Page 23 of Obsessed in Blood
“Or she’s being extremely cautious until she knows all the players on the board.”
“Plausible.” Sergi leaned closer to the flower and nudged the container so it turned in a partial circle. “It is a beautiful flower.”
Silence settled over them until they circled the Santiga Bay airstrip.
Sergi pushed the flower toward Devon. “Colantha is extremely powerful. If there are more like her, I can see why vampires might have feared them.”
“There’s more to it. I just can’t connect the dots.” Devon took the container and placed it back in the white shopping bag he’d gotten from the hotel’s gift store.
“What do you want to do?”
“I’ll call Remus. He should have preliminary lab results from my beast’s blood and the vial of Magic Poppy we took from Gheata’s basement.” He tapped the bag. “And I’d be interested to see what his lab can make of this.”
Devon testedthe wine and nodded to the server. The merlot was the perfect end to a long day. After arriving home the day before, he’d spent most of his time in his room reviewing the various security and investigation reports compiled during his absence.
He had a quiet dinner with Anna and Ginger, the only ones in the manor who weren’t away on assignment. Anna hardly said a word while Ginger was highly animated—a pile of nervous energy without Cressa or Lucas to calm her. Devon tried to be that bridge, but he’d failed miserably. He chuckled as he remembered her kissing his cheek and whispering, “Thank you for trying,” before rushing off to her room.
He hadn’t slept well, staring at the ceiling, unable to focus on anything but Cressa. Was Lorenzo treating her well or keeping her in one of his dungeon cells? Although they were illegal now, the law was new within the last century. Many of the old Houses still had them, and the Council had to take their word they weren’t being used for their original purpose.
He’d risen at four a.m. and spent a couple of hours with Cook, listening to the local House gossip while making bread and blueberry scones. His idea to investigate the library afterward seemed wise at the time. He spent hours reviewing the books, excited when he found an old one he hadn’t read before, hoping it might yield some seed that would grow to a larger lead. Then despair settled in when he found nothing. Hours of wasted searching. He should have known his father wouldn’t have placed anything dangerous in the library where anyone might discover it.
He sipped the wine and looked out over Santiga Bay. Far off in the distance, he thought he caught the lights of Shadow Island. If only he could touch Cressa’s mind. Maybe his timing was off. Lorenzo would have to touch her two or three times a day to keep his hold over her. The thought rankled, and he pushed it away. It would only make the beast angry.
Lorenzo would want to connect with Cressa first thing in the morning when his evening’s touch wore off. Then sometime midday. He might do it less as the days wore on, believing his hold was growing stronger. Colantha had seen the same transparent figure that he and Lyra had. If that were the best they could achieve when Lorenzo’s mesmerizing was at its weakest, then it would be almost impossible to reach her. There had to be a way to slip under his spell.
“Is that the first bottle you’ve had opened?” The Wolf pulled out a chair as the server rounded the table to pour a glass and refresh Devon’s.
“I did consider coming early, but a clear head prevails.”
They gave the server their order and waited for the door to close behind him.
“Decker told me about Cressa.” Remus gave Devon a studied gaze. “I was sorry to hear the news, but she’s a fighter. What can I do?”
“I could use eyes on the boats running to the island. I have my own, but we can’t get close to the dock.”
“That’s easy enough since we perform our own monitoring of Venizi’s schedule. There’s a rogue who works for the harbor master maintaining the docks. He gets rather close to Venizi’s boats and feeds me information when he can.”
“He’s trustworthy?”
“I believe so. He’s smart. An alpha with a mate and too many pups. They keep to themselves and live by human rules, which keeps them out of pack trouble. The family goes to the mountains when they need to run. He’ll be given Cressa’s description. We’ll also gather details of everyone that enters or departs the island.”
Dinner came, and they discussed general topics relating to current world events. When the server took the plates away and left them with a bottle of scotch, the discussion turned back to business.
“I never asked you about a cryptic message I received from Cressa the morning I dropped her off at the paper mill. She suggested the packs shouldn’t plan any birthday parties, specifically the Humboldt pack. Can you explain that?”
Devon was blindsided by the question. He hadn’t made a decision on how to tell Remus that Cressa was a dreamwalker. But if it was The Wolf’s lab doing the testing, he had to be told. Devon would soon confront the Council, and he required the shifter’s support. If he didn’t trust Remus by now, he never would.
He leaned back and twirled his glass before taking two swallows. “What have you heard about dreamwalkers?”
Remus’s eyes widened. “So, it’s true?”
“That puts us at a bit of a stalemate.” It wouldn’t hurt to hear what Remus had to say if he offered it.
“I have my suspicions, but I’ll let you go first.” His smile was wide and full of teeth. It was the kind of smile that welcomed you in just before he took a bite.
Devon gave a quick grin, then it slipped away. “I’d heard the rumors centuries ago when I was a kid. But they were considered fairy tales. After my parents were killed, and I came home to find Lyra in a melancholic state, I began my research. I can’t tell you why I thought of dreamwalkers. Maybe it was the voices she claimed to hear or the nightmares that were so bad she refused to sleep. Either way, I began an earnest search. It got derailed my first time on the Poppy. But when I recovered and came home, Lyra wasn’t any better.”
Devon gave Remus a long look. “Then, a few decades later, a business associate brought me a thief in trade for a debt.”
