Page 25 of Taken By Raider Kings
Now Sophie was truly alone.
twelve
Night stooped over a city,cold and windy.
The first problem was the address, which led to a strip mall.Or, more precisely, it was one of those little mail shops, the kind of place where you could pay a monthly fee to rent a box.It looked exactly like a street address, especially to overly interested parties, and it was the sort of step a woman who needed privacy would take.
Which was interesting.And a dead end.
But Zach had another card up his sleeve.
I’ve got night school, too.I’m studying to be a social worker.Which meant all he had to do was find out about night classes.A town this size wouldn’t have too many after-dark programs for social work; all he had to do was start with the biggest and work down.Any place she lingered five nights a week would give him a trail.
He watched the mail stop from a pool of darker shadow across a busy intersection for a little while, though, thinking about why she would havethisaddress on her driver’s license.He hunched inside the denim jacket that had been Kyle’s, always a little too big on his younger brother.It still smelled like Ky, a thorn of guilt pressing against Zach’s side every few inhales.
He suffered it.They hadn’t had a chance to sing Ky to the Moon yet.He had to hope his brother would understand, that themajirhad explained everything—and that Kyle had forgiven him.
He could hope, couldn’t he?
Concentrate on the problem at hand.A maiden name, a mail drop, no friends to speak of, and flinching whenever a husband was mentioned.It added up to a picture, and not a pretty one.
Still, could be wrong.Assumptions, you know.Fastest way to make a situation worse than it has to be.
Yeah, right.He could be wrong like the Moon was made of cheese and crackers.
His Family was safe as possible, in a motel at the edge of town with the van, waiting for him to bring the shaman back.This was the first time he’d been solitary in years, and he didn’t like it.Crowds of prey around, and he had to think this was hostileupir-laden territory.Not to mention he had to keep his temper under strict control until he found her, but he had to do it without others of his kind to keep him occupied, remind him he was human.
Most of all, though, he had too much time to brood when he was alone.To remember, and to think about mistakes.
It had been a cold, nasty-damp day of driving fast as he dared, and the sound of city traffic had sharp edges, burrowing into his tired skull.He could go for a couple more without sleep, but he wanted to bring their shaman back before dawn.God only knew what would happen without him around to defend his Family.
Were theupirafter them or her?He just didn’t know enough.
But why wouldupirbe after her?It was just a random attack by a rabid sucker, right?So why would seven more of them, all too young to know what to do with their new reflexes, go after a group of Carcajou, even a small group with a shaman so new she didn’t know what the hell to do with herself either?
It’s a puzzle, and a nasty one.Work on it later.Find her now.
The biggest campus with a night-school social worker program was a community college on the bus lines.The parking lots were huge, but there was no trace of her there or in any of the buildings.The second-largest was vaguely in the same part of town as the mail stop, another hour or two on the bus as time ticked away, hopping off to find the campus was a good four-block walk.She wouldn’t be in any condition to go to class, but he’d be able to find a trail and herrealaddress, and?—
His head lifted; he tested the wind.There it was.Ice, moonlight, brunette spice, and a sharp fresh note of weariness and pain.Strong, very strong.
The smell was a trail wide as a highway to his sensitive nose, like a well-used deer path in the woods.She’d walked this way less than three hours ago.He could almost taste each individual footprint; he could also track the scentbackward, working along a flaring, fading drift of more pain and heaviness, plus a pungent undertone of fear prodding and teasing at his already-frayed temper.
But the most important thing was the familiarity, and the musk spinning through the scent.Shehadbeen with his Family long enough to be theirs.The relief tasted like wine and fresh blood against his palate, a heady mix.
Well,he thought, that’s half the battle won.
Now let’s go see if we can find the war.
thirteen
The last flightof stairs to her apartment always seemed longer at midnight.Today, she was seriously dragging.
On the other hand, she could sleep in tomorrow, since Margo had freaked out after the detective’s visit.She had insisted that Sophie take a Paid Day Off, for Health Reasons.
Sophie couldn’t even scrape up any thankfulness for that unearned mercy.Just dealing with the condolences and awkward, cheery non-questions had taken much of her remaining energy.
She reached the top and stood for a moment, catching her breath.The hall smelled odd, like it had this morning.But then, after the past two days, she was smelling weird things allover,like the dish of mummified M&M’s on Margo’s desk, or the seats in the classrooms—and classes had been an absolute waste, too.She couldn’t concentrate worth a damn right now, had forgotten her books at home, and had swallowed tears when the Psych professor announced a pop quiz.Which she was sure she’d bombed, just to top everything off.
