Page 26 of Hound

I flipped onto a random page, the familiar scribbled writing occupying the first four lines. This wasn’t an ordinary notebook. . .it was a diary.

Sonia? Ms. Hoko? The NWE? What was she talking about? What the fuck did I get myself into?

“Too late now,” I whispered to myself as I flipped through the thin pages, the writing fluctuating. Some had short pieces, barely more than four lines. Others had pages on pages of writing, to the point sentences jumbled onto each other without clear direction.

Until something caught my eye, words I’d heard from Mallory, written in Sophia Sephtis’ diary.

Cold dread washed over me. Mallory was connected to all of this, but how?—

Lace’s name appeared on the blackened screen as my phone vibrated. Hesitation froze my muscles. Why? This. . .has never happened before. I’ve never reacted to his phone calls like this. Why now?

I answered before the call could go to voicemail, my eyes glued to the diary. “Devon speaking.”

“Lorenzo.” It had been nearly two weeks since the last time we spoke on the phone—if the few words we shared as a check-in could count. But that warmth was gone. Instead, a heavy weight pressed against my shoulders until everything else numbed.

“Hello? Shoot. Not again. I thought I had fixed this problem after Nina’s call disconnected. . .” he remarked, his gravelly voice pulling me away from whatever was going on with my body.

“What happened with Katerina?”

I hadn’t seen her since I stumbled on her with that Sephtis boy inside the mansion. I should mention it to Lace. He was level-headed and saw everything clearly no matter what. Henever let his anger get to him—ifhe ever got angry. He would know what to do in this situation. Right?

But this was somethingIneeded to deal with. Maybe I should get clarification first. Talking to her—how she liked to call it, lecturing—was overdue, anyway. On top of those laps she still owed me.

But I hadn’t gotten to any of them because I kept thinking about?—

He cleared his throat, his tone careful as he said, “We spoke on Friday but the call kept breaking up.”

A hollow pit dug into my chest. Of course, he was checking up on her. It was a given with her condition, especially since he wasn’t next to her. Unlike me.

The tell signs were obvious back then when she used to miss her medication. A distant look on random occasions. Stand-offish appearance. Bitterness in her voice. The wood-musk scent that used to blanket her skin.

Humans couldn’t distinguish scents beyond the surface level. Vampires didn’t need to since they focused on presence. But for half-humans, it was rare, but possible if trained properly. This ability was instinctive to me. . .and my cousin.

Like me, she recognized scents. She didn’t have to tell me; it was in the way her head always tilted up, how her nostrils flared. She also knew how to mask herself. It was all about control, and when she’d skip her pills, her scent would slip up.

“I don’t get it. I thought I was fine. Can’t I stop taking it once I’m good?”she’d asked once during one of my many “lectures.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

She’d rolled her eyes. “It should.”

Nina hated medicine as much as I did, and while she was more stubborn than I was, with the years, she had matured. Thankfully, she kept her promise to Lace, and her end of our bargain. As long as she took her medication and properly fed,and she didn’t regress, I wouldn’t ask about her condition, especially since Lace didn’t want to give me possibilities. He wanted concrete answers, and until then, I’d keep my trust in them.

But one possibility I had, the reassurance I kept near, was ofacure for Nina. I couldn’t have one, but she could. That’s all I needed, alongside my treatment.

I had consumed everything and anything possible in the hopes of some remedy, I never found it. . .until Lace sent me on missions. My condition was alleviated through inflicting pain and in some cases, death. Whatever she had was not what I had. And if she needed a babysitter to keep her in check, then so be it. I’d do anything to give her a chance at normalcy that I could never be granted.

“Is she okay?”

He chuckled. “Yes, Enzo, she’s fine. There was something I wanted to talk to her about, but I’m glad I didn’t. It’s better that it comes from you.”

“What is it?”

“There’s a new product for guardians,” he introduced slowly. “It’s still in its early stages since my brothers are still working on its mechanics, but, with the tensions between the Ministry and Bureau, the Two-Species Treaty, all sides want assurance.”

Every year, the CEG released one upgrade for guardians. The new uniformed vests were last year’s, and while, in my opinion, they were useless, it showcased the desire the company had to enhance protection at all costs. I don’t know what else they could improve. . .unless they were bringing in something new. Like the silver nitrate Lace’s brother discovered. “And how will the CEG ensure that?”

“Weapons.”

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