Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) (16 page)

The last one was from today, Julianne’s irritated voice.

“Drop by the bar before opening.” Then a click as the
phone receiver was slammed down. The phone was pocketed as I wondered
how grandly my screw up had been this time. Both hands beat on the
bar door frame creating dull thudding sounds. Julianne’s level
of trust didn’t extend to giving me a key to the bar. I’m
not sure anyone but her and the bookkeeper had one, she tended to
open and close every night. A vacation in her world meant she just
disappeared after opening.

Wolves are territorial.

The door swung open revealing bookkeeper’s face. His uneven
hair and coke bottle glasses painted a dirty picture.

“She’s in the back.” His pitch was surprisingly
high.

I nodded and showed myself in. Either it was a real job this time, or
an ass chewing.

“What’s up?” Julianne was staring at a number of
order sheets and computer printouts. The back room was home to its
usual paperwork nightmare.

“About time, Jay.” Julianne slid a fresh paperclip on the
latest stack of papers and filed them away. Her chair swiveled around
and she looked up. The height difference was so much easier to see
now. At least her clothes were less revealing, with plain jeans and a
shirt that said ‘Bar wench’ against a black background.

“Want to explain to me why the twenty-third pack Alpha seems to
be upset with you?” She asked. Julianne wasn’t one to
remain idle. Her hands were already digging through more paperwork
and receipts. There was a pen in one of her hands that banged
slightly against the desk in agitation.

I blinked, trying to place which one that was. Officially the packs
had numerical designations like army divisions. They also had their
own names, like sports teams with shifting ranks as things flared up.

“A northern group?” I wasn’t exactly sure which
pack my travels had taken me to. Standing the doorway talking to her
was awkward enough.

“Yes, a” her emphasis unnerving “northern group.
They said you were in park grounds with silver.”

Fidgeting ensued where it was difficult not to put my hands into the
modified leather gloves. Daniel pulled his hair when upset. I got
ready to punch things.

“Gruff leader, graying temples, knows his way around some
wire?” I asked. The man had rather neatly handled one. Enough
to make me shiver just thinking about it.

“Better known as my Grandfather,” She responded.

Hell. Confession time. I said, “I was up there, but not for the
pack.”

“So I gathered. Seems Crummy’s also trying to stir up
crap around their woods. Checking out the sector’s land rights,
reviewing border skirmishes.” Julianne was frowning. The pen
banging on the table went into overtime.

Daniel must have been working hard to find me an opening to get by
the wolves. Too bad it would require the lot of them out of the woods
for a while, and probably a truck to head up that little path.

“I told Daniel he’s on his own with that.”

“Why would he even care? Daniel’s always left the pack
alone.” She set the pen down and looked up at me.

“An elf,” I said.

“It’s not Evan is it?” Evan didn’t sound like
an elf name. Neither did Candy.

“I never got his name.” Because I hadn’t asked,
like a moron. “It’s that blond one.”

“That narrows it down, what with half the elves in the world
being blond, the other half being brunette.” Sun-kissed or
Tree-touched the bottles of dye that humans used to imitate elves.
Grey hairs were Silver River.

“The one you gave me a few weeks back. Picture and the lipstick
tube.”

“Evan.” Julianne was busy putting paperwork back into the
drawers and sighing. I still stood in the doorway and tried not to
fidget.

“Sure.”

“Why’s he got a hard on for Evan?”

“Tied to some missing rich kid, Arnold Regious.”

“Regious? As in owns half the ports on the eastern seaboard,
Regious Enterprises?” She asked. I shrugged again. All these
names so quickly for people I barely knew.

“Don’t know, he’s got some reward money he’s
aiming for, man’s getting married.” A quarter million
that would let him afford some grand wedding. Two hundred and fifty
reasons to celebrate if he found Arnold Regious.

“No shit?” Julianne chewed her cheek and mulled over
everything for a bit. “Gramps says there was no sign of an elf
in the area. I told him to let you back in there to track. Apparently
you riled up his boys,” Her tone mimicked the older Alphas “so
he’s not going for it.”

“Might have had an issue or two.” I wasn’t sure how
she would feel about my little scuffle.

“Good, Stan deserves more than a few friendly knees to the
balls. Fucker.” At least she was happy. Her eyes stared off
into the distance while smiling at the damage I had done. Go me.

“If the pack finds Evan, will you hold off Daniel?”

Only if I had a few hours with the elf first. Daniel only wanted the
rich kid anyway, not Evan or whatever his elven name was. Probably
Evil’dinosuar Dandelion or something girly sounding.

“Sure. Daniel only wants the elf.” I said.

She smiled and pulled out a notepad with tiny lettering on it. “Deal.
Now I’ve got something else for you.”

“Something boring?” I asked as my back straightened. This
actually sounded kind of interesting.

“Cleaning up another mess you caused,” She said. Scratch
the interesting idea. This sounded terrible.

“Which one?” I groaned.

“A certain wife of one Francis Sauter seems to feel you’d
be perfect in finding her husband.”

“She can’t track her own husband?”

“Jude,” Yet another new name. Damn Julianne for
complicating my life. “believes you should clean up your mess,
and I agree. I did say rounds, no violence, and you managed to cause
a scene.” Julianne heaped the problems against me.

“I didn’t cause anything, I asked for Francis, got some
interference, and backed out.” I said. Getting a wolf in
trouble with his pack wife was an effective reminder.

“Sure, except he cleaned out the family’s accounts and
vanished.” She kept talking while unlocking another cabinet.

That amount of balls deserved a whistle. “How much?”

“Between savings, retirements, and some bonds. Four hundred
thousand. Ish.” Julianne said. Jude’s upset response was
justified. That wasn’t chump change. That was a house or two.
College money and future trips. Vacations and cars.

“He’s a wolf, isn’t the pack in on this?” I
asked.

“She got him exiled.” Julianne responded. A second
whistle came forth. Jude had switched to full on bitch mode. She had
pull. That dollar would normally put every single pack member on
alert for miles. Francis had probably broken bonds as the exile went
through. This was the kind of job I could get behind. Hunting down
some scum of a husband who took their family’s entire life
savings sounded fun.

“Why not track their own?”

“Politics, power struggles, and he’s staying human in
second-hand clothes. They could use your kind of tracking.”

“Rules?” I asked.

“Bring him alive and the money if you can, Alpha will settle
for money and him dead, or him alive and a damned good excuse about
the cash.”

“How much did he owe?”

“Around fifty,” She said.

I raised an eyebrow at her in question. Did she want me to intercept
her portion? It wasn’t unusual. Julianne shook her head.

“Hand it to the pack, I’ll seek compensation through
them. Should be easy as long as you bring him in before anyone else
does.” Julianne shook her head slowly before sighing longingly.
Money was her third favorite thing.

“And?”

“Normal cut on the fifty.” It would work out to be five
thousand, not a ton, but certainly good enough for a night’s
work. Not to mention I had been dying for something solid again,
something to prove to myself and Julianne that I was ready for real
jobs.

“Alright. I’m in.” My head nodded slowly.

“Make sure you’re ready for this one. That kind of money
buys friends, probably paying them to stand in the way while he
escapes.”

“I can’t wait.” I said while one hand fidgeted
inside the pocket. Fingers slowly crept through the leather. Delicate
brushing of the metalwork helped curb my growing excitement. Finally
a chance at something real, a real hunt. Not an excuse to escape
Kahina, not a cheap paycheck, not Daniel’s weird elf. It
required nothing more from me then to be let loose.

The irony of hunting a wolf wasn’t lost on me.

Julianne handed me a small velvet pouch. One she’d kept due to
Francis’ gambling debts. Fingernail clippings and hair
trimmings. The more someone owed, the more she stored for a rainy
day. It was like part of her business revolved around the expectation
that I would be around. Maybe she just expected me back sooner or
later to pick up where I left off.

“Francis Sauter. One wolf, dead or alive, officially he’s
wanted alive.” She paused for a moment and I stared into her
brown and red eyes. “This is unofficial, Jay, but the Alpha
would rather have him dead. If you don’t, they will. He screwed
with one of the few females this pack has, and she outranks him, find
the money, go Biblical, no one will press charges.”

It might be a crime if this world had only been populated by one
race. But we had four different sets of tendencies, views, beliefs.
Vampires held no qualms about removing enemies. Elves were only civil
on the surface. Wolves and their pack minds would cut out a foul
influence like it was cancer.

I looked at Julianne for a moment with an overwhelming grin. She had
okayed unrestrained action. And removing scum didn’t bother me.

“‘Bout time you started treating me like a human.”

I paused and covered my teeth up out of habit. Julianne was a wolf
wasn’t she? We had talked about it. She had probably switched
years ago. The woman moved like pack, acted like one, had every tell
tail sign.

“You’re not pack?” I asked.

“Not as long as I own this bar.” She had never actually
gone furry in front of me. Her not being pack made sense. Instincts
were worse in their females, and wolves were territorial. People
wandering into the bar would’ve set her on edge.

“Hell.”

“Jay, call Kahina before you go. Also, if he does have friends,
they’re to stay alive, especially if they’re human. We
don’t need Sector involved if it becomes interracial.”
Pack could order hits on their own, the other governments wouldn’t
have a say.

Julianne handed me a card with Kahina’s phone number scribbled
on it. I nodded and left with barely a wave. The idea of back-up
dampened the excitement.

I dialed Kahina’s number while standing outside. She used to
insist on helping with occasional jobs. Thrill seeking or rebelling
against her father. This wouldn’t be us as a couple, but maybe
exchanging more than a few words.

The phone picked up quickly.

“Who is this?” A snotty sounding male answered.

“Put Kahina on the phone.” I said.

“Who is this?” The voice asked again, managing to sound
even more arrogant.

“Who is this?” I asked back.

“I’m her second.”

I tried to think of what that meant in vampire terms. Next in line
for the house? Kahina had a house going? She had been working towards
one. It took a lot of pull and political power to form a house
independent from all the already established ones. Guess the fancy
mansion I had seen wasn’t just for show.

“Great to meet you.” It wasn’t. “Put Kahina
on the phone or I’ll let her know that her second” and I
tried to say it with the same sneer he had. “should be
replaced.”

It was hard enough bringing myself to call, dealing with a brown
nosing idiot wasn’t helping. The voice on the other line
paused. Probably doing that stupid motionless thing that all partial
vampires did when they were thinking too hard.

“One moment.” The second responded.

I waited, reconsidering my attempt to reach out. The phone picked up
again before second thoughts got the better of me.

“I’m sorry, she seems to be away currently. Can I leave a
message?” He didn’t sound sorry. Jerk.

“Where is she?”

“It’s not my business to pry.”

“Guess,” I said.

“I would assume the same place she’s been every night she
finds herself free, searching for her cowardly former boyfriend.”
The arrogant man responded.

I hung up. Hopefully, he would feel a moment of indignation about
being cut off. Jerk. I wasn’t cowardly, I was sensibly wary.

The woman had her pick of guys in the world. After four years you
think she would’ve moved on. Unless she was still fixated after
a single taste of my blood. Fixation, lust, desire, none of those
things were enough. Relationships are too fucking complicated.

My phone got pocketed and I checked out the velvet pouch. Trying to
contact Kahina had nearly turned something simple into a convoluted
mess. I just had to track Francis, disable him, find the money, and
return each to their fate. A connection started to form almost
instantly as my senses kicked in.

Moments later I knew exactly where Francis was. He sat in a darkened
hotel room clutching a train ticket. Picking out the date and time
was too fine a detail for my senses.

Tracking him had revealed a few surprises. Three others, armed with
guns, stood guard outside his room. They had been babbling to each
other about how easy this job was. Their words feverish and annoying.
I learned that their job ended tomorrow morning.

Francis was still in town, earning that idiot label, and might be
gone in the morning. The darkened room would prevent elves from
casting visions to track him. The change of clothes would prevent
wolves. Neither precaution stopped me.

His wolf nature was probably conflicted about abandoning a territory.
Instincts were working in my favor, but if he was torn up about
leaving then he was likely on edge. Jumpy, prone to poor choices.
Desperate.