Page 109 of White Raven
“I guess I don’t, but she’s the only one I’ve been…”
“Fucking,” Wren finished.
“Whatever. It’s more than that. At least it feels like it. She said it was a risk calling me that day. She said she wanted you guys to seek her out. She said she’d only come back to Boston forme. I guess she lied about that too. But why go through all the trouble if she didn’t feel something more?”
“Maybe she knew you’d tell us. Maybe she was counting on it. If she’s the one that killed that old woman, and she had the good sense to get rid of all possible clues as to where she’d take Kane…then leaving that rose for you as a vague bread crumb was a slick move,” Foley offered.
“Or acarefulone.” Foster pulled the photo of Sykes from her jacket pocket and handed it to Leigh. “I’ve been chasing this woman for weeks. She’sverygood at hiding. If she doesn’t wanna be found, then she won’t be. And she takes drastic measures to make sure we’re always a step behind. Whoever she’s working for? This might have been an attempt to go against his orders. A cry for help.”
“I thought you said she was more dangerous than we thought?” Wren argued.
“She is, but for a completely different reason.”
“And what’s that?” Foley asked.
Foster sighed and met eyes with the captain. “If we’re gonna put Ryan Sykes under the microscope, then we’ll need a more private place to discuss this.”
It was a wonder. The young woman that had become the center of something dark, and unfair. The utterly ridiculous lengths that she’d had to go through just to be left alone. The aspiring hope that he’d hired one of the most brilliant and daring minds to work in his labs, and to think he had been a part of the wrecking ball that had crashed into Sarah St. James’ life…Nick’s muscles stiffened, and his regret ran deep. He watched her hunch over a microscope on his kitchen island as he poured two short glasses of scotch.
“If I haven’t told you enough already, I’m truly sorry for whatever part I played in making your life so complicated. You’re a dedicated chemist. And a courageous friend to those you care about. I’ll regret my shitty decisions every day for the rest of my life.” He sat a glass down next to her as she looked away from the eyepiece.
“Does having kids make you that soft? If it does, then I don’t want any,” she smirked, taking a sip of the scotch. Nick chuckled through his nose and joined her on a bar stool at her side.
“There was a decent chance I was an ambitious piece of shit before I met Conrad Stratford. Maybe more so before Reese was born. But after?” He shook his head. “That kid saved my life.I wouldn’t say that it made mesoft…but before…I’d do plenty to get ahead. Now that I have that little shrimp, and his mom…everything I’ll ever do will be to make sure they live. And live well.”
“I’m only after the same thing, Specter. Kid or no kid. Truthfully…I’m still passionate about blood. It’s ironic, I guess. Knowing what I am now, and that it’s always been such a key player in my life. Maybe that’s what I’ve always found so fascinating about it. Without blood…the balance is nothing. It’s our own personal army to keep organs working…to fight off disease. To kill us…to feed us. It’s the breath of life.”
What an extraordinary kid. Even his scientific mind didn’t see past everything the way hers did. It was inspiring…how poetic that explanation alone was…and how effortless.
“So, what’s different about this blood? That you can tell?” He gestured at the slide with his glass.
“I fucked up,” she sighed, biting her lip. “Northwood is turning into something that may or may not kill her. I don’t know anything about hybrids. I don’t know if anyone survives. I’ve gotta fix it. This is all my fault.”
“So…are you saying that Rhaena Northwood is…”
“A werewolf. That’s exactly what I’m saying.” She took a deep swallow of her drink. “Look at this,” she said, scooting aside to give him a peek at the microscope.
He’d never seen cells like this in his life. While Sarah’s were what she liked to call ‘superheroes’, these were something more fierce, and vastly different. He would have liked to see what they looked like before her blood caused them to be this way.
“Unbelievable. It’s like they can’t decide whether to fight each other off or unite as a whole. And they’re fucking ravenous.” His mouth hung open as he watched them.
“I think that’s the problem. Her condition has done nothing but deteriorate. Where’s the blood left over from that night?”
Nick slid off of the stool and pulled an insulated lunch bag from his briefcase. As she pulled it out, she stared at the bag of blood as if remembering every horrific detail of the night he’d almost helped to end her life.
“You were so determined to put Athan in his place that night,” she snickered. “And me. I don’t know if I ever thanked you for that. We really fucked you up that night, and you still fought for my life. I’m sorry we did that to you.”
“I deserved it. But you still died.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” she smiled, puncturing the bag with a needle, and drawing out a bit of the blood. “I wanted to kill you when I found out what you did, Nick…but I just want you to know. I wouldn’t have.”
“Are you sure about that?” he smiled, recalling the rage and promise of death in her eyes when they’d had him pissing himself in the bedroom.
“I wouldn’t have. I’d have never hurt your family. And neither would Athan.”
For what it was worth, he believed her. She added a couple of drops to the slide, and his eyes dropped to her open bag on the floor as it sat propped against the legs of the stool. There was a file sticking out, corners bent from the rough use of her bag, and he reached down for them without thinking.
“Don’t,” she warned, glancing at him. “Your need to know has boundaries, dude.”
