Page 77 of Wolf's Mark

“Are too.” She gave me a pouting look.

I sighed; my chest already ached. I would hate to disappoint my little girl. Last year’s birthday had been a horrible ordeal, including her birthday cake being tossed against the wall. It had been tough to explain why her daddy had ruined her special day. “We’ll have a great time.”

“Yes, we will. Why don’t you think about bringing that hunky man of yours?”

“He’s not my hunky man. Just a guy.”

Who was on the FBI’s most watched radar. Groovy. I’d gone from a pain pill popping drug addict with explosive tendencies to a criminal. My life was heading for the toilet.

“Whatever you say,” Mattie cooed.

I watched as she hummed while preparing the bowl of cereal and wondered if I’d managed to stumble on the beginning of the end of the world.

Great, now I was being dramatic.

That’s what happened when I was utterly and completely petrified.

Jax

The morgue.

I’d been in more than a few facilities in my life, forced to identify the bodies of friends and a cousin from a long timeago. However, it had been a number of years. I’d hoped to find Sedona but had been unsuccessful.

I’d also driven by Sedona’s house first, hoping to see her car. I’d not only wanted to make certain that everything was okay, but also to find out anything I could about what she was hiding.

From this distance, I had no ability to read her mind or decipher where she’d gone or why. However, I could guess.

Her car wasn’t in front of the facility either, but Daphne’s was. Maybe my niece could indulge her favorite uncle and provide me with some idea of what the hell was going on.

As I walked in, I was struck by how clean everything smelled. Fresh antiseptic. It was almost nauseating.

The place wasn’t what I expected, the areas with adequate lighting including natural light coming from somewhere. It was quiet as well, something that would drive me crazy. As I walked down a long corridor, I finally heard music coming from one of the offices.

I knew the metal band from the fact Daphne continuously played Disturbed every time I was over at Riker’s house and she was there. Laughing, I headed toward the robust sound, standing in the doorway for a solid two minutes before she noticed me. She was jamming hard while her fingers flew on a keyboard, shifting every so often to a mouse.

With two huge monitors on her desk, it was tough to see the girl behind them.

When she finally detected a presence, she jerked to her feet as if ready to fight off an intruder.

“Oh, it’s just you,” she said, her eyes twinkling in mischief.

“Just me, huh? I don’t rate in your world any longer?”

“You’re an old guy but harmless.” She adored teasing me that way.

“Careful, little girl.”

She laughed and I noticed she quickly shifted to another screen. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I wanted to ask you some questions.”

“Me? What did Dad tell you I did now?”

I grabbed the single chair, shifting it around to the side of her desk. “Riker didn’t tell me anything other than you loved your job.”

“I do. Since you refuse to allow me to work for the family business, I found something else that allows my creative ability to fly.”

“With dead bodies.”

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