Page 69 of Tin God

Carwyn thought back to their last time together in Las Vegas, before Brigid had left and he’d gone half-mad. “Mate. Zasha had a mate.”

Brigid nodded.

“And that mate was part of the clan.” It all fit together. “Tenzin killed Zasha’s mate.”

“What would you do to avenge your mate?” Brigid asked. “Even after centuries.”

“I’d tear down the world for you,” Carwyn whispered. “I’d break every rule. I’d demolish this world from the foundations if you were taken from me.”

Brigid rested her head in her hands. “You’re still really pissed at me, aren’t ya?”

Carwyn didn’t want to respond, so he just stayed quiet. “The next time I call, you answer your phone, Brigid.”

“Is ea,” she whispered. “Yes. I’ll answer.”

“And the moment you find a hint of Zasha’s presence on land, you call me. You tell me immediately. I may not fly, but I have ways. Anywhere on land and that psychopath is mine.”

She nodded.

“Good.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You have Gavin looking?”

“Yeah, Tenzin called Chloe.”

“Have him search for a vampire named Paulson. Water vampire and captain of theFlying Dolphinout of Vancouver. The ship went missing a while back, a few weeks after Zasha was seen meeting with the owner. That might be the boat we’re looking for. Katya hasn’t been able to find it and the crew is all missing, but Gavin might have better luck.”

“Paulson,” she said. “I’ll pass it along.”

The following night,Buck and Carwyn took the boat out to a small island within spitting distance of Ketchikan where a luxurious house rose from the shores of a small cove thick with frosty pines.

“It was snowed in a month ago,” Buck said. “But melted now. Zasha rented this place at the beginning of the summer. Not a bad report from the owner. The place was spotless when the party left.”

“How many?”

“According to the human who owns it, there was the ‘tall, redheaded fella’ and three others. Two men and a woman. He thought they were Russian. Their secretary said something about a fishing trip. They didn’t make any trouble.” Buck pointed to a boathouse that sat on the water. “There’s a twenty-five-foot fishing boat stored in there. According to the owner, they used it but they didn’t buy fishing licenses or any gear from what he heard.”

“So maybe they were exploring,” Carwyn said, “not fishing.”

“Possible.” Buck looked over the dark water. “There are countless coves and inlets in the interior like this. Alaska has more shoreline than the entire rest of the United States combined, and the Alexander Archipelago has over a thousand islands. Only a few of them are populated. It’s mostly national forest.”

“Denseforests.” Carwyn sniffed the air. “Isolated places. Lots of wildlife.”

“They’re only accessible by air or boat,” Buck said. “The Inside Passage protects the area from heavy weather. If you wanted to hide out here, you could do it. Lots of people have.”

“That’s why Katya keeps a loose grip on the area,” Carwyn said. “Because mostly it’s impossible to police.”

“Partly.” Buck nodded. “And there aren’t really enough people to create problems. Like I said before, most of the vampires who come up here want to live quiet.”

“Which gives one vampire who wants to wreak havoc an easy place to hide.” Carwyn nodded at the shoreline where he could see Ben waiting. “Let’s go ashore. See if Zasha and their party left anything for us to find.”

ChapterSixteen

Ben explored the area around Zasha’s rental house while he waited for Carwyn and Buck to reach the shore. He’d already circled the island where the luxurious cabin was tucked between the forest and the sea. It was a sportsman’s paradise with dense wooded property stretching back from an inlet bordered by a curved pebble beach.

There was a boathouse built over the water, and the two-story cantilevered chalet had massive windows overlooking the cove where a wooden dock stretched out from the shore.

A meadow filled the area behind the house. It would be lush with wildflowers when the sun peeked through the heavily clouded sky, but when Ben flew over it, it was nothing but a dense green patch bordered by mud.

He floated through the forest behind the house, following muddy paths that wound through the trees. Pine, cedar, and a few hardwoods created a dense patchwork, dripping with moisture from the air. They were in the cool, temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest, and moss covered every surface, ferns filled the underbrush, and bugs the size of his palm flew next to him.

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