Amanda Carlson - Full Blooded

I raked my hands through my hair and tried to energize myself. So many things needed my attention I didn’t have the pleasure of curling up and going to sleep. The manhunt for Rourke would take resources and he was my first priority. “God, it feels like I’ve been gone for at least two months, and it’s only been a day and a half,” I said. “I should’ve called Nick when we reached the airport. I was just too tired.”

“Nick was put in charge of the Safe House while we were gone. He’s been updated regularly. He wanted to meet us at the airport, but I told him we were fine.” Tyler cleared his voice, which got my attention.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, there’s been …” He paused for a long second. “… Well, I guess you could say there’ve been some issues concerning that cop Ray Hart. Nick’s sort of been forced to… cover for your absence again.”

My head snapped off the headrest so quickly I had to brace my hands on the seat in front of me to stop my momentum. “What did you just say?” When he didn’t answer immediately, I shot a fist into his shoulder. “Come on! What are you talking about? What issues with Ray?”

“It seems he’s gone missing,” my brother said carefully, glancing out the window, not meeting my eyes.

“What do you mean, missing?”

“It means,” Tyler grumbled, turning toward me, “he clocked in at work yesterday and was scheduled to come by your apartment first thing in the morning, and wasn’t seen again. When he didn’t show up at the end of his shift, they tracked his car … to your lot. Nobody knows what happened to him.”

“Nobody human, you mean?” I said, my voice low and angry. “Why wasn’t I informed of this before right now? You know how this is going to look—they’ll be all over my ass now. I can’t just waltz back into my apartment, into my life, completely clueless. There could be a whole SWAT team waiting to arrest me.”

“I didn’t tell you on the plane because there wasn’t a damn thing you could’ve done about it. Plus, you were too busy trying to convince me not to help you as a Selective, remember?”

I gave him a searing look. “Well, what did Danny say? If he’s been at the apartment this whole time, he must’ve seen Ray.” I lowered my voice. “You didn’t tell Danny to …”

“No.” Tyler shook his head. “There haven’t been any official orders about what to do about the cop yet. But there will be at some point. That man is a nuisance.”

“What did Danny say?” I urged.

“That’s the problem,” Tyler said. “I haven’t exactly been able to get a hold of him in the last twenty-four hours.”

“What?”

“He’s not answering his phone.”

I rocked my head backward and closed my eyes. “Tyler, you have got to be kidding me. And you haven’t told any of this to Dad either?”

“No, I haven’t. Dad has more than enough to deal with right now. Plus, this is a minor issue.”

“Minor?” I lowered my voice because the cabbie had started to glance back at us in the rearview mirror. “A detective is missing. The very same detective who wants a chunk of my soul. If a fully competent wolf doesn’t answer his phone, that equals B-I-G trouble—trouble I don’t need right now.” I whined at the end, but I couldn’t help it.

Before Tyler could answer, the cabbie stopped in front of my building. I peered out the window, eyeing the redbrick façade for anything amiss while Tyler paid him.

Once we were out, we waited for him to drive off before either of us said anything, both of us sampling the air. There were no traces of supe, Marcy’s spell still in action.

Tyler turned to me. “Listen, Jess, you’re going to have to trust me on this one. If Danny was in serious trouble, I’d know it. Something must’ve happened when Ray showed up, but it couldn’t have been that big or we would’ve found out one way or another. The two of us are just going to go up there and find out what it is and solve it ourselves.” He cocked his head at me pointedly, and then brushed my mind: And we’re going to have to do it quietly.

I finally understood.

The real reason Tyler had waited so long to clue me in. Okay, I get it now. If Danny has somehow hurt Ray without orders, you want us to figure it out and cover it up on our own? Right? Immediate visions of another body-shaped duffel being launched out of my apartment popped into my brain. I brought my fingers up to the bridge of my nose. And then we’re supposed to tell our father … what, exactly?

We’ll tell Dad whatever he needs to know when it’s all done. Once it’s all shored up there can be no complaint, and there’s no reason he needs to know right this minute anyway. Most likely nothing’s going on; it’s all just pure speculation at this point and we don’t need to bother him with our speculation. He read my face. Danny’s on probation almost all the time because he goes off on his own too much. If he’s killed a detective without orders there will be serious repercussions for him. It doesn’t matter if he’s one of the Pack’s best fighters. I’m just saying it might not be a bad idea for us to see for ourselves what happened here first. Get a handle on the situation. After all, we’re just on our way home from a long flight, what do we really know for sure?

“You’re playing with fire, little brother,” I said out loud. “Not your typical style, but I kind of like it.” I grabbed his shirtsleeve. “Come on, let’s go get this over with.”

The smell of fear and something unknown permeated my hallway as we rounded the top of the landing. My wolf was alert, searching for any potential danger. There would be no repeat of the rogue attack.

My brother and I edged cautiously down the corridor, my nose working to categorize the strange scents. Do you know what that smell is? It’s almost like rotting peaches.

Tyler answered. Nope. I don’t recognize it other than it’s definitely a supe of some kind.

That did not bode well for us—or for Danny—or Ray, for that matter, if he was indeed tangled in this. And how could he not be?

Strangely, Juanita’s voice broke the silence, her hearty laugh ringing out in the hallway, followed by a low male murmur. My stress level relaxed somewhat. I glanced at my brother. That just came from my apartment, right? Juanita’s jubilant tone mixed with Danny’s smooth alto became more clear as we continued down the hallway, but since our apartments were directly across from each other, there was a slight possibility my ears were picking up on some kind of echo.

Yep, seems Danny has company. Whatever’s happened can’t be that bad, then, and that means I was right.

He better not have tried anything on my neighbor. Other than those two voices, the hallway was quiet. Our flight out of New Orleans had left at six a.m. It was now ten-thirty in the morning on a workday. Most of my neighbors were at work.

Please. Tyler snorted. Danny can have anyone he wants, he’s not making a move on your elderly neighbor.

She’s not elderly! And she happens to be voluptuous and sexy for her age. He’d be lucky to have her. But he better not have. I’m just saying.

Tyler snorted again.

As we approached my door, I motioned for Tyler to stand behind me. The rotten peach smell was all over, clogging both of our senses. I put my ear to the door to make sure there were only two voices inside and grabbed on to the handle. I gave it a slow turn. There was movement, no catches. I eased it open. “Hello,” I called. “I’m home.”

“Hello there.” Danny gave a little salute from his place on the floor, on what appeared to be a plaid picnic blanket full of empty plates and a couple of red-stained wineglasses. “Glad to see you back in town so soon.”