little suspicious, like a child on the verge of assuming the adult was lying to her.

I sighed. "Because when I spoke to my sister after she passed into the Graylands, she told me that all a person's anger and negativity just fades away."

"Oh." The child paused, thinking. "You sister died too?"

"Yes, honey." I gave a twist of a smile. "Not too long ago."

"I'm so sorry." She said it softly, then looked up, probably at Dad sitting beside her. "I'm sorry," she said to him, her face uplifted, her eyes moist. It was the sweetest, most saddest thing I'd seen in a long, long time.

More surprising was Dad's reaction. He bent and kissed the little girl on her forehead. "I'm sorry too, Alina. Maybe we can help each other through this terrible time?"

The girl smiled and in the background, Alix watched, anger gone, eyes wide at the revelation that they shared a deep loss with their new guardian.

It was a good start. We ended the call with promises from me that I'd come by and check up on them.

Then I headed out to see Anjelo.

As I hurried down the stairs, my panther senses picked up odd sounds from the floor below. My panther wasn't always switched on, but she did remain in the background, always accessible if something strange happened.

The surreptitious scrape of a heel drew me up short. From where I stood I had a good view over the railing and along the Birdcage to the floor below. They edged around the elevator well, descending all the way to the basement level. From my position I caught shadows where there shouldn't be any. Someone was creeping up the stairs.

Nobody I knew would creep up my stairs that way. Nobody I trusted at any rate. I stilled, considering what I should do next.
 

I drew on my panther senses and a whiff of the air confirmed three men, the smell of metal said they were armed.

I didn't stand a chance.

That meant the roof, because I'd prefer to not have my apartment ripped apart. This guy looked like he was here to make life difficult for me.

I tip-toed back up the stairs, past my door to my floor, and up the next flight. At the top of the landing, a single door led to the rooftop. Outside would be concrete floors dotted with air-conditioning vents and fans. A dilapidated old birdcoop roosted in the center of the rooftop, the result of a long dead resident's hobby.

Decades ago, when the droughts dried up what used to be arable land, many residents had found the pigeons and other birdlife, a good source of protein.
 

Life hadn't changed that drastically over the last few decades--we just had fewer birds, less farming, less city maintenance.

And fewer jobs.

Let's not forget
fewer
jobs
.

I kept my breathing low as I slowly pushed open the door to the roof, then blinked at the bright light.

And at the man standing there, waiting for me.

Agent Blake.

T
HE
MEN
AT
THE
BOTTOM
of the stairs had stopped their journey upwards. They'd been herding me upstairs. And here I thought using the rooftop was the safe choice.

I'd run from them because even I wasn't stupid enough to take on three armed men.

But, I'd just played straight into Blake's hands.

I let the door swing shut and backed away, my heels skidding on the gravel.
 

I skirted metal duct, keeping an eye on Blake when he swung his weapon at me. As I threw myself onto the floor I caught sight of the sun reflecting on the neon blue flecks marking the barrel. A previous bullet had sprayed poison on exit.

"I've been looking for you, Walker."

Lame.

"You've found me. Now what?" I asked coldly, frustrated that I couldn't see him. His henchmen would be on their way soon, too.

"Now, I kill you."

"You're very confident."

"Easy to be confident when you know you'll win the fight."

More lame.

"How about you fight and let's see what happens?" I suggested, keeping a tight grip on my bag. I couldn't reach inside for my own weapon so the bag itself would have to do.

He pulled the trigger and I ducked. The bullet whizzed past my ear and slammed into the door behind me.

I hit the ground. Rolled over before coming to a stop behind an air vent. Blake circled, sending more bullets my way.
 

He rounded the vent, plugging a dozen bullets into the ground and into the vent. Bullets hit, concrete chips flew at me, burning a path down to my chin. I ignored the sting, digging into my bag for a gun.

I swiped at my cheek and ducked around the vent, drawing my pistol free and sending a few shots in his direction.

He just followed, spraying me with more bullets.

I waited until I heard him release and reload, and sprang forward, emptying my weapon, aiming at his head.

Blake moved faster, his next bullet slamming into the top of my gun, sending it flying from my fingers.

Shit!

I ducked low, letting my claws flow to the tips of my fingernails, sharp and deadly, forced to use what Ailuros had given.

Ready, I waited until he had to reload again, then ran full tilt at him. I slammed into his chest, putting the full force of my panther into the leap. He tripped over, his feet slipping on the ground, and hit the concrete full force.

Only, he was ready for me, and moved straight into a roll, tipping the balance between us and wedging me between his knees on the ground. With his hand to my neck.

A walker's neck wasn't an easy thing to break. An alpha's neck even harder. Blake growled and pocketed his weapon before concentrating the force of both his hands on my throat. His fingers grew tighter, cold now, like ice stabbing into my throat.

I gasped, stabbed my claws into his sides and rolled out from under him as he yowled and grabbed at his waist.

His vest was thick, but the sticky wetness on three of my claws confirmed he'd suffered at least three injuries. I'd hit home.

He sprang at me again, even as I rolled away, planting a knee to my back. He bent close, his arm going tight around my neck. He gripped his wrist with his other hand and began to squeeze hard, driving his freezing arm against my throat. I coughed, and struggled for air, and almost reached out to pull his fingers from my throat when I realized my claws were still in full form. Rather than impale myself on my own claws I decided to use them on my assailant.

To his own detriment he'd gotten too close.

I swiped hard at his face, the sharp edges of my claws hitting skin and scraping bone as my hand moved in a backwards grasp. He yelled out, fell back onto the concrete and rolled away. Within seconds he was on his feet again, holding his ripped face together with his hand.

His other hand hung limply at his side.

My strike had caught him first on his bicep and then his lower jaw and cheekbone, three deep slices and one shallow scrape.

As I righted myself, Blake began to back away. There was no fear in his eyes though. He was just making a calculated decision to retreat while he still had his life in his hands.

Not to mention his face.

But I wasn't planning on letting him escape. I launched into a run, my panther giving me a boost.

I slammed into him, knocking him flat, swinging my claws across his throat to finish the job.

But my claws met with nothing.

A shadow shimmered beside Blake and in the next instant he disappeared.

Someone had jumped him to safety.