Page 34 of Bad Moon Rising
“I cleaned up all evidence of you having been there. Looks like Flynn took care of internal video feeds, but externally, I had one and I saw…”
Roman’s heart rate escalated. If she was in the images, he could kill Gerard. Right here. Right now. Somehow, that was easier than thinking about Nova’s death. It’d be messy, but he could. He wasn’t sworn not to. Shit, he was in big trouble over this girl if he was considering killing the one person who might be on their side. But, really, were any humans fully on their side?
His breath caught when the curse stopped his lungs.Can’t breathe.
Fine, I won’t kill him.The pressure eased. He took shallow breaths.
Gerard hadn’t noticed while he pulled up a new video and pointed at the screen. “That Latin vampire was lurking about while you were inside the club. Why?”
The relief whirring through him soured his stomach. He hadn’t seen their interaction afterward? Good job, Flynn, with external cameras. “Not sure what business he had.”
“I don’t trust him. Figure out what he’s up to.”
“We’ve been trying to figure him out for a long time. He isn’t exactly open about his reasons for anything. For all we know, he owns FenCor.” He pivoted but paused at the door, remembering the missing item from the case in their sanctuary. “Was anything removed from the repository?”
“I cleaned it.” Gerard fiddled with the two ballpoint pens on his desk.
Look at me.
Gerard turned to his computer. He was evading. Had the king requested the disc? That seemed weird for a new monarch. If Ky was here, he would know whether this was simply Gerard assuming their discussion was over, or him actually evading. Although paranoid that everything was a conspiracy theory, Ky could read people’s intentions.
The disc was not on Roman’s priority to-do list for this week. But if it got free into the world, they’d be forced to hunt it down. Again. It’d been a pain in the ass the first time, but they trapped the person bespelled by it before. Protecting the relics wasn’t supposed to be his job. Yet, he felt responsible and didn’t want to let the problem rest. It hinted at larger security issues around the relics.
Table it. For now.
He needed to figure out what was going on, especially why these guys were desperate to see Nova dead.
Time to find out more about who Nova might be from the lycan who knew everyone.
…
At the Highhorn Pub, Roman slid a pint of beer across the worn table and sat. The pub was dark and hot. Rock music blared so loud from the tinny sound system that everyone spoke in booming tones, increasing the background din. His shoes stuck to the floor, and based on the stench, it was probably spilled beer.
The aristocratic lycan across the table caught the pint and drank. His blond hair, uncharacteristically shaggy, hung out the back of his ball cap. The full beard in combination with wrinkled clothes made him look homeless, not a billionaire land baron with houses in Kensington and Surrey, and a firm place at the table on the Lycan Council. Colin was one of few lycans he’d grown up with who knew he still existed.
Colin’s focus darted out the window. At eight o’clock, the moon was rising. Not yet a full globe, but her gibbous state teased an almost-there. Colin took a deep gulp of beer and visibly relaxed. The guy’s characteristic haze of mellowness descended. It obscured the sharp intelligence and acute observant being beneath. Roman wasn’t fooled.
“You feel the call of the full moon already even though she’s two days away?” Roman sipped the pint and was reminded why he wasn’t a big fan of beer. Give him hard liquor any day over this.
“Since I saw you last, it’s been worse.” Colin stared into the glass as if it held answers. “I hate asking my mother to lock me up like a juvie, but going it on my own doesn’t end well. Wish I didn’t have an anaphylactic reaction to the suppression serum.” Colin slouched and threw his legs wide. “Why’re you here,vecchia?” Old one.
“You callingmeold, my friend, is cute. I need information. I also need what we talk about to remain between us.”
“Of course you need something. Doesn’t mean I’ll give it to you.” Colin was the species’ designated records keeper. He guarded eons of family history, locked away in a secret location. He didn’t often consult what was written, not with his photographic memory. “What do you want to know?”
“Is there a missing female? Maybe recent. Maybe not.” Roman tented his hands on the table.
“This is the Crown’s business?”
Roman traced his finger once around the rim of his cup. “I found one. She’s in a lot more trouble than she thinks.”
“Then ask her who she belong to.”
“She can’t remember. Amnesia. Total blank. What do you know?”
Colin stared at his hands. “A lot of us have disappeared in the past few years, all assumed dead.” He lowered his voice. “There’s something weird going on. I think someone is either hunting us more effectively than the A.W.L. or kidnapping us for something. A few family heads have contacted me, searching for their missing people. Happened three times this year. Two were females who’d been under serious lockdown when they went missing. For one to disappear suggests someone was able to infiltrate those households, likely a lycan.”
“There’s a betrayer in our midst?” Roman frowned. “Why haven’t I heard about this?”
