I found Wyatt lying on a chaise by the hot tub, his chair reclined horizontal, green sunglasses shading his eyes. I strolled down the shady veranda and sat in the chair beside him.
He rolled to his side to face me, his grey shirt twisting up. “Is that for me?”
I glanced down at my half-eaten biscuit and handed it over. “You feeling okay?”
He didn’t eat with his usual vigor. Crumbs showered the concrete as he chewed like a sloth. “My head hurts. Niko says everything’s healed, and it’s just my synapses misfiring or something.”
“I get that sometimes. It goes away. Need some aspirin?”
Wyatt finished his biscuit and slowly wiped his hand on his jeans. “Shep gave me a strong painkiller.”
“Ah. That explains it.” I drew up one leg and propped my foot on the edge of the chair.
“Believe me, I wanted my own herbs, but some caveman Chitah dug them all up. Now I have to replant everything.” He sighed dramatically. “Do you know how long the tiny tots are staying here?”
I swung my gaze to a little boy playing by a winged statue. “I guess until Viktor finds a place for them.”
“They better not let them out of their sight. I’ve got a lot of sensitive equipment upstairs that I don’t want nosy little fingers touching.”
Hunter suddenly burst through the door, his shoes lighting up with each step. He looked at the gathering of kids with uncertainty, and I watched as he walked the opposite way down the veranda, his gloved hand tracing alongside the wall. Had he ever played with other children? A red-haired girl about his age wandered up to the other side of the wall and faced him. She spoke for a minute, but he didn’t say anything back. Then she reached out to touch his face.
No, not his face. His scar.
After another moment, she turned and pointed somewhere. Next thing I knew, Hunter climbed the wall and followed behind her. When they reached a row of purple flowers, they went chasing after a butterfly.
“They seem okay,” Wyatt said. “A few scrapes and bruises. Shepherd checked them this morning before I woke up. Three of the older girls were malnourished, and one boy had an infected cut on his foot. Too bad they’re not old enough to shift. Then again, I don’t think I could handle fifteen wolves crapping all over the place.”
I twirled a lock of hair around my finger. “You did good, Spooky. You saved that girl’s life.”
“You’re a good catch.”
“Apparently, not that good. You almost died.”
He snorted. “I would have crushed you.”
I waved a pesky gnat away from my face, thinking about how we weren’t so immortal. Some of us bounced back better than others. Wyatt could have easily died had Niko not been there. I wasn’t entirely sure that Christian would have given up his blood. Most Breeds didn’t want it—they feared its power. I was only half Vampire, so I wasn’t sure that drinkingmyblood would have made a difference to anyone but a Vampire.
Kira floated out the door with an armload of blankets. Without her kerchief, her red hair lit up in the sun. She found a shady spot by some trees and spread out the blankets. A minute later, Switch rolled out a food cart and helped her set up a picnic.
“Viktor wanted to lock them in their rooms,” Wyatt murmured. “But Blue said that kids need fresh air and sunshine. She’s right. You lock up kids, and they start getting into trouble. Especially boys.”
“I don’t think you have much to worry about with this group. They had to grow up fast, and that changes you.” I heaved a sigh and crossed my legs. “Makes me wish I could go back in time and kill those men more slowly.”
Wyatt rolled onto his back and ran his fingers through his messy brown hair. The patchy whiskers on his youthful face made him look like a college kid looking for work in a coffee shop. “I saw some of Christian and Blue’s handiwork. That’s a therapy session I ain’t got time for.”
Something Houdini had said was still on my mind. I shifted toward Wyatt. “You know the last case we worked on—the fighting ring?”
“Yup.”
“Who sent you the blueprints to the auction house?”
“Man, did I get those at the eleventh hour.” He turned his head, my warped reflection in his sunglasses staring back at me. “Some anonymous user. Ghosted before I could ask what he or she wanted in return.”
“Is that normal?”
“If it were one of my contacts, maybe. Sometimes we do each other favors. But on that site, you don’t get something for nothing. Everything has a price. Maybe they somehow knew what was going on and had a personal vendetta against the people involved. Why?”
“I was just thinking about it.”
