Page 98 of White Raven
“I think she was more at war with herself about what she may or may not have felt for him. Kane didn’t make it easy on her in that aspect.”
“I don’t think that’s true.” Brandon gripped her hand, turning his face to look at Foley, who lowered his brows. “Athan is as morally gray as they come, but he’s unapologetically himself. He never led her on. She knew exactly what they were, and he never gave her any reason to think harder on it.”
“You’re a better man than me, kid.”
“No, I’m just a realist, sir. Kane is straight-forward. It’s his blessingandhis curse. I see it for what it is. Two consenting adults. One fell, while the other refused to toe the line. I don’t hold him in any contempt. I guess that’s why the possibility of her having his baby didn’t bother me so much.” Realization rose in Foley’s eyes, and he nearly lost his grip on his coffee.
“You’re kidding…”
“I’m not. But it doesn’t matter, because she’s not pregnant. Which brings me back to why she thought she was.”
Realization turned to understanding, and the captain looked to have been putting all the pieces together. “St. James. You think it was because of the blood. Her body was changing.”
Brandon nodded slowly.
“Every month, before Rhaena told me the truth about what she was…there were two times a month that she’d nearly take your head off. One time a month that she was never at work. And before every one of those littlevacations, she showed a lot of the same tendencies as she has for the past two weeks. Raging appetite. Short fuse. She’d be in that break room filling that cup a thousand times a day and sweating like a mule in summer.”
“It’s my fault,” Wren cut in, trudging softly through the bedroom door. “I drove her into panic mode that night. Athancaught the brunt of it when Rhaena lost her shit. I stirred a stinking pot of fucking chaos. I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have any reason to be sorry, Wren. You’ve been a damn good friend to her. One she needed. You know she cares about you a lot. You and Sarah both.” Brandon locked eyes with the redhead, who looked just as weary as they all were beginning to feel.
“It didn’t take her this long last time, Brandon. Why won’t she wake up?” She dragged a hand through her hair and sighed heavily.
All he could do was shake his head. “I dunno.”
They all stared at Rhaena who continued to breathe steadily but showed absolutely no movement at all. “I still think we should take her to a hospital,” Wren argued.
“We can’t,” Foley said, continuing to stare at the only known member of his pack. “If we take her, they’ll know too much. She wouldn’t risk it.”
“What about Athan?” Her eyes darted between him and the captain. “Rhaena said that whatever you guys were working on where it concerned the missing wolves, had something to do with this case with John Allan, and Ryan Sykes. Brent made the suggestion that we get a board started, and Sarah agreed on that before shit hit the fan at her apartment.”
It was clear that Foley wasn’t thrilled about that being common knowledge, and something about it rubbed Brandon the wrong way. “With respect, sir…if you know something, I highly suggest you say something. Kane is missing, and now Rhaena’s…” His chest ached, and he looked her over, thumbing over the simple diamond on her finger. “She means everything to me. I’ll throw myself into this case on her behalf. She’d never let Kane wait.” He glanced at Wren, and then at Foley. “She wouldn’t let any of us wait.”
“Where is St. James?” Foley asked Wren, who sank under his hard stare.
“She’s at my place. Next door. I couldn’t let her stay in her apartment. Not after…”
He downed his cup of coffee, sucking air through his teeth and nodded once. “I’m going back to the office. I’ll bring back a board, and everything we have on this case. You two make sure we have whatever we need on Kane and Sarah’s end. Meet back here in an hour.”
“Yes, sir.” Brandon dipped his chin.
“You got it.” Wren turned and rushed out, Foley following behind her.
Seeing Rhaena in this state was harder than seeing her change into the animal she couldn’t tame. As painful as it seemed for her, at least changing, she knew what to expect, and for how long. This was something else entirely. It wasn’t until he raised her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles that he noticed the veins in her arms had turned darker. Like her body was being invaded by poison…or worse…
It hadn’t happened last time.
And last time…Sarah St. James wasn’t a vampire. Not fully.
It dawned on him then.
There was a damn good chance his fiance was…turning. But turning towhat?
“Oh, fuck…” he whispered under his breath, his mouth dropping in panic. “Fuck…” He turned around, his eyes catching the file on top of her dresser and reached back to grab it. Tearing through it, he searched for any answer, finally coming to a theory as to why someone like Dahlia Van Hausen would experiment on werewolves.
His breath caught in his throat as he lifted his eyes to Rhaena’s pale face.
“She was trying to create hybrids…”
