Page 94 of Golden Eagle

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The dark hour before dawn saw Trina leaning back against the cold brick of the hospital, watching the garbage crew maneuver into the loading bay and back expertly up to the dumpster. She held a white paper bag, and a caddy of steaming, lidded coffees, and she watched her breath plume white up toward the security light overhead.

She’d slept like hell, tossing and turning, until she’d finally dragged herself out of bed and decided action was better than stewing. In the sharp cold of early morning, she was no longer angry – but worried. Frightened, even. Not about Lanny – that was more or less a domestic issue at this point. But last night’s ridiculous happenings, domestic as they were, had driven home the point she’d been skirting around for days: whatever was going on in the city with feral wolves eating people – they were woefully unprepared to handle it. They were like kids playing Dungeons & Dragons, while there were very real dragons stalking their streets.

She juggled the caddy and bag into one hand, pulled out her phone, and lit up the screen. She’d typed the number in earlier, while she was waiting in line at the bakery: the number off the slick black card Will Scarlet had given her.

She took a deep breath, and another, vapor billowing against her screen. Her pulse hitched, and she pressed the call button, and waited.

The other end rang twice, and then Will Scarlet, sounding totally awake, said, “Good morning, this is Scarlet,” voice smooth and pleasant.

He was a stranger, but that calm tone, full of so much poise, eased her jangled nerves. “Hi. This is Trina Baskin.DetectiveBaskin. We met the other night.”

“Ah, of course. Hello, Detective. I was hoping you’d call.”

“To tell you I’d gotten Nik and Sasha onto your way of thinking?” she couldn’t help but say.

He chuckled. “I do want to hear from them, too, but I’m glad to hear from you as well. Hopefully that means I didn’t make too terrible an impression at dinner.” When she didn’t respond right away, he said, “What can I help you with?”

She felt a twinge of guilt for going behind everyone’s backs, but she pushed it down, and gave him a quick rundown of what they’d been dealing with.

“Hmm,” he said when she was finished. “Ferals are not a naturally occurring phenomenon. They’re the product of a foul turning – not enough magic, or an incredibly weak spirit that fails to merge with the wolf.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“You have a mage in town.”

No, she started to say, and then,we’ve got lots of stuff in this town, buddy. But then, she remembered what had happened before Virginia, Nik and Alexei’s trip to the Queens branch of the Institute, and her blood ran cold. A red-headed child, Nikita had said. A boy. And he’d put hands around his throat and killed him.

“Detective?” Will prompted, because she’d been silent so long.

“There’s a branch of the Ingraham Institute here in New York.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“They have a mage – or, had one. He kinda got murdered. But,” she rushed to add, anxiety ticking up by the second. “The ferals were around before that. They used them to lure Sasha into a trap. That’s how we ended up in Virginia in the first place.”

“Did he have red hair?”

“Yeah.”

“That was Red’s brother. You remember Red?”

Which meant Nik had killed the brother of one of theirs. “Shit,” she murmured.

“It’s alright,” Will assured. “Red was never allowed to be close to any of her siblings. Raised like lab animals, I’m afraid.”

Trina let out a shaky exhale. “Christ, this just gets more awful.”

“Quite.”

A thought struck. “Wait. Siblings? Plural?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Fantastic.”

“Loath though I am to suggest killing my own kind, I’m afraid there’s only one solution for ferals such as these who’ve gone, well, even more feral. Who are killing. They must be put down.”

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