“Yes. It would appear he loses the connection when we take alternate form.”
“Then it’s a shame I haven’t the strength to take it more often.” It would have been nice to be able to follow up on leads without Hunter knowing our every move.
Azriel touched Jak on the neck, and disappeared. Jak blinked; then his gaze focused on me and he said, “I guess making a run for it with the disks is out of the question?”
It took me a moment to realize he was continuing the conversation we’d been having before Azriel froze him. “You can try, but that will only lead to the access we’ve been given to the crime site being abruptly withdrawn. Besides, Uncle Rhoan isn’t only half wolf; he’s half vampire, too. You wouldn’t have any hope of outrunning him.”
“So we lose the information we came here to get?” he said, frustration evident in his voice.
“No, we won’t. Just trust me, okay?”
He frowned, and then his gaze swept me. “How come your clothes are suddenly tatty? And how the hell did your hair change color?”
“Long story. Let’s get these back to Uncle Rhoan before he comes looking for us.”
I grabbed my purse and walked out. He was very quickly beside me. “You’re avoiding the question.”
“Too right.”
“Why? What are you hiding?”
“Secrets, of course.” I gave him a somewhat wry glance. “Secrets I’m not about to reveal to a reporter, let alone the one who besmirched my mom’s name.”
He was silent for a moment, then said slowly, “Nadler’s not the only one who’s a face-shifter, is he?”
I didn’t say anything. He grinned. “That’s it. That’s the secret. Or at least one of them. I suspect you have a whole lot more, because from what I understand of face-shifting, it doesn’t destroy clothes like shifting into wolf form can.”
“And you’ve talked to lots of face-shifters to confirm this, have you?” I asked.
“Ha. Confirmation of my guess. Where’d the skill come from—your mom?”
I glanced at him. “You’re the one who did the extensive background check on my mom. You tell me.”
He grimaced. “Pack background wasn’t something I could pin down. But if she was a face-shifter, she had to be a Helki. No other pack has that skill.”
“You know I’m not going to confirm or deny anything, so give it up.”
“And you know I won’t. I’m afraid you’ve become something of a challenge to me.”
I shook my head and pushed the gate open. Uncle Rhoan was just stepping around the side of the house. His gaze swept down and came to rest briefly on the disks I held before continuing on, taking in the state of my clothing. His gaze had narrowed by the time it met mine, but all he said was, “Any luck?”
“These disks are the ones Blake took on the day Nadler was married.” I slipped the smaller one into his hand, as well. “That last one could prove useful when it comes to looking for the current Nadler.”
He nodded and pocketed the disks. “Where are you two off to now?”
“What, now we have to report our every move to you?” Jak said.
“If you want to remain out of jail and on this case, yes,” Rhoan said, rather mildly considering the spark of annoyance that flared in his eyes.
I touched Jak’s arm, stopping him from saying anything else, and said, “Nadler’s lawyer was murdered last night. We might go talk to his secretary, and see if it was somehow connected to Nadler, or if he was working on anything else that might have warranted his death.”
Rhoan continued to eye me dubiously. He knew me well enough to understand that I was planning a whole lot more than that. “I don’t suppose you were at that fund-raiser last night, were you?”
“Yes. We found the body and called the cops, in fact.” There was no sense denying it, because he could easily enough trace the call back to my phone.
“And the murder? Did you also witness it?”
“We would have hung around if we had.”
His expression was somewhat disbelieving. “You should have hung around anyway.”
I grimaced. “I had somewhere else I had to be. I couldn’t.”
“Doesn’t explain why Jak didn’t hang around.”
Jak just shrugged. Truth be told, he was probably wondering why he hadn’t hung around also.
Rhoan grunted. It wasn’t a happy sound. “I won’t tell you not to talk to Logan’s secretary, because you’ll just go ahead and do it anyway. But I do expect you to keep me up-to-date with what—if anything—you discover. Because believe me, if I find out you’re keeping stuff back, I will throw your asses in jail until this is all over. And not even my sister will get you out of it.”
I knew an ultimatum when I heard one, so I simply nodded. He continued to eye me for several seconds, then stepped to one side and allowed us to pass.
“Well,” Jak said, once we were clear of the house and walking back to our cars, “that was intense.”
“Yep. And he was deadly serious about throwing us in jail.”“I gathered that, so keep the man updated, for Christ’s sake.”
I flashed him a grin. “What? You don’t fancy cooling your heels in jail with me?”
“Sorry, no. I’ve been in jail once when I ignored a judge’s ‘no-print’ order.” He shuddered briefly. “I don’t care to repeat the experience—even with you.”
I snorted softly. “Do you think you can use your wily press ways to uncover where the secretary lives?”
“That isn’t even a challenge for a reporter as good as me.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned my butt against the side of his car while he made several phone calls. Eventually he turned and said, “Okay, she lives in a town house in Doncaster—you want to come with me?”
I shook my head. “It’ll save you driving me back here.”
“I wouldn’t mind—”
“I would. You and me trapped in a small car is not a good idea.”
“You don’t trust me? I’m mortified.”
“A statement that would be more believable if you didn’t have that smirk on your face.” I pushed away from the car. “Just give me the address and I’ll meet you there.”
He did. “Better not be late—I just might start questioning her without you.”
“Better not. I’m all that’s standing between you and jail, remember.”
He snorted. “The way things are going, you’ll be the reason I’m thrown in jail.”
I grinned, but couldn’t deny it. As I headed for my car, my phone rang. I dug it out of my purse and hit the ANSWER button. “Hello?”
“Well, hello,” a familiar voice said. “Are we over our snit yet?”
I ignored the jibe. “What can I do for you, Lucian?”
“Oh, I can think of lots of things, but I’ll settle for a simple dinner date.”
There was nothing simple about dinner dates with him—that I knew from long experience. “I’m afraid the snit lingers on, so the answer is no.”
He sighed. “Risa, we both know that you could have stopped me anytime you wanted. You simply didn’t want.”
That was possibly true—if I’d had Amaya on me and had forced him back at sword point. I doubted I’d have had the strength—or rather, the willpower—to do it otherwise. Which, again, struck me as odd because up until now I’d never been a pushover when it came to men and sex. But then, up until now I’d never been involved with a full Aedh, either.
“That’s not the point, Lucian.”
“What if I swear on bended knees not to push against your desire like that again?”
“Then I might forgive you,” I said with a half smile. “Just not today. After all, you did bet that I’d only last two nights without you.”
“I will hold my tongue in the future,” he said, with a laugh. “So, what have you been up to without me? I’m guessing your father hasn’t been in contact with you about finding the next key?”
“No. Life has been the same old, same old, I’m afraid.”
“Meaning you’re at work?” he inquired. “Against the reaper’s wishes?”
“Azriel doesn’t run my life any more than you do,” I said mildly—and, hopefully, sidestepped the question of where I was.
“Perhaps, but he does have a point when it comes to your restaurant. It’s too easy for the Raziq to find you there.”
“Except, as I keep telling him, they’re hardly going to attack me somewhere where there’s lots of people.” But even as I said that, I remembered the Ania attack in the café and shivered. And I had a bad feeling I’d just tempted fate.
“If it proves easier for the Raziq to net you in a public space, then they will do so. For an Aedh, the end goal is all and nothing else matters.”
“And what is your end goal, Lucian?”
“Revenge,” he said flatly. “Whatever it takes, whatever I have to do. But I’ve never hidden that from you.”
No, he hadn’t. But I was beginning to wonder just how big a part I was playing in his end goal. It was certainly bigger than what he was admitting, and that was making me more and more nervous.
And yet I still didn’t want to walk away from him. Maybe I really was addicted to the damn man.
“Well, this little piece of your revenge pie isn’t ready to play nice just yet.” I dug my keys out of my pocket and clicked the UNLOCK button. Lights flashed as the car opened.
“You know, that background noise isn’t sounding like you’re in the restaurant.”
“I never said I was.”
“So, the bored and horny investment adviser isn’t even allowed to live vicariously through your eventful day-to-day life?”