“She’s our way in, gentlemen, so it’s crucial that we not only keep an eye on the Council, but our human ward as well. They won’t object to the six of us if we say we’re not there for them, but for her.”
Drew nodded. He was not only a sharp thinker, his quick mind made him an excellent strategist. “I think their biggest issue is appearing weak before one another. On top of that, if we’re hovering around all of them, it also looks like they don’t quite trust each other.”
“We’re not trying to exacerbate either of those beliefs. With that in mind, it should be a nice, quiet night. We’re not expecting trouble.” A confirmation look directed at Gray, who nodded his agreement. “Excellent. You ready?” Bast snapped at Cicero. Kemp had tended to his wound, and they were both now checking his shirt for blood splatters.
Cicero returned a glare. “Yeah.” His voice was raspy. Good. It would be a perfect reminder for a while.
“Let’s move. Three vehicles. Drew, with me.” He would have loved to have confided in Gray some of the shit that had gone down over the last few days, but now was not the place nor the time. First protocol held true not only for the Council, but also for their guardians. Both leaders avoided being in the same place at the same time too often.
No further words were needed as they moved en masse to a fleet of black Escalades. He helped Alice into the backseat of one before joining Drew up front. She didn’t seem as discomforted as before, which gave him one less thing to worry about.
For some reason, ever since arriving here, a strange feeling began gnawing at him. Nothing like the illness, but definitely a sense of something...wrong. No. That wasn’t it. Something different. It didn’t hurt, but the presence was there. It knocked at him from the inside. A reminder of something he couldn’t quite place.
Whatever the feeling, its origins were physical. A new iteration on the illness he’d just gotten over, perhaps? He couldn’t be sure. It felt like two heartbeats. His and another echoing right on its heels.
Fucking great. Just what he needed. Another new twist on something he couldn’t get under control.
“Alice,” he grumbled, “any movement on the chart?”
“I’m still running that search we talked about.”
To think they’d tossed around the idea that he was some sort of demon offspring. Not like he’d ever heard of any existing, but he could see the connection. Alice had flat-out refused to believe, despite the evidence. “You’re not evil,” she’d insisted.
Guess that depended on her definition of evil. Didn’t matter anymore, though. When his wings had disappeared, so had her theory, in his mind. Still, she wanted to keep searching for other creatures who might bear the same similarities, just in case. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already spent two hundred years searching, so if she spent even twenty with her theory, it wouldn’t hurt any. All it could do was help, so he’d gone along with the idea.
“I might have something new for you. Be alert, okay?” He wouldn’t discuss the illness in front of Drew but knew she understood him when there was a small squeeze to his left shoulder.
The closer they got to their destination, the more Bast wished she’d continue to touch him. His head pounded, the sensation issuing down his spinal column and radiating through his shoulders. It was a dull, achy feeling, almost too light to be considered true pain. The persistent knock of two heartbeats, one behind the other—the unnatural sensation made his chest ache.
“Boss?” Drew said in that gentle voice of his. “We got a cover yet?”
“Still working.” Rubbing his chest, he glanced out the window, trying to come up with something that Alice could handle. That the Council would buy. If worse came to worst, he could always shove her in the restroom and have her wait there until everyone was ready to depart.
As soon as the thought finished forming, he tossed it out. She might go along willingly at first, but she’d unscrew his balls later for the mistreatment.
Damn it, if his head wasn’t feeling so fuzzy...
He turned to Alice. “How good are you at genealogy, really?”