Page 2 of Phoenix Falling
Had breaking up with Cale changed her this much, or was it something else? To say that I hated the idea of Cale affecting her like this was an understatement.
“You would be compensated generously, of course.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
Of course she wouldn’t. That much was pure Risk—business first.
I’d carefully considered the next order of business before bringing it to Risk’s attention. Not only could information about possible Archai females hidden in the wider human population be a priceless commodity, as seen by the fierceness with which the Anigma had sought such females out, but that same information held danger if outside forces ever learned of the person to have gained it. Giving Risk even a hint of this information made her as vulnerable to the Anigma as it did us.
Then there was the matter of trust. Risk had begun to earn ours, but with something this important, our need to be sure was high. And no matter how much my body wanted hers, I still wasn’t a hundred percent certain of the female.
But I had no choice. We desperately needed her eyes and ears, and time was passing us by.
“The males you hunted… You are aware of their attacks on the local population.”
It wasn’t a question. Risk couldn’t have failed to see things that had made her suspicious during her surveillance, even if the Anigma had been careful to hide the actual acts of triggering from nearby cameras.
Risk’s eyes narrowed on me. “You mean local women.”
Neon lights hanging over the dance floor glinted off the metallic hoop piercing her nose. Despite looking like someone who played fast and loose with everything, Risk’s calculating brain made her dangerous. But also effective. And yet it wasn’t her mind that made my animal stir inside me. Every time I looked at her, the creature that shared my body raised his head, eager to stare out of my rainbow-hued eyes at the gorgeous female.
Not that I allowed him to. A female like Risk—wild, independent, secretive—was not for me.
And yet I couldn’t deny that her appeal had never waned. She was earthy, the air around her practically vibrating with energy, both carnal and emotional. A female made for sex. And a female who used that sexual energy often if Cale’s stories were to be believed.
Definitely not for me.
We could have her for a time.
True. And I was tempted. So very tempted. My animal knew that. But…
“Local women,” I agreed.
“I’m aware,” Risk said tightly.
I looked down at the table, at Risk’s fisted hand. “A member of our”—clan—“family, a young female, was attacked by members of the group before we stopped them. It was…brutal. Vicious.” Kat had been lucky her throat wasn’t torn out when her psych power erupted from her body.
Risk ducked her head. Her knuckles turned white. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope she recovered.”
“Eventually.”
Risk looked out at the crowd. “What does this have to do with me?”
“We would like to trace the other victims.”
“Why?”
Because if they aren’t dead, they might be Archai.But I couldn’t give her that much information. I couldn’t tell her we had no way to find the women hidden in the human population who might have Archai genes in their DNA. The only way to know was to bite them. Until we figured out how to differentiate them from human females, all we had to go on were the previous victims. Some of those females now lived with us, but there were others. Many, many others.
“We want to help them. Make amends. And we want to track any leads they could give us in regard to the group itself. Any victim, alive or dead or missing, could give us a clue. This is a time-critical mission, and we have no other place to start.”
It was the line we had decided to give Risk to earn her help. When I considered how close it was to the truth, something deep inside my chest felt broken. We were missing not one female but possibly thousands, the offspring of psychs who had been separated from the Archai for hundreds of years. Those daughters carried the genes that made them capable of conversion, and every one was infinitely valuable. My clan had only recently discovered that such psychs might be hidden, unknown and unknowing, in the human world. Unfortunately our enemy had figured it out long before the Archai had.
How many females were being tortured right now, like the women we had rescued from my old friend turned Anigma general, Maddox, and his nightmare army? How long would it take to find them? How many wouldn’t survive long enough to be found?
Risk pushed the fall of her long blonde hair behind one ear. She was known in the underground as the best finder money could buy—you name it, and she could find it. I was praying that included people.
“I might be mercenary, Sun, but I won’t put women in danger without a reason.”
