Secret of the Wolf (6 page)

“Lily, I can—”

When she raised one eyebrow she reminded him so much of their mother that he fell silent. Lily looked satisfied with his reaction and went into the house.

Dante pushed his plate out of the way and answered his phone. “MacMillan.”

“It’s Tobias.”

Tobias Caine, the only vampire friend Dante had.

“What’s up?” Dante stood and walked to the edge of the patio, making sure to stay in the shade.

“I’ve been talking to Tori, and she’s hit a wall on that, ah, unresolved matter of a few months ago.”

He could only be talking about the rift device. Dante knew Tobias had given it to Tori, who had experience with various types of radios. From what Tobias had told him, she’d been some sort of radio communications officer during World War II. He tried not to think too hard about that, because then he’d be focused on how long she’d been alive and his head would explode. “What’s the problem?”

“It’s apparently more computerized than she’s comfortable with. I need you to give her a hand if you don’t mind.”

Mind? Dante had been itching to get his hands on that little gizmo. Plus, it would give him an excuse to see Tori outside of work.

He scowled. It had been only about five hours ago that he’d told himself to lay off those kinds of thoughts. Yet here he was… “Sure, no problem.” He was satisfied with how nonchalant he managed to sound. “Does she know you’re asking me to help?”

“I just got off the phone with her. She sounded pleased.”

“Did she now?” Dante pondered that a moment. Tori had been overt in her interest in him, which could cause all kinds of problems in and of itself. He wasn’t ready to commit, for one thing. For another, she could kill him in an unguarded moment, or bite him and turn him into a werewolf. He was happy being human and really didn’t care to change. On the other hand…she was funny, sexy, and intelligent. Completely his kind of woman, and he was an idiot not to pursue her. Crap. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.

“I think she likes you.” Tobias’s deep voice held humor.

The last thing Dante wanted was to be teased by his bloodsucking friend. “What’s not to like?” he responded, keeping his tone flippant.

Tobias’s snort came across the line loud and clear. “One of these days that devil-may-care attitude of yours is going to be knocked for a loop.”

Dante forced a laugh. “Maybe, chief. Maybe.” He glanced at his watch. “How soon do you need me on this?”

“We’re still keeping it off the radar, so there’s no need for you to go racing over to her place, even though I know you want to,” he added on a dry note. “But I’d like you two to hook up in the next couple of days.”

So in spite of his trying to play it cool, Dante obviously hadn’t fooled his friend. He cleared his throat. “No problem. I’ll just wait for Tori to give me the word.”

“That’ll work. Oh, and I still haven’t told her where I got the thing. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“You don’t trust her?”

“Eventually, just not right now.” Tobias sighed. “He’s so close. The fewer people who know Natchook is behind this rift thing, the better chance I have of finally catching him. Okay?”

“Yeah, fine.”

Tobias started to ring off but Dante stopped him. “How’s Nix?” Dante asked.

There was a slight hesitation, then the vampire said, “She’s adjusting. Slowly.” He paused. “I appreciate your giving her some space. It’s been only a few months since her turning. She definitely needs to take it easy for a while, so she’s not seeing any visitors. I know her—she’d feel like she had to put on a brave face, especially with a former colleague, even though you two are friends,” he added. “It would make things worse.”

“I understand.” Dante blew out a breath. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do, okay?”

“You got it.” Tobias cleared his throat. “Listen, maybe give her a buzz in a week or two.”

After Tobias ended the call, Dante slipped his phone back into its holder on his belt and returned to the table. He picked up his plate and cup and carried them into the house. In the kitchen, he rinsed the plate off and put it in the dishwasher.

“You are going to make some lucky woman a wonderful wife,” Lily quipped from behind him.

He twisted to face her. “I thought you were gonna lie down for a while.”

“I’m going. I’m going.” She stifled a yawn. “Come get me if I’m not up in an hour.”

“All right.” Dante pasted an agreeable expression on his face. If she was still sleeping in an hour, there was no way he was going to wake her.

“I mean it.” Lily wagged her finger at him. “If I nap the afternoon away I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight.”

 “Okay. I got it,” he said when she stood there looking at him. “If you’re not up in an hour I’ll come get you.”

“You’d better.” She sent him one last warning glare. Then her face softened and she walked over and gave him a tight hug. “I love you.”

He put his arms around her and held her until she pulled away. He lightly flicked the tip of her nose, grinning at her exaggerated scowl, then watched as she walked back to her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Dante went into the dining room and stared down at the computer parts on the table. He really should get this mess cleared up. The circuitry on the motherboard directed his thoughts toward the rift device again. And Tori.

Just the fact that she had the device put her in danger. Right now only four people on the planet knew she had it, but secrets had a way of getting out. The sooner they knew what it did and how it worked, the sooner they could get it back to Tobias and let him deal with disposing of it.

Tori was a werewolf and therefore probably more capable of protecting herself than Dante was, but that didn’t stop him from worrying.

Tori dropped the last two bags of groceries on the kitchen counter. She’d had her five-mile run earlier this morning, while it was still relatively cool, then ran a multitude of errands, including shopping for food. The local neighborhood market had been a madhouse. Everyone who worked during the week tried to do all their shopping on Saturday, parking their carts in the middle of every freaking aisle. It made her crazy, how many times she’d had to say “Excuse me” while subduing the urge to run her cart into people when they’d had the chutzpah to look at her like she was the rude one because she’d politely asked them to move out of the way.

She’d also dropped by council headquarters to see how Barry was faring. He’d been calm but resigned, not looking forward to the upcoming full moon but knowing there was nothing he could do at this point except get through the ordeal as best he could.

She knew what he faced, because she’d been subjected to the punishment of silver binding during a full moon before, nearly a century ago, and it was something she’d reserve only for her very worst enemy. She could only hope that someone as sensitive as Barry would get through this without breaking. There’d be a part of him, the good, decent part, that might not survive the ordeal.

She put everything away and took a deep breath, the silence of the house thundering in her ears. Rand hadn’t come home last night, and it worried her. Not that he couldn’t look after himself, but as far as she knew he hadn’t made friends yet. If he had, he hadn’t told her about any of them, which worried her even more.

The kind of friends you didn’t tell your big sister about were the kind of friends who got you into trouble.

Tori opened the fridge and leaned on the door, staring inside. She was hungry—she’d bought a lot more than she should have and everything had looked so good at the store. Now nothing seemed appetizing. But in just a little bit she’d need to get dinner started. She just wished she knew if she should fix dinner for one or two.

With a sigh she pulled out a small can of veggie juice, downing it in three long gulps. After tossing the can into the recycling bin, she scooped her wallet and keys off the counter and headed toward her bedroom. She opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks. “Rand!”

Her brother gave a start and looked up from the small black device he held in one hand. “Uh, hey, Tori.”

With deliberate movements and never taking her eyes off her brother, she put her wallet and keys on the dresser. He’d been so quiet she’d had no idea he was home. “What are you doing in here?”

He shrugged but didn’t do a very good job of hiding his nervousness. “Just wanted to see why you’re always holed up in your room.” He glanced at the small device in his hand. “So, what is this?” His voice was matter-of-fact and filled with just enough nonchalance to make her even more suspicious. For him to have found that device where she’d hidden it in the toe of her hiking shoe meant one of two things. Either he’d been spying on her and had seen her hide it, or he’d searched her room, which meant he was sneakier than she remembered. It also meant she needed to find another hiding spot.

She held out her hand and waited until he placed the device on her palm before she said, “It’s just a little something I’m trying to fix for a friend.” It was her turn to give a nonchalant shrug. “Nothing earth-shattering.”

“Maybe I could help?”

Tori stared at him. “I don’t think so.” She forced a smile. “But thanks, though.” She curled her fingers around the cell phone–sized contraption and, as he got up from her bed, asked, “What do you want for dinner?”

Another shrug. “I can just grab a couple of steaks from the fridge.”

“I’m talking about a
cooked
dinner, Rand. One where we sit down and eat together. As a family.” She’d missed gathering around the table, eating and talking with her loved ones. She tended to make friends easily, but it wasn’t the same as having people who were your flesh and blood. And while technically Rand’s “flesh and blood” was that of a stranger, his soul was as familiar to her as her own.

Her brother rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and family meals?” Disdain colored his tones. “It’s not like our family meals were all that special before.”

They obviously had different memories of those days. “I’ve missed you,” she murmured, wondering what her brother had experienced here on Earth that had made him so aloof. “Tell you what,” she said as she slid her hands into her front pockets. “I’ll grill up a couple of steaks and we can catch up. What do you say?”

His sigh was less than enthusiastic. “Fine. Just don’t expect me to eat salad or anything like that.”

She rolled her eyes. “How about a couple of rare steaks and a baked potato?”

“All right.” He walked out of her room.

Tori waited until his footsteps faded before she pulled the rift device out of her pocket. Now, to find a better hiding place for this thing, then on to tackle dinner with a brother who didn’t seem to want to be anywhere near her.

When she was sure Rand was sulking in his bedroom, the door closed, she went into the kitchen and carefully wrapped the gadget in cellophane, then put it in a baggie and shoved it down into the canister of flour. Rand didn’t cook; she had no fear that he’d find it hidden there.

Half an hour later they sat down at the dining room table, both with a rare steak, baked potato, and green peas on their plates. Rand ate his eight-ounce steak in about six bites and reached to fork over another steak from the serving platter.

Tori set down her fork and took a drink of water. “So,” she said, trying not to sound like she was desperate to fill the silence that felt as awkward as walking in heels for the first time. “I hope you’ve decided to stay in town, at least for a little bit. It’s nice having you around.”

Rand played with his peas before scraping several onto his fork. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He shoveled the peas into his mouth and cut into his steak. “No offense, but I don’t think I want to live with you.” He met her gaze. “I want to be on my own.”

She fought back the hurt shredding her gut like sharp blades. The one person in this town who was family, and he didn’t want to be with her. She understood the desire to be independent, but this felt like something more than that. Deciding to get it all out in the open, she clasped trembling hands in her lap and leaned forward slightly. “What have I done to you, Rand?”

Her brother raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“We haven’t seen each other since right before we were put into the holding cells, and we stayed in there for years before getting sucked through the rift. I’ve missed you, yet you don’t seem to feel the same way,” she said, her voice husky.

He bit his lip and glanced down at his plate. “I did miss you, Tori. I did.” He looked up again. “Let’s just take this one day at a time, okay?”

“Okay.” Tori picked up her fork again and watched Rand do the same. He separated some peas from the rest and then with his knife pushed them onto his fork. She watched him do this a few times before she realized he gathered six peas onto his fork before shoving them into his mouth. Six. No more, no less. Maybe this was the only way he knew how to deal with the chaos going on inside him.

She just hoped he’d let her help. If they had each other, they could face anything.

A
couple of hours later Tori went into the living room and stopped by the sofa where Rand lounged, watching some inane reality TV show. She needed to get out of the house, and it was clear she needed to get
him
out of the house as well. “I’m feeling the need for some action,” she said. “What d’ya say we go out?”

Her brother never looked away from the television. “Nah, I don’t want to. You go ahead.”

This apathetic attitude of his wore her nerves thin. She bit back a sigh and forced gaiety into her tone. “Come on, Rand. You didn’t come to Scottsdale just to stay cooped up in my house all the time.” Maybe Byron Maldonado’s mega-popular nightclub would tempt him. “We can go to the Devil’s Domain.”

His eyes flickered but then he shrugged. “I don’t want to miss the end of this episode.”

Seriously?
Tori glanced at the digital clock on the DVD player. “So we’ll go in forty-five minutes.”

“Would you give it a rest already?” Rand finally looked up at her, his face dark. “I said I don’t want to go out tonight. God, you nag worse than a wife.”

“But wouldn’t you like to—” She broke off when his lips tightened. Her own temper flared. “Fine. Sit here and numb your brain with this stupid crap.” She flung an arm out toward the TV. “I’m going out.” She stomped back to her bedroom to change clothes.

Thirty minutes later her hair was in an up-do style and she had slipped into a slinky red dress and four-inch red heels. She grabbed a small matching sequined shoulder bag and slid the thin strap over her shoulder. In the little handbag were her essentials—council credentials, hairbrush, credit card, lipstick, and her cell phone.

As she walked through the living room toward the front door, she told him, “Don’t wait up.” Without stopping to see if he was going to respond, she went through the front door, letting it slam behind her.

She was still fuming when she arrived at the club. The air conditioning was a welcome change from the heat of the outdoors. In just the few minutes it had taken her to walk from her car to the front door, light perspiration dotted her upper lip. Temps in the upper eighties with humidity in the sixties was stifling.

Tori paused just inside the doorway, letting her senses get used to the change. Between the voices of the crowd and the techno rock music, the din was nearly overwhelming. Various scents wafted her way, including one she recognized. She cast her gaze around, stopping when she saw the muscular man sitting at the bar. Finn Evnissyen, a bad-boy demon she had a tenuous friendship with. She had never felt like she could completely trust him, because she couldn’t tell what agenda he had. She was pretty sure he always had one.

The rumor was that Finn worked directly for Lucifer Demonicus as an enforcer, keeping other demons in line or exacting the demon leader’s retribution when one strayed over the very broad line demons followed. It was said he could be outnumbered six to one and still come out victorious. But since demons didn’t discuss their business and Finn was as close-mouthed as they came, it wasn’t easy getting a definitive answer from him.

It was also whispered that Finn was more than Lucifer’s sword. He was one of Lucifer’s sons, which would add a whole new dynamic to that relationship. Tori had never been able to get the real skinny on that one either, which made Finn all the more attractive back when she’d first met him. There was nothing quite like walking on the dark side to make a girl feel alive, which was what she liked most about Dante, only he was someone she could trust. She couldn’t say the same about Finn.

As she walked up to him he leaned back against the bar and let out a long, low whistle, his gaze traveling the length of her body and back up to meet her eyes. “Victoria, sweetheart, you’re liable to send every man in here tonight into heart failure, looking like that.”

She grinned. In the mood she was in, his appraisal was just the thing she needed to boost her ego. She did a slow pirouette. “Glad you approve.”

He shook his head. “Not sure approve is the right word, but…” He gave her another once-over. “I guess it’ll do.” He raked his dark blond hair off his forehead and motioned toward the seat next to him. “Have a drink with me?”

“Sure.” She eased onto the stool and set her clutch on top of the mahogany bar. To the vampire waiting to take her order she said, “I’ll have an Almond Joy.”

The bartender gave a nod and turned away to fix her drink.

“What is it about women and mixed drinks?” Finn’s raspy voice held a musing tone. “You couldn’t just order a scotch?”

“Scotch is boring.” She smiled her thanks at the bartender when he put a frosted glass of perfection in front of her. “This…” She took a sip. “Mmm.
This
has chocolate in it.”

She held up her glass and Finn did the same. They toasted each other, she with her froufrou drink and he with his scotch.

“So,” he said after he took a sip, swirling the drink around in his glass. “I’m still a little rankled by your defection the last time we were here.”

“That’s what you call it? A defection?” She raised her eyebrows. “As I recall, you were being your usual arrogant, annoying self, provoking Tobias and Nix. And let’s not forget, you wouldn’t cooperate during the investigation into Amarinda Novellus’s death. Which you still haven’t said much about, by the way. That’s still an open case, so you’re not off the hook by a long shot.” She shook her head and took another sip of her Almond Joy. “You’re lucky Tobias didn’t haul you off to the council.” She pursed her lips and sent him a mock scowl. “I have to admit, you did a good job giving me the slip afterward.”

He laughed, blue eyes sparkling with good humor. “I figured Tobias would send you after me. I’m like a Boy Scout, always prepared.”

Though hardly honorable, she thought. Finn was the kind of guy who would lie, cheat, or steal to accomplish his goals, which he always kept hidden from everyone but himself. And sometimes she wondered if he knew why he did what he did.

He shot her a sidelong glance. “I really didn’t expect the cop to tag along. You two got something going on there?”

Tori smiled at the memory. After Finn had left the club, Tobias had given Tori the signal to follow him, and Dante had muttered, “I think I’ll hang with Tori for a bit,” and hurried after her. Within ten minutes Finn had lost them, leaving them both embarrassed.

They’d recovered their equilibrium, stopping at a small diner for coffee. They’d talked, flirted, and Tori had had some hope that something might develop between them. But in the intervening months Dante seemed to have cooled toward her. Well…in between the moments when he wasn’t looking like he wanted to devour her.

She understood that he had a lot on his plate right now, but she didn’t take up that much room, and she wasn’t too demanding, either.

But to think they might have something going on? Her smile faded. “No, I really don’t think there is,” she said in answer to Finn’s question. She stared at him. “And Amarinda Novellus?”

He sobered as well. “I had nothing to do with Rinda’s death, Tori. You can trust me on that.”

She studied him a moment. He wasn’t giving off any outward signs that he was lying—his pulse was steady, no discernable changes in the blood flow to his face. She gave a nod and glanced around the club, noting the usual assortment of prets—vampires, shapeshifters of just about every variety, pixies, and in one corner a glum-looking troll hunched over his beer. Above the cacophony of voices and dance music she heard the front door squeak open and in reflex looked in its direction.

Dante entered the club and paused, looking around. His gaze landed on her, and even from here she could see heat flare in his eyes.

“Well, speak of the devil,” she heard Finn mutter.

She looked at him, torn between good manners and going over to Dante to see what she could stir up.

“Go,” Finn said. “You don’t owe me anything. It’s not like we’re on a date.”

“I’ll see you later,” she murmured and picked up her clutch. “Thanks for the drink.” Grabbing her glass, she slid off the barstool and headed toward Dante.

Finn watched her go, appreciating the feminine sway of her hips. Tori was a strong woman, yet feminine and sexy. She was just his type. He still hadn’t been able to figure out why things never clicked between them, but they hadn’t. It wasn’t for lack of trying on his part. He had a reputation to maintain, after all.

He swiveled around and pushed his empty glass toward the bartender. “Give me another.” As the vamp poured more scotch, Finn rested his folded arms on the counter and stared at his reflection in the mirrored shelves behind the bartender. He scrubbed his hand across his jaw, realizing he needed a shave, a haircut, and some sleep.

But sleep only brought dreams, dreams that he could make no sense of. He grabbed the glass the bartender placed in front of him and downed his drink in one throat-burning gulp. “Another,” he demanded.

From a couple of stools down he heard a husky feminine voice murmur, “I’ll have a Glenlivet, straight. Make it a double.” The rolling hills of Ireland tinted her honeyed tone.

Finn turned to see a slender woman in a black barely there dress. Her auburn hair fell in thick curls to the small of her back. Hell, there was more hair than there was dress.

Which sent his thoughts off in a whole other direction.

“See somethin’ interestin’, boyo?” Her sultry voice broke through the fantasies playing through his mind.

He looked into her blue eyes and felt like the world fell away all around him. The only stable thing was the barstool beneath him. What the hell? He cleared his throat and did his best not to show just how poleaxed he felt. “I see a lot of something that interests me,” he drawled, making sure to put a bit of a flirtatious smirk on his lips. Picking up his glass, he moved down to the stool next to her. “I’m Finn.” He held out his hand.

She put her soft fingers in his. “Keira.” Her grip was firm yet tender. She smelled light and sweet, like a spring day. She was one of the fey. Elf, most likely. Or maybe a sprite. Didn’t really matter. She was lovely.

“Keira.” It suited her. Strong, yet feminine, like the hand he still held. He brought it to his lips and pressed a kiss on her knuckles.

“Well, now, aren’t you the fine gentleman. For a demon.” She withdrew her hand and picked up her glass.

“You have something against demons?” he asked, lifting the scotch to his lips. It wouldn’t surprise him. The fey were the snootiest of all preternaturals, most of them looking down on all other prets as if they were subpar.

“Not generally, no. I like to get to know someone before I make a judgment.” She took a dainty sip of her drink. “So, Finn. What do you do?”

“Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that,” he hedged. Part of his…charm was the aura of mystery surrounding him. He nurtured that, encouraged people to think there was more of a dangerous edge to him than there might necessarily be. Not that he wasn’t plenty dangerous, though right now he needed people to be acutely aware of that if he were to succeed in his current…endeavor.

“Oh, a mystery man,” Keira murmured. “I like that.”

“I haven’t seen you around here before,” he said, leaning one elbow on the bar, angling his upper body toward her.

She shook her head and took another sip of her twelve-year-old scotch. “No, this is my first time.” She glanced around the club. “I’m new to the city,” she said, her gaze focused on the dance floor.

“I’d be happy to show you around.”

She looked at him, one eyebrow quirked. “I bet you would.” A slow burn entered her eyes. “What’s a girl got to do around here to get a man to dance with her?”

He grinned and held out his hand. “Your wish is my command, m’lady.”

Her answering smile was full of mischief and flirt. “I thought you’d never ask.” As they walked to the dance floor, Finn noticed how light on her feet she was and how delicate she seemed next to him, though she stood just shy of six feet tall. That still put her six inches shorter than him, even if her high heels had put them almost eye to eye. She was the perfect height for dancing, both the vertical and horizontal kind.

The song they danced to was fast, upbeat, and he found himself wishing for a slow dance. He knew all about the ugly side of life, had been through all sorts of things that could make an hour feel like a year, had done things he could never be cleansed of. She was beauty to his ugliness, soft to his hard, light to his dark. If he put his big, rough hands on her he might break her, yet here he was, wanting to do just that.

As Tori made her way through the crowd toward Dante, a familiar scent wafted her way, one she hadn’t smelled in centuries. She stopped and searched the club before she saw him.

Her cousin Stefan was standing in the back, near the door to the special rooms that vampires used to dine in private. She held up a finger, signaling to Dante that she’d be right there, and walked toward her cousin, placing her drink on the tray of a passing waiter. As she reached him, Stefan leaned his shoulder against the wall, his face in deep shadow. His host body was shorter in stature than the one he had in the other dimension. He was swarthy skinned, dark haired, and dark eyed.

“Stefan!” She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then gave him a quick hug. Underneath that thinness was wiry strength. Stepping back, she asked, “When did you get here?”

“Here at the club? I’ve been in the back getting a bite to eat,” he said.

She rolled her eyes at what she could tell was his deliberate obtuseness. “No, here in Scottsdale.”

His quick smile lightened his features. “I’ve been looking for you and your brother. I found out what names you were going by a few years ago and just recently heard you were in Arizona. So…here
I
am.” He sobered. “It’s been lonely, living all these years without family. I’m so glad I found you.” He reached up and cupped her cheek.

She wanted to believe him, she did. But Stefan was the king of con. “Family didn’t matter so much to you before,” she said, her voice hard. “Rand and I wouldn’t even be here on Earth if it weren’t for you.” The memory of being arrested and summarily tried for crimes they’d had nothing to do with was as fresh as if it had happened five minutes ago. Some things were impossible to forget and maybe forgive, but she had tried. “They took us from everything we knew, everyone we loved, and sent us through the rift. Because of you.” She still hadn’t gotten over the shame of it. As much as she loved him, she’d told no one on Earth of her relationship to him.