Dark Wolf: 1 (Spirit Wild) (9 page)

No matter how much she wanted to carry it with her the rest of the day.
6
S
ebastian sat in the kitchen, sipping bad coffee and staring out the window. Fog lay low over the ocean, turning the water the same dark pewter as the sky.
The monochromatic view fit his mood.
He should have stayed in Lily’s bed. He could be enjoying fresh ground coffee in her beautiful, sunlit kitchen right now, watching her make that promised omelet for his breakfast, just soaking up the pure joy of being in her presence.
Instead, he was drinking instant coffee because he’d been too pissed off to make a fresh pot, waiting for a showdown with his father that was sure to be unpleasant.
He rubbed his finger across the bridge of his nose. The scratch where Lily nipped him had completely healed. He almost wished it had lasted longer, proof of a most amazing yet frustrating night.
A reminder he needed answers. Lots of answers.
He sensed his father before he saw him. Felt his presence with the sense of something unclean entering his consciousness. He’d never noticed it before Lily, but Aldo Xenakis carried an almost oily feel about him.
Where Lily was fresh and clean, a shining ray of magical energy and life, his father left the psychic taint of a sewage spill. Why hadn’t he sensed this before?
“Ah. So the social butterfly has flown home.”
Sebastian turned slowly, frowning. “Excuse me?”
His father was practically chortling. “How was it? Sex with the princess?” Before Sebastian could respond, Aldo slapped both hands on the table and leaned close, until they were eye to eye. “I know you nailed the bitch. How’d it go?”
Rage flashed. Sharp, burning rage, striking hard and hot as lightning. He reacted. His hand clamped around his father’s throat before the man finished speaking.
Aldo’s eyes went wide. He gasped unintelligible words, but they were enough to call the power to throw Sebastian across the room. He slammed up against a wall of cabinets and slid to the floor, stunned. Remnants of mage energy sparked and danced over his skin, but he shook it off and shoved himself to his feet, shaking from anger, not fear. He spoke his own words of power, and the remnants of Aldo’s spell slid away.
At least the old bastard looked rattled. He raised his head and glared at Sebastian. “Don’t ever lay your hands on me again.”
Drawing deep breaths, Sebastian stood tall and ground out his own threat. “Then watch your mouth, old man. Do not speak of her that way.”
“I could kill you, you know.” Aldo folded his arms across his chest and studied Sebastian as if he were some sort of insect. Power radiated from him, shimmering about the room.
Power but no aura.
Sebastian clenched his jaw. His father probably could kill him. He wished he had a better idea of the man’s basic nature, though he knew his magic was strong. How the hell the old bastard managed to hide a feature so intrinsic to a soul as an aura was frustrating as hell.
“You probably could kill me. But you won’t.” Probably not the smartest thing he could say.
“You’re right.” Aldo smiled. “I have plans for you. You are my sole heir, after all. Heir to more than mere wealth.”
Shivers raced along Sebastian’s spine.
Aldo walked over to the counter and pulled out the coffee grinder and fresh beans. “So, how did the reception go? Did you have a good time?”
Just like that, he switched off the wizardly display of power and was suddenly Sebastian’s loving and concerned father, interested in his son’s night out.
Sebastian refused to react. Instead, he brushed off his tuxedo slacks and walked across the kitchen to stand in front of the large window. He’d had enough coffee, and he really wanted to put some space between the two of them. “You already seem to know all the details,” he said, staring at the pewter sky. “In fact, I have a few questions for you.”
Aldo was suddenly standing beside him at the window. Sebastian hadn’t heard the man move.
“I always loved this view,” Aldo said. “San Francisco has its own kind of energy, but it’s stronger near the water. Do you feel the magic?”
“I always feel the magic.” Sebastian turned and stared at his father. “I felt something else last night. A sharp blast of power using my brain as a conduit. It would take a powerful mage to wield that kind of energy.”
“What kind is that?”
“The kind that can do harm. The kind that went straight for Lily Cheval and knocked her unconscious.” Sebastian watched for a sign, any flicker of emotion that would tell him his father was connected.
“Interesting. And who do you think was responsible?”
Bastard.
“The same one who did something to my mind later so that I lost at least half an hour while running as a wolf. Lost all sense of who I was, who Lily was. My lack of attention almost got us killed.”
That seemed to set the old man back a bit. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“You tell me. Lily and I were hunting as wolves. Next thing I know, I’ve got her cornered in a cavern on Mount Tam, trying to rape her.”
Aldo’s eyebrows lifted. Then he frowned. “You mean you didn’t?”
Sebastian took a step back, an instinctual need to put space between himself and the man. “You sound disappointed. Of course I didn’t. I don’t rape women, but two other wolves showed up, intent on fighting. Or rape. I’m not really sure. We didn’t stand around and chat. They must have been rogue Chanku, because they were obviously intelligent, but the threat of the two males snapped me out of whatever had taken control.”
Nodding, Aldo glanced away. “I see.”
“No, father dear. I think I finally see.” And why hadn’t he, before now? How in the hell could he have been so stupid? “It was you. You somehow got past my shields at the reception. You’re the one who hurt her. And later, when I thought the wolf had taken over, it wasn’t my wolf nature at all. Again, it was you, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, Sebastian.” He sighed, and his condescending tone made Seb’s jaw ache from clenching. “You give me far too much credit. I’m strong, but controlling your mind from a distance ? That’s impossible. Not that I wouldn’t embrace power like that, but I fear you’re mistaken.”
Sebastian glared at his father, realized he was clenching his fists as well as his jaw, and forced himself to relax. “You have no aura,” he said, which wasn’t what he’d intended to say at all. Hell, he didn’t know what he wanted to say. What he believed.
Aldo raised his eyebrows. “No aura? What are you talking about? Auras don’t exist. They’re pseudo magic. Auras have as much validity as palmistry.”
“So you say.” Sebastian slowly raked his gaze over his father. Nothing. No hint of an aura, no sense of anything about the man, though the oily, evil stench felt stronger. He turned away. He really had to get out of here.
“There was another one, you know. Early this morning.”
Sebastian stopped, turned slowly, and stared at Aldo’s bland expression. “Another what?” But he knew. Damn it all, he knew exactly what the bastard was talking about.
“Another young woman murdered.” He shrugged. “Depending on when you left Ms. Cheval’s home on Marina, you probably just missed it. Her body was found on the grounds at Fort Mason. Raped, mauled by animals. Wolves. Or wolf. One very strong wolf might have managed the kill. One who could shift could have raped her as well.”
“Don’t just prance around it, Dad. What exactly are you implying?”
“What time did you leave Ms. Cheval’s?”
“A little after four.” Damn. Why did he automatically answer the bastard? It was none of his business.
His father smiled. Sebastian clenched his fists to keep from punching that smile off his face. “Reporter said she died between four and six this morning. I hope you have a good alibi.” He paused. Raised one expressive eyebrow. “Should you need one.”
There was nothing to say. Not a damned thing. Sebastian spun around and left the room. Alibi, hell. Like anyone would believe him if he told the truth. When he left Lily’s bed, he’d driven straight home and then walked back to Ocean Beach to watch the sun rise.
Except it had been foggy and the beach was empty, and he’d sat there feeling like shit, knowing he had to face his father. Knowing he had to find out if the man was using some sort of mind control, but as always, Aldo had turned everything around.
Turned it around until Sebastian was left wondering if he’d done as he thought. Had he really spent the early morning hours sitting alone on a beach, freezing his ass off? He’d lost almost half an hour last night while running with Lily. Behaved in a manner that was the opposite of the man he thought himself to be, and yet he remembered none of it.
Had he somehow shifted and murdered a young woman? Was he capable of living an alternate life, one entirely separate from what he knew as his own reality?
In the past, when he’d run as a wolf, he’d retained his sentient thought processes. His senses had been enhanced, his ability to see and hear and smell so much stronger that it was intoxicating. Even so, he’d never lost time during a shift.
Or had he? Had he murdered and raped that young woman?
And if he had, she wasn’t the first. Hell, he didn’t know anything anymore. His life was spinning out of control, and the one person he’d found, the only one he’d felt any sort of connection to in all his thirty-nine years could be in danger because of him.
He’d already shown her he couldn’t be trusted.
But neither could he trust his father. The man was much too smug, too pleased with himself. Sebastian had sensed something familiar in his mind just before Lily collapsed. But what? The memory was lost in fog.
He tried to recall that blank period from last night. Something had happened. Something he’d recognized at the time, a trigger of some kind, though that sense of recognition, of familiarity, was gone as well. But something had affected his behavior. Something that teased the edges of his memory.
Sebastian raised his head. He caught his father studying him with an expression that could only be described as a self-satisfied smirk. Aldo wiped his expression clear the moment Sebastian caught his gaze, but there was no doubt Aldo Xenakis was terribly pleased about something.
Destroying his son’s life, perhaps?
But why? And to what purpose?
What if Sebastian’s suspicions were groundless—rooted in nothing more than paranoia?
No. This was too real, too deadly to be mere imagination. The answers were out there. He merely had to find them.
But until he had answers, he would stay away from Lily. She already meant too much to him. He wasn’t about to put her at risk again.
 
“Lily? Are you all right?”
Lily stared at the screen on her phone, at her father’s frantic expression, the way he rubbed his fingers over a heavy silver spoon he held in his right hand. He’d developed the habit of holding something to keep his hands occupied when they talked. She was convinced it was his way of reminding himself she was an adult and he could no longer run her life, so she schooled her features to present a mature, adult appearance. “I’m fine, Dad. I told you not to worry. I said I’d call as soon as I showered.”
“I feel something you’re not telling me. What’s wrong, sweetheart ?”
“Nothing.” Well, almost nothing, but her dad was the ultimate worrier and “nothing” was her standard answer to the question he always asked. The last thing she wanted to do was give him something to worry about that might actually be an issue.
Like Sebastian Xenakis.
“But I do have a few things I’d like you to check.”
“About Aldo or his son?”
Someday, she might actually surprise him. “Both. Here’s the deal. I’m not going to hide anything from you and Mom. Sebastian is . . .” She shrugged and figured her father would read all sorts of things into that. Sometimes she wished phones lacked such good video. “I think he could be the one, Dad. I remember how you said when you met Mom, you just knew. When I saw Sebastian last night, I don’t know how to explain it, but there was a connection.”
“Was that before or after you passed out?”
His dry comment actually let her know he wasn’t totally going nuts worrying about her.
“Thanks for reminding me.” She chuckled softly. “That’s part of what I want you to check. See if you can find out the extent of Aldo Xenakis’s power. I’m convinced he’s a practitioner of the dark arts. There’s something wrong about him, as if the residue of evil clings to his skin. When he interrupted my lunch with Jill Bradley on Monday, I forced him to shake hands, even though my first instinct was to run far and fast.” She laughed softly. “I should have listened to my instincts. I felt like I needed to disinfect my entire body.”
“Obviously you sensed nothing foul about his son.”
She almost laughed at his dry comment, but then she thought about it. Sebastian’s energy wasn’t like hers. “No. Not anything offensive like I did with his father, but definitely something dark. Especially when he shifted last night. Something weird happened. I’m still trying to work through that.”
“Will you tell me?”
“I will, but I don’t want you to judge Sebastian by what happened. I have a strong feeling someone was controlling him. And yes, I’m convinced his father was involved.” She noticed her father’s subtle nod, as if he considered her comments and then filed them for later perusal.
“We started out running, playing tag, just goofing around, and then something changed. He got this feral look in his eyes, and when I tried to mindspeak, he didn’t respond.”
Anton’s look went from fatherly concern to feral wolf in a heartbeat. Her alpha questioned her now, not her father. “What did he do, Lily? Did he hurt you?”
“Boy, do I remember that look,” she said, hoping to lighten the moment. “No, he didn’t, though I think he would have mounted me if he could have caught me. That’s not the man I know. It’s like Sebastian wasn’t in there, if you get my drift.”

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