Page 27 of Racing the Storm

His hand stilled, then he let out a sigh. “No, I’m not in love with her. But I care about her.” His thumb rubbed over my spine, then I felt the cool press of an alcohol swab. It was all the warning I was given before something vicious tore into my skin.

I only just managed to choke back a cry of pain, which only got worse as he dug around for the tracker with something long and metal. I felt my limbs tingling from the pressure against my spine, but after a beat, the sensation was gone, and he took a step back.

I let my fangs and claws descend—not as good as a full shift, but my healing accelerated. I could feel my skin knitting back together, could feel him watching it happen. When I was no longer bleeding, he wiped me down, then pulled my shirt back over the wound and walked around to my side.

He didn’t need to ask for my wrist. I gave it over, and he used the same scalpel to dig a hole to the right of my tendon. The tracker was a small, square bit of metal. So unobtrusive, so forgettable. I watched him lay it in a mass of flesh and blood, then he looked at me and waited.

I let myself feel it before I pushed my healing toward the incision, and I watched as the skin knitted back together, leaving a pink, shining spot of scar tissue. It would be gone by morning, and no one would ever know what Ivan had done.

At least, not until I dug it out myself and left it far behind.

“Are you going to tell me what’s so important about Mari?” I asked him as he sat back down. I was more than ready to head back to my room, but I wanted information first.

He stared at me awhile, then grabbed his wine glass and drained it. Swiping his hand over his mouth, he suddenly looked very human and very vulnerable. He knew then I could kill him, and it was likely his father wouldn’t even punish me too harshly for it.

Hell, it’s likely why I was allowed in his room in the first place. The old man was hoping I’d take care of his problem.

“She’s not human,” Ivan said, his voice very low. “That’s all I can tell you.”

I almost laughed. Yes, there was something different about her genetic code, but…

I stopped and stared at him as the reality set in. “She’s not a Wolf.” She couldn’t be a Wolf. She had none of our traits. And while yes, our genetic code was enough like a human’s that it took an expert to sort out the differences, it wasn’t possible that Mari had managed to fool everyone.

Was it?

“Ivan…”

“Just promise me,” he said through clenched teeth.

When I realized that’s all I was going to get from him, I nodded. “Fine. I’ll do what I can. I have no intention of leaving here empty-handed.”

“Don’t worry about the rest, Danyal,” he said. “That will be handled. But when the time comes, you take her, and you run.”

Chapter

Ten

MIKAEL

Paris was everything and nothing like I imagined. There were times I felt well-traveled as a Wolf. War had dragged me to every single corner of our continent, and a little beyond, but most places I had only ever experienced in the pages of books. Most places were out of bounds—locked inside our massive four walls and kept apart from history that should have been ours.

We crept into the building in the dead of night, my senses overwhelmed with the age in the bricks, and the smell of the river, and the green ivy growing on every surface. It had rained not too long before we got there, and in the distance, I could hear the sounds of feet sloshing through puddles.

The heartbeats here were too many to pick out which were Wolf and which were human, but I had to wonder if equality stood as strongly as most of the EU claimed it did. Everything felt like propaganda anymore, and I was nervous about trusting Eduardo’s friends.

Beyond the door, I could hear more heartbeats—two human at least, and maybe one Wolf. I stood back as he knocked and a few moments later, a dark-haired woman opened the door. She was holding a notebook and a glass of wine expertly in her hand, and she leaned in and kissed his cheeks before opening the door farther.

“You must be Mikael,” she said to me as I passed by. Her scent was distinctly human, just like her eyes, but there was power in her just like Eduardo.

I nodded stiffly at her, then turned my attention to the room. It was sparsely furnished, the most cluttered space a makeshift dining room with a single table covered in computer equipment. It reminded me of Nadya’s place, and I smiled a little thinking how she’d thrive here.

I glanced to my right and saw the other two—a human man with light blond hair and pale skin, and an Alpha man with dark umber skin and dreadlocks tied at the nape of his neck, hanging down toward the small of his back.

The Alpha stared at me, and there was a moment of unconscious posturing before he tilted his head to the side, then crossed the distance and extended his hand. “It’s good to meet you,” he said. His accent was thick, but there was a warmth there that was only felt in the company of your own. “I’m Hervé, and that’s Amélie , and this is Emil.” He indicated the two humans, and I had to bite my tongue so I didn’t ask how he was so calm in their presence.

“Thank you. I assume you all know Eduardo?”

There was a small titter, and Hervé lifted his brow at the man. “Eduardo?”

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