Unseen (The Heights, Vol. 1) (30 page)

Dronic shrugged, though the demon was hardly
calm. “Those that Davyn sent back are being punished accordingly.
We’re still looking for one, but we’ll find him before he does
anything…permanent.”

‘Permanent’ was a word used very infrequently
in the demon vernacular. The only permanent thing that could happen
to one of them was a punishment from their master. Eternity-long
subservience to the Devil in level nine, no chance of ever moving
to a higher level. What Dronic referred to was what would happen if
the escaped demon lay with a human.

“Do you have any other information?” Rhyse
asked.

With the shake of Dronic’s head came the
knowledge that Rhyse would get nothing more from him, regardless of
how hard he pushed.

“How were they summoned?” he asked the
others.

“No one knows.”

“Obviously someone summoned them.” He glanced
around the table. According to Council law, he could not look into
their minds, but even the law had loopholes. “Have your underlings
open their minds to me.”

The energy of the room shifted at his
command. “What?” “That’s against Treaty law.” “It’s forbidden.”

“The law states he cannot look into
our
minds,” the angel said loudly. “It says nothing about
those
not
seated at the table.”

Rhyse nodded his thanks to Sebastian. “I will
not linger, nor do I care about the mundane thoughts of each. I
will not warn you of mutiny unless it directly affects another
race.” Tempest, of course, would be looking for something far more
important. “If you or they refuse, I have but one conclusion to
reach.”

The first to acquiesce was the angel who had
come with Sebastian. The second was the werewolf. One by one each
race let him in, the last being the witch, the weakest of the group
and understandably the most nervous about anything having to do
with the other races.

The room remained silent as Rhyse moved
through each mind, paying more attention to the body language of
the leaders than the minds of their underlings. As he’d expected,
he found nothing of importance. With a glance to each leader and a
subtle shake of her head, Tempest let him know she hadn’t learned
anything, either. If the crimes of last night or his attempted
murder were conceived by an individual, that individual was not in
this room.

“I thank you all,” he said, closing his eyes
for a moment and releasing the minds he held. “What occurred last
night went against the Treaty and put the leaders of each race in
danger. Each one of us must use every resource we have to find the
guilty party. Is that clear?”

After they had all agreed, Rhyse stood and
turned to leave. “Before I go… Someone shoved a particularly ugly
stake through my chest. I would like to know who it was. I expect
the answers to both issues by week’s end.”

“Your grace?”

He turned to the werewolf who’d spoken, an
underling. Strange.

“My name is Brody, my lord,” the werewolf
said, bowing low. “And if I may, I’d like to request a private
meeting with you.”

Rhyse glanced at Vaughn, the zone’s alpha,
and saw the faint remnants of a black eye. Then the alpha nodded
and left the room. Yes. That needed some explanation.

Rhyse walked towards his library without
waiting to see if the werewolf followed. Tempest was at his back.
He motioned her forward. “Where is Graham?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since it
all went down.” Tempest lacked the calm another century would give
her, but she was smart, possessed a unique and useful talent, and
chose to socialize with humans on a normal basis. All the things
that had made her valuable a week ago were necessities now. Now
that everything had changed for Rhyse.

“Find him.”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me where
you’ve been.”

“Watch yourself,” he hissed, frustrated and
maddened by the enormous uncertainties he now faced.

She flinched. “I’m sorry, my lord. It’s just
that Graham wouldn’t want me to leave your side. I’m concerned
that—”

“You are ‘concerned’?” About a vampire
countless times more powerful than she was. He almost laughed. “I
was recovering from a hole in my chest. It was not pleasant, and I
do not intend to ever allow it to happen again. I thank you for
your concern; however, it would be far more useful to concern
yourself with finding Graham.”

Graham’s absence proved things were still not
as Rhyse needed them to be—controlled. And that left Rhyse
very
concerned. Before his discussion with the werewolf, he
told Tempest to call Addison’s employer at the Disposal Unit.
“Inform them the seer is mine now and will no longer be reporting
for work.”

If someone decided that Addison had
disappeared because she went rogue, she would be in even more
danger. Something neither of them needed.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but we have a
situation,” the werewolf said as soon as the door closed.

Rhyse stood in front of the fire, staring
into it. “Go on.”

“A healer was bitten.” Brody kept his head
bowed. “The Council agreed it was an accident.”

“About a month ago, correct? I was out of the
zone, but yes, I heard.”

“During the healer’s first moon, he took a
mated female.”

Rhyse chuckled, a sound rarely heard within
these walls and certainly not coming from him. “So, the female
decided she wanted a new mate.” While not all shifters mated for
life, werewolves did. This couldn’t possibly be the first time
something like this had happened, though. Emotionally and
psychologically, they were primarily human most of the month, and
humans changed their minds constantly. Addison was a perfect
example of that.

“That is pack business, not mine.”

“She was the lead alpha’s female.”

Ah-ha. That was why Vaughn sent an underling
to share the news. “Convey my condolences for his loss but there is
nothing I can, nor will, do.”

“My lord, we don’t have midlife crises or
affairs. We mate for life. The female’s choice to go against that
has caused instability and nervousness within
their
pack, as
well as all the packs under their protection. But the bigger
problem is
why
she chose this particular wolf.” Brody paused
until Rhyse turned to face him. “She chose the healer because he is
the strongest alpha we’ve ever seen—not in history, but in the last
few generations, for sure.”

“Alphas are the eldest members of the
pack.”

“Normally, that’s true. But personality and
strength also have a lot to do with it. Our animals are like a
condensed version of us. So while it might take a human—or even a
vampire—years to really know who someone is, we know immediately.
It’s beyond instinct. Your grace, his wolf is...” He shook his head
slowly. “Breathtaking. I don’t swing that way, but for him, I might
give it a shot.”

“He was a healer? His name…?”

“Noah Cooper.”

It struck Rhyse that he never would have
cared to know a seer’s name before. None of them would. The only
reason they discussed this one by name was because he was no longer
a seer and was now a higher being.

“Noah will have to fight to be alpha,” the
werewolf said, “but if he wins and if he accepts the female as his
mate, he’ll be lead alpha for all the shifters in this zone, giving
him absolute power over the packs and a chair on the Council.”

“Even though they mated under the moon, Noah
could still choose not to officially mate with her, is that
it?”

Brody nodded. “But he has to be in a mated
pair to hold the position. So if nothing’s done, a brand new,
basically unknown werewolf will have a seat across the table from
you, weighing in on decisions that affect all races.”

Yes, that could create a huge problem.
“Before I decide anything, I will need to hear from other pack
members and meet Noah. However, what happened last night takes
priority.”

“Of course, your grace. The alpha sent Noah
away until it’s all figured out. A pack near Salt Lake City agreed
to take him and teach him about our culture for a while.”

“Will he cause any problems for their
pack?”

“I hope not, but shifters aren’t known for
our ability to stay out of trouble.”

Neither was the dat vitae.

Knowing Rhyse couldn’t phase back before
dusk, Addison spent a little time chastising herself for even
considering following his order. Then she got dressed—head-to-toe
leather because that was all she had, other than the corset she
disliked even more.

This was getting out of hand. A relationship
with a super wasn’t a relationship. She was his plaything du jour.
Maybe
flavor of the week, if she was lucky. He’d get bored
or have his fill and toss her out. If she was
really
lucky,
he wouldn’t be tossing out her lifeless body.

“Addison?” Felicity called, knocking on the
door.

Addison ran to open it “What’s up?”
Hopefully, Felicity wasn’t here to talk about any weird screaming
she may have heard last night.

Felicity held out a cell phone. “The Prime
wants to talk to you.”

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly before putting
the phone to her ear. “What do you want, Rhyse?”

“To take you from behind again. Which I will
do as soon as the sun goes down.”

Addison coughed and turned away from
Felicity, knowing she’d just turned bright red. “Don’t say stuff
like that!”

“I was merely answering your question.” There
was music in his tone, a humor she’d never heard before. Not in the
Heights.

“I’ll be downstairs,” Felicity said, closing
the door behind her.

“Why did you call me?”

“I do not know.” He paused. “Perhaps it was
to see if you need anything from your awful apartment.”

She could say clothes, but he’d refuse.
Strangely, she couldn’t think of anything she really needed from
there. It had been her home for four years, but there was nothing
of hers in it. The box of her mom’s stuff was the only thing of
value there, and it would be there when she went back. But she
didn’t need—

“There’s a box of my mom’s stuff in the
closet,” she said. “Inside is a little photo album. I want
that.”

After he agreed to bring it, he filled her in
on what he’d found out from the Council—which amounted to a whole
lot of nothing. “I will return in a few hours.”

“Okay.” How does one end a phone call with a
vampire…who’s the Prime…who’s your lover? “Bye,” she said quickly
before hanging up.

That went well.

She headed downstairs to give Felicity her
phone back. Obviously, it was hers—Rhyse didn’t seem the type to
use Ian Somerhalder as a screensaver. But halfway down, she
stopped. There was a cell phone in her hand. Felicity probably
wouldn’t mind if Addison used it to check on her friends,
especially if she didn’t know until she got her bill. Addison would
slip her some cash later. It was worth whatever the cost.

Addison called Logan first. She wanted to
make sure he’d recovered from the party-gone-bad. He didn’t pick
up. Was he working? After Logan was chosen to fight in the contest,
his boss couldn’t possibly have thought he would come back to
work…
ever
.

She left a vague message on his voicemail and
then called Dawn. Dawn was such a phone-junkie, someday she’d be
buried with it.

“How’s that head of yours?” Addison asked,
happy to connect with someone from her ‘real’ life.

“Mild concussion. The department gave me
three days off.” How generous of them. “What the hell happened with
you?”

“A lot.”

“I mean with the Prime. First they say he
can’t be there because he’s hurt, then you’re leaving, then he
comes in totally fine and you’re with him. After a huge frigging
PDA moment that juiced up every libido in the room, everything went
to hell.” Metaphorically.

“Sounds like you pretty much got all of
it.”

Dawn sighed in frustration. “What were you
doing with the Prime?”

Their ‘relationship’ was out, so it couldn’t
hurt to tell the truth, minus the dirty parts and the I’m-a-freak
stuff. “Rhyse was the guy. The guy I found. It wasn’t a wannabe, it
was him, but I couldn’t tell anyone. Someone tried to dust him but
didn’t get it right. All I did was fix him up a little bit and,
since he needed a date to the party, I went. Sorry I lied to
you.”

“Did you
feed
him?”

“A little. It’s complicated.” She needed out
of this conversation. Nothing she could say was safe.

“Is he taking you right away, or do you get a
couple days to finish things up first?”

Taking me?
Well…she’d already been
taken. Multiple times. And she’d probably be taken again a few more
soon. “That’s complicated, too.”

“Are you his full-time or not?” Since when
did Dawn speak in tongues?

“His full-time what?”

“Full-time toy.”

Addison flinched. “I’m not a toy.”

“If the Prime of North America wants you to
be a toy, you’re a toy. You just get to stay somewhere nicer than
the boxes.”

Oh shit, she hadn’t thought about it. If
this…whatever it was with Rhyse continued, how would that work?
She’d keep her place, wouldn’t she? Did she even get a choice? She
didn’t want to be kept. They’d jumped over all intelligent and
important discussions about ramifications or any kind of timeline,
and gone straight to the fun stuff.

“I guess I’m not sure what I am,” she
said.

Dawn dropped her voice to a whisper. “Listen,
just because you saved him doesn’t mean he’s going to treat you
well. They don’t work like that. If he gets rough, call me. We’ll
figure something out.”

“He’s the Prime, Dawn. What could we possibly
figure out?”

“Just…just let me know, okay?”

“Sure.” Addison didn’t bother asking about
the Treaty fiasco or what rumors were going around. Primarily
because most of them would probably be about
her
. After all,
why focus on the beings who were murdered when you can gossip about
who’s fucking who?