Page 70 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

Reed sighed, smacked Kane’s hand back, and efficiently flicked through the papers. He paused on one, then pulled it from the stack and handed it to Kane without a word.

“Thank you,” he murmured, scanning the page with a furrowed brow. “What is Midazolam?” He questioned the four of us, but I had no idea. “The lab results on the knife are in withthe DNA, but they also found a coating of Midazolam along the blade, mixed with Shay’s blood, and a codeine pain reliever. Why the fuck would an assassin put a pain reliever on his blade before stabbing someone?”

“I’m more curious what the fuck kind of lab will only fax paper results these days?” I asked.

Gael sighed, scrubbing a tired hand over his face. “I think it’s a sedative? We could look it up to be sure.”

“A secure lab that uses government-level secure lines to send and receive transmissions,” Reed said with a droll tone. “Email can be hacked.” His thumbs were already flying over his cell phone, presumably looking up the two medications.

“If they have secure phone lines, they could use them to call us,” Gael muttered.

“Do you really want some scientist to dial you up and rattle off that string of numbers?” Kane held up the page, the diagnostic results enough to make me go cross-eyed.

“Midazolam is a sedative—points to you, Gael—and a preliminary search says that it can have negative interactions when mixed with certain painkillers, such as codeine. The combination can repress breathing or stop it altogether in sufficient doses. This is obviously based on human anatomy, but Brielle would probably know a lot more about interactions with shifter biology.”

Kane’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “So, not poison. But a potentially deadly combination of ordinary medications.”

“Sounds about right,” Reed agreed, sliding his phone back into his pocket.

“Did they test your mother for normal drugs?” I asked, thinking of the mysterious deaths of Kane’s parents. From what they’d filled me in on so far, his father’s blood tests were completely clean, neither of them had any physical wounds, and poison was suspected, though none was detected. The onlyother option was some sort of magical attack, but even those were hard to execute without a trace or signs of struggle.

“I think… I don’t know. Frankly, that period leading up to their funerals was hazy, a blur of grief and worry. I know there were no actual poisons, though.” Kane cast a quick glance at his top two, who both nodded agreement with his statement. “I’ll ask Brielle tonight what she thinks of the effect that combination could have on wolves.”

“Perhaps they should run both of their labs again, check for a combination similar to this.” I pointed at the paper. “The Drakenia assassins use a lot of tricks that average killers don’t. They’re the best of the best when it comes to hunting magical beings, an elite force you can only hire with a private bank deposit that is more than what most people’s homes cost. With that price tag comes efficiency, a guarantee of discretion, and fancy tracking magic that could locate us in the middle of nowhere on an unscheduled stop.”

Kane nodded solemnly. “We can send the lab in Romania the details and ask for another round of tests. But right now, it’s time to touch base with my contact, Lucien, who met with Alpha Varga yesterday. Can you all stay?”

“Of course,” was echoed around the room as he dialed the number and placed his cell on speaker at the edge of his desk.

I leaned closer to Reed, asking in a whisper, “Why is he meeting with Varga?”

“We got intel right before you showed up that Varga is the one who tipped off the ODL at the great pack gathering, also before you showed up. But, he’s been conveniently unavailable each time Kane’s man called, until yesterday, when there was an opening in his schedule.”

Conveniently, indeed. He might as well have gotten a skywriter to announce that he was scheming. Besides, working with the ODL—even if you thought it would come to nothingbut a headache—was low. Verboten among wolves.They killed our children,for Goddess’s sake. It was a major red flag.

We fell silent as the phone rang once, twice, before the man picked up.

“Lucien,” he stated.

Kane leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk as he spoke. “Lucien, it’s Kane. I’ve got my top men here as well.”

“High Alpha, I hope you’re well.”

“Thank you. What’s the word from Varga?”

There was a pregnant pause. “He refused to see me.”

“What?” Reed leaned forward indignantly. “You’ve got the royal seal. Turning away the high alpha’s emissary is the equivalent of spitting on Kane’s boots.”

“Well, he hocked a big old loogie, then, because I wasn’t even allowed on the grounds, despite the fact that he gave me the appointment.”

“Holy shit,” Gael muttered under his breath, too quietly for the phone to pick up.

“I arrived at the appointed time, pulled up, provided the seal, and was promptly asked to leave the premises. His butler sends his regards from the gate intercom.”

“Butler, really?” I resisted the urge to laugh. Some of the European packs had the whole Old World-money, stiff-upper-lip thing on lock, and Varga was definitely one.

“That’s a problem,” Reed said with an indignant huff.

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