Page 32 of Queen Takes Sunfires 2
“No. But I did find this.”
Harris offered what looked to be a black dinner plate. A huge one, maybe more like a turkey platter. Or some kind of carving board, though it wasn’t flat. I took it, surprised at how light it was. Not stone. Not wood. “What is it?”
“The fuck if I know. I’ll send it to the lab and see if they can figure it out.” Harris poked me in the chest hard enough to make me grunt. “This is all your fault. Do you know how much paperwork I’m going to have to do for all this shit?”
I let a warning growl rumble through me. “Your paperwork is not my problem. At least now you have to believe me.”
“Humph.” Harris kicked the branch back up over the painfully shiny weaponry. “So what the fuck am I supposed to write on my report? A squad of skeletons came after a woman, but she sucked them dry and some unidentified party did a half-assed job of hiding the evidence in the woods?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Christ. Well, let’s give the good doctor a call. I bet his lab could get some of this shit tested quicker than my department.”
“Good idea. Grab some of that skeleton dust too. I want to see if we can prove it was human.”
We walked back toward the car, and I waited at the door while he pulled out another evidence bag. He sure took his sweet-ass time bagging a little of the dust. I checked the sky again, searching for anything unusual. My nerves were strung tight as a drum, vibrating with intensity. The wolf crouched, ready to spring. Ready to fight.
The only problem was I had no idea who our enemy was or where they were. Though it was safe to bet they’d gone toward the Ironheart nest.
Grinding my teeth with frustration, I touched my sister’s bond.:Head’s up. There may be more of those skeleton things headed after Karmen.:
:They’re already here.:
I threw myself behind the wheel and revved the engine.
Harris gave me a dirty look but finally sealed the bag shut and ambled over to the passenger side. “What’s the rush, Wild Man?”
“I think I know where that second squad of soldiers went.” Though there was no way in hell I was taking Harris anywhere near Helayna or Karmen for that matter. “I’m going to drop you off at the hospital.”
“Negative. I go where you go.”
Ignoring him, I spun out of the parking lot, burning rubber and squealing tires until the Mustang hummed and throbbed with power down the freeway back toward Chicago. “This is my family, Harris. You don’t get to know my family. You want to throw me behind bars, go right ahead, but I won’t take you anywhere near my family.”
“Sure thing, Wild Man.”
I shot a quick look at him, surprised that he’d given in so quickly. Harris was like a Pitbull who’d never walk away from a nice, juicy bone. “I mean it.”
“Got it. I’m going to call the doc and see if he can run these tests.”
I still didn’t trust him, but I let it go for now. I tried to touch Helayna’s bond to listen in and see if she was alright, but since she’d taken Blood, I had a hard time sensing anything at all unless she deliberately communicated with me.:Are you alright?:
A soft sigh whispered through my mind.:I’m fine, brother. We made it through the night. But Karmen is gone.:
My foot let up on the gas, my face slackening with shock. I squeezed the wheel, fighting to contain my rage and regret. I didn’t want Harris to know anything, but the man was damned perceptive. For a human.
“What’s wrong?”
I swallowed hard.:What happened?:
:Soldiers came. She was bitten by a sundog and it made her… sick. She started to burn from the inside out. She ran from the house and they took her. I don’t know where she is.:
Goddess above. I slammed on the brakes so hard we skidded off to the shoulder and spun around one eighty to face the opposite direction. “Get out.”
“What?”
I reached around him and threw open the door. “Get out now. I’ve got to go. Something’s happened to her.”
For a moment, I thought he’d refuse. His chin jutted out, his cop eyes as hard and determined as mine.
