"What are you doing here?" I said. I could deal with Joshua and Dmitri separately, but together, they made me want to go hide under a rock.
"Your cousin told me you were in the hospital," he said. "Although I figured something awful had transpired after you ran out on me. That"s always the way with you."
"We"re talking here, my man," said Joshua. "Get lost."
"Joshua, shut up," I snapped, jerking my shoulders out of his grasp. "I"m not going with you, and you can tell all of your Serpent Eyes the same thing. Or let me guess-you"ll tell them I was too much of an ice b.i.t.c.h and you decided I wasn"t worth it, to keep them from finding out you have a tiny little p.e.c.k.e.r, and that it"s always been that way." I c.o.c.ked my eyebrow and looked at Joshua"s fly. "Can"t blame yourself, though. Electrical shocks aren"t known for their male-enhancement properties."
"This is Joshua?" Dmitri demanded, shutting off his bike and dismounting. He was moving a little stiffly and I prayed that the pack elders hadn"t caught up with him after our little a.s.signation. He took off his sungla.s.ses and stared Joshua down. "This is the p.r.i.c.k who gave you the bite and then attacked you?"
"Buddy, she wanted it." Joshua leered at me. "You obviously didn"t know our girl back in the day. She was a little s.l.u.t then, and from the look of you, she hasn"t changed. Still spreading "em for anyone with a bike and a good line, eh, Luna?"
Dmitri snarled and lunged for Joshua, but I barred him with my intact arm. "I"ll handle this."
"Gonna tell me what a b.a.s.t.a.r.d I am and slap my face, little girl?" Joshua said. "Guess what-I know. And I like it. So why don"t you just keep slumming it, Luna, and I"ll find a real woman, and everyone will be happy. Well, I"ll be happy every time I think of your sorry a.s.s shacked up with him." him." He gave Dmitri a sarcastic bow. He gave Dmitri a sarcastic bow.
There"s a time for sugar, for honeyed words even when you just want to smash something. And then there"s Joshua.
"Tempting as that is," I told him, "I"d rather do this." I slammed a left cross into Joshua"s face with every ounce of were strength in me, aiming to drive teeth into his brain. He dropped like a sack of rotten vegetables, skull hitting the pavement with an audible impact.
I kicked him once with the toe of my shoe. "Hope a dog p.i.s.ses on you."
Dmitri wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my cheek. "Nice shot, babe."
"Whoa, whoa," I said, pushing him away. "What"s this "babe" c.r.a.p? The last time we talked you hated me."
"Forget that," Dmitri said, trying to embrace me again. I shoved harder this time and he went back a step.
"What are you smoking, dude? You don"t get to touch the goods after the scene we played."
Dmitri shrugged, looking adorably sheepish. Hex him. "I made a mistake, Luna. Aren"t I allowed to make mistakes?"
"And you expect me to just forget everything else because of that," I said. Dmitri thought for a minute.
"Well... yeah."
Were men. Un-freaking-believable.
"Fine," I said, because I really didn"t have twenty bucks to spend on cab fare. "You can give me a ride home. But no touching."
"How about after that?" Dmitri"s eyes darkened around the edges, a little black slipping in there among the facets of green, like an oil spill, or a slowly bleeding cut.
"After that..." I swung my leg over the pa.s.senger seat of the bike and decided to be honest. "After that, Dmitri, I have no idea."
Sunny was at my cottage when Dmitri drove me up on his bike, and she threw her arms around me, jostling my cast. "Ow," I said, and hugged her back hard with my good arm.
"Have you seen the paper?" she demanded, thrusting it at me. The lead story on page one of the Nocturne City Post-Herald Nocturne City Post-Herald was the shooting death of Seamus O"Halloran by Lieutenant Troy McAllister after a "vicious and unprovoked attack on city personnel." was the shooting death of Seamus O"Halloran by Lieutenant Troy McAllister after a "vicious and unprovoked attack on city personnel."
"Bet your a.s.s," I muttered. Below the fold on the first page was a story about a ma.s.sive IRS audit of the O"Halloran Group"s holdings. a.s.sets had been frozen. Executives had fled the country. Business as usual for the most powerful caster witches in Nocturne City.
"The Inquirer Inquirer is even worse," said Sunny. "They got a photo from the scene, Seamus lying there on the dock all cold and dead ..." is even worse," said Sunny. "They got a photo from the scene, Seamus lying there on the dock all cold and dead ..."
"Mmm," I muttered, scanning the print page to see if my name showed up anywhere. Maybe I could sc.r.a.pe together enough savings for a new ident.i.ty and radical plastic surgery ...
Fortunately, the most unusual thing about the story was that the reporter gave total credence to the witch rumors, stating that Seamus O"Halloran"s death had been brought about by an unspecified "malignant force." I was just glad my picture wasn"t splashed next to Seamus"s. But it would come. No one could deny that weres and witches and Hex-knew-what walked right alongside the plain humans every day, and their brand of chaos was becoming more and more prevalent.
I wondered how long it would be until another disaster like the Hex Riots broke out.
Dmitri took the paper out of my hands and guided me to the sofa, putting my feet up and brushing stray hair out of my eyes. "What did I say about the touching?"
He sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. "You honestly telling me you"re not enjoying this, at least a little bit? We"ve got a downright cozy and domestic scene here."
"You keep this up and I"m going to get used to it," I warned.
"Maybe that"s not so bad," said Dmitri. I stared at him.
"Don"t tell me the black knight has finally decided to pick a castle."
"Maybe," he said again, giving me an utterly cryptic smile.
"Well, all right then," Sunny announced loudly as Dmitri went in for a kiss. I moved my head and waved goodbye as she gathered up her purse.
"We"ll talk tomorrow, Sunny. Come over if you like."
"But not too early," said Dmitri, still smiling. It was the longest I"d ever seen him in a good mood and I felt discomfort churn in my stomach, that offbeat nervousness of irons left on or doors not locked.
"There"s a really ugly car pulling in," Sunny announced. "Some blond chick driving."
My stomach flip-flopped. "s.h.i.t," I said aloud, just before Irina pounded on the door. Sunny opened it before I could tell her not to.
"I thought I would find you here," she said to Dmitri, striking a pose in the center of my braided rug.
"Irina." He sighed. "What the Hex do you want from me?"
"Nothing from you," she snapped. "But from you." you." She pointed one French-tipped finger at me. "You made promise. Have you delivered?" She pointed one French-tipped finger at me. "You made promise. Have you delivered?"
"No," I said honestly. "The one chance I had to stop the daemon blood is at the bottom of Siren Bay, probably in very small pieces. Hey, there"s an idea. You could always dive in and look for it. Without oxygen."
"You have failed," said Irina. "Dmitri, come on. The pack will deal with this Insoli wh.o.r.e."
What was it with people calling me a b.i.t.c.h and a wh.o.r.e today? I was beginning to feel a lot like the former. I started to stand, to tell Irina to get the Hex out of my house and follow it up with force, when Dmitri spoke. "I don"t have to go anywhere, Irina."
"What?" She devolved into rapid-fire Ukrainian, and Dmitri sighed.
"Irina, shut up. Just shut your mouth for once in your G.o.dd.a.m.n life." He grabbed his T-shirt and stripped it off, hissing a little with the same jerky movement from the hospital.
Sunny said, "Hex me," and I couldn"t even manage that. Dmitri"s right shoulder was one solid bruise, the cloud-colored purple and blue of a stormy sky, with twin weeping red marks at the center. A bite. A were bite.
Irina slapped a hand over her mouth. "Dmitri..."
"I"m no pack leader anymore, suspended or active," Dmitri told her quietly. "So leave, Irina. Run on home to Sergei and Yelena."
I recognized the humiliation bite for what it was-a mark not intended to harm, just to scar and let any other were know that the bearer had been demoted, in no uncertain terms. It"s the equivalent of pinning a sign on someone who gets fired that says I can"t hack it.
"Oh seven h.e.l.ls," I groaned. "Dmitri, this wasn"t necessary..."
Irina"s sob cut me off. She broke, broke, right there in front of me, and I saw the same wash of deep-seated betrayal that I"m sure had played out on my own face when she snuggled up to Dmitri outside Bete Noire. Hands shaking, her face lily white, she hissed at us, her lips drawing back over rapidly phasing fangs. "You... didn"t.. . tell... me ..." right there in front of me, and I saw the same wash of deep-seated betrayal that I"m sure had played out on my own face when she snuggled up to Dmitri outside Bete Noire. Hands shaking, her face lily white, she hissed at us, her lips drawing back over rapidly phasing fangs. "You... didn"t.. . tell... me ..."
"Why would I?" said Dmitri. "You would have just tried to talk me out of it."
"I"m your mate!" mate!" she screamed at him. I had thought about hurting Irina so often over the past week. So sure I"d be gratified to see her brought down to where I was living in these Dmitri-less days. she screamed at him. I had thought about hurting Irina so often over the past week. So sure I"d be gratified to see her brought down to where I was living in these Dmitri-less days.
But I wasn"t. I felt rotten, and embarra.s.sed for her.
"I"m not your mate," said Dmitri. "I"m with Luna, and that"s the way it should be."
Sunny, who had watched the entire thing silently but with ever-growing eyes, took Irina by the arm. "I think it would be best if you left now, Irina. For everyone." She took her out to her car and I waited until she"d driven away before I rounded on Dmitri.
"You left, and I realized you"d gone to find a way to cure me," said Dmitri. "And I knew Irina would never, ever do that. So I decided where I had to go, and I went to Sergei and he courted me out of the pack."
"Are you Insoli now?" asked Sunny in a small voice. It was good she could talk because the only thing that would have come out of my mouth was yelling.
"No," said Dmitri. "I"m still Redback, just... lower. I can be dominated, so it"ll behoove me to stay out of the Nocturne pack"s way for a while." He turned to me, took both of my hands in his. "That"s where you come in."
"Dmitri," I whispered. "I wasn"t asking you to do this."
"No, you weren"t," he said. "But I"m willing and able, all the same. If you won"t change for me, Luna... I guess it"s up to me to do so for you."
Part of me said to let him go, release him, tell him I wasn"t worth it. The much bigger part was complete again, hungering to have Dmitri back beside me. I hugged him hard, and he squeezed me in return. "I have to get some stuff from the safe house, then I"ll be back, okay? I"ll be staying as long as you"ll have me."
"This will never work," I said, but I couldn"t help but smile. "This is going to be so hard."
"Probably," said Dmitri. "But I don"t really give a f.u.c.k anymore." He kissed me. "Back soon, babe."
I knew that there would be repercussions, that the pack elders of the Redbacks would never let an ex-pack leader and an Insoli live in peace for long. But at that moment, I believed Dmitri, so I let go of his hand and told him, "Don"t be long." And I let myself believe that when he walked out, he"d be back.
It took a month for my arm to heal. Were healing is great for sc.r.a.pes and cuts but lousy on broken bones. Dr. Northgate didn"t notice-he was amazed I was even alive after my plunge off the Siren Bay Bridge. I didn"t tell him that I felt much the same way.
And I didn"t tell anyone that I no longer felt that gaping presence in my mind, that edge always beckoning to me. Dr. Merriman might think she"d had something to do with my improvement, and I couldn"t let that happen.
My first shift back on the job after Seamus had died and my med leave ended, I went through the motions of writing up the paperwork that had acc.u.mulated while I recovered, and waited for the inevitable. Forty-five minutes after I"d sat down at my desk, Matilda Morgan appeared in the squad room door. "Detective Wilder, my office. Now."
I went in expecting to get fired. I"d flaunted every protocol the department had laid out, I"d gotten my partner taken hostage, and I"d been nothing but a hostile little b.i.t.c.h where Captain Morgan was concerned. At least, I figured, I"d take it with some dignity. h.e.l.l, I wouldn"t even scream or break anything.
"Detective," said Morgan, "I just need to say one thing. You are the worst law-enforcement officer I have ever commanded."
Well, that was par for the course. Captain Roenberg had thought the same thing.
"I"m sorry to hear that, ma"am," I murmured, waiting for the speech that ended with Turn in your badge and gun. Turn in your badge and gun.
"You are also the best detective," said Morgan. "And by far the most tenacious. By far."
I blinked at her. I was honestly at a loss for words, and that disconcerted the h.e.l.l out of me.
"You"ll be pleased to know that Shelby survived her ordeal with aplomb," said Morgan. "In fact, there"s a former O"Halloran security employee in intensive care right now, thanks to her efforts in freeing herself and the other hostages."
Good for Shelby. She wasn"t the ice-princess, shrinking-violet cop I"d first met. Maybe I could allow myself to think I was a bad influence.
"Get back to work," said Morgan, "and please try not to kill anyone for at least a week."
"Ma"am, I..." I said. I couldn"t think of a single adequate response to Morgan"s words. She was letting me back on the job. I think she might have even complimented complimented me. G.o.ds, if all I had to do to get administrative approval was doe off a bridge, I"d be doing it twice a week. me. G.o.ds, if all I had to do to get administrative approval was doe off a bridge, I"d be doing it twice a week.
"Thank you for your attention, Detective. Dismissed." She waved me out of her office, and I think as I shut the door she may have given me a tiny smile. But then again, I probably imagined that part.
At my desk I stared at my overdue case report, the blinking cursor mirroring my heartbeat. I was a homicide detective again. No one was looking over my shoulder for a reason to get rid of me.
I could do my job.
"You know what this desk needs?" said Shelby, dropping her bag next to my keyboard and sitting on the edge of my desk. "Plants. Big, leafy, smelly flowering plants. Don"t you think that would liven things up?"
I could have hugged Shelby, but I decided that might destroy my reputation as a tough and heartless were, so I just grinned. "Nice to see you not-tied-up."
"Nice to see you not-dead." She grinned back.
I stopped smiling when I realized what had happened to her on that day. "I"m sorry about your uncle."
Shelby"s mouth twisted downward. "Don"t be. I"m not. He"s been a shadow over my entire life and I for one am glad the b.a.s.t.a.r.d is dead." She picked at the st.i.tching on her bag, which was probably made somewhere in Italy and cost more than a year"s maintenance for the Fairlane. I still hadn"t been able to afford to get that d.a.m.n headlight fixed.
"Then I"m glad you"re okay," I said. "I saw that video and I... well. I was worried."
Shelby flipped a hand. "That guy Seamus had watching us was a joke. I played that "Oh, I"m so sick and thirsty" routine, and gave him big eyes. Jerkoff never knew what hit him."
I laughed. It was good to see Shelby as a normal woman and not as a family-oriented robot. I imagined this was what she"d been like before her father had died.
"I owe you an apology too," said Shelby, looking at her hands.
"Why"s that?" I asked. "Steal lip gloss out of my bag? Try on my shoes?"
"I"ve been lying to you," said Shelby, and her expression was so serious I thought someone had died all over again. "I am am a recent transfer," she said reluctantly. "But not to Homicide." a recent transfer," she said reluctantly. "But not to Homicide."
My heart plummeted to somewhere in the vicinity of my stomach. "To where, then?"