7
S
ebastian took a last glance at the website, added a few final comments to his notebook, turned off his tablet, and glanced at the media screen on the wall. He’d left the large monitor running while he hunted for information on his tablet, though he’d turned the volume off some time earlier.
He stared at the images on the big screen a moment, but at first he couldn’t place what he saw. Enlarging the picture, he recognized the face of a local newscaster in the corner of the screen as an overhead camera focused on a large, raucous crowd gathered downtown. Familiar landmarks placed the action near the Civic Center.
The camera zoomed in on a striking silver-haired man on a raised dais surrounded by what appeared to be half a dozen large bodyguards. Sebastian turned up the volume just as his father raised his arm and the crowd fell silent.
There was nothing Aldo Xenakis loved more than an attentive crowd. The microphone amplified his already mesmerizing baritone voice, carrying his words out to the spellbound group gathered about him like fans at a rock concert.
Except his father’s form of entertainment was spewing hate, railing against the Chanku shapeshifters, blaming them for yet another death. The man was nothing if not consistent.
Staring at the screen, at the hatred on the faces of so many idiots standing in the crowd, hanging on to their exalted leader’s every word, Sebastian thought of Lily. Lily and her flashing aura and her beautiful spirit.
He thought of Lily with his father’s filthy diatribe in the background. At that moment he realized how much he hated the man. Hated him for his arrogance and sense of superiority that apparently made him think he had the right to incite a crowd of mindless fools to violence against a people who meant them no harm.
Without any proof beyond his own xenophobia, Xenakis encouraged bloodshed. With that mesmerizing, almost poetic cadence to his voice, he blamed the Chanku for the rapes and murders, pumping his fist in the air as he threatened revenge for the deaths of innocent young women.
“You bastard.” Disgusted, Sebastian reached for the controls to turn off the flat screen, when one of the bodyguards in the background shifted his weight. It was more than obvious the man was injured. Sebastian zoomed in for a closer look. The man was huge—heavily muscled and quite tall, but he wore a walking cast on his left leg. Curious now, Sebastian used the controls to move across the row of bodyguards until he saw what he was looking for.
The one on the far left had his right arm in a sling. Sebastian skipped back to the first bodyguard, the one with the cast, and zoomed in on his face. A deep cut ran across the bridge of his nose. It was mostly healed, but he’d heard that Chanku healed faster when they shifted.
The same nose Lily had slashed with wolven teeth? The leg he’d snapped with powerful jaws? And the other one’s arm. It couldn’t be mere coincidence, but what were Chanku doing with his father, a man who hated the species? And why would the same ones who had attacked him and Lily the night before be part of the half dozen men guarding Aldo Xenakis?
He had to call Lily and tell her what he suspected. She’d said last night that she didn’t know the wolves, but she’d recognized their scent. A scent associated with one of the murders.
Was his father aware of the fact his employees were behind the rash of killings? Could he be directing them? No. Sebastian shoved that thought aside, but it didn’t disappear. Not entirely.
Damn, but he needed to talk to Lily. She was smart and levelheaded, and she knew more about shapeshifters than anyone else possibly could.
He wished he’d stayed for that talk they’d promised each other. Wished he’d done a lot of things differently, but it was too late for misgivings. He needed to call her, but an idea had taken hold and wouldn’t turn him loose, so he shut down the monitor, grabbed his tablet computer, and headed for his room at the back of the house.
At least he knew he’d have a few hours before his father returned home. Time enough to try a spell he’d come across that might take him to the astral plane. He was certain his answers lay in that mysterious space out of place, but he’d never managed to access it before. His father drew a lot of his power from the astral. Not all—Aldo claimed he had other sources as well.
Sources he wouldn’t discuss with his son.
Damn, he really needed to talk to Lily.
Reaching for the phone, Sebastian thought of the sense of unclean magic clinging to his father. He had no proof, so he wasn’t in a position to accuse him of the murders, but he needed to find some answers, and damn it, as much as he needed to talk to her, he didn’t want to involve Lily.
Not yet.
He stared at the phone in his hand. Slowly, he put it down. He’d try once again to access the astral. See what he could find on his own.
Then he’d call Lily.
The flight had been smooth, the trip from the airport to the Chanku estate with her mom giving her a chance to talk privately about her feelings for a guy who might or might not be
the one.
With her parents’ curiosity appeased for now, it was time to visit Eve. Hopefully, she’d find answers with the goddess, but even if Eve didn’t know a thing, Lily could kick back and relax.
Besides, Eve always had the best food and wine, though where it came from remained a mystery. No matter what, it felt so good to be home. The air was fresh and clean, and the big Montana sky an absolutely perfect shade of blue. Lily drew in a deep breath as she closed the door on her small cottage at the edge of the woods. Walking quickly, she crossed her mother’s beautifully landscaped gardens that set her parents’ quarters apart from some of their packmates’ houses.
Damn, but she’d missed coming home. Missed her own kind. No matter where she was, Lily knew she always had the pack, but it was so much better when they were close by. She drew on them, on their strength, their strong sense of family.
Since birth, she’d been surrounded by people who loved her, who wanted only the best for her. Family. Always here. Always looking out for her.
Sebastian had never known anything like that. No wonder the guy had issues, but issues or not, she missed him. She hardly knew the man, and yet . . . she missed him.
That made no sense. None at all.
It was quiet this afternoon. Babies must be napping. Not everyone lived within the main compound, though all the original families now had homes on the same huge piece of property her father had purchased years ago. Many of their children remained, and some had their own homes on site. Others, like Lily, kept small cottages where they could come and go at will.
She sometimes wished things were still the way they’d been when she was small, when so many of them lived in the main house, except for her adopted older brother Oliver and his mate, Mei Chen. She’d loved their little cottage, just across the driveway, but all of that changed after the fire.
None of them would forget the terrible fire that burned much of the forest almost three decades ago. The original house and Oliver’s cottage had burned to the ground. That fire had been a defining point for the entire pack. The fire and the fact their existence—a closely held secret until then—had suddenly become public knowledge.
In one single, unexpected event, in less than a heartbeat, they’d gone from legend to reality when one of their own shifted from man to wolf in front of dozens of network news cameras. The fact he’d shifted publicly to prevent a terrorist attack on a group of young people—including the president’s daughters—outed the Chanku in a totally positive manner, but once their secret was caught on film, there was no turning back.
That event had forced a decision they’d been vacillating over for ages—to live closer to one another, to become a single, united pack rather than continue on as separate family groups scattered about the country. There was safety in numbers and a chance for the children to develop in a society where they never felt alien, were never alone. Unlike their parents who had grown up isolated and unaware of their Chanku birthright, this new generation had been raised with pride in their amazing heritage, surrounded by others just like them.
They’d been free to explore their shapeshifting nature, to know their roots. From the very beginning, they had existed as they were meant to exist—shifting from human form to animal whenever they wished, with thousands upon thousands of acres of forest and meadowland set aside for their use.
Lily appreciated the beauty of her upbringing, the freedom she’d known, and the opportunities she’d been given. She’d blossomed in freedom, and her magic had grown as a natural part of her development.
Magic that had nothing to do with being a shapeshifting Chanku. No, according to her mom, Lily’s magic was all her father’s fault, a gift from his Romanian ancestors, though in Lily, the innate power of her magic was nothing short of miraculous. Still, it meant that, like her father, Lily was of the pack and yet separate. She was special and she knew it—Chanku, and more.
So much more, even Lily realized she’d not tested her full potential. That alone set her apart. And maybe that was why she couldn’t get Sebastian out of her mind.
He was the first man she’d known with magic as strong, if not stronger than her own. He challenged her in every way, but the connection she’d felt with Sebastian reinforced the fact that there was no future for her with Alex Aragat, no matter what their parents wanted.
She grinned as she thought of Alex. Who wouldn’t? He was adorable, but no matter how cute and sexy and smart he might be, Alex lacked the strength to stand up to her, the will to challenge her. He was a strong alpha male in his own right, but not where Lily was concerned. He’d deferred to her his entire life. That wasn’t going to change. She’d run right over the poor guy, just as she’d done all their lives, and they both knew it.
Sebastian, on the other hand, would stand toe to toe with her, and she’d be lucky to come out unscathed.
Did she really want that?
The shiver along her spine and the sudden coil of heat centered in her womb confirmed that, yes, she really did.
“Hey, Lil. Your folks said you were home. I’ve missed you.”
She jerked to a stop and laughed. “Alex! Me too.”
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her hard and fast. “You ready for ‘the talk’?”
“Hell, no.” She rolled her eyes. “Why? Did you just get nailed?”
He nodded. “You, Lily Cheval, are a paragon of all things Chanku, and I’m a bloody fool to let you slip away.”
Laughing, she flipped him off. “Sorry, big guy. I can’t help it if I’m a paragon. I am what I am.”
“Well, it would help if you’d screw up a little. Do you think you could work on that?”
Lily glanced at the house, knew her dad still wanted to talk to her, but she really needed Alex right now. “I think I already have, Al. You got a minute?”
“What’s the matter, sweetie?”
“C’mon.” She grabbed his hand and drew him across the yard to a small pond built of native stone, shaded by twisted aspen trees. She sat on a stone bench and patted the spot beside her.
“Okay,” he said, still holding her hand. “Spill.”
“I think the days of the talk are coming to an end.” She glanced down at his long fingers wrapped around hers and wondered how Sebastian would deal with another man in their bed. She’d never give Alex up altogether. She loved him. She just didn’t see herself mated to him.
“You’ve met someone, haven’t you?”
Why in the hell did she feel so guilty? Lily nodded. “I have, but I don’t know if there’s a future for us.”
“He’s not Chanku?”
“Actually, I think he is. He shifts, but by magical means. Even so, my wolf recognizes a kindred spirit.”
There was a long silence. “Please tell me it’s not Aldo Xenakis.”
She burst into laughter. “Oh goddess, no. That man’s an ass.” Then she sighed. “Not Aldo. His son. Sebastian Xenakis.”
Alex’s harsh intake of breath told her more than she wanted to hear. “Lil, he’s on our radar. The guy could be our killer. Are you . . . ?”
“I know.” She squeezed his hand. “Last night I ran with him and some really weird stuff happened. I’ll give you the details later, but we were attacked by two strange wolves. I’m sure they were Chanku, but they’re huge. Even bigger than Uncle Tink—and I recognized their scent. They were present at one, at least, of the murder sites.”
Alex grabbed her hand. “Goddess, Lily. Do you realize that’s the first lead we’ve gotten?”
She nodded. “I know. I hope to have more to give you later, when I’ve got more time, but right now I’m on my way to check in with Dad and then go and talk to Eve.”
Alex squeezed her hand as she continued. “Sebastian helped me fight them off. I told you when you called this morning that I invited him home with me. He spent most of the night.”
“You said he was gone when you woke up.”
She nodded. “I really thought he’d be there in the morning. I wanted him there. I’ve never . . .” She sighed. “We had a pretty amazing night. Really amazing, but I haven’t talked to him since we fell asleep. Shit, Alex, he was gone before that girl was murdered at Fort Mason. I realize I hardly know him, but I just can’t see Sebastian Xenakis committing rape and murder.”
Alex slipped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but you said it. You hardly know him.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s Sebastian. I wish I knew, but I can’t be sure. I do, however, believe his father is somehow involved.” She kicked at some loose gravel with the toe of her boot. “I also have a really bad feeling that it’s too late, as far as my heart is concerned.”
“One night with the guy?” Alex’s laughter had an unfamiliar bite to it. “He must be damned good in bed.”
“Oh, Alex. That’s not it at all. It was the connection, the mental connection we fell into so naturally. As much as you and I love each other and as often as we’ve made love, that’s never happened. Not the way I felt it last night. I want that. I want it for you, too.”