“I’ll talk to Sue.” I would snag Midas for backup since Bishop was busy. “It’s the right thing to do.”
I remembered all too well the frantic churn of my gut when Boaz and Addie were taken. I would have done anything for a scrap of hope. Anything. Including inviting myself to dinner with a predator who could smell when I lied. She lived with a shifter. She knew what she was doing when she came over.
Now, so did we.
Finding Sue was simple, thanks to the Remys, and I made a mental note to give them a raise.
Scratch that.
They gave themselves raises almost daily. I would give them pats on the head. Much cheaper.
“She’s at the Peaches and Dreams Bar,” Three told me on speaker. “She’s been there for three hours.”
Midas’s lips mashed together, and I wasn’t far behind. Alcohol and grief don’t mix.
“Meeting someone?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
She rattled off the address, and I fed it to yet another Swyft driver then ended the call.
The trip was quick, barely enough time to get my game face on, but I couldn’t stop the churn in my gut.
Ambrose, scenting magic on the patrons, stirred himself to join us as we entered the bar.
It was peach scented. Like they piped in an artificially fruity smell. I could choke on its sweetness.
Midas sneezed and sneezed and sneezed until I worried his brain might fly out his nose.
And I became suspicious. “Wait outside.”
Water poured from his red-rimmed eyes as he set his jaw.
“Please.” I touched his arm. “Ambrose is with me.”
Without another word, maybe out of fear he would suck down more of the stink, he left.
The bar was close to empty. I counted four patrons, one of whom sat at the bar hunched over an empty glass. I aimed straight for her.
“This is an anti-shifter bar.” I helped myself to a stool, reining in my temper. “Odd choice for you.”
“Most shifters don’t consider selkies kin,” Sue said in a distant voice. “We tend to avoid them.”
“Without their pelts,” I recalled from Linus’s lessons, “they’re fully human.”
“Yes.” She traced a finger around the glass’s lip. “Their magic is bound to their other form.”
That made sense, but habit or not, I wasn’t thrilled to learn of the bar’s existence.
Examining the room, the remaining customers, I asked, “How did you stumble across this place?”
“Selkies look after their own.” She stared at the bottles behind the counter. “Why are you here?”
“You and I need to chat.” I pushed away her drink. “In private.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She didn’t so much as blink. “You can leave now.”
This hollowed-out shell was an exact replica of mine, down to the edge of violence greedy for an outlet.
“Okay.” I got to my feet. “I was going to tell you we found what you lost, but maybe you don’t care.”
Sue moved fast.
I don’t mean fast for a mom or an ex-potentate.
I mean, the woman moved.
I hadn’t finished my step back before she was on her feet, her hand at my throat.
“What did you say?” She searched my face, her eyes clear. “What have you done?”
“Let’s go someplace quiet,” I said, allowing Ambrose to make an appearance. “Then we’ll talk.”
The appearance of my “wraith” startled her into releasing me. That, or the menace rolling off him in a direct threat to her continued existence if she didn’t let go of his host.
“Okay.” She tossed a handful of bills on the counter. “Your place?”
Given the likelihood we weren’t the only ones surveilling her, I was happy to agree. “Why not?”
Before we left, I bought a bottle of water and carried it out to Midas, whose face was puffy.
“Tilt your head back.” I unscrewed the cap. “Let’s get this crap off you.”
Impatient, Sue popped up at my elbow. “We need—”
“—to ensure my mate isn’t in agony from his attempt to do something good for you? Why, yes. We do.”
That snapped her mouth shut, but she fumed, the alcohol I smelled on her crumbling her polite façade.
I poured the water over his face, concentrating on his eyes, flushing the worst off him. It soaked him in the process, and those clothes would be bagged and sent to HQ for examination. I wanted to know what the bar was pumping in that could deter a shifter. In Atlanta, given its large gwyllgi population, I feared the answer was an aerosol bronze derivative, which affected gwyllgi as bad as or worse than silver hurt wargs.
From the corner of my eye, I watched Ambrose circling her, ensuring she knew he was there.
The way she shied from him convinced me she had little experience with wraiths, and therefore wouldn’t think twice about the oddities of mine.
Thank the goddess for small mercies.
Once I had done all I could do for Midas, I took his hand and linked our fingers. The lovey-dovey move was insurance he wouldn’t stumble or fall during our trip back to the Faraday. Alphas, and betas, weren’t allowed to show weakness. Any dominant would prey on a gwyllgi in a position of authority if their inner beast doubted that person’s strength. It wasn’t personal. It was instinctual.
And it could get Midas killed one day.
Sue better hope that day was not today.
Eight
The ride back to the Faraday passed in a blink, and I tipped the driver to keep him around until he and his car could be sterilized. The last thing we wanted was to spread our bad luck around to anyone else who might be sensitive to whatever we had been exposed to in that bar.
One of the big problems with potential bronze contamination was containment. If you lived in a building staffed by gwyllgi, with a healthy number of gwyllgi residents, you had nowhere to clean up or get treatment that wouldn’t jeopardize your neighbors.
Home was out. The infirmary was out. Our friends’ houses were out. The den was out. It was all out.
That was why, when the pack purchased the Faraday from its previous
