Ethan ran a hand through his hair, settling himself. “And why didn’t Malik deliver the message?”
“Because I lost the bet.”
Ethan held back a snicker, but something relaxed in his expression. If nothing else, he was home among friends. “I’ll be right up. Shut the door, please.”
“Nothing would please me more,” Luc assured him, and slipped out again, pulling the door closed behind him.
“Well,” Ethan said, glancing down at me, “I guess that brings this experiment to an end.”
“Temporarily,” I said. “Temporarily.”
His eyes gleamed with appreciation. Without a word, he pressed his mouth to mine, a promise of things to come. “I need to take the call.”
“Take it,” I said. “I believe my work here is done.”
Ethan snickered, picked up shirt and shoes. “Feeling cocky, are you, Sentinel?”
“Are you going to drive back to Little Red and challenge Gabriel to a duel?”
“Not in the next several minutes.”
“Then, like I said, my work here is done.” I picked up my own clothes, met him at the door. “Sometimes you just gotta dance it out.”
He smiled, and this time, he looked relaxed. “I guess, sometimes, you do.”
“And one more thought, Ethan.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Yes?”
“Gabriel knew about Reed and the Circle. He sent us into that neighborhood, had to know we’d find something. At least notice the geographical connection, maybe do some exploring.”
“What are you suggesting, Sentinel?”
“He may not have wanted to tell us about Reed. Maybe didn’t feel like he could. But he wanted us to know.”
With that, I left him to his call.
• • •
I waited until Ethan had cleared the stairs before opening the Ops Room door. And when I did, all eyes jumped to me.
Luc, Juliet, and Lindsey stood together in a huddle. They separated and walked toward me.
“He’s going upstairs,” I said.
“What was that about?” Luc asked when they reached me. “And who won?”
“It was a draw, as you probably figured out when you opened the door.”
Luc managed a blush.I didn’t figure there was any point in hiding the truth of the rest of it. “We went to see Caleb Franklin’s house, found a secret hidey-hole and a safe-deposit box key.” I pulled out the envelope, set it on the table. “We met a necromancer in Longwood Cemetery. Then we took a little visit to Hellriver. Discovered La Douleur had moved there—”
“Wait, La Douleur is in Hellriver now?”
We all looked at sweet and innocent Juliet, who was grinning wickedly. “What? I like cosplay. And you can’t beat La Douleur for cosplay.”
So many things I’d learned tonight. So many things I didn’t need to know. And yet I was compelled to ask. “English club?”
She grinned. “Sexy anime.”
Luc flicked away a fake tear. “Our baby girl is growing up. And she’s growing up weird.”
I smiled, appreciating the levity. “Anyway, La Douleur is in Hellriver,” I confirmed. “Run by a guy named Cyrius Lore, who’s got the Circle ouroboros tattooed on his arm. The Circle owns La Douleur, and they own Hellriver. Cyrius sicced a vampire on us, a battle ensued, which we won, at the point of a gun, a dagger, and two katanas. He admitted Reed’s got something big planned, something the sorcerer is involved in, something that’s got the sorcerer under wraps working on it. But that’s all we got out of him.”
Luc whistled. “That’s enough for one night.”
“Oh, but that’s only half of it. We then went to Little Red to talk to Gabe about Caleb Franklin. Long story short, Caleb Franklin was an enforcer for the Pack. Changed his mind, went to work for the Circle and Adrien Reed. He’s also Gabe’s illegitimate half brother, so Gabe let him defect from the Pack.”
Luc’s anger fired. “Gabriel Keene’s half goddamn brother worked for Adrien Reed? And he knew Reed’s connected to the Circle?”
“And has done not one thing about it.”
“No wonder Sullivan’s pissed,” Juliet said, and Luc nodded.
“Do you know what we could have done with that information?”
“I do,” I said. “And for his side, there’s loyalty and guilt in there. Gabriel would say he made the best decision for the Pack by kicking Franklin out, staying out of Circle business. Said it was a strategic decision just like the kind Ethan often makes.”
Lindsey winced. “Unfortunately, I can sympathize with that argument.”
“Yeah,” I said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “That’s what I thought, too. Ethan’s as strategic as they come, and he’d be perfectly fine keeping information from the Pack if it suited his interests.” Hell, he’d kept information from me because he thought he’d been protecting me.
“Damn,” Luc said, looking at the ceiling as he thought it through. “Where did they leave it?”
“I don’t know. Ethan threw a chair, shifter threw open the door, Berna pretty much threw us out.”
Luc’s gaze dropped to me again. “No shit?”
“No shit. They left on bad terms, but nothing specific was said about the alliance or whatever. I don’t know if this is a lovers’ spat or a total fork in the road.”
Lindsey smiled sympathetically, rubbed my back. “You’re mixing metaphors, English major.”
“The night has fried my brain,” I said, crossing my arms. “Quite a damn situation.”
“Yeah,” Luc agreed. “And as much as it sucks, we’re going to have to wait to see how it resolves. Puts Jeff in a helluva spot.”
“It does,” I agreed. “Right between the Pack and the Ombuddies. He won’t want to disappoint Gabe or my grandfather.”
Luc scratched his cheek absently. “I wish there was a flowers-and-candy equivalent of fixing supernatural disputes.”
“Ethan took Gabe a bottle of Scotch. But that was before his confession.”
Luc nodded. “We’ll have to let that be for the time being. Let’s get back to Franklin, Reed, the Circle, the alchemy.” He gestured toward the conference table, and we took seats.