“So what are you going to do about it?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Nothing is free,” Kate said. “If you want it, you have to fight for it.”
Coming from a woman who had fought off twenty-two shapeshifters to stay by Curran’s side, that was a statement based on experience.
“I’m thinking about it.” Thinking if I wanted to fight for Raphael. What he did to me was cruel. I hurt and I wanted revenge more than anything else. But at the same time, who was I to stand in the way of his new happiness? Whatever Rebecca was giving him, he clearly needed it, otherwise he wouldn’t have made plans for their engagement. “How did your day go?”
“I got some head. It was vamp, but still.”
I stared at her. Kate was the last person I would have expected to make that joke. Well, someone had loosened up since mating. “That good, huh.”
“Yup.”
“I have a glass monster corpse for you. It’s in the freezer.”
Kate grinned a deranged smile. “You shouldn’t have.”
“It’s a bribe for putting up with my psychotic break.”
A car engine roared outside.
“That’s my ride,” Kate said.
The door swung open, and Curran shouldered his way in. Muscular, built like he fought for his life every day—which wasn’t too far from the truth—Curran moved like a beast who knew he was at the top of the food chain. When he walked into a room, he owned it and you knew that if you disagreed, he would prove it to you. Judging by the blood spatter on his T-shirt, he had done it today already.
I rose. It’s polite to afford monarchy its due. If you don’t, they get royally pissy.
Curran’s thick blond eyebrows furrowed. We didn’t really get along that well, mainly because I complicated his life. A good portion of the older shapeshifters believed in killing beastkin, and my existence meant he would have to resolve this prejudice sooner or later. On top of that I was a shapeshifter and I wasn’t in the Pack. He managed to ignore this fact, probably because Kate and I were best friends. However, I had spent the whole day galloping around the city in my beastkin shape. Ignoring me was no longer an option.
Kate stepped next to him and kissed him. He turned to her, focusing on her completely, as if they were alone in the room. That’s what mating meant. It stabbed at me a little. There was a time I’d had that, too.
“Hold on, let me grab the vamp head.” Kate went into the back.
The Beast Lord looked at me. “I see you’ve decided who you want to be.”
“I’m working on it.”
“I’ll see you in a couple of days, then.”
If I didn’t present myself in three days or make some sort of arrangement to do so, he would take it as an open challenge. To present myself, I would have to swallow my pride, put aside the memories of my tormented childhood, and go back to Aunt B, a bouda and the woman I had slapped. The woman who had sent two boudas to thrash me. I would have to bow my head and apologize and ask to be admitted into her clan.
I’d rather eat dirt.
“I hope so,” I said.
“The Pack isn’t so bad, Andrea,” he said quietly. “And loyalty goes both ways.”
“I know,” I said. “I just…I feel like I failed.” What the hell was I doing having a heart-to-heart with the Beast Lord? “I worked so hard at my previous life. Joining the Pack is the last nail in that coffin.”
“The only thing you failed at was pretending to be something you’re not. And you got away with it for a very long time.” Curran shrugged his shoulders. “Nobody in the Pack will judge you for what you are or whose daughter you are. You have my word on it.”
Ascanio emerged into the room and bowed his head. Normally either Kate or Derek gave Ascanio a ride. He couldn’t be trusted with his own vehicle. Today he had the privilege of Curran’s company. I didn’t envy him the car ride home.
Kate came out of the kitchen, carrying a plastic sack. She waved at me and the three of them went into the night, closing the door behind them. The car pulled away.
I was all alone.
I sat down and drained half a bottle of my Georgia Peach Tea in a single long swallow.
To rewrite my life, I had to own all of the choices I’d made and deal with their consequences. I could take off and start over somewhere else. It would be easier. So much easier than bending my knee to my new bitch alpha and seeing Raphael and his happy bride at every clan gathering.
I laughed at the thought. It sounded too bitter and I stopped and headed to the shower instead. The night was still young. It was barely past six-thirty. I could get cleaned and sift through my evidence some more.
From the moment I was born, I learned that I had two choices: to fight or die. I wasn’t the dying type. Atlanta would respect me. The Pack would value me. And Raphael…Well, Raphael would come to regret replacing me, because I would prove to him that I was a much better choice.
CHAPTER 6
I awoke in the closet again.
I kicked off my blanket in disgust. I’d dreamt of being beaten. The memory of the dream fluttered in front of me, still vivid. It was my eleventh birthday, and the older boudas had chased me into an old farm equipment store. I’d hid in a metal drum trough, the kind used to feed the pigs. They’d found me, poured kerosene into the drum, and set me on fire.
I remembered the smell of my hair burning.
I pulled my knees to my chest. My dream wasn’t just a nightmare; it was an actual memory. I had spent years trying to suppress it, but the stress and all the talking with Ascanio must’ve caused it to resurface in my subconscious. I reached over and touched the closet wall to remind myself the dream was over. The sleek paint felt cold to my fingers. Since I made such frequent visits here, maybe I should just move in. Install a toilet, a sink, build myself a nest…heh.
The day was starting outside. It was time to get on with it. I needed to get dressed and visit Anapa’s office. In my human shape. At least the magic was down. If I got irritated, I’d shoot my way out of it.
I left the closet. Outside my window, past the bars, thick gray clouds clogged the sky, promising rain. Against that faded backdrop, the crumpled husks of once-tall buildings hunkered down, dark and twisted, tinseled with green plants stubbornly trying to conquer the crumbling city. On the fringes of the business district graveyard, new construction sprouted, stout buildings of wood and stone, no more than four stories high and built by skilled masons. Human hands, no machines.
In the distance, police sirens wailed. Just another fun morning in post-Shift Atlanta.
I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom. The woman who looked back at me seemed sharper than she’d been yesterday. Meaner. Stronger. Too rough around the edges for most of the things in my wardrobe. Normally I wore jeans, khakis, off-white shirts. Neat professional attire, meant to inspire confidence and communicate safety to prospective petitioners for the Order’s assistance. The motto was confident but nonthreatening.
I was done with being nonthreatening. There had to be something in my closet that fit the new me.
Input Enterprises had a southeast address, on Phoenix Street. Despite the ruined condition of the neighboring blocks, this street was clean of garbage and refuse, brand-new houses lining both sides like soldiers on parade. There must’ve been some serious money behind that rebuilding project, because the houses had been tastefully embellished with cornices and decorative brackets. Even the bars on the bay windows were stylishly ornamental, with metal squiggly shapes. The area clearly was making an attempt at becoming a respectable business district.
I parked the Jeep in a small lot and walked, looking at the building numbers. The overcast sky finally decided to cry on my shoulder. The rainwater turned the asphalt dark. It was good that I wore a hat.
When I found the right number, instead of a building I saw a stone arch with a sign that read INPUT ENTERPRISES on the wall, complete with an arrow pointing inside the arch. Fine.
I walked through the long narrow tunnel and emerged into a wide space. A large patio stretched in front of me, all sand-colored stone, with vegetation confined to narrow rectangular flower beds, running in two lines toward the building in the back. The structure rose three stories high, but the three floors were oversized, pushing the height of the building to a dangerous level. Another foot or two and magic would take notice of it.
The main part of the structure was all modern office: glass, steel, and pristine white stone combined into a sleek elegant whole. The top of the building suddenly broke with the plan and turned into a cupola of glass and crisscrossing metal beams with a golden sheen.
I walked through the front doors. A polished tile floor rolled from where I stood to the marble counter, manned by a receptionist. She was in her early twenties, her makeup was heavy, her suit powder blue, and her pale brown hair was arranged in a picture-perfect French twist. Behind her a large banner affixed to the wall, golden letters on black, read, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOSS!
I walked across the tiled floor. The receptionist looked up and did a double take. I wore a light brown duster. I had left it open in the front, and it showed off my blue jeans, combat boots, black T-shirt, and twin Sigs in the hip holsters. An old cowboy hat sat on my hair.
I stopped by the counter, tipped my hat, and drawled in my native tongue. “Howdy, ma’am.”
The receptionist blinked. “Ehhh, hello.”
“I’m here to see Mr. Anapa.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No. I’m investigating a murder on behalf of the Pack.” I handed her my PI ID.
The receptionist gave me a practiced smile and nodded at the low couches on the right. “Please take a seat.”
“Sure. So boss is having a birthday? Is he throwing a party?” Raphael had mentioned getting an invitation. It nagged at me so I thought I’d check it out.
“It’s tonight,” the secretary informed me.
Ha. Either my guns had made an impression, or nobody had explained to her that she was not supposed to give strange women confidential information. Most receptionists would’ve told me to shove off. “Wonderful. How old is he?”