“You don’t think I did something to get back at him, do you?”
“It’s okay. You don’t seem the type to send someone to break his legs.”
“So, he is hurt?”
“In a manner of speaking. From what we can make out, he stayed at the bar until closing and got drunk. Someone took him home in a taxi, and he didn’t turn up for class this morning.”
Penny shrugged. “That’s a fairly normal night for him, so what else happened?”
“He was found in a distressed state this morning by the emergency services and brought into hospital for further observation.”
“Did he use something illegal?”
Vadim sat forward. “Why would you think that?”
“Because he liked to experiment with stuff.” Penny shook her head. “That was another reason why we argued. I’ve seen addicts come into the ER. I wouldn’t want to end up like that. Brad should know that too. He’s training to be a freaking doctor!”
“At this point, the medical team isn’t quite sure what Brad took, or didn’t take. All we know is that he is in a severely heightened state of anxiety.”
“He’s probably scared his daddy’s going to cut off his money because he missed class again. I kept telling him he should just admit to his parents that he doesn’t want to be a doctor, but he’s too afraid of letting them down.”
Vadim smiled. “I know that feeling. Do you really think he’s scared of his parents?”
“Wouldn’t you be?” Penny’s faintly mocking smile disappeared. “He called them the Kennedys on speed. He was terrified of messing up.” She hesitated. “Is Brad here? Do you think I could see him?”
“He’s heavily sedated at the moment, Ms. Jordan, and not receiving visitors. But we will keep you informed of his progress, if you wish it.”
“I’d like that.” Penny rose and tossed her coffee cup in the trash. “He might be a jerk, but I still care about him. When he was nice, he was
“Oh, I know. The jerks always are.” Ella held out her hand. “Thanks so much for talking to us, and as my colleague said, we’ll keep in touch.”
She waited until Penny closed the door behind her before sitting down next to Vadim again.
“She seemed way too nice to be going out with Brad.”
“He certainly didn’t come across as a very admirable or likeable character, did he?” Vadim stretched out and crossed his legs at the ankle. “I actually felt quite sorry for him.”
“For Brad?”
“He’s under a lot of pressure from his family to conform. It’s hardly surprising that he’s acting out and is so immature.”
“You can obviously relate. Was that your excuse for getting kicked out of Otherworld?”
He considered her for a long moment, his expression bleak. “For my youthful behavior? No, although the damage I caused was far more long lasting than Brad’s.”
“What did you do?”
“Eventually I conformed.” His mouth twisted. “
“Brad’s in a fairy-imposed coma.”
“From which I can awaken him.” He stood by the door and stared down at her. “What do you want to do?”
“I suppose we should go back and tell Feehan what we’ve learned so far.” Ella groaned. “Liz might have more information too. We can also check in with her about the mysterious Adam.”
“So let’s go back.” He held open the door for her and followed her down the hallway. “Brad’s probably better off sleeping, at the moment.”
Feehan opened the door into the big conference room and snapped on the fluorescent lights.
“Let’s get everyone in here, shall we?”
Ella followed him in, glad to see that someone had taken down all the horrific pictures and info about the empaths the Siren had murdered, from their last case. She was happy that he was dead, but it didn’t bring back her fellow empaths, especially her best friend, Laney. She missed Laney like a sister...well, more than a sister. Ella’s real sister drove her nuts. If it hadn’t been for the Siren, she wouldn’t have met Vadim and ended up mated to him, likely to live a long and happy life. Was she only allowed one special person in her life at a time?
“Sit down, Ella.” Feehan pulled out a chair for her and hovered over her solicitously. “How are you feeling? I know your twenty-seventh birthday is coming up next week.”
“I’m feeling good, boss. How about you?”
She gave him her best shark smile and he backed off and took a seat at the other end of the table. She supposed, being her superior, he had a right to inquire about the state of her mental health. Unmated empaths had a tendency to go nuts from psychic overload as their twenty-seventh birthday approached. And hers was next week. He didn’t know she was mated to Vadim yet. No one did, although Liz had skated pretty damn close to working it out.
Not even her parents knew she was going to survive. She’d refused to consider choosing an Otherworld- approved mate until Vadim had practically forced her to take him on. She’d only done it then because he’d made it seem more attractive than death in an elevator shaft. If she was honest, admitting she was going to live after spending the last twenty-seven years deliberately pissing everyone off in the belief she would die young was somewhat embarrassing. She was still debating whether to mention it to them or not. She’d agreed to go to their house in the East Bay and eat birthday cake on the weekend. If she wasn’t going out of her mind, that might just do it for her.
Vadim slipped into the seat to her left and Liz took the one on her right. A minute later, Andrew and Rich came in, accompanied by her trainee empath, Sam. As usual, they were arguing about something baseball related and barely stopped to acknowledge anyone else in the room.
“Here you are.” Vadim put a cup of coffee in front of her.
“Thanks.” She smiled at him and then noticed Liz was staring at them with a knowing look. “About time, too.”
He merely raised his eyebrows and looked away. Liz nudged her. “He is so hot, Ella, I don’t know how you can stand not jumping his bones.”
She felt her cheeks heat. “Whisper that a bit louder, Liz. I don’t think Morosov got it all.”
“Oh, I heard.” His low, amused voice held a hint of sex that sent little shivers up and down her spine. “For the record, I don’t know how she resists me either, Liz.”
Feehan picked up a pen and headed for the whiteboard.
“Now that we’re all here, let’s talk about the new case.” He wrote Brad Dailey’s name on the board, followed by the name of the bar and all the other details Ella and Vadim had given him. “What else do we know?”
Liz put up her hand. “I’ve been searching the Fae-Web for other cases like this, and as I was telling Ella, it’s really hard to find anything concrete, because the victims tend to go mad or die fairly quickly.”
“That’s not good.” Feehan frowned. “Can you share what you have anyway?”
Liz handed out some sheets of paper to the team. “I typed this out really fast, so excuse any errors. The Fae-Web refused to connect with our internet. I’m still waiting for some photographs of the victims.”
Ella scanned the pages. “Have you come across any mention of a man called Adam?”
“Specifically?” Liz’s silver Fae-Web unfurled over her head and started to shimmer. “Not that name, although from the fragments we have, most of the victims claim they did meet up with a helpful stranger just before their faces disappeared.”
“A helpful stranger.” Feehan wrote a question mark on the board. “Are we assuming that we’re dealing with something from Otherworld?”
Ella nodded. “Both Morosov and I felt some residual magic clinging to Brad Dailey, so we assume that’s the case.”
She glanced at Vadim for confirmation, but he appeared to be lost in thought. She kicked his shin under the
