Secret of the Wolf (11 page)

“See?” Lily sat straight with a grin. “He’s a good boy.”

“All right, all right.” Dante hoisted himself into the saddle and clicked his tongue. Big Ben set off at a slow walk, Muffin catching up to walk by the Appaloosa’s side.

“So,” his sister said in that sly, teasing way of hers, “tell me about her.”

“Who?”

“Don’t be coy with me, mister. You’ve met someone, I can tell. Spill.”

Dante concentrated on guiding Ben around a flat-paddled prickly pear cactus. “I don’t know what you mean.” He barely had a handle on his feelings about Tori. There was no way he was ready to talk about it, least of all with his sister.

“Ha!” Lily moved Muffin closer so she could reach over and smack Dante on the shoulder. “You do so know what I mean. Who is it? Is it someone you hooked up with at the club last night?”

“I don’t ‘hook up’ with women.” He shot her a frown. “And if I did, I wouldn’t be talking to my little sister about it.”

“Okay.” She held up one hand in surrender. “You don’t want to talk about her, I get it.”

He knew his sister. She wouldn’t let go of it for very long. She should’ve been a cop. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he insisted. “I…was working.”

“Uh-huh.” She eyed him. “You went out to that nightclub and didn’t come home until almost two. You don’t usually stay out that late when you know we’re getting up early for a ride.”

“Talk about mothering,” he muttered.

“Fine.” She gave a scowl but couldn’t hold it and broke into a grin, shaking her head. “Let’s talk about something else, then.”

“Yes, let’s.” He tipped his cowboy hat farther forward, giving more shade to his eyes.

“Any interesting cases you’re working on?” Lily clicked to her horse, urging him up a slight incline and then back down. She was a natural horsewoman, riding Muffin with ease. She looked…happy for the first time in a long while.

Dante was glad he could give her some peace of mind. He knew for himself there wasn’t anything quite as relaxing as riding a horse, out in the desert where there was only the sound of nature—a few caws from the ravens circling overhead, the rustle of leaves as a slight breeze blew through the nearby mesquite trees.

“Had a werewolf and vampire get into it a couple nights ago,” he said. “Well, the werewolf tried to get into it with the vamp, but I don’t think he quite managed it.”

“What do you mean?”

Dante glanced at her. “He bit a human on his way to the vamp.”

“Really?” Lily’s eyes went round. “Wow. Is the human okay? Will he…will he turn?”

“No. The werewolf didn’t let loose any of his preternatural stuff.”

“Stuff? Is that the technical term for it?” Her lips tilted in a smile.

“As a matter of fact, it is.” Dante shared a grin with her.

“So how does that work?” she asked. “I’ve never been sure.”

Dante pulled Ben to a stop in the shade of a mesquite and waited until Lily maneuvered her horse next to him. He grabbed the canteen off his saddle and handed it to his sister, then took a swig of water after she passed the canteen back to him. “It’s just like in the legends. Werewolves can make another werewolf with just their bites. Vampires have to seal the deal with blood because they’re the weakest of all the prets.”

“The weakest?” She frowned. “Just a few days ago there was a news report about a vampire who picked up a minivan full of tourists and set it down on top of another car just for shits and giggles.”

“Yeah, that’s the weird thing…
one
of the weird things about vamps,” he clarified. “They’re the weakest of all prets when they first come through the rift. They can only take over bodies that are close to death or have just died. Once they’ve acclimated to their host, though, physically they’re the strongest.” Big Ben shifted his weight and Dante leaned over and stroked the horse’s neck.

“Can you imagine? Living forever.” Lily turned Muffin and started back toward the trailhead where they’d left the truck and horse trailer.

Dante pressed his heel to Ben’s side and followed his sister.

“Seeing history as it unfolds and being a part of it…You’d have all the time in the world to do what you want to do, not having to worry about getting sick or dying.” She turned her face away from him, and he knew she was fighting back tears.

“Well, they can die,” he informed her. “It just takes some doing.”

She met his gaze, her eyes sad and full of the worry that he knew was her constant companion these days. “But they’re not going to get some kind of illness that eats ’em from the inside out.”

“No, probably not.” Dante urged Ben closer to her. “Honey, you’ve got this thing beat.”

She looked down and then back at him. “I know.” She pressed her lips together. “What if it comes back, Dante?”

“Then you’ll fight it again.” He tugged off one of his gloves and reached over to brush a tear from her cheek. “And I’ll be right there with you.”

Lily gave a tremulous smile. “I know you will be. I’m a lucky woman, to have a brother like you. I love you, you know.”

He lightly chucked her on the chin and then pulled his glove back on. “And I love you too, squirt.”

She laughed. “You haven’t called me that in years.”

“Yeah, well, I outgrew callin’ you names to make you mad.” He dropped one eye in a wink. “I have other ways.”

“Oh, boy, don’t you!” She shook her head and sent him a sidelong glance. “You sure you don’t want to talk about your woman?”

“I don’t have…” He rolled his eyes and tipped his hat back. “You just don’t give up, do you?”

“Nope.” She pulled her horse to a stop beside the trailer. “I’ll get it out of you, sooner or later.”

She probably would, too. Not that he minded. He wasn’t trying to keep Tori a secret. But talking about her made things more…solid. Real.

For once, Dante couldn’t control where his heart was heading, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for what that meant.

A
fter a refreshingly uneventful Monday at work, Dante was bent over the computer parts on the dining room table at home when his cell rang. He pulled the phone from his belt and put it on speaker. “MacMillan.” He set the phone on the table.

One of the police dispatchers said, “We’ve got a real situation at Hades’ Hideaway over on Stetson.”

“So call Grover,” Dante murmured, holding the motherboard in one hand so he could look it over more closely. “I’m off duty.”

“Uh-uh. Grover’s off with some kind of bug. Breckinridge can come on early in the morning, but you’re it for tonight.”

Dante sighed and put down the motherboard. He twisted his wrist to check his watch. Seven
P.M.
“Damn it.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “All right. Hades’ Hideaway, huh? That’s one of Maldonado’s clubs, isn’t it?”

“Yep. It’s owned by a vampire so it’s not surprising something happened there, right? One of the 911 calls said a vamp got staked. Wonder if it’s the big bad himself?”

Dante raised an eyebrow. “Was it fatal?”

“Dunno. The person didn’t say.”

Dante ended the call and went into his bedroom to retrieve his gun from the gun safe. He stared at the small safe in the deep drawer of his dresser and thought back to his conversation with Tori the night before. Even though he didn’t want to put Lily in jeopardy, he really thought the device would be more secure with him. But if something happened…He hadn’t helped her get back on her feet only to let her be killed by a rogue preternatural.

He shoved his feet into his work shoes and tied the laces, then slipped his belt through the loops of his pants, pausing to attach his holster. He shoved his Glock 22 home and grabbed an extra clip of silver bullets. After he attached his badge next to the gun, he headed toward the front door, scooping up his cell phone as he went through the dining room. Stopping at the doorway into the family room, he told his sister, “I got a call. Be back later.”

She twisted around on the sofa to stare at him. “I thought you were off duty.”

“Not anymore.” He gave a shrug. “I’ll see you later.”

“Just when you were making progress on that mess in the dining room,” she mumbled as he walked away.

“I heard that,” he called over his shoulder. Her laugh echoed down the hallway.

Pulling into the parking lot of the club ten minutes later, he stayed in the truck surveying the scene for a few moments. It had rained earlier so the pavement was still wet. There were police cars with flashing lights, and a few other vehicles, including Tori’s Mini Cooper. Her presence surprised him because she should have been done for the day, like he had been. He wondered why she got stuck on this call.

People were gathered in groups in front of the club, a few of them with dirty, tattered clothing, looking like they’d rolled around on the ground a bit. He noted two vampires, a handful of guys clutching blankets around themselves, and several humans. Piper was already there, taking notes as she talked to the group of humans. She had a typical cop stance, making sure her firearm was facing away from the men, and was dressed in her usual pant suit and flat-soled shoes. Her pink-trimmed Sig Sauer was secured in a belt holster that also had two additional clips.

A couple of women stood off to one side with a tall, slender man who had his back to Dante. The man turned and Dante realized it was one of the quadrant’s fey liaisons. Dante figured the women must be fey of some sort, but hell if he could tell what. He always had a hard time discerning the difference between nymphs, elves, pixies, and the like.

He climbed out of his truck and headed toward the scene. “I see the gang’s all here,” he said as he reached the crowd.

Piper told the humans to stay put and walked over to Dante, combing her fingers through her dark blonde hair as she came. “It looks like it was the vamps who started things. These guys”—she gestured toward the group of human men—“were just too drunk to back off.”

“Anyone hurt?” Dante cast a glance over the various groups, looking for wounds. He stopped when he saw the wooden stake sticking out of the shoulder of one of the vampires.

“Just him,” Piper said. “Everyone else has some scrapes and bruises, but nothing serious.”

“What the hell happened?” Dante started toward the group of humans, Piper at his side.

“They happened.” She pointed toward the two women talking to the fey liaison. “Couple of pixies rattled some cages and got them fighting each other.”

“Got who fighting who?”

Piper made a circular gesture to encompass the entire gathering. “All of them. Humans. Vamps. Werewolves.”

Ah. That would explain the blankets. The werewolves had shifted in order to fight, and then turned back to their human forms, a process that left them naked.

He glanced at the women. They were very attractive, he admitted that. However, in his opinion, they were not worth going up against vamps and werewolves for. “I take it these bozos are drunk out of their skulls,” he said with a nod toward the human men.

“They were. They’ve sobered up a bit now.”

Dante took a moment to review Piper’s notes and asked a few questions of his own. The men were tired and anxious, and he couldn’t blame them. The vampires were sending glares that promised dire consequences for the night’s activities.

The door to the club swung open, catching Dante’s attention. Tori walked through the doorway, heading toward them. Now there…
there
was a woman he’d risk his life for. She waved toward the werewolves. “You can go,” she said, her voice hard. “But you’d better not leave town.”

Dante raised his eyebrows. Usually she sounded so melodious, sultry. But not now.

“What?” she said as she stopped in front of him. “They screwed up my evening.” Her scowl was accompanied by a snarl.

He held up his hands. “I didn’t say anything.” He stared down into her gorgeous face, fighting the desire to pull her into his arms. He was the one who kept pushing her away, telling her he needed to focus on his career, yet he continually wanted to touch her, kiss her.

He wanted her. More than that, he liked her. A lot.

Dante cleared his throat. “What’re you doin’ here, anyway? Where’s your other liaison?”

“There was a thing between two different clans of werewolves over on Camelback Mountain. He got dispatched to help out over there, so I got stuck with this bunch of yahoos.” She shot the departing werewolves a glare. When she looked at Dante again, her gaze softened. “I still have pie left, by the way.”

There was the sultry note he’d been listening for. His body tightened and the memory of the heated moment they shared flooded his mind. He could see by her eyes she was remembering, too. Scrubbing a hand over his jaw, he looked at Piper. “So what’s the verdict? Do I really need to be here?”
Please, God, tell me no so I can get out of here before I do something I’ll regret.

She glanced from him to Tori and back again. “I don’t think so,” she finally said. “The pixies started it, the werewolves continued it, and the vamps finished it. The humans were just kinda caught up in it because they were drunken idiots.”

When Tori snagged his gaze by running her tongue across her lips, Piper propped her hands on her hips. “Hey, what’s going on with you two?”

“Nothin’,” he said at the same time Tori muttered, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Right,” Piper drawled. “Listen, whatever this is”—she gestured between the two of them—“I don’t care as long as it doesn’t hinder any investigations we do. I mean, you’re both consenting adults and whatever it is you consent to is really none of my business.”

“We haven’t consented to anything,” Tori said with a frown.

“Okay. Whatever you say.” Piper clearly didn’t believe her. She looked at Dante. “You probably don’t need to stay. I’ll file dual reports at the council and at your precinct.”

“Is that your conclusion, too? That the humans were only peripherally involved?” he asked Tori.

She shoved her fingers into the back pockets of her jeans. Dante tried not to notice how the motion thrust out her breasts. She nodded and said, “They admitted as much. The pixies flirted, got the vampires’ blood lust up, then the werewolves horned in and the girls turned their attention to them. The vamps got mad.”

“And those guys?” he asked with a nod toward the humans.

“Just another bunch of yahoos,” Piper said dryly with a glance at Tori. “Those numb nuts got in the way and then were too drunk or too macho, or maybe a little of both, to back down. A couple of them carry stakes with them, and that’s how the vamp ended up with one in his shoulder. He was lucky it didn’t end up somewhere else.”

“Tori, do you think any of the werewolves are viable suspects for the attacks going on in the north?” Dante asked.

She pursed her lips. “I don’t think so, but I’d already thought of that. I got their alibis for the nights in question, and I’ll follow up on those as soon as I’m done here.”

He noticed she was looking at the crowd gathered on the far side of the parking lot. “What’s up?” he asked her.

“I see someone I want to talk to.” She glanced at him. “Be right back.”

As he watched her walk away, those full hips swaying with each step, he was aware of Piper staring at him with her arms folded over her breasts. He looked her way. “What?”

“Nothing.” She watched Tori for a minute and then said, “Listen, I want to ask you something.”

When she didn’t go on right away, Dante said, “You wanna ask me now or later?” He really hoped she didn’t want to talk to him about Tori.

She grimaced. “Now. Give me a second.” She motioned for the humans to come over to where she and Dante stood. When they got there, she said, “Is there anything else any of you want to add?”

There came a mumbling in the negative. A couple of the guys kept glancing toward the vampires, whose gazes still threatened retribution. The other humans studiously ignored the vamps, as if hoping the bloodsuckers would disappear.

Dante could see this thing escalating out of control once the police presence was gone. He needed to get these guys away from the vamps. He motioned to a couple of uniformed officers. When they came over, he said, “Take these guys to the station. We’ll finish questioning them there.”

“Thanks, man,” one of the men said, relief and genuine gratitude in his voice.

“You might not thank me once this is all over.” Dante gave him his best stern-cop look. “Carrying stakes is like carrying a gun. You have to have a concealed weapon permit. Do you?”

The guy held up his hands. “Wasn’t me who staked him, man.”

Dante glanced over the group. “Who did?” he asked.

They shifted their feet, didn’t meet his eyes, and otherwise seemed disinclined to confess.

“Fine.” To the uniforms Dante said, “Take them to the night commander. Fill him in, and once he gets a copy of Piper’s report he can finish up with these…gentlemen.”

“You got it,” one of the officers said. “Come on,” he told the group of men.

Dante kept his gaze on them as they trudged away, then asked Piper, “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“How do you deal with all this?”

“All what?” He looked at her. “Preternaturals?”

She shook her head. “I know how to deal with prets. My great-grandfather was taken by an entity when he was in his sixties, well after his kids had started their own families, so we’ve known about the rift and prets for a long time.” In a drier tone she added, “The Petersons are experts at keeping secrets.”

“Good to know.”

“How do you deal with the violence? I mean, I’ve been around prets all my life, but it’s been in familial surroundings, not…not this.” She gestured toward the wounded vamp who was being taken back into the club, the wooden stake still in his shoulder. Most likely they’d remove the stake and have a willing donor or two standing by so he could regain his strength and heal.

“But you’ve been a liaison for a few years, yeah?” Dante hooked his thumbs over his belt. He glanced toward Tori and saw her talking to Finn Evnissyen. He ground his jaw at the familiar way the demon leaned toward her. With effort, Dante put his attention back on Piper. “You’ve seen stuff like this before.”

“Stuff like this, yeah. In my other post I usually ended up dealing with minor skirmishes and meaningless squabbles.” She sighed. “I’m just not sure I can deal with the tougher cases.” Meeting his gaze, she said, “Like that one you had late last year, with the vamp slayings. I don’t think I could’ve handled all that blood and gore.” Her eyes darkened. “How do you do it?”

Dante thought about his answer a moment. “Some of it just comes with experience, Piper. I hate to say it, but once you’ve seen some of this stuff, you become inured to it. You have to in order to be effective. What helps most is keeping your attention on the victim.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “We’re the voices for those who can no longer speak for themselves.”

“I suppose.”

“It’s really not that different than working any other type of crime.” He put a hand on her shoulder and gave a light squeeze. “You focus on finding who did it so the dead can have justice. You can do that.” He gave her shoulder another squeeze and then dropped his hand to his side.

Piper nodded. “Yes, thanks.” She looked around the scene and sighed. “I guess I’ll go file those reports. See ya later.”

“See ya.” Dante walked back to his truck and sat on the front bumper, waiting for Tori. She was still talking to Evnissyen and some red-haired woman. Even from here Dante could tell she was gorgeous, but he only had eyes for his wolf.

“Finn, stop jerking me around.” Tori crossed her arms and glared at the grinning demon. “I know you. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if somehow or another you’re mixed up in this mess.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this worked up.” Finn leaned closer, his smile as wicked as they came. His voice was a raspy whisper as he said, “I seem to bring out the wildness in you.”

“What you bring out is my total lack of tolerance for BS.” She heaved a sigh and looked at the auburn-haired woman at his side. She’d introduced herself to Tori, giving her name as Keira O’Brien, and from her scent Tori knew she was an elf. From the faint traces of an accent, she could tell the woman had originally been from Ireland. Tori glanced her way. “I’d rethink my decision to hang out with this guy if I were you.”