“Please! I was told you could help me. It’s for a case you were working on. Prelevic.”
She searched her memories. It rang a bell … human trafficking case? That had been at least a year ago, and Johan Prelevic was still awaiting trial. “What about Prelevic?”
“He still has girls locked up. New ones,” the woman said. “I have the address.”
Sofia really wanted to go to the burger place around the corner and have a double cheeseburger, chili fries, and a strawberry milkshake. But if this tip had any merit, then it might mean saving a lot of girls. Just an initial look around couldn’t hurt. “All right.” She grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. “Where is it?”
The woman rattled off an address, and she wrote it down on a notepad. It was in Rockaway Beach, which was out of the way, but at least she would be in Queens. Maybe she could just take the rest of the day off and go home. After shoving the note in her pocket, she went to her car to make the long drive.
It took her over an hour by the time she got to the address. Pulling up, she saw it was an abandoned building at the edge of a commercial area. She got out of the car for a closer look. It was only two stories tall, and the red bricks outside were dirty and overrun with growing vines. The gate was boarded up and had a large “Keep Out” sign on it.
“Fuck.” This was a goddamn wild goose chase. Obviously, someone was playing a prank on her. Angry, she whirled around to walk back to her car, then froze. Her mouth went dry and her every single muscle in her body tensed.
A man was standing behind her, a gun pointed right at her chest. “Hello, Detective.” He smiled at her, showing a mouthful of teeth, reminding her of a shark. “Don’t try anything stupid. Now, be a good detective and do as I say.”
Her body tensed as adrenaline began to pump in her veins. She was trained to deal with situations like this, but she knew there was no way she could disarm him before he pulled the trigger.
Scared for her life and that of her unborn child, she nodded obediently.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lucas stared out of the window of his office on the sixty-eighth floor watching New York bloom before him. In the last week, the signs of early spring were everywhere; the snow was gone, children were out and about playing outside, and people seemingly were much more cheerful about the warming temperatures, dressing in bright colors. But wherever he turned, Lucas could only see only harsh and gray gloom. And emptiness.
His wolf whined pathetically, but he ignored it. Right after that incident outside the police station, the damn animal had been raging at him, clawing him up and trying to take control. He knew what it wanted. It wanted her.
In his rage, he had screamed at his wolf. She didn’t say it back! She was a scheming bitch who used us to further her career. She never loved us!
And that had sent his animal into a deep depression. It backed down and cowered from him, its presence barely felt. He told himself this was better, that at least now, he didn’t have to fight his wolf all the time.
“Mr. Anderson,” came Jared’s cool voice through the intercom. “Are you ready for your next meeting?”
He turned back to his desk, checking his calendar. It seemed like his life the past two weeks had been nothing but Fenrir business. In fact, it was the only thing keeping him occupied these days, and working from sunup to sundown ensured he didn’t have time to think about anything else.
“All right, let them in.”
He prepared himself by taking his seat, folding his hands on top of his desk. The door opened, and his father, Nick Vrost, Zac, Astrid—and to his surprise—Daric and Cross Jonasson walked inside. He hadn’t seen the warlock or his hybrid son since the attack at Blood Moon. “I didn’t know you were bringing more people,” he said to his father.
Grant folded his arms over his chest. “Daric and Cross have uncovered something about the mages, and we need to act now. There have been some more developments.”
Lucas tensed. He’d been so occupied with keeping himself occupied, he’d ignored Lycan affairs. There were much bigger and more important things happening right now. “What have you—”
A buzz from the intercom interrupted him. With an apologetic look at everyone, he pressed the call button. “Jared, you know this is an important meeting.”
“Yes, Mr. Anderson, but I think this is just as important.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a detective downstairs. A Detective Henry Sharpe.”
“What does he want?” Lucas didn’t have time for this. He’d been out of jail for two weeks and a detective from the NYPD was the last person he wanted to talk to.
“He says he has information about the mages.”
Lucas’s head snapped up and met his father’s gaze. “Send him up.”
“A detective who knows about mages?” Nick said. “How?”
“I don’t know.” Grant’s eyes narrowed. “But we should be prepared. Daric?”
“I can take him away if necessary,” the warlock said.
They made a quick plan of action and positioned themselves strategically around the room. When Jared announced the detective was here, Lucas instructed him to let the detective in.
The door opened, and the man barely stepped inside when Nick grabbed him by the arms and twisted him around, pushing him down to his knees. Astrid searched him and removed the gun strapped under his jacket.
“What do you know about mages?” Grant asked as he stared down at Detective Sharpe. They had decided to take the direct approach, and if it turned out to be a fluke or hoax, they could always erase his memory.
Sharpe looked up, strangely calm. “I know they exist.” Then he turned his head and looked straight at Lucas. “But I’m not here about them. Mr. Anderson, I need
