She's No Faerie Princess (28 page)

"You're kidding me!"

Fiona's stomach did that nasty clenching thing again asshe braced herself for Rachel's next words. She hadn'trealized how important it was that Walker's family likedher. Or at least didn't consider her a huge mistake on hispart.

Well, if Rachel Chase didn't like the idea of her brothertaking Fiona to mate, she thought, that was just too bad. She'd have to learn to deal with it, the same way Fionahad. No princess of her family line had ever backed downfrom a fight, and no one had ever mentioned any of them

losing one, either. She held her head high and waited for the other woman to rail at her brother for his choice of partners.

"Tobias Adam Walker, I can't believe you didn't tell me

the very minute this happened! What were you thinking?"

The words sounded like what Fiona had expected, butthe tone didn't. Instead of anger and disapproval, Rachel's voice held excitement and laughter completelyat odds with the emotions she'd expressed for most ofthe evening. When she launched herself into herbrother's arms and planted a loud, smacking kiss on hischeek, Fiona felt almost as dazed as he looked.

"Congratulations! This is wonderful!" Rachel kissed Walker again, then released him to pounce on Fiona and haul her into an enthusiastic hug. "Oh, I'm so happy for both of you!"

Pulling back, Rachel looked down into Fiona'snonplussed face and smiled. Then sniffled. Fiona felt asurge of alarm.

"I'm so happy," Rachel said again, quieter this time. "I can't think of anything else that could have made me smile tonight, so it looks like I'm doubly in your debt, Fiona. Once for taking this big lug off the family's hands, and once for giving me something to be happy about on the second-worst day of my life." She leaned down and kissed Fiona's cheek. "I don't know if that was the magic you were talking about, but it sure worked like a charm."

CHAPTER 20

It took another half hour or so to drag themselves awayfrom Rachel's house. First she'd had to hug each of themanother twenty or thirty times; then Jake had needed toput his own two cents' worth of congratulations in, alongwith a teasing comment or two about "spoiled princesses"not seeming so bad once you got to know them better. Which, of course, had meant Walker had to box hisnephew's ears for referring to his mate with thatparticularly appreciative glint in his eyes.

Rachel had wanted to pop open a bottle of champagneand toast the new couple, a suggestion that Fiona hadgreeted with a smile that failed to completely conceal thelook of panic in her pretty purple eyes. In sympathy withthat feeling, Walker had found a polite way to refuse andaccompanied it with a promise that he'd bring Fiona backfor a real celebration another night.

Even though Rachel's state of mind had drasticallyimproved since the discovery of the happy news, Walkerhadn't liked the idea of leaving her and Jake all alone intheir town house. He'd called and arranged for a coupleof her friends to come and stay the night and made Jakepromise to call if there was any trouble. Walker wouldhave preferred to stay with them himself, but he and Fiona had work to do. Before tonight, the need to find thedemon had been motivated mostly by duty and an innatedesire to see justice done for the humans he had nevermet. Now, his abstract desire for justice had become a

very concrete need to avenge himself on the thing that had killed a long-standing friend and threatened the safety of his family.

He waited until they left Rachel's building before heflipped open his cell phone and dialed Graham's numberfor what seemed like the thousandth time in the lastweek. Graham would fill Rafe in, Walker knew, but hisfirst loyalty was to the pack, and his first instinct wasalways to alert the alpha. That was how packs operated.

"We've got a problem," Walker barked as soon as the

other man answered.

"I know. Is Rachel okay?"

"Yeah. She wasn't hurt, just shaken up. Maggie and Samantha are on their way over to her place. They're going to spend the night."

"Good. I managed to get a pack member on the homicide squad. Shel—I mean, the body is on its way to the morgue and Adam and Annie are right behind it."

"We can be there in twenty."

"Walker, we need to find this thing," Graham said, his voice low and intense. "Not just because of Shelby, though God knows that makes me want to rip it apart with my bare teeth and dance in the leftovers, but…"

"But what?"

"The negotiations. The delegates voted this morning. The Europeans and the Asians will ratify the basic language of the declaration of rights. With them on our side, we think the Africans and the Americans can be persuaded.

But if news of these demon attacks gets out before thesignatures are on the document, we'll be in trouble."

"Yeah, I got that, Cuz. Trust me, I'm giving this everything

I've got."

He hung up and headed for the corner to hail a cab.

Fiona hadn't said much since Rachel's congratulations,but she followed along behind him, her silly pink sneakerssoundless on the pavement. He really hoped she wasn'tgearing up for another argument about their relationship.

If she wanted to brood, that was fine. He sat in the taxibeside her and stared out the window, trying to pretendthat he wasn't acutely aware of every breath she took. Itdidn't feel like she was brooding, though. She lacked therequisite pout and the air of wounded dignity. Instead,she just seemed to be lost in thought, her expressionpensive but neutral in the light that shone through thetaxi's windows.

The cabbie let them out a block from the hospital'sentrance, and Walker and Fiona made their way inside tothe elevators. Even after visiting hours, the hospitalbuzzed with activity, but no one gave them a secondglace as they stepped into the car and pushed the buttonfor the basement. Morgues were always in basements. An irony, considering what store humans put in the ideaof heaven as a celestial realm high above them.

Graham had been as good as his word. When Walkerand Fiona arrived at the morgue, Adam was waitingoutside. He used his key card to open the locked doorand ushered them inside.

"Sorry to see you back so soon," he said, and the bags under his eyes looked even more pronounced than they had the other day. "Annie is inside. She seems to feel a connection to these victims, and she's a hell of a scientist. She's been playing forensic investigator. Looking for trace evidence before I do the autopsy."

Walker nodded and stepped farther into the cool, sterile,windowless room that housed the hospital's morgue. Itseemed odd somehow that the institutional green paintand spotless tile should look familiar to him. If that didn'tmean he'd spent too much time around death lately, hedidn't know what did.

He avoided looking at the autopsy table and the calm,efficient brunette who hovered over it. That was Shelby Lupo on that table, not some strange human, but a packmember and a longtime friend at that. He didn't want tosee her this way, to have to acknowledge that he'd neversee her any other way again. Fiona must have read hisexpression. Her small hand slipped into his andsqueezed in reassurance.

His own hand tightened along with his heart. It amazedhim that he could need her so much so fast. Already hewas coming to rely on her in a way he'd never relied onanyone else. It both unnerved him and exhilarated him.

Adam saw them stop just inside the room and pausedbeside Walker. "I'm sorry," he said. He didn't touch thehigher-ranking male, but his voice held the same intentas a sympathetic hand on the shoulder. "The alpha saidshe was a friend of your family. We're hoping theprincess can pick something up, especially since the…ah, the time of death was so recent. But it isn't pretty. If

you don't want to get any closer…"

Walker stiffened. "I'm fine. I want to see what happened."

Nodding, Adam fell silent and led the way to the metaltable that held Shelby's remains. Annie looked up at theirapproach, her warm brown eyes filling with sympathy.

"Walker, I'm so sorry," she said, putting down the large metal tweezers she'd been holding and rounding the end of the table with outstretched arms. Her intent to hug him was clear. "I hope Rachel is okay."

At his side, Fiona stiffened, and Annie caught the subtlemovement. She hesitated, sniffing the air and thenfreezing just an inch away from embracing her friend andpackmate. Her eyes widened. She looked from Fiona to Walker and back again several times in rapid successionbefore she yanked her arms back and clasped her handstogether behind her back. She took one large Simon Says step backward.

"Ah, well… um, let me know if there's anything I can do."

Beside him, Fiona relaxed, and he could sense hersatisfaction. Walker found himself almost amused in spiteof the situation. "Thanks, Annie. We appreciate it."

Exchanging looks of mutual understanding, Annie and Adam retreated to the far side of the examination tablefrom the newly mated couple and made sure to keep theireyes focused on their work.

Walker tried to avoid doing the same. Adam had gotten itright. It wasn't pretty.

If Walker hadn't known the body's identity, he would

never have looked at it and thought,
 
Oh, that's Shelby Lupo
. He wasn't sure if that counted as a blessing or a curse, but he barely recognized her. Someone had taken care to… reassemble her as neatly and naturally as possible on the shiny table surface, but it was still easy to see where her extensive and ugly wounds had cut clear through muscle and bone. The gash on her neck was one, and similar red lines banded both arms and her right leg halfway up her thigh.

Gritting his teeth, Walker forced himself to take stock ofeach injury. If he avoided looking at her face, he realized,it was easier. The scent of her blood and her death madeit impossible to pretend she was just another human, butat least he could stop himself from looking at her andseeing her as she had been, whole and healthy and fullof energy.

"I collected whatever trace evidence I found," Annie began, clearing her throat. "There wasn't much, and I think most of it is just crime-scene debris—some gravel, organic matter, a few hairs that seem to belong either to her or to another Lupine. I'm guessing your sister."

Walker nodded. "Yeah. The thing that attacked themwasn't furry. The hairs have to be either Rachel's or Shel's."

Annie nodded. "Other than that, there's not much here. Idid swab a couple of the wounds that looked more likebites than claw marks. Maybe we can get someinformation off the saliva. My lab has DNA sequencingequipment, and since I'm the boss I can skip all the redtape Adam would have to deal with here at the hospital. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting."

Taking his cue, Adam nodded. "I took a quick look atthings before you guys got here, and on the surface I'dsay this looks a lot like the human woman who was foundin the park earlier this week. The wound patterns areconsistent—lots of force, no hesitation, really sharpclaws. And, of course, the heart is missing again."

Walker nodded. He had his teeth clenched too hard tosay anything.

"You sound as if there's something more you need to tell us, Adam." Fiona spoke quietly, and her eyes were on the physician, not on the body. "What's the 'but'?"

Adam shrugged. "It's nothing I can put my finger on. Like

I said, the wounds are consistent with those found on thelast woman. But," he paused, "there are a lot more ofthem. There's just a lot more damage overall. It's like thelast girl, the thing was just doing a job. Kill the human,spill a little blood, go home, and order a pizza. This time itlooks like it took more time, if not with the killing, thenwith the rest of it."

"What does that mean?" Walker managed.

"Well, the decapitation came early on. That jibes with your sister's recollection, but it also explains why a lot of these wounds on the extremities and the torso showed very little evidence of bleeding." Adam made a face. "I don't know if it's much comfort to anyone, but it looks like Shelby was already dead when the thing ripped her apart."

"Not much comfort, no."

Adam nodded. "I didn't think so."

Walker felt Fiona's hand give his another squeeze beforeshe let go and took a step closer to the table. "Is it allright if I look?" she asked. "I'm sure what you've told us isaccurate, but if Shelby can tell us something more, somuch the better."

"Of course. Be my guest."

The others watched curiously as Fiona took a deepbreath and repeated the spell she'd cast on each of theprevious demon attack victims. Walker could see theglow that surrounded Shelby's corpse, could even makeout some more glyphs like the ones that had appeared onthe others, but he still had no idea what they said. He didknow, however, that when Fiona swore, herconcentration wavering and blinking the spell back out ofexistence, something was very wrong.

"What is it?" he barked. He grabbed her around the waist and yanked her away from the table as if he needed to protect her from what lay on it. "What happened? Did you see something?"

Fiona nodded, and her expression was grim. "Yes.

Something bad."

"What is it?" Annie asked, breathless and wide-eyed.

"The demon. It's trying to break the hold of its master," she said. "And if it keeps gaining strength this fast, next time, it's going to do it."