Page 181 of Black Bird

“Captain?”

“I’ll never forget the way she screamed, Gloves. I hear it all the time. In sleep … in passing. For no reason at all, I hear that scream. I didn’t realize I’d been walking faster than she could catch up, and I had the flashlight. She couldn’t find me and—it found her.”

Rhaena’s blood chilled. “It?”

Foley looked up from beneath his lowered brows. “There wasn’t any mistaking what I saw. She was gutted by a werewolf. I shot it. Three times I shot it, and it still came for me. I managed to fight the thing off, but she bled out before I could get to her. The last word she ever said was her daughter’s name.”

Something cold and unnerving settled into Rhaena’s body. A sweat just as chilling started to build on her skin. The beast that lay dormant within her cracked an eye open, and Rhaena did her best to man the lockon its cage. “I—I’m so sorry, sir. So, that’s why you have the flag in your office?”

“I never felt like I got her justice, Northwood. I loved her. She deserved better from me. Had I not been so fixed on being the best cop … I might have at least been a good one. And she died because of me.”

“So … you never caught it?”

Foley pressed his mouth into a thin line. “All my suspicions were right. But me and Lindsey were the only witnesses to it, and what’s the insane word of one cop with a dead partner when the truth is too crazy to tell?”

“I don’t understand,” Rhaena said, but almost immediately, she found herself understandingexactly…

“I chased the son-of-a-bitch. I followed every sound he made through the woods. He made for the road, trying to cross it, and got hit by a transfer truck.” Her throat hurt with the effort of keeping down the vomit. “By the time the guy got outta the cab to meet me in the front of the vehicle, what had been a wolf twice the size of me … was just a naked man. Dead as a doornail.”

Rhaena tried desperately not to react, but her constant swallowing caught his attention. “I’m really sorry. I completely understand why you reacted the way you did. How in the world did you explain something like that?”

“The same way you and Kane have all these years, detective. I covered it. By the time I had called in for help with Lindsey and made it back to her body … luck had been on my side. There was a black bear. I dunno if he had smelled her, or if he would have actually tried to pick her apart, but I shot it. I emptied my weapon into it, and they bought it.”

“I’m so sorry …” It was all she could think of to say. She couldn’t sit here and tell him that she knew who and what had killed his partner all those years ago. She couldn’t make him feel any more betrayed by her—telling him that her uncle had been the one to take her life. That the man who raised her … the man who didn’t have a hateful bone in his strange body … had done something like this to the woman he loved.

“I want you to promise me something, Northwood,” Foley said, sliding Denver off his lap, and slowly standing. Rhaena sat frozen in her chair and stared up at him. He pulled her badge and gun out of his pocket. “I want you to promise me you’ll be a better cop than I was. There aren’t a lot of people that I trust anymore. I want to trust you.” He stretched an arm toward her, handing her things over and Rhaena stood as she carefully took them. “If you know where she is … go get her. And if you needanything…” He narrowed his eyes at her, staring into her own so pointedly that she could have sworn he knew her secret. “I want to help you.”

“Yes, sir … I promise.”

“I haven’t made my final decisions about Kane just yet. You can decide for yourself if you want to tell him about your reinstatement. I need a bit longer with that whole ball field. I hope you understand.” She nodded, confirming her understanding, and watched him head for thedoor. Just as he opened it to leave, he slowly turned back towards her. “You know what still baffles me about Lindsey’s case?”

“What’s that, sir?”

“Everything I’ve ever known to be true about werewolves … it was a lie. Black Friday that year wasn’t a full moon. I must have researched it a thousand times. It was halfway through the cycle when she was killed. The murder was only days before hers. No full moon on either occasion … don’t you find that odd?”

Rhaena swallowed again, the awakened beast rattling the cage inside. She straightened her spine. “I wouldn’t know, sir.”

Foley continued to stare at her for a moment before nodding and closing the door behind him. She could hear the faint bell of the elevator down the hall, and her heartbeat pounded in her ears. Rhaena raced to her bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before everything she’d eaten filled the bowl.

The lines of battle had been drawn, and she wasn’t sure now what side her captain considered her to be on.

CHAPTER 32

THE VEIL

The club was packed tonight. The sound of dubstep and metal, beating in time with strobes throughout the smoky dance floor was a sight just like every other—only for some reason tonight, Tony found himself distracted by the lone man standing by the heavy door that led down into their chambers. Decclan hadn’t spoken to anyone in days, and seemed more put-off since Dahlia had summoned him, rather than happy that she’d finally asked him for something other than information. It wasn’t a secret to anyone in this coven that Decclan had feelings for their queen. He couldn’t blame him, either. After all, he’d been by her side for longer than Tony had been immortal. It was a very long time to be in such close conjunction with someone not to have some kind of feelings other than reverence.

“Hey! Bartender!” a slosh-drunk young girl called, throwing her arm across the bar a little ways down from where he was standing. “I’m still waiting over here! What do I gotta do, man? Flash my tits?”

“If that’s what you’re planning to do, I’ll go back there and pour it myself!” Devin grinned at the girl, who looked repulsed by his audacity, and he leaned himself over the bar to pluck an ale from the ice.

“Nevermind.” She rolled her eyes and joined her two friends back on the floor.

Tony reached over, snapping the cap from Devin’s bottle, and shaking his head. “You used to be better with the ladies. You’re gettin’ rusty, ol’ chap.”

Devin kept his smile as he turned the bottle up and took a long swallow. “Nah, she’s not my type. But then again, you don’t really have to have a type for some good ole titties.” He leaned an elbow on the bar and surveyed the room while Tony lit himself a cigarette. “What’s got you so strayed tonight, friend?”

“You ever get sick of this bloody music?” Tony frowned, taking a drag and adjusting the towel over his shoulder. “I swear I hear the shit in my sleep these days.”

---