Page 42 of Moonlit Nights & Northern Lights
Kit clearly wasn’t moving anytime soon, so Flynn and Priya exchanged glances before both of them trailed after Rory, murmuring in low voices.
“I’m so sorry, I had no idea— I would have told him privately— I just didn’t realise—” Felix was practically hyperventilating, his hands fluttering like panicked birds.
Completely having lost control of his meticulously planned meeting, Seb looked dazed, the five-hundred--year--old vampire utterly thrown.
“You didn’t have any idea at all?” I asked Felix, trying to keep my tone neutral. The kid looked miserable, hunched in his oversized hoodie, dark circles prominent under his eyes. “About their connection to Glenmoriston?”
Felix’s eyes widened at being directly addressed by me. “N-no, Detective Maxwell. I swear. I mean, I know they’re Scottish, but I d-didn’t. Obviously, I take full respon—”
“Of course Felix didn’t know,” Kit suddenly snapped, breaking out of his trance-like state to jump to his feet. His voice was razor-sharp as he glared at me. “We don’t talk about Scotland. Ever. So how exactly would Felix have known?”
He moved protectively closer to Felix, who looked pathetically grateful for the intervention.
I raised my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I was just surprised, that’s all.”
The irony wasn’t lost on me, that Rory had actually shared bits of his past with me during our drive—his struggles with ADHD, his turbulent childhood. Though to be fair, I knew even more from accidentally picking up his thoughts than what he’d willingly revealed.
Kit continued to hover near Felix, carefully maintaining a few inches of space between them. Felix’s fingers fidgeted with his keyboard, eyes darting repeatedly toward his lair. The guy looked like he was calculating his chances of escape.
“I should probably… I mean, I couldtryto narrow down the location more precisely if I—”
“That would be helpful,” Sebastián said, his voice gentler than usual. “But perhaps take a momentfirst.”
Kit still hadn’t moved, his broad frame positioned like a shield between Felix and me, his expression still holding deep concern.
Interesting. This was one of those times where it became extremely tempting to peek inside someone’s mind.
Instead, I took my glasses off and pretended to clean them. I’d long ago learned that knowledge wasn’t worth the cost. People’s inner lives were messy, complicated, and frankly none of my business unless they affected my cases.
Still, I didn’t need telepathy to recognise the subtle tension in Kit’s jaw, the softness in his eyes when he glanced at Felix, or the way Felix seemed to lean almost imperceptibly toward Kit’s presence like a plant seeking sunlight.
The basement door creaked open, drawing all eyes upward. Rory descended the stairs with Priya and Flynn flanking him like prison guards escorting a high-profile detainee. His face was unnervingly blank, eyes slightly puffy.
The room fell into uncomfortable silence as Rory wordlessly reclaimed his spot on the sofa. He sat ramrod straight, hands folded in his lap with uncharacteristic stillness. No fidgeting, no tapping, no bouncing, just an eerie calm that seemed more alarming than his earlier outburst.
“I need to tell you something,” Rory finally said, addressing Kit directly.
Kit blinked in surprise.
“Our mother called me this morning when my phone was dead,” Rory continued, now addressing the entire room. “I haven’t spoken to her since she rang to tell me about Dad’s death.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Even Felix stopped his nervous typing.
“You don’t think that was a coincidence, do you?” I asked.
Kit cleared his throat, expression turned pained. He looked everywhere but at his brother. “I actually know what she wanted. Alexander emailed me yesterday.”
…Uncle Alex?…why would he contact Kit?…
Sebastián frowned, his dark eyes narrowing. “Who?”
“Alexander Thorne,” Kit explained, his voice carefully controlled. “Our mother’s brother. He invited the pair of us to a pack gathering next Friday.”
Rory’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me? And what did you reply to the email?”
“I deleted it, of course.”
Without hesitation, Rory held out his palm. “Well, give me your phone so I can undelete it.”
