Wolf Ties (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 2) (7 page)

I moved past him and grabbed Pammie’s arm. “Is he making you do something you don’t want to do? No job is worth that. This is the twenty-first century, Pammie. Stand up for yourself.”

She said nothing.

I leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear. “I know he’s scary and mean, but he’s just a little fat man who’s got more money than he needs to have. Plus the only reason he has most of it is because of your magic. Don’t give him any more.”

Almonester jerked me backward, holding my arm in strong grip. An overwhelming sense of evil washed over me, gagging me and threatening to make me lose my liquid dinner. I swallowed and wrenched myself free, then shoved him so hard, he rolled head over heels across the floor. Shrieks rose all around as Almonester flattened several people. A drunk nearby shouted “strike” when he hit the wall near the door.

I thrust through the gawking crowd to reach Almonester and leaned over him. He blinked up at me in confusion and then increasing anger, but I wasn’t afraid. “Don’t you ever put your hands on me again, Almonester, or you will be sorry.”

Orin appeared at my side, but he didn’t try to pull me back. “Come back to the bar, Rue. Just let it go.”

I ignored him as I gave room for Almonester to get to his feet. Curling my fingers into fists, I waited for him to strike, but he brushed dust and peanut shells from his clothes.

“She’s a feisty little one, I’ll give you that,” one of the human men said. “What I wouldn’t give…”

“To be beat up by her?” a woman asked.

The man laughed but didn’t comment again.

Almonester glanced in Pammie’s direction. “Let’s go, Pammie.”

My mouth fell open. He wasn’t going to fight or at least fire me? Maybe he was too embarrassed and he would do it later after he had time to calm down. Pammie joined us, and I turned to her to try to talk some sense into the woman. For the first time since appearing, she met my gaze and shook her head. She didn’t want my defense. Why did Almonester have such a hold over this fae couple? If they were so powerful with magic, they could take his head off and leave him lying beside Dalton in the morgue. Yet, they wouldn’t raise a fist against him. Were they pacifists? None of it made sense.

Pammie and Almonester left the bar, and Orin and I manned it alone. Later, that night, when all the customers had gone, I locked the front door and started sweeping the floor. When Orin completed several trips to the storeroom to restock the shelves, I approached him.

“Orin, are you ready to tell me what’s going on?”

He eyed me and stooped behind the counter. I set the broom aside and hopped up on the bar. Leaning over, I found him fiddling with a bottle and staring at the clean glasses down there.

“Orin?”

He sighed and looked up at me. Orin looked so much like Pammie in his beauty, blue eyes and long blond hair. I had assumed they were brother and sister, and while Orin hadn’t denied it, he admitted their looks were a spell. I didn’t know what he meant.

“Let it go, Rue. You will get yourself into trouble if you allow your curiosity to get the better of you.”

“If you tell me, I won’t be curious anymore.”

He stood. “Yes, you will. It’s in your nature, and you have a hero complex.”

“The nerve.”

“You think you have to save everyone.”

“I don’t remember volunteering to save anyone. People come to me.”

“Because they know your nature. It’s written all over your face. You exude it from your pores.”

I was so offended, I couldn’t think of anything to say for a few moments. “If you’re talking about taking on cases for the humans, I have no choice. My sire commanded me to look after them. You may not know this, but a vampire can’t disobey his or her sire when they give a direct command.”

Who knows why the heck I was so proud of announcing this, as if it settled our argument. Yet, Orin was less than impressed. He shook his head, giving me to understand I was as hopeless a case as they came.

He set aside the bottle he had been holding and extended his hands to me. I hesitated a second and then laid mine in his. A tingle of energy sparked between us, but I didn’t believe Orin was casting a spell. Perhaps I broke one or two. His wince gave truth to this theory, and I’m sure I glimpsed a wrinkle or two around his eyes before he pulled away from me.

“That’s another thing,” he said, his back to me.

“What?” I tried to lean around to see his face. He spun in the opposite direction.

After a few moments, he faced me. He was back to perfection. “If ever Almonester thinks your sire has left you for good, he won’t hesitate.”

“Hesitate to what?”

A niggling of worry took hold of me because I was pretty sure my connection with Ian had already been severed, from his side. He had abandoned me.

“What will Almonester try to do to me, Orin?”

He met my gaze, his expression grim. At first I thought he would put me off again, but then he worked his mouth a few times as if testing something out. I wrinkled my nose at him, wondering if he had begun to crack under pressure of my questioning. I wasn’t being that pushy, was I?

“He’ll…” Orin said and hesitated again. I grew frustrated, but at last he heaved a sigh and blurted. “Almonester will enslave you the first chance he gets, and you
will
give him that chance.”

Chapter Seven

We met in a restaurant near Bourbon Street. If you can believe, one of the werewolves owned it. I’m not saying it’s impossible for a werewolf to have such a place of elegance. The problem was, it took me off guard after the shabbiness and grime the cats presented.

Trace La Sirene
was situated in the narrow street and included those wrought iron balconies and hanging ferns I had come to love since moving to the area. However, inside the building, the expanse was mystifying. Okay, it didn’t make me imagine the restaurant existed on several planes like the library, but I was impressed.

Tables with white cloths covering them were arranged all over the room. A waitress bent to the task of setting out silverware and cloth napkins. Another brought in platters of food from the kitchen to arrange on a table along the wall. This latter part seemed incongruent with the careful and tasteful arrangement of the place settings.

“What are you doing, Quinn?”

I swiveled my gaze from the woman at the table to the man just exiting the kitchen. As tall as Nathan but not as broad of shoulder, he exuded power but lacked the presence of my friend.

Really, Rue, quit comparing them to Nathan.

The man pointed to the table with the food. “You don’t have to be so fancy. We’re doing buffet style, and nobody’s going to care if they’ve got the right fork!”

Quinn rounded on him. “You’ve got your way to keep calm, and I’ve got mine. Leave me alone.”

The arguing began. Back and forth they went while I watched, amazed. A hand dropped on my shoulder from behind, but I didn’t turn.

“You must be Rue,” came a deep voice, and then he stood before me. I had to crane my head way back to get to the top of his. Taller than Nathan, I thought, but then stopped it there. He flashed a smile at me, but it wasn’t friendly. In fact, by the look in his eyes, I would say he assessed me. This man was determining whether I would be a threat, and I had the feeling if he decided the answer was yes, he wouldn’t hold back from ripping me apart.

When his eyebrows rose, I realized he held out his hand, and I put mine in his. The huge palm engulfed mine, and I swear a bleat like a little lamb rose in my throat. Then I came to my senses and reminded myself that I was a vampire to be taken seriously. “Hi, I’m Rue Darrow. Thanks for agreeing to meet me.”

“I’m Trace Montgomery. Let me make it clear, Rue”—he dropped my hand as quickly as he had taken it—“I don’t appreciate an outsider getting involved in the pack’s affairs, least of all a vampire.”

“Noted,” I snapped.

“I’m agreeing to let you dig around because Violet pushed for it.”

The other two in the room had ceased arguing the minute Trace and I started talking, listening no doubt. I didn’t care one way or another, about them or this man. “Violet said she’s not pack. Is that wrong?”

“No, she isn’t.” No one spoke words with such distaste as he had just done. “She is law enforcement, and while I believe we shouldn’t bother with human law, we’re hemmed in by it because we want to remain beneath the human radar. She could cause a lot of unnecessary problems, so I chose the lesser issue, you.”

“Wow, you know how to flatter a woman, Trace. Let me make myself clear as well. I’m doing this for Nathan, not for you or Violet.”

“I’d heard she was close friends with Nathan.” The man who had been arguing with the woman strode over, but he didn’t offer his hand to shake. “I’m Cecil.”

Not glad to meet me either, I supposed.

Cecil scowled at me. “We’re close to the full moon, and if you don’t want your throat ripped open, I’d suggest you curb your tongue while you’re here.”

“Are you threating me?” I took a step toward him. One couldn’t show fear amid these beasts or even allow oneself to feel it. Werewolves smell fear better than dogs, hundreds or maybe thousands of times better. Nathan had told me that, and he had added that the scent of fear to werewolves was like catnip to cats. Not a fun thought.

I wasn’t afraid anyway, not exactly. Nervous and unsure of how they would behave, but if you’ve learned even a little about me since I turned, you know I had trouble setting a watch over my lips. Common sense said keep them sealed in a room full of angry, grieving werewolves. I must have been insane.

“No, I’m not threatening you,” Cecil bit out between clenched teeth. “It’s a warning. Take it.”

I don’t know why I expected Trace to tell his buddy to calm down. He didn’t. Rather Trace moved around us and continued on into the restaurant. I began to suspect he hoped Cecil would attack me. Then it wasn’t his fault if the vampire was disposed of. The idea that I would go down without taking someone with me was absurd. I had learned a lot in my training with Bill.

A familiar scent reached me, and I turned to see a young woman just entering the restaurant. She wore a hoodie over her head, and it looked like droplets of rain peppered it. The scent had been in the air when I arrived, but the rain hadn’t begun at that time. Looked like it did now.

The woman pushed the hoodie back to reveal long, cinnamon brown hair as silky as the women’s I had seen in commercials. She shook it out as she approached, and I slid my gaze to Cecil, who watched her mesmerized. I stepped ahead of him toward her. “Hello, I’m Rue. I’m pretty sure I met you when you were in your wolf form. You helped protect a young woman I left with Zander.”

Sad, brown eyes met mine. “Yes.”

I started to ask her name, but Cecil took her arm. “You’re all wet, Ella. Come in and get dry. I’ll make you a drink. What do you want?”

She frowned and tugged her arm from his clasp. “I don’t want a drink. I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

Trace raised his voice. “Everybody, get food and take your seats.”

Was this all of them? As I moved to join the others, the door opened again, and a few more people wandered in. From the
clings
and
clangs
beyond the kitchen door, I assumed there were others there. Everyone in the restaurant except me was werewolf. Talk about a sticky situation.

As I took my seat toward the back of the room—because I refused to have any of them behind me—I counted heads. Two distinct scents from the kitchen and eleven in the room with me, that made thirteen.
Yuck.
If I were a superstitious woman, I might want to make myself scarce.

“We’re still fourteen,” the woman who had set up the silverware said. Quinn had no idea she echoed my thoughts. “Dalton will always be with us in spirit.”

A few murmurs of agreement, a few curses, and several slams of fists against tables, which Trace didn’t appreciate. “Settle down,” he barked. “Getting riled up isn’t going to help us figure out who did this.”

“No, it won’t,” Cecil raged. “If the police let us examine his body and sniff around the scene, we would have this wrapped up before the full moon.”

“We already know who did it.” Ella’s voice scarcely rose above the others, but they all fell silent. “You heard what Violet said. Nathan—”

“Nathan would never hurt Dalton.” Trace clenched his fists. “He loved Dalton like a brother, and Dalton took care of him.”

I drew my knees up to my chest as I watched the werewolf. Looked like there was some jealousy there, but Trace showed himself to be a decent man not giving in to it and chiming in with Ella to accuse Nathan.

“I’m not sure he didn’t do it,” Quinn said. “Everybody knows Nathan can’t control his temper.”

Cecil appeared confused. I had the feeling he believed Nathan was innocent but didn’t want to go against his crush.

Trace responded. “Nathan can’t control his temper, so he keeps losing jobs, but he wouldn’t be stupid enough to bite the hand that feeds him.”

I couldn’t help speaking up here on behalf of my friend. “Excuse me, but Nathan is not the helpless loser you all make him out to be. He’s been invaluable to me with my tracking jobs. I can always depend on him to have my back. I also happen to know he’s been getting more assignments on his own. People are learning they can trust him.”

A bevy of hostile gazes stared me into silence after this little speech. Who was I to vouch for Nathan? Well, I had spoken the truth. Many times, Nathan had come to my help and rescue. The werewolves didn’t have to believe me, but I wanted them to believe Nathan was better than the good for nothing they thought he was.

“I have a thought,” Cecil said, and everyone quieted again. “If this was done by a human, don’t you think Violet and the police would just find the persons responsible and end it?”

“No one mentioned a human,” Trace said.

“No, but I mean, they sealed the crime scene. They won’t even tell us where he died, and they won’t let us near Nathan to get to the truth. I’m beginning to suspect it was one of our enemies, maybe even those lowlife creatures.”

I knew right away he referred to the cat shifters. The werewolves considered them so far beneath them the cat shifters didn’t deserve to be named. Schooling my features to give no reaction whatsoever, I waited for Trace to reply. Instead, one of the others tossed a chair aside, and it banged into a table as he made his way toward me. I didn’t stand up or uncurl my legs.

The wolf leaned in close and sniffed my arm, squinting his eyes, teeth bared. Maybe he thought I should be afraid since he let his canines lengthen and thicken like that of the wolf. I rotated only my head to face him.

“You were near Nathan recently, weren’t you?”

He was fishing. I didn’t give off much of a scent, and what little I did was a mixture of my environment. Even if there was a hint of Nathan on me from the hug he had given me, it was no more than the tiny bit that clung to me from spending any time in his presence. The wolf wouldn’t know I had visited Nathan with Violet.

I grew out a nail and tapped my finger against my arm. “You have three seconds to back away from me, wolf.”

Now, you know I was just bluffing. I was outnumbered and as proud as I was of what I had learned over the last few weeks, I was still an amateur. Many of these people had been around decades longer than I had, even if they didn’t look it.

The werewolf straightened, but he didn’t move away. “You’re one little girl alone. What do you think you can do?”

Time for more bluffing because I sensed tension increasing in the room. The werewolves were spoiling for a fight, even one that wouldn’t provide a challenge. I imagined myself hanging from this one’s powerful jowls being shaken like a piece of meat and then tossed to the next and the next. Not good at all.

“That’s what you see?” I stretched my legs out and raised my arms with casual grace above my head. “One woman alone? Did you miss the vampires all around this area?”

He frowned in doubt at me. I stood, and he backed up a step. One point in my favor.

“Maybe you’ve heard of Silvano. No? The leader of a very powerful and influential coven in New Orleans.”

“You’re…one of his?”

I studied my nails, feeling all of their eyes on me. “You being so proud of your sense of smell, I realize now it can’t breach a vampire’s cloak.”

Mutters rose around the room, offense, nervousness, anger. The emotions ran the gamut, but no one moved against me. I hadn’t claimed to join Silvano’s coven because I hadn’t done so, despite how many times he offered. I didn’t know who they all were, and I could no more breach their cloaks than could the werewolves. Silvano might be in the area, and he might not be. None of us in the restaurant knew, although it was likely he wasn’t inside the building.

“She’s bluffing,” Cecil said.

“Why should she?” This was Ella, and Quinn nodded in agreement.

Trace settled matters. “All right. Leave her alone. We’re not going to push you, Rue, but consider how we feel. We’ve lost our leader, and it’s killing us to be told to leave it to the police and do nothing. It’s not in our nature. How would you feel if someone killed Silvano?”

I thought about this and knew the answer wouldn’t be what he thought. Silvano wasn’t a friend, even if I did spend more time with him, and he also had helped me. I sensed ulterior motives. Silvano smiled, presenting himself as someone who cared about my well-being. Yet he came across as cold, and with the same chill growing inside me, what appealed to me more was warmth and passion.

I surveyed all of their faces and encountered a sea of hostility, but I also saw their pain and loss and their confusion. “I will find the person responsible for Dalton’s murder, and I won’t give up until I do.”

No one gave me a pat on the back and a wish for good luck. I spent a little while longer in their presence, talking with each, trying to get to know them. By the time I was ready to leave, I had a good sense that not one offered friendship to a vampire. I was an outsider, an interference linked to the police, whom they hated. No wonder poor Violet wasn’t pack. What a lonely existence she must have, and it helped me to see why she cared so much about Nathan. He was on the outside too. If not for the wolves, at least for me and for Violet, I would make sure Nathan was set free.

* * * *

I supposed the vampire liked to become visible before cloaking himself just to be sure I didn’t get any notions about trying to attack Silvano. The very thought was ludicrous, but each time I agreed to meet with Silvano, one of his men did just that. He’d watch me from a dark corner wherever we happened to be and then disappear so I could no longer sense or see him.