Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
“Great,” Leigh muttered around a mouthful of sandwich. “Bureaucracy and long-lost relatives. What could possibly go wrong next?”
I really wished she’d stop asking questions we didn’t want the answers to.
Despite our tension over the looming ODL threat, landing in Texas went off without a hitch. It had been four days since our escapade in Colorado, we were about done packing, and there was not a whisper of trouble in the wind. No sign of ODL retribution, or even the fact that they knew Brielle was the omega.
Meanwhile, the little plane-
of death, Leigh added any time it was mentioned-had left, replaced by the full-sized Pack Blackwater jet, awaiting our convenience at the nearby private airport. The Johnson City pack didn’t have an airstrip or a plane of their own.
My days were spent tying up loose ends together as a pack, but my nights were spent in my room with Dirge, making love and listening to classical composers until we drifted off in each other’s arms. It was a little slice of paradise in the midst of turmoil, and each time we came together, a little more of our mate markings filled in. Mine had completed, finally, while Dirge’s were slowly crossing the broad expanse of his chest.
To my surprise, where my marks went straight across, almost like the graceful curve of butterfly wings, Dirge’s extended down, filling in over his left pectoral and skating down his abdomen. His eight-pack was starting to take on color, and I waited eagerly each night to see what would happen next, even though I hated that the markings hurt him.
I was pulling on my second-favorite blue sneakers when Dirge cleared his throat from the doorway. The scent of strong coffee and hazelnut creamer wafted my way, and I think I fell in love with him a tiny bit more. He was enjoying our foray into domesticity, and in between helping me haul boxes, he was studying my every move so he could learn how I liked things. He’d been working on my coffee order yesterday, and from the smell of it, he’d nailed it.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked, passing me the coffee once I straightened.
“Just reflecting, thinking about how different it is having you here with me than it was before.”
“Good different, I hope.”
I stood as I sipped the coffee, closing my eyes at the perfect blend of sweetness and depth. “Very good different.”
He stepped up behind me and slipped his arms around my waist. “Well, I’ll just have to keep working until I get to excellent, then.” He rumbled low in his chest, a contented sound, as I leaned back into him. “What do you have left to pack?”
I sighed. “Me? Nothing. We all agreed to leave the furniture, and we took the last load of boxes last night after the pizza break. My instruments will be the last thing to load up on the day of. Alpha Todd’s second has our transfer paperwork finalized. All three of us have to go sign at noon.”
“Are you sad about the piano?” he asked.
I shrugged. “A little, but I got it secondhand, and it’s over the weight limit for the pack jet with all our other stuff. I’ll just have to buy one locally once we’re settled down. At least I’ll have my keyboard with us now.”
He nodded gravely. “We’ll get you a new one. A fancy one, on me, and you can pick out anything you want.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I’m not spending your money. I have a little bit in savings, and the music store is buying this one back from me.” He opened his mouth as if to argue, but I cut him off. “In the meantime, I really need to go help Leigh. She doesn’t have a mate, and she’s got way more stuff than me. Maybe more than me and Bri put together.”
He chuckled. “I can swing by this afternoon to lend a hand, but Kane’s asked any of us who are free to visit his loaner office. Apparently, he’s expecting forensic results on the knife and wants to debrief with his people working on Alpha Varga and things overseas.”
“Do you want me to come?” I spun in his grip so I could look up at him, careful not to slosh a precious drip of my hazelnutty perfection.
“Entirely up to you. If you want to help Leigh, I can fill you in after?”
“Deal,” I said with a nod. Dirge smiled and pressed a kiss to my lips.
When we parted ways in the hall, I was humming the tune that had been playing on repeat in my brain since my night of meditation. Each time, a little more detail filled in, the song growing more complex. And now I finally had my instruments back to work on it.
FORTY-THREE
Dirge
Kane’s loaner office was barely bigger than a broom closet, and with four of us squished in there-Brielle had also opted to help Leigh pack, rather than deal with politics and investigations-it was about one degree of separation from a sardine can.
Kane seemed a bit peeved as he dug through a pile of papers on his temporary desk, but I was enjoying our time in Texas. Not the heat; that could fuck right off. But getting a glimpse into Shay’s normal life, learning about my girl? That was something I would happily spend all my time doing.
I was the last one in, so I shut the door carefully behind me, then stood in front of it. It was that or Gael’s lap, and we weren’t that close. Yet. He was growing on me, slowly, especially knowing that he cared about Leigh.
Reed sighed, smacked Kane’s hand back, and efficiently flicked through the papers. He paused on one, then pulled it from the stack and handed it to Kane without a word.
“Thank you,” he murmured, scanning the page with a furrowed brow. “What is Midazolam?” He questioned the four of us, but I had no idea. “The lab results on the knife are in with the DNA, but they also found a coating of Midazolam along the blade, mixed with Shay’s blood, and a codeine pain reliever. Why the fuck would an assassin put a pain reliever on his blade before stabbing someone?”
“I’m more curious what the fuck kind of lab will only fax paper results these days?” I asked.
Gael sighed, scrubbing a tired hand over his face. “I think it’s a sedative? We could look it up to be sure.”
“A secure lab that uses government-level secure lines to send and receive transmissions,” Reed said with a droll tone. “Email can be hacked.” His thumbs were already flying over his cell phone, presumably looking up the two medications.
“If they have secure phone lines, they could use them to call us,” Gael muttered.
“Do you really want some scientist to dial you up and rattle off that string of numbers?” Kane held up the page, the diagnostic results enough to make me go cross-eyed.
“Midazolam is a sedative-points to you, Gael-and a preliminary search says that it can have negative interactions when mixed with certain painkillers, such as codeine. The combination can repress breathing or stop it altogether in sufficient doses. This is obviously based on human anatomy, but Brielle would probably know a lot more about interactions with shifter biology.”
Kane’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “So, not poison. But a potentially deadly combination of ordinary medications.”
“Sounds about right,” Reed agreed, sliding his phone back into his pocket.
“Did they test your mother for normal drugs?” I asked, thinking of the mysterious deaths of Kane’s parents. From what they’d filled me in on so far, his father’s blood tests were completely clean, neither of them had any physical wounds, and poison was suspected, though none was detected. The only other option was some sort of magical attack, but even those were hard to execute without a trace or signs of struggle.
“I think… I don’t know. Frankly, that period leading up to their funerals was hazy, a blur of grief and worry. I know there were no actual poisons, though.” Kane cast a quick glance at his top two, who both nodded agreement with his statement. “I’ll ask Brielle tonight what she thinks of the effect that combination could have on wolves.”
“Perhaps they should run both of their labs again, check for a combination similar to this.” I pointed at the paper. “The Drakenia assassins use a lot of tricks that average killers don’t. They’re the best of the best when it comes to hunting magical beings, an elite force you can only hire with a private bank deposit that is more than what most people’s homes cost. With that price tag comes efficiency, a guarantee of discretion, and fancy tracking magic that could locate us in the middle of nowhere on an unscheduled stop.”
Kane nodded solemnly. “We can send the lab in Romania the details and ask for another round of tests. But right now, it’s time to touch base with my contact, Lucien, who met with Alpha Varga yesterday. Can you all stay?”