Page 34 of White Raven
“JohnfuckingAllan…” he growled, forcefully raising from the bed and pacing towards the kitchen area. He turned himself in a circle with both hands behind his head. “I’ve had Poe for almost twenty years. He landed on my knee one night on the rooftop of the tavern. When it was clear he wasn’t planning to leave, I convinced Dahlia to let me keep him. I brought him with me when I left the coven and started at the precinct. Sykes specifically said, ‘he led him to you.’ She used the word ‘mates.’ She’s been watching us. Said that she was glad…” He paused and zeroed in on Sarah. “She was glad to see you so taken with me. That we were a pleasure to watch and‘fucked like gods.’”
Sarah stood, dropping the blanket and her coffee on the floor. “She watched us f—she watched us…” Her mouth hung open and the realization hit her like a tank. “It was her. She left the fucking box by the door. That’s who she works for.”
“Itcouldn’thave been,” Brandon interjected. “The prints weren’t in the system. She—” His face jerked toward Rhaena.
“She fucking ran them herself!” Rhaena barked, snatching her laptop bag to her lap. She pulled a file out and skimmed over it with her finger, following down the page and then flipping it over. Her eyes slowly closed, and she sighed loudly. “Only one set of those prints weren’t in the system.” Brandon’s face leached of color. “The other set is hers. She lied.”
“But her recommendations!” Brandon yelped, turning his body towards her. “Cap said she had glowing praise from her prev—”
“Cap…isn’t as trustworthy as we thought, now is he?” Rhaena argued. “The man you are is why I love you, Brandon. But you’re too fucking sweet. You put way too much faith in people.” Rhaena’s hand smoothed over his cheek, and shepinched the stubble on his chin. He looked like she’d slapped him instead.
“Why do you feel like you can’t trust him?” Athan asked, stepping closer and taking Sarah’s waist. “What happened?” Rhaena pulled another file from the bag and handed it across the coffee table.
“Sykes gave me that on her way out. She had asked what it was gonna take to be part of the club. I guess she was trying to win my affection with this. She researched some cases involving the black birds. One of them, obviously, is ours. The other…is old.” Athan flipped a couple pages, and Sarah leaned over to peer at them. It was a redacted police report. She couldn’t make out most of what it said, and truthfully, had no idea what she was looking for, but the blank expression on Athan’s face told her it wasn’t right.
“Why’s it hacked?” he asked, still looking over it.
“Good question. Look at the signature.” Rhaena crossed her arms and leaned her back against the couch. Athan’s eyes popped over the file to stare at her.
“Lindsay Trainor?”
“The one and only. And her partner was none other than—”
“Foley,” Athan finished, blowing a frustrated breath and running a hand through his hair. “This dates back to months before she was killed. It was in May of that year.”
“Right…and that means he knew more about vampire attacks than he let on. If that report was redacted, ours aren’t far behind and I’m guessing Foster’s team of supernaturalknow-it-allscovered that too. Likely without even having to come out here. Although, if they did and he didn’t tell us about it, I don’t think that would surprise me at this point. He’s hiding it for a reason.”
“While my serious lack of judgment puts me in a position where anything I say is moot for right now, I feel like I also need to point out that if we wanted to look into it, the only one with that kind of clearance would be Foley, himself.” Brandon looked defeated but made an excellent point. Rhaena rewarded that with a squeeze to his thigh.
“We need to find this bitch,” Sarah added, crossing her arms. “If she’s the one that left a dead bird on my doorstep, there’s words that need to be exchanged. And I wantourfucking bird back.”
“Where do we start? She’s gone ghost. If she revealed herself to Athan, and she’s not answering my calls, then she must know I’m onto her too. None of us know her well enough to figure out where she’d run off.”
“Seattle!” Athan snapped his fingers. “She said Poe would go back where he came from. What if it’s the same placeshecame from? She said she was from all over, but—”
“But she settled down in Seattle for years. That’s brilliant, Kane.” Rhaena gave him a proud smile.
Everything got eerily quiet as they all stared at one another.
Seattle.
Sarah hadn’t stepped foot in Seattle since her mother died. The unspoken truth was on every single face in the room. They’d be the ones going after Sykes. No matter if they’d put Rhaena on this case or not. John Allan wantedher. Likely wantedthem…now that she was mated to Athan Kane. If he had sent Poe to Athan to draw them together, then it was clear that the two of them were in some way being summoned to wherever he was. Maybe he was in Seattle. Maybe he wasn’t. But damn if it wasn’t the only place they had to start. And at least…she knew Seattle, Washington like the back of her fucking hand. There wasn’t a more painful…orfamiliarplace.
“Sarah…” Athan started.
“Two days,” Sarah cut him off, holding up two fingers. “I’m giving her two days to show herself. If we haven’t found her by then…” She twisted in his arm and pressed herself against his chest, staring up at eyes that devoured every single one of her emotions. “Then I guess you’re gonna have to experience your first plane ride, Athan Kane.”
CHAPTER 6
COPING MECHANISMS
The weather outside…wasnotfrightful. And the snow wastoodelightful. Harsh sunlight lit up Boston like heaven’s gates against the blanket of white that nestled over it. Wren squinted against the dull pain in her healing eye—now fully open and lightly bruised—and sipped her lukewarm coffee as she jerked the blackout curtains shut.
“Gross,” she grumbled, downing the last of her caffeine. How dare the day be so fucking beautiful? How dare the world move on after Brent’s mother was laid to rest? After the heinous things that were done to all of them still left their marks on their skin…their souls? Wren scraped dried acrylic paint off of her wrist with a black fingernail…the polish mostly chipped away, and looking much like her current state. Heavy industrial metal played on a Bluetooth speaker in the breakfast nook, and she palmed both hands on her mug while she looked at the canvas on her easel. Denver coiled around her legs as if he were desperate for—whatever he could possibly want—and she studied her recently finished masterpiece.
“What in the name of—”
“Blaaagghhh!” Wren wailed, nearly pissing herself when she turned around to find Sarah behind her. Her mug flew into the air, and it was almost unsettling to see Sarah’s inhuman reflexes catch it before it hit the ground. Wren grasped at her pounding chest. “Bitch, what thehellis wrong with you?!” Her fist struck Sarah in her upper arm.
