| |
“The pack will take care of it?”
Ace scoffed and flailed her right hand in wild animation, while her left held the phone, which she placed on speaker mode. She continued the conversation with her sisters on the other end. Candace drove Arsinoë back to the youngest Reeves’s apartment to pick up a few changes of clothing. Ace rode with me to my parents’ condo to collect Pippa.
“He doesn’t have a clue where this boogeyman-witch thing is,” Ace continued. “But he’ll reclaim leadership of a pack he walked out on, and then, take care of it.”
“Have faith Amina. Dad found it once, he’ll find it again.” Ari assured her sister.
“Before it kills you, or Candace? Or takes a run at me again?”
The leather of the steering wheel groaned under my tightening grip, but navigating my car on the outer drive only allowed me a corner of the eye glance at my fiancée. I hated hearing that phrase leave her mouth. Mostly because I didn’t know if I could protect her from this witch.
Bullets could kill a regular witch, but did it hurt this creature? What did it look like when it wasn’t wearing her grandfather’s skin, or any skin for that matter? How could I kill it before it got opportunity number four? All questions I should have asked, and would have asked if I hadn’t given into fear. Weighted gaze wasn’t just an expression with Karl. I felt his eyes on me. Pushing me down.
“I don’t trust him,” Ace concluded.
“He’s still our father,” Ari insisted. “And he cares about you.”
I scoffed. “He has a strange way of showing it.”
“Butt out, Beto,” the youngest sister snapped.
I hadn’t meant to say the first sentence out loud, but the follow-up I said with deliberate volume. “Speaking as a father, leaving your daughter naked, bloody, and disorientated is not what you do when you care about her. I don’t give a damn what he was chasing.”
“Well, no one asked for your opinion. Not like you have any room to talk with your toxic ass family. Besides, you’re not a werewolf. You don’t understand how we think. You’re not even supernatural. Why are you even part of this conversation?”
I parted my lips to point out to Arsinoë that she wasn’t a werewolf either, but closed them just as quickly. I mashed the brake when the stop light near Soldier’s Field caught me. Perhaps she was right. I definitely didn’t understand how he could leave Ace in the condition Will and I found her in, at the hospital.
“Beto was there for me when Karl wasn’t, so you don’t get to talk to him like that. I trust Beto with my life. I wouldn’t trust our father with a fucking pet rock.”
I looked over at Ace and found her eyes already on me. The sincerity of her words resounding in those beautiful brown depths. Movement of traffic forced my attention back to the street.
“I don’t trust him either,” Candace said.
“What? Really?” Ace exhaled, and her body relaxed in the seat.
“Candance. It’s dad.”
“That doesn’t give him a pass. I mean, how did he know mama and Amina would change after they were attacked.”
“He said the witch thing mimics what it kills.” Arsinoë pointed out.
“He took off a week after we were attacked,” Ace said.
“So?”
“So, in a week he figured out what it was?”
“Is um...” I stopped and wished I had kept even those two words behind my teeth.
“Is what?” Ace pushed.
“Nothing,” I said, and then repeated the lie more forcefully. “It’s nothing.”
“Goddamnit,” Arsinoë muttered.
“What?” Ace asked.
“Mickey is waiting in front of my building. She probably wants to know why I’ve been ducking her calls.”
“Just tell her you’re in the middle of family drama. It’s practically the truth.” Ace muttered the last line.
“We’ll touch base later.” Candace said.
The eldest sister disconnected the call immediately after her words, and Ace let the hand holding the phone drop to rest on top of her thigh. She leaned back into the headrest, and stared out the side window into the darkness. Her abrupt and brief laughter pulled my attention to her direction for a handful of seconds, but instead of speaking, she fell immediately back into silence.
“I can’t imagine what’s going through your head right now,” I tried to utter the loaded statement in a casual tone. When she remained quiet, I went in for the real question. “How worried should I be?”
She looked at me with a slight furrowing of her brows.
“You never spend the night when I have Pippa.”
“Last night—”
“—Was an exception,” I stated.
“This is too.”
“You’re worried it’ll come after us. Aren’t you?”
“I don’t know what to think. I woke up this morning with the intention of giving mother and aunt Gisselle the proper send off to nirvana. My estranged father showing up with some insane story that sounds like bullshit on a bun, wasn’t part of the agenda.”
“It didn’t sound insane.”
“You’re on his side now?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m just saying, I’ve heard crazier.”
“Maybe,” she conceded and exhaled abruptly.
I took the Ohio exit and maneuvered through traffic to the only building constructed east of the Outer Drive. The congestion around Navy Pier drastically reduced without the frenzied publicity circus the mayor turned the funeral into.
“Bullshit or no, I’m not willing to gamble with yours or Pippa’s lives. If this is really a vendetta that was started and continues because we keep killing each other... it has a reason to come after you. I’m not going to sit on my hands, and wait for Karl to take over the pack so he can ‘take care of it’.”
“What are you going to do?”
I turned into the horseshoe driveway, pulled all the way around to the end, and switched on my flashers.
“Ace, what are you going to do?”
She turned and looked over her shoulder at the building, then settled those dark eyes on me. A smile ghosted her lips but came nowhere close to truly residing on her face.
“I’ll let you know once I figure it out myself.”
“I assume you’re not coming up?”
“I’ve been through enough for one night, don’t you think?”
I rewarded her dark humor with a half-smile. I wanted to push, to ask quite a few questions, but instead I left the car running and headed up to collect my daughter. Telling my mother I left the car double parked in the driveway, and not mentioning Ace waited in said car, let me get in and out in under ten minutes.
We picked up a pizza at Uno’s before heading back to my place. Pippa used her adorableness and charm to convince Ace to help her with her homework, and used the same technique a few hours later for a bedtime story. Would it continue to be like this after we married, or would the novelty wear off for Pippa?
We tag teamed tucking my daughter in when a call from Candace sent Ace onto my balcony. I showered, brushed my teeth, and just got settled into bed with some of my own homework, when I heard the glass door slide open and close. Less than a minute later she entered the room.
“I’m gonna grab a shower too,” Ace said after she gave me a once over.
I nodded and watched her carry a t-shirt and pair of shorts into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. For the first fifteen minutes I continued to read over the case file. The next fifteen I split my concentration between listening to the shower, and trying to focus on the selkie case. Once the shower hit the thirty-minute mark I waffled between checking on Ace and giving her space.
The running water stopped by the time I came to a decision five minutes later.
I placed the files and my glasses on the bedside table as Ace exited. She switched off the lamp closest to her, and then turned and tucked herself against the left side of my body. Her tears were silent at first, but once I wrapped my arms around her, the flood gates opened. I cupped the back of her head with my one hand and moved the other up and down the length of her spine. My lips occasionally ghosting over her forehead.
Words flirted with my tongue, but this time I didn’t hush her, nor did I tell her everything would be alright. I just let her get the pain out. It took a while for her to settle. For the relentless balling to reach its crescendo, and then slowly ebb away.
“If I tell you, I love you,” I whispered into her hair.
“I’d say, I love you, too,” she returned.
She pressed herself further into my body when I constricted my arms around her.
“I now understand what people mean when they say their head is spinning,” she stated, her voice husky and raw from emotions. “I have at least four different trains of thoughts going on at once.”
“I’ve got you now,” I murmured.
Her fingers touched my chin first, and then trailed upward over my jaw. In my head, I resisted, but the soft caress of her lips drew out my compliance. In my head, I told myself I would only return her affection with a soft, comforting kiss, before tucking her in. But her tongue moved against my lips, and I devoured her.
I invaded her mouth, savoring the delicacies inside. I nipped her bottom lip, and rubbed my tongue along hers, as I rolled on top of her, and pressed her body into the mattress. She tasted of my cool mint toothpaste, and salt from her tears.
Guilt finally ceased my onslaught. I stared down into the naked vulnerability just behind her eyes. With everything she’d been through in the past few days, she needed my tongue in her mouth like a desert needed sand.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Please.” She brushed her fingers over my ears. I closed my eyes, unable to control the shudder her touch elicited.
“Ace, I—”
She placed her fingers to my lips to silence me. “Please,” she begged, in a barely audible voice. Her eyes searched mine. “I need—”
“—Shh.” I hushed and kissed her fingers.
I ran my tongue across the tips and nipped them lightly. She pulled her hand away and joined it with the other, rounding the elastic of my shorts over my hips and backside. Together, we managed to get them nearly off before she rolled me onto my back and straddled me. She splayed the fingers of her right hand over my chest, pressing me into the mattress. I dug my fingers into her hips. The grunt that passed through my lips when her left hand wrapped around me, transitioned into a long, throaty groan when she guided me inside her body.
Shifting my fingers to her waist, I tunneled them under her shirt, cupping her breasts with my hands. Without a skip in our rhythm, she trailed her hands up my body. Her fingers resting on my pecs in a mirror image to mine on her breasts. Her thighs squeezed, tightening her hold. Gripping me like a rider on her mount.
Sex with Ace aroused a primal desire that lived in my soul. A need that could only be satiated by her, and her alone. Her being. Her scent. Her essence. The friction we created became deliciously unbearable, and yet I never wanted it to stop. Two years in, and our passion hadn’t dimmed.
We panted. Breathing together. I stared into the depth of her eyes, shuddering at the sight of the golden glow around the outer edges of her irises. The nearness of her wolf mixed in fear with my arousal. I rolled her onto her back and trapped her arms against the pillow, pinning her wrists down. Taking control. Dominance. Her consent came with a slight nod of her head. She raised her chin and bared her throat to me.
I found her mouth then, and rolled my hips hard into hers.
Our vocalization trapped in the kiss she shared.
When I pulled away, only Ace stared at me from behind her dark eyes.
#
I compulsively checked both the doors.
Despite my apartment being secured by an alarm system, and five stories up, I tested the double dead bolted entrance, and the balcony door on my way back to my room after checking on Pippa.
“Everything locked?” Ace questioned when I returned to bed.
She lay on her side, waiting until I was settled back between the sheets before she asked her question. I answered with a nod, repositioned to the center of the bed, and tucked her against the line of my body. I redressed in my sweat shorts from earlier, but since Ace remained naked, my fingers rested on the outer swell of her breast. Guilt returned, edging into the peripheral of my thoughts. Oblivious to my emotional turmoil, the fingers of her left hand toyed with the dusting of hair on my chest, while she used my left pec for her pillow. It took me months to notice she always laid her head over my heart. She found comfort in the beats.
“Thanks for not asking if I was all right earlier.” She spoke softly.
“I try not to ask questions I already know the answer to.”
“You wanna hear something ironic? Me and Karl used to be close.”
“Really?”
Her head moved up and down in a slight nod. “I was like Pippa is with you. A daddy’s girl big time. Wanted to be right under him every second of the day.”
“You feel guilty for being angry at him?” I asked.
“I feel...numb?” I could almost hear her sorting through her feelings in the silence that followed. “Overwhelmed and conflicted. I keep thinking WWGD.”
I mouthed the acronym, turning it over in my head. “What would Gisselle do?”
“Mmm.”
I released a quick and soft puff of amusement. “Probably fix him dinner, and slowly rip him a new one in that calm, measured voice she uses.” I winced at the present tense slip. “Used. I’m sorry, Ace.”
“It’s okay. I do it too. You know, she really liked you.”
“I liked her too. A lot. Gisselle was the most levelheaded person I ever knew.”
I touched the ring, centering it on her finger. I loved the contrast of the white gold on her brown skin. Then again, it could have been packing twine and I wouldn’t have admired it any less. It didn’t matter what it looked like. What mattered was she said yes.
Finally.
“It feels surreal. With everything going on I haven’t even had the chance to tell my sisters or my girls.”
“Have you talked to Dana recently?”
She shook her head. “Not since the day before Bella’s wedding. She’s reachable by satellite phone, but I figure she’s got enough on her plate.”
“She’s one of your best friends. She’d want to know.”
“I’ll tell her when she’s back home. Safe.”
It was my turn to offer a silent nod. I held her and wondered. Would she share whatever her and Candace discussed when she took the call on my balcony? I wanted to push. Instead, I decided to share the thoughts that plagued me in the car.
“Ace, I hate to have to even ask, but...” I paused and considered my words. “How can you be sure that Karl is really Karl, and not the schalthebruja wearing his skin?”
Seconds and the silence between us stretched before she finally spoke.
“It smells like him.” She paused and breathed in, rubbing her cheek against my chest. “My dad always smelled like bacon and Now and Laters. This afternoon, I smelled him before I saw him. The exact same smell. It just... came flooding back.”
“That could be part of the disguise. If he can take on the abilities of an Alpha wolf to the point of turning someone bitten, is it a stretch to think it can mimic his smell?”
“Maybe,” she finally relented, but then added in a softer voice. “Scents are difficult to imitate.”
Ace shifted her position. Rolling onto her back and resting on her pillow, I rolled onto my side and gazed into those eyes. They acted as windows, providing me with an unfiltered view to the emotional trauma inflicted upon her, and the vulnerable woman left behind.
I wanted to ask more questions, but I also heard the nostalgia in her voice. That little girl that just wanted her daddy to be back. Everyone had a breaking point, even werewolves.
“We need a way to test him, which will be difficult since the schalthebruja can probably access memories of its victim as well.” I mused aloud.
“Candace and I have an idea.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “She’s not wild about it since it requires reaching across the veil to Gisselle and Mother.”
“Reaching across the veil.” I turned the phrase over. “I’ve heard of that before, or read it somewhere. It’s similar to a séance, right?”
She nodded. “With a twist. Instead of pulling the spirits to this realm, I push my consciousness into their world.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“I could use your help if you’re up to it.”
“Whatever you need.” I agreed.
“You’ll need someone to watch Pippa tomorrow night.”
#
“Are you sure about this?”
I leaned in and murmured my concern to Candace. Even whispered, I knew Ace heard me, but I appreciated the illusion speaking softly provided.
“I wasn’t sure about it the first five times you asked.” Candace stated. “But unless you have another suggestion, this is what we’ve got.”
It snowed since the night Jaqueline’s and Gisselle’s bodies were found behind the museum, and yet, Ace spread an unzipped sleeping bag on the ground uncannily close to where her aunt’s body had laid. Candace and I watched her use snow salt to melt the snow in an imperfect circle around the impromptu blanket, and poured what looked like soot or ash in the space the salt created.
“For the record I’m not a fan of this either.” Ace added her voice to our pseudo-private conversation. “Karl’s story is incomplete. If we can find the truth of that night, maybe we’ll find the missing pieces he left out. Maybe this will give Gisselle the peace she needs to rest.”
“What do you mean?”
The sisters exchanged a look, but neither of them offered an answer. I decided not to push. Ace returned the jar to her backpack and then sat in the middle of the blanket.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“I’ve sealed the circle with goofer dust—”
“—Goofer dust?” I repeated.
“It’s a mixture of graveyard dirt, gunpowder and ash from, um...” she paused, met my gaze, and raised an eyebrow. “...It’s probably best you don’t know.”
Candace wrinkled her nose.
“Anyway, it’ll keep the dead inside the circle.”
I nodded. “I switched out my bullets for silver ones. Even if it deviates from its MO of wearing a werewolf, the silver will make a nasty hole in whatever skin it shows up wearing.”
Ace took in a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and said, “Wish me luck.”
She removed the rubber cork from a small bottle, took a drink from it, and resealed the mouth before she reclined onto the open sleeping bag. The absence of light made it difficult to see, but I swear the longer I stared at her, the less her chest rose and fell.
“Doesn’t this bother you at all?”
“I swear to Luna, Beto if you ask me one more time—”
“—I don’t mean the plan,” I broke in before Candace issued the threat. “I mean that your sister is doing rituals.”
“That’s the nature of a völva,” she replied in a forcefully dismissive tone.
“This is normal?” I gestured to Ace. “Contacting the dead? Goofer dust?”
“It is now. Amina’s changed. Every völva has a dormant ability to become a medium. Amina’s is no longer dormant.”
“Since when?”
“Since our aunt and mother were murdered.”
I lowered my body until I rested on the balls of my feet. When we finally got to the light at the end of the tunnel, Ace would have to walk me through the impact of her medium abilities. What did the change mean for her? For us? The werewolf textbooks didn’t have a chapter on völvas. I doubted that was by accident.
I couldn’t see her chest rise and fall, but I took my cues from Candace, and she didn’t seem stressed.
“Beto we’re up.”
Following Candace’s words, a low, rumbling growl broke through my thoughts. I bolted up to my feet and pulled the gun from the small of my back. The instincts honed during my time as a cop kicked adrenaline into high gear.
“Do you see him?”
Looking in the direction Candace glared, I stared into the darkness surrounding the trees. I didn’t see it... until a shadow behind one of the trees grew darker.
“Got him,” I answered Candace.
“Whatever happens, we cannot let him break the line of the circle.”
Bones crunched. Ace’s sister snarled and emitted horrid noises that sounded like rotten potatoes being squished. I would have looked, but the werewolf that stepped from the shadows of the tree kept my attention focused solely on him.
Fear and adrenaline beaded sweat along my hairline, caused by the pheromones of Candace’s change, or the appearance of the massive creature. Or both.
Easily seven feet, I’d never seen a werewolf in its beast form, at least not in person. He walked upright on hind legs. His head, that of a massive wolf with much larger teeth. His arms ended in vicious claws attached to shoulders that led to a chest twice as wide as mine. When he walked, he seemed to use his tail to balance himself. More feline than wolf.
Gun drawn in my dominant hand, I pulled one of my blades and held it in the other. My combat experience with supernatural creatures assured me it wasn’t a matter of if we’d get into close quarter combat, but when. I needed to hold out long enough for Candace to finish her change.
He threw his head back and howled.
I pulled the trigger.
Despite three bullets to his chest, he charged.