He jerked his head in a nod. “Tell me what you know.”
“You have power, but your Hunter tattoo is turned off. I can sense how your powers are leaving you. You’re going to need help. You can’t depend on me, but I will be there. I will hold my own. I will be the one to find Davy. You will follow behind with help.”
“My help?” He moved around his desk. “My best warriors were taken with her.”
“Except for your fastest one and you have already sent a request to the Christane wolves.”
His nostrils flared, and Roane stopped abruptly. “How do you know that?”
“I am not of your world. Do I need to repeat everything I say to you? Davy is being held—”
He waved her off. “I heard that part, but when you say ‘I’m not from this world,’ it doesn’t explain how you knew that I’d sent word to Christian.”
“Christian Christane is your friend. He is a powerful Alpha Werewolf. It would make sense for you to enlist his assistance. All members of your army are needed here.” She tilted her head to the side with an absent look in her eye.
A corner of his mouth curved down. This thing wasn’t something he had foreseen. “If you know Davy, why didn’t she tell me about you?”
“Because I told her not to.” She turned and started to leave.
Lucas jerked forward. “Wait. Where are you going? How do I get in touch with you?”
“You don’t.” She left the room and never looked back.
His door never opened.
Lucas sat back down and remembered a time when Talia had been the ghost Davy could see. She’d talked to her, but this Saren was something different. Then he sighed and picked up his phone. It seemed that he’d need more than the Christane wolves.
BROWN
Brown held her breath and rubbed her shaky hands down her legs. Vampires roamed past her and stood before her as she inched down the hallway. Davy’s boyfriend had called for her and a car had picked her up when they ended the call. Now she was back in the bar she had once been excited to go to. Her legs wavered, and she hoped she wouldn’t lose her bladder this time.
She glanced around and found herself hoping for a glimpse of the Viking giant, but then, as a sea of vampires parted and Roane moved forward to greet her, she saw the strain on his face and remembered what had happened.
Gregory was gone, along with all her friends.
She struggled to keep a tear from falling and tried to steady her chin, but her lip trembled anyway.
Roane’s eyes skimmed over her; his eyes were sharp as a hawk’s. Brown knew that he saw it all. He probably heard how her heart started to race.
“My office?” He spoke in a gravelly voice.
Thick with emotion, Brown moved ahead of him as he held out an arm, down a hallway.
As they moved away from the crowd, she noticed glances that nearly every vampire cast her way. Before they moved into his office, a few of the lingering ones in the hallway glanced also, but their eyes moved over her shoulder. They weren’t watching her. They were watching Roane. She saw respect in them, and all of them stood taller. They squared their shoulders back when Roane moved past.
This was their leader. She had never considered him before, during the brief moments when she heard him converse with Davy, but she was overwhelmed with butterflies now. Her palms got a little sweaty and her eyes went wide. When he closed the door behind him, the air seemed so intimate, so private. No wonder Davy was head over heels.
This vampire was unlike any others that she had met, not that she knew many. There had been that one with orange hair—never mind. She wasn’t there to daydream. And Davy’s boyfriend started to look impatient, like he was waiting for something. Then it clicked.
“Did you ask me something?”
A shadow of a smile graced his features. It transformed him. He had seemed intimidating before, but with that slight hint of amusement, his features were breathtaking. Sharp cheeks, intense eyes, a full mouth, and that cleft in his chin . . . Brown swallowed and looked away. Davy’s boyfriend. She needed to keep telling herself that.
Then, again, she realized the room was heavy in silence.
She closed her eyes in frustration. “I’m sorry. What did you say again?”
The smile faded, and he clipped out, “Have you worked on your magic since the attack?”
Her stomach twisted over. The ‘attack’ had been months ago, long, long months ago. Every day she tried to get her magic back, but nothing worked. Even the slight amount she could use before was gone. She felt human, only human. No magic. Nothing. She was useless.
“No, I haven’t. I’ve been trying, but I think I used it all up. I don’t think there’s any more in me.” Her lip trembled.