Last Chance (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 3) (33 page)

Logan gave me a chilling glare. Uh-oh. That didn’t bode well for me after all this nonsense was said and done. I’d pissed him off. And from the looks of it, Saleem was equally upset with me. “What? Not you too?” I asked. The glacial glares didn’t warm even a degree. “I was just trying to protect you.”

“Because of the file?” Logan asked.

“Yes,” was all I was willing to say. I wasn’t in any condition for a good fight. Maybe later, when I’d rested.

Logan’s expression softened a little, and I took that as a good sign. Grams was fussing over Niko and beckoned Drake to help take her unconscious son to her bedroom. Once he was comfortable, they both returned, Grams with a worried look on her face.

I knew how she felt. There was no time to rejoice that her son was alive. The problem we faced right now was what was he doing for Omega and what did Omega want with Mom? And what connection did Omega have with the Wraith rebellion?

“So what now?” asked Logan, his tone now unaffected and totally professional.

“High Council debrief,” said Grams.

“Do they need me and Drake?” asked Mel, getting to her feet and giving her cell phone a glance. “I need to go. I have an ongoing case that I’m looking into, and something’s just come up.” She waved her phone in the air as if unsure what to do.

“Of course, you need to go, dear. I don’t think the High Council will be too upset at your absence. You don’t work for Omega.”

Mel gave us all a weak smile and an equally weak wave before bustling out the door with her Gargoyle in tow. He gave me an odd look as they left, and my panther hearing picked up his words.

“Typical,” he growled.

“What’s typical?” Mel asked softly as their footsteps took them to the first flight of stairs down.

“Just when I find myself a nice, decent, hot woman, she happens to be taken.”

Mel’s tinkling laughter rang out as they descended the stairs, followed by a gruff, “Shut up,” from the Gargoyle.

I was smiling to myself when I became aware they’d asked me a question. I glanced around the group. “What? What did I miss?”

“I was asking you if you prefer the High Council come here, or would you like to go to see them?”

“I’ll go in. I don’t want Mom disturbed.”

Grams nodded. “Don’t worry about her. They have a good doctor looking after her. And once that boy wakes up,”—she gave her room door a dark look that said Niko was in deep shit when he woke—”he’s going to have some explaining to do. Especially regarding Celeste’s treatment.”

“He’ll be awake soon. All he received was a blow to the back of the neck.” My voice clearly was cold as I gave the door an even darker glare

Grams snorted. “That was less than what he deserved.”

“Gee, please don’t ever sit on a jury if I’m on trial for anything,” said Logan, his eyes laughing.

Grams waved him off. “Will you two also go to HQ?”

They both nodded.

My stomach tightened. “But, Grams, what if they arrest them?” The thought had been bothering me ever since Grams had filled me in on the High Council’s presence.

“What for? Just being employed by Omega? I think not.”

“I suspect they’re going use this opportunity to turn us into double agents,” said Logan, his expression dark and worried.

“You know what my take on that is,” said Saleem firmly. Something else was happening here and I had no clue what.
Mental note to ask Logan later.

“So shall we get this over and done with?” Both nodded and Saleem offered each of us an arm.

***

We arrived at the building and headed to the front door. The High Council had chosen a quiet residential area as their location, which I thought was a subtle touch. The house was located in one of the older parts of Chicago where the streets were still cobbled and the light posts were styled after old lanterns. Morning light gleamed on the stones of the street, teasing away the inky darkness from the night sky.

Up the concrete stairs, Logan raised the ancient lion’s head knocker, tapping it a few times. A few seconds passed, and just as Logan raised his hand to knock again, the door opened. An older woman answered, blond hair streaked gray, pulled back in a severe bun, black-rimmed glasses on her long nose as she studied us through the glass.

“How may I assist you?” she asked, her voice crackling like electricity lived in her throat.

“Kailin Odel to see the High Council as requested,” I said.

The woman’s eyes widened. Then she nodded and waved us inside, closing the door softly behind us. “Please wait a moment while I get someone to attend to you.” I nodded, but she was already gliding out of the room.

We weren’t made to wait too long.

Voices traveled to us down the passageway, and two men entered the room. The first, tall, slim, with auburn hair and a pair of glasses that distorted his eyes, gave us a nod. “Thank you for coming. We do appreciate your assistance in this matter.”

I nodded and stared at him, waiting for this debrief to happen and be over. The second man cleared his throat. He was shorter and stubbier, with thinning black hair that he combed over his gleaming skull in a vain attempt to hide his baldness. “This is Michael Carter, and I’m David Horner. We are both members of the High Council. If you will follow me, we can talk in private. I hope you don’t mind, but we do prefer to interview each of you separately.”

He got nods all round. None of us minded. Then he gave us a thin smile that I assumed meant he was satisfied with our response. He turned and walked out and down the passageway. He reached a set of stairs with two flights, one going up and the other down. We followed Horner down the carpeted stairway and exited into an extremely clinical office area, so different form the warm wood and old furnishing of the upstairs.

Here, white walls and white-painted furniture gave an air of clinical indifference, but I refused to allow that to make me wonder what I’d gotten myself into.

I was shown into the first room while Carter led the guys farther down the row. Howard motioned for me to enter, and I took a seat in a room that looked identical to the one we’d transported into at Sentinel HQ. Horner seated himself on one of the chairs in front of me and glanced at the door. Seconds later, Carter appeared and took the spare seat.

He leaned forward and said, “Now, Ms. Odel, could you run through everything that happened to lead you to finding your mother at the facility in Nevada?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Everything?” I was annoyed now. I thought I was the one that was going to be filled in, but they were asking nicely and they were the High Council. Who was I to lie to them?

Both men nodded, and Horner said, “Take your time. And just so you are aware, this meeting is being recorded. It makes things so much easier. I’m sure you’ll agree.”

I merely nodded, registering the unsaid warning in his tone, and began my tale with the skinned Walker I’d discovered in the garden behind the rehab center. I followed the events from Niko’s involvement to how the Wraiths featured in my investigation, the drug distribution ring, and Widd’en. When I described my visit to the Greylands, both men raised their eyebrows, but neither said a word. I covered Greer’s death at Brand’s hands and going to Wrythiin to look for Mom.

I finished the story with our extraction from the Nevada facility. Both men sat back for a moment, still processing everything I’d said. I’d deliberately left out key information that I wasn’t prepared to discuss with them. Like Logan and his fire troubles, my whole Niamh issue, and the blood promise that hung over my head like the blade of a guillotine.

Horner cleared his throat and leaned forward. “Thank you for being so frank with us. I know you don’t have any obligation to speak to us, so we appreciate it.” I merely nodded. “The reason you and your associates have been brought in for debriefing is, of course, the organization to whom that facility belongs.”

There was a moment of silence that I let pass. I wanted them to talk, so I said nothing.

Carter rested his elbows on the table. “Are you at all aware of who owns this facility?”

I shook my head and chose to lie. “I thought it belonged to the Wraiths.” Then I frowned, remembering that both Saleem and Logan would be answering these questions too. “But while I was at the facility, I saw something that made me wonder.”

“And what was that?” asked Carter.

“Stationery with the Omega letterhead.” There, I’d said it. And from the looks on the two men’s faces, I’d chosen the right option in the truth. They were both nodding.

“Thank you for your honesty. We have suspected the place belonged to Omega, and when we heard that Sentinel might send someone out there, we sent a directive for them to stay put.” That explained Cassie and Larsson. “Obviously, we had no say in your Omega team members, so we just let it go, hoping things wouldn’t blow up in your faces. But fortunately, it seems your team got out safely and you have Celeste safe and sound. In addition, you also brought us Niko Odel, who will be trialed for his crimes.”

I nodded and sat back, hoping this was the end of it.

But Horner spoke. “We need to be honest about our intentions here too. We will be requesting the two Omega operatives to perform some investigations on our behalf. You don’t work for them, but I just thought you should know what our request is.”

“Can they say no?” I asked, suspecting these men were entirely capable of strong-arming both my friends.

But they both shook their heads. “We are aware of the way Omega operates. There may be reasons for either or both of these young men to decline to help us, and we see no reason to hold that against them.”

I was relieved, but I suppressed my sigh and waited. I got the feeling these two were waiting to ask me something else. And when Carter met my gaze, I could almost guess what he was going to ask. “Will you consider working for the High Council?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again, a little unsure if they wanted an immediate answer. “Do I have time to think about it?”

“Of course. You have a week before we will need your answer. I have to be honest, Ms. Odel. We do need your skills. So please, think seriously about it.”

“I’ll be working for Sentinel?” I asked, curious as what the whole process would be.

Carter shook his head. “No. You will belong to an elite task force that works directly for the High Council.”

That was a surprise. I stared at them, a little confused but a little impressed too. “Okay, I’ll think about.”

When they both got to their feet, I was both relieved and at odds with myself. I remained silent as I walked with them to the waiting room. They took their leave quickly and politely and then left me to my own devices.

Logan appeared not too long after, and he took a seat beside me. He sat so close that his thigh pressed against mine. I looked up at him and laughed. “There’s plenty of space on the sofa. Do you have to sit on top of me?” I shook my head at him.

All he did was stare at me and say, “Sitting on top of you wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.” The words sent a flash of heat rippling though me. The man didn’t have a sense of place.

“We’re in the High Council’s headquarters. Have some respect,” I scolded, my face hot.

“What?” he asked, looking around at the four corners of the room. “Do you think they have cameras?”

“How would I know? If I were them, I certainly would. And not the kind any layman would be able to find.”

“Ah, secret cameras. Even more intriguing.” He’d lowered his voice until it had a husky rumble to it.

“Will you just behave yourself?” I snapped, trying to keep a straight face.

“Can I at least hold your hand? That wouldn’t get us in trouble, would it?” He sounded so innocent as he made his request, but I knew he couldn’t be trusted.

I narrowed my eyes, watching his face, but his was pure innocence. “Fine. That’s all you get.”

He grinned and slipped his hand into mine. Then he threaded his fingers between mine and held tight. The action was intimate, bringing my fingers as closely to his as humanly possible. Then he let go and began to run his fingers through mine, in and out in a way that made me blush.

Just hold my hand my ass. The brute was dead set on embarrassing us in front of the High Council.

“Why, Kai, you look a little hot to me,” he whispered into my ear, his warm breath blowing a tendril of hair loose from the tie at the back of my neck.

“I warned you to behave.”

“Or what?” he whispered. “Will you spank me?” He spread his fingers and ran them down mine, heat sparking all the way from the tips of my fingers to my thighs.

I laughed as I tried to glare at him. “What’s gotten into you? Did they give you funny water to drink while interrogating you?” Then my eyes widened as he drew his fingers back along mine and pulled them tight. “I know. You’re a shape-changer pretending to be Logan. That’s it.”

“I’m not pretending to be anyone, as you well know. What I am pretending is to be in control. In fact, I’m not so sure how much longer I can control myself.” His hand went out then in again, the heat in my core rising to melting point.