Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

The women from earlier paused their conversation to greet me when I returned to the kitchen. They had a neat assembly line going where the plates moved down the line of the prep counter and finished on a tray that slid nicely on a baker’s rack.

“Need any help?”

The woman laying out the plates handed me a stack.

“You can take over for me for a few minutes so I can run a plate to Bear. He was out all night and just came back. I want him to eat before he passes out.”

Another woman passed her a plate piled with sandwiches, and she hurried out.

“I don’t know how much longer they’ll last like this before they collapse,” one woman said with a shake of her head. “If it weren’t for what happened the last time, I think Shepard would have already reached out for help from the other packs. After all the pack leaders left, the number of missing persons started to climb.”

Another woman added, “I heard the city officials are worried they won’t be able to keep this quiet for much longer. They should just say vampires are overrunning D.C. and to stay indoors or run the risk of joining the hundreds already missing.”

“The mass panic would just give the vampires more opportunity to take more people,” the first one said. “We need help. Who knows how many of those missing people have already turned?”

The others hummed in agreement, and my stomach twisted with worry.

“I think it’s worse than we know,” a third woman said. “I heard from Gunther that they went into some tunnels, looking for the black cat, and it was empty. No homeless people.”

“Maybe the city moved them,” another said.

We could all hear the doubt in her voice.

“Maybe,” the first woman said as the one who’d delivered food to Bear returned.

“Here.” She handed me two plates as she resumed her place. “You should take these to Shepard before he passes out, too.”

I nodded and accepted the plates, feeling guilty for not considering Shepard’s lack of sleep after reading the group text between him and Cross.

Back in the suite, I found Shepard in his kitchenette, hands braced on the counter and head hung low. At the sound of my entrance, he looked up. How had I not noticed the dark circles under his eyes?

“I brought sandwiches if you’re hungry,” I said.

“Thanks.” He took the plate from me and consumed a quarter of a sandwich in a single bite.

“Did the call with Curran not go well?” I asked.

“He’s pressuring me for details I don’t have and is angry, like I am, that the fae queen isn’t being more forthcoming with help of any kind. Information, manpower, whatever…we’d take it.”

He took another bite, visibly frustrated.

“Do you think she knows something and isn’t telling you?” I asked.

“Has Cross ever told you how his kind came to be?” Shepard asked.

I shook my head.

“The first vampire was a human who betrayed his fey lover. She cursed him to an existence of loneliness where he would hurt the people he loved and they would run in fear of him.

“Not all fey can cast that level of curse. It was done by a queen several generations ago.”

Considering a fey lifespan, I knew that meant a very, very long time ago.

“The queen then never imagined her curse would have such a devastating effect on humans. The man killed untold numbers, which was bad enough. But some of them didn’t die. They became like him, hungry for blood.

“To prevent the spread, that queen’s successor cast a new spell on her loyal human lover. He would protect humans from the vampire threat, and for his efforts, he would be rewarded with enhanced senses and another, stronger form.”

“Your kind,” I said in understanding.

He nodded.

“What the Hunters found was the story of our beginning, and they’re right in that Adriel’s so-called “gift” likely came from a powerful fae. It’s also unlikely that such a spell has escaped the queen’s notice. I just wish I knew who she was protecting.”

He sighed heavily and finished his sandwich. I could see his exhaustion tugging at him even as his phone buzzed with a message.

I leaned over to look at it.

Doc: The tunnel on the north side is empty too.

“Does Cross know it’s this bad?” I asked.

"He knows. He’s helping search too.”

“Good. Then, tell Doc to coordinate with Cross while you take a nap.”

I was already nudging him to his room.

“And why do I want to nap?” he asked with a teasing smile.

“Because your pack needs a rested Alpha. And I’ll cuddle with you.”

“You should have led with that.” He chuckled and allowed me to escort him to his room as he texted Doc and Cross.

“This isn’t the date with you I had planned,” he said as he handed me his phone and pulled me into bed with him. “You better still be here when I wake up.”

I held his arm around my waist and closed my eyes.

“Go to sleep, Shepard.”

His breathing evened out within moments, and I eased my phone out of my pocket to set an alarm so neither of us would be late for our shift later.

I didn’t need to worry. Before the alarm woke me, I felt the bed shift, and the warm body that had been next to me was gone.

Glancing behind me, I saw Shepard pulling out a dress shirt and black pants from the closet.

“Did you sleep at all?” I asked. “I think I melted into the mattress.”

“I slept enough. If you need to sleep more, go ahead. You have another thirty minutes.”

“There’s no point without you next to me,” I said, just to watch his eyes spark with gold.

I sat up, and my sore muscles protested the movement. Shepard caught my wince.

“You can stay here if you’re not up for work.”

I shook my head and stood to stretch. “It’s better if I keep moving. I’ll atrophy if I don’t.”

Walking over to my suitcase, I found it was empty. Shepard pointed to the closet. “Your things are in there and in the dresser.”

“When did you have time to do that?”

“Lisa did it. I hope you don’t mind. She takes her den mother role seriously.”

“I don’t mind.” I looked in the closet to find Shepard’s clothes pushed to one side and my things on the other.

“I’ll meet you at the entry when you’re ready,” he said. “I need to speak to a few people. Unless you need something now.”

“I'm fine.”

He kissed the top of my head as he passed by while also tying his tie. “I like having you here,” he said then left the room. A moment later, I heard the door to the suite close.

I knew I had time to spare, but I also knew Shepard would want to get to Blur sooner rather than later, so I hurried to get ready and was at the entryway in fifteen minutes.

Shepard was off to the side, talking to four men. When he saw me, he ended the conversation, and they took off in two trucks.

“Ready?” I asked.

When he nodded, I held out the key to the new SUV. “Want me to drive so you can communicate with people?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.”

As I suspected, as soon as we sat in the car, Shepard’s phone went off every few minutes with some kind of issue or request. I wasn’t sure how he was going to manage Blur and deal with everything else going on.

Pulling into the lot, I saw Boulder guarding the back door. I said hello before following Shepard inside. Shepard headed toward the main bar while I went to the lockers to store my things. Gunther was there, putting on his apron.

“How are you doing?” I asked him. “I heard you were out looking in tunnels earlier.”

“I’ll look in every tunnel and sewer if I have to. I’ll find Adriel even if it kills me.”

Gunther was probably the smallest and leanest of the wolves. He’d had a drinking problem in the past, which might have been the reason Adriel had kidnapped him instead of trying a stronger, sober wolf. But since then, Gunther had changed while I wasn’t paying attention. The beaten-down guy was still present, but he looked determined. Possibly stronger.

“You haven’t been drinking,” I said.

“Not a drop. Not until Adriel is dead.”

I studied him momentarily, wondering what he’d do once Adriel died. Would he go back to his old ways? Before I pondered too long, Gunther went to the dish station, and Vena popped up beside me.

“What are we daydreaming about? How hot your men are or how stewed cat tastes?”

“Ew!”

“I’ve been telling her we’re not cooking cat,” Anchor said.

Vena looked as if she was about to say something, but Anchor hugged her to him, smothering her face into his chest. She didn’t seem to mind that he cut off her words or air supply.

“She found a pamphlet about troll stew in her parent’s research pile. One of the main ingredients is cats. She hasn’t been able to think about anything else since then.”

“Not true,” she said, her voice muffled. “I’ve been thinking of plenty of other things, and if you don’t let go of me, I’ll give all of Blur a first-hand view of those things.”

He let go and smiled down at her, running a soothing hand down her back. “I’ll be at the bar.”

“Get the latest intel while you’re there.”

Once he was gone, Vena turned to me. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“You saw me earlier today.”

“For-eh-ver!!”

“Miss you, too.”

We stowed our things in the locker and headed out to get our assignments for the night. Shepard once again put me in VIP. If Sierra had been working, she would have likely complained, but everyone else took it in stride.

The shift started out as usual—well, the new usual anyway. There were more dwarves and more grumbles toward the wolves but the same drink orders and appetites from the servers' standpoint. Not that I had to deal with any of that. It’s what I saw when I passed close enough to the glass wall to see downstairs.

The VIP section was once again a mix of influential humans and fae. The humans were low maintenance. As long as I watched the level of the drinks they were sipping and approached whenever they were low, they didn’t need me, which meant I could focus on the fae.

Usually, I kept my distance. Tonight, I had other plans.

I struck up conversations and, under the guise of gossip, tried to gain any nugget of information that might be helpful to the search for Adriel and vampires. Hearing their points of view regarding the increase in vampires and missing persons was interesting. They weren’t as unconcerned as their queen.

“My great-grandfather mentioned a time like this in his memoirs. He wrote that he encountered a lovely human woman with tempting curves and bright hair—much like yourself—who was so struck by grief from losing her husband that he couldn’t coax a single orgasm from her.”

“A travesty, for sure,” I said.

The fae’s gaze intensified. “You have no idea how tempting you are. Come home with me, and allow me a chance to spank the mockery from you.”

“It wouldn’t work,” I said lightly. “My roommate has tried on multiple occasions. Spankings aren’t my thing. And it would take a lot more effort than a polite request to get me to come home with you.”

I saw one of the humans finish his drink. “Duty calls. I’ll be right back.”

I moved to leave his table, but he caught my wrist. His pull, which I hadn’t even noticed while talking to him, buzzed under my skin briefly before the charm under my shirt warmed and dispelled it.

“What would it take, Everly?” the fae asked.

“Since I don’t even know your name, probably a white kidnapper van crammed full of desserts that I haven’t yet tried. But seriously, you have two seconds to let go, or Detroit will jump the bar and toss you down the stairs. Blur has a strict no touching the staff rule.”

He glanced at the bar, released me, and lifted his hands in surrender.

“I deeply apologize for frightening you.”

“You didn’t.” With a nod of farewell, I made the rounds for more drinks.

When I returned to his table, he was gone but had left a note on a napkin with his name, Niroog, and his number. He’d even been helpful enough to include a pronunciation for his name.

“Knee-rook,” I said softly before folding the napkin and sticking it into my pocket along with the hundred he left for a tip. Although I had no intention of calling the number, it never hurt to have it just in case I needed fae intel.

Shepard appeared at the top of the stairs as I cleared the table. He had his phone pressed to his ear as he strode toward his office. It wasn’t unusual to see him take calls. What was unusual was that he didn’t look at anything else as he moved. Eyes forward. No looking at me, Detroit, or the tables.

I glanced at Detroit, who was staring after Shepard with an equally troubled expression, and hurried over.

“What did you overhear?” I asked.

He took the dirty glasses from me to add to the dishtub behind the bar and shook his head.

“Don’t try lying to me, Detroit. Spill it, or I’m telling Vena that you know a shortcut to ending Anchor’s impotence spell. You know what that means? She’ll be in your ear non-stop asking for your help, and when you admit that you don’t know it, she’ll still come at you with all sorts of ideas and ask your advice.”

Detroit looked positively horrified at the idea. “You have a mean streak that makes up for your height deficiency.”

I shrugged and leaned in. He sighed and leaned closer to whisper in my ear.

“The police discovered a mass burial at a place outside of eastern D.C.”

My stomach twisted with what that meant, and I gripped the bar. An arm wrapped around my waist and spun me around.

I blinked up at Shepard, who leaned in the way Detroit had. However, with Shepard, it felt completely different. He turned his head toward my ear to speak.

“My tether is frayed, Everly. It would be safer if you didn’t get this close to anyone else.”

Hearing the tremor in his voice and understanding his frayed composure wasn’t just due to another man being close to me, I wrapped my arms around him, giving him the hug he needed.

He made a sound, hugged me in return, and then released me.

Detroit was on the far side of the bar as Shepard walked away. He shook his head at me. “I should have picked the Vena option.”

I grinned and went back to clearing my table.