Electric Moon (7 page)

“We’ll have the whole vehicle towed back to the precinct to
examine, but we were able to match her DMV records as owner of the car. She
lived in the corner apartment building.” He pointed the pen over his shoulder
at a building cloaked in pale light of the streetlamps as he checked his notes.
“We’re checking with the super to find out more. According to him, the shifter
is male and lives at the same residence.”

Raven straightened, and walked around the vehicle, something
nagging at her.

“What do you see?” Scotts was studying her and not the crime
scene.

“She’s been dead for at least six hours.” Only a few hours
after the original crime from just this morning.

Raven squinted to see under the gore, searching for a better
angle. “Do you have a flashlight?”

Scotts barked an order, and one was slapped into her palm.
She shone the light across the woman. Blood and tissue covered her body, the
majority of it the shifter’s.

Pieces of white bone flashed under the light.

After the brief scan, Raven reviewed the corpse from the
head down. The woman’s eyes had clouded over to a milky sheen. Half of her face
had disintegrated, small splinters had shredded her features down to the
tendons and skull. The heat had cooked her face, giving it a waxy appearance.
Layers of skin and flesh were pealed back in stages, making her look like a
plastic model in an anatomy lab.

Her torso appeared in little better shape. Blood saturated the
female’s blouse, obscuring the view, but Raven had seen enough. Even if the
woman had survived the trauma of the explosion, she would’ve bled to death by
the hundreds of individual injuries that littered her body.

There was a stamp of some kind on the back of her hand,
nearly obliterated by her wounds.

Raven didn’t recognize the symbol.

“Well?”

Raven flicked off the flashlight and straightened. “The
impact indicates she was alive when it happened. Most likely the same scenario as
the last location. He suffered some type of pain. She turned to help him when
the incident occurred.”

Raven held out the flashlight. “Do we know if these two are
the first murders?”

Scott’s brows furrowed. “The only ones we’ve found. Why?”

“Shifters are gathering for the full moon. It’s very
coincidental that the murders have started now.” Raven wondered if this could
be the drug Randolph had mentioned.

Alpha.

The conclave would be the perfect place to spread chaos.

Kill off those pesky shifters.

There would be no way to test the shifters as they entered.
Each could be a bomb waiting to happen.

When she surveyed the crowd, Randolph had vanished. She might
not like being the center of his attention, but liked it even less when she
didn’t know where he was at all.

 Chapter Seven

SIX DAYS UNTIL
THE FULL MOON

A
large boom jolted Raven out of the bed before she was fully awake. Power surged
along her body in a massive wave, strong enough to bow her back. Current swirled
in the air as if pulled from the nightmare chasing her, the heat blistering
against her skin.

She cracked open an eye.

Sunshine slashed through the window and hit her full in the
face. She flinched, squinting to preserve her sight, and swore she’d just laid
her head on the pillow.

With bleary eyes, she scanned the room, half expecting the
corpses from her dreams to lunge out from under the bed and clamp their clammy
fingers around her ankles.

Nothing.

There was no threat.

Whatever she’d sensed had vanished with her dreams.

She slowly relaxed then bit back a curse when energy nipped
along her arms and shoulders. As her surroundings filtered to her, she
pinpointed the disturbance.

Damn Durant and his workers.

Her lips curled in a snarl at his high-handed ways. She
didn’t mind the remodeling, but it would’ve been nice to have been asked.

Then she remembered yesterday.

Jackson.

Coldness seeped into her skin, and a twinge of doubt stole
over her. He looked very comfortable, even content to be back with his pack.
His glacial eyes had her question everything that happened between them.

She reluctantly rose and fingered the heavy linen card from
the dresser, the one she’d received from Kevin, knowing she would go to find
out what he was offering.

She had to see Jackson one more time to make sure.

She wouldn’t forgive herself if she just gave up on him until
she was convinced he would be better off without her.

No one in her pack objected when she’d informed them of her
plans to attend the meeting. That Durant had been absent was a non-issue. It
was her decision, and she wouldn’t back down.

Raven picked her outfit with care, selecting clothing that
hid more than revealed. She couldn’t have this lunar craziness affecting her at
the meeting today.

As if his going was a foregone conclusion, London waited for
her in the car, his bulk dwarfing the driver’s seat. Raven shook her head. “We’re
going to have to go shopping for an SUV if people keep showing up.”

He only grunted and slammed on the gas.

Tires spun.

Gravel sprayed.

No one could ever accuse him of being a talkative bastard.

“I think the house is being watched.” She stared out the
window. Shadows moved in the trees as they roared down the driveway, the place
practically a hive of activity.

So far, no one had threatened anyone.

She was determined to keep it that way.

“Daily.” He took a corner without braking, her poor car
nearly going up on two wheels. Raven watched the side mirror, half-expecting to
be followed.

Nothing.

“At least a half a dozen cars pass by the cameras every hour
since you’ve been nominated as a Region and those are the ones that I caught.”
He drove like the rest of the cars should get out of his way.

Horns blared, tires squealed, and she opted not to look out
the windshield to preserve her sanity. “Because of the conclave?”

When the traffic light turned yellow, instead of slowing,
London gunned the accelerator until the little engine screamed in protest.
“Conclave. Unclaimed female alpha. Your election and subsequent job on the
police force.”

His ready answer made her blink. “You knew this would
happen.”

A shrug was the only answer she received. “It’s my job to
know. You had other things to worry about.”

Once again, Raven gave silent thanks to London and his calm
acceptance. She didn’t say anything as they parked the vehicle outside the headquarters
to Pak Pharmaceuticals. They made it in one piece and record time.

The business name was boldly stamped above the door in large
white block letters at least as tall as her. It was not what she’d been
expecting.

Research and development, the perfect place to create an
experimental drug and conduct trials, so very legal-like no one would think
twice.

Her mind flashed to her case, and she wondered if her leap
of logic was a reasonable step or a way for her to unconsciously seek revenge
on the people who’d dared to steal Jackson.

Raven craned her neck to scan the forty floors of the
high-rise. The building was deceptive. Despite feet of concrete and granite, she
could tell the place was teeming with shifters. From the quantity, she bet there
were at least half as many floors located underground.

Sunlight sparkled off the glass. A level of pure concrete
separated every few floors. The place was a fortress dressed in disguise for
human sensibility. She had no doubt the place could withstand a full frontal
attack.

To prevent aggression, meetings of pack leaders were limited
to the alpha and a second. The rules to brokering deals were sacred. If she
messed this up, she could be blackballed from working with other shifters in an
alpha capacity, which would leave her pack vulnerable.

Nerves skimmed along her back as she stood on the sidewalk.
Her animals shifted in unease, but surprisingly remained dormant, possibly
understanding that they the need to remain hidden to protect her.

She took that as a good sign, but not enough to relax her
stranglehold over herself. “Ready?”

London grunted, still clearly not pleased with the lack of
security, even though he was the security. Since they were going into the
wolves’ den, she thought it best to be loaded with bear.

Literally.

When riled, London would turn into a full-grown Kodiak
grizzly. That she suspected he was a hybrid, genetically engineered, merely
increased his value in her eyes, though most saw it as a defect.

Her pack was raised in the labs where each breath was a
struggled to survive. The shifter community fought amongst themselves, but they
never really had to stand alone. They couldn’t survive without the support of
their pack behind them. That gave Raven and London a very important edge they
needed to come out on top.

She took a deep breath and stepped up to the door, only to
halt in surprise when a doorman opened it for her. Clearly they had money and
wealth and weren’t afraid to show it.

The thick glass was bulletproof. The doors reinforced. There
was even a fall back door behind the main desk if the lobby fell in an attack.

Everything inside was marble. One would normally call it
elegant, but the quantity tipped the scales to vulgar. The place would’ve been
a beautiful piece of artwork if you could discount the awful décor.

“Status.”

“What?” Raven continued into the lobby, grateful for
London’s presence when the smell of wet dog threatened to overpower her. Not
appreciating the scent either, her wolf pawed the ground restlessly. The beast
took advantage of her preoccupation to peer through her eyes and assess the
scene.

The unexpected action startled Raven so badly, she stopped and
scrutinize everything around her. The sheer quantity of information filtering
into her brain nearly overwhelmed her. She didn’t care if it appeared she was gawking
as she processed everything.

Her wolf’s vision muted the distracting colors of the human
eyes. Movements were sharper, shadows disappeared, and every predator was
noted, judged and found lacking.

“They’re proclaiming their status amongst other packs.”

His words broke her concentration. Her wolf retreated,
dormant for now, waiting to be called at even the slightest sign of trouble. The
disorientation lasted seconds. Vision restored, Raven snorted at London’s
comment. “More like screaming it at the top of their lungs.”

She continued toward the front desk, resisting the urge to
sneeze and clear her nose. Without waiting for her to speak, the man rose.

 “If you would follow me, Miss Raven, they are expecting
you.”

She tensed at the recognition, so used to her anonymity
throughout the years that being identified on sight disturbed her.

Though slim and unassuming, the sidearm revealed the guard
was prepared for trouble and would take care of it the most efficient way
possible. Not surprising. He was a wolf, the scent of pack all over him in what
smelled like itch weed.

London prodded her in the back, nearly sending her sprawling
when her feet were reluctant to move. “Thanks.”

Teeth flashed. “My pleasure.”

“This way, please.”

They were led down a series of corridors. After
crisscrossing their own path more than once, she decided it was either a test
or they were trying to make sure she couldn’t find her own way. She was betting
on the former.

 “If you could wait here.” The room was blindingly white, the
walls, the floors, the flowers and even the furniture. She saw the refreshment,
but wasn’t tempted closer.

London stood to the side of the door, took the standard
bodyguard pose, and just froze. His uniform of a white shirt and black pants
did nothing to diminish his impressive size. Though he looked bored, she knew
he would come to attention at the least provocation.

The room didn’t really have a smell to it, everything new
and unused. Cocking her head to the side, she closed her eyes and concentrated.
The walls teemed with energy, the wires all but crackling with power. She couldn’t
resist the urge to probe further. She mentally hovered her fingers over the
cables then stiffened when she saw where the electricity pooled.

The room was rigged.

They were being watched.

She withdrew slowly, careful not to trip any wires, leaving
no trace of herself. Turning, she lifted her chin toward the camera artfully
hidden at the top of the picture frame, another in the far corner and a third
hidden in the fireplace.

“Most guests never discover the cameras.” The boy from the
club slipped into the room, his dimple flashing as he spoke. The jeans and
shirt were casual, but not to be mistaken with cheap. They probably cost more
than her car. “Mother’s letting you stew.”

“I suspected.” Raven nodded, doing her best not to show her
surprise at his sudden appearance. He’d been so well guarded at the club, she suspected
no one knew he’d snuck in to talk to her.

He wasn’t as compact has his old man, but he had a few years
of growing left. Given time, she didn’t doubt he’d outstrip his father in
strength. Closely cropped blond hair stood in spikes around his head, and those
ghostly pale blue eyes studied her with unnerving intensity. A twang of discord
simmered around him, same as at the club, but she couldn’t pinpoint what
actually felt off about him.

 “Should you be down here?” The boy didn’t wander away from
the door. When she shifted to sneak a glance at the cameras, she understood. He
was out of range if he remained still.

A security breech? Or done on purpose?

Damn sneaky shifters.

She angled her body so she appeared to be speaking to
London.

“Jackson’s very protective of you.”

She shrugged off the quick surge of hope, but could do
nothing about the way her heart leapt. “As he is of you.”

He shook his head in denial, never taking his eyes off her.
“Not like you. You’re different.”

Footsteps sounded down the hall behind her, and she looked
over her shoulder at the door. When she turned back, the kid was gone.

London came to her side, his chest an impressive expanse of
muscle enough to discourage any inquisitive wolf. “Strange kid.”

“Why do I feel like I’ve just been vetted?”

The door opened before he could reply.

“If you’d follow me.” A different male approached, his suit
impeccably pressed, his shoes shined to a polish, every piece of hair in order.
The man looked so similar to the guard that if he hadn’t smelled slightly
tangier, she would’ve guessed he’d changed clothes.