A sharp breath whistled through his teeth.“And your mother?”
“Shifted into an eagle and flew away.She survived.Physically anyway.It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her smile.She never forgave herself for leaving my father behind.”A ghost passed behind Meredith’s pupils—a fleeting shadow of pain temporarily escaping from a well-guarded cage.But it was enough for Silas to recognize its face.That pain had taken up residence in his heart when Alex murderedhisparents.It was a fire that could only be extinguished by blood, Alex’s blood.“I was away when it happened.Working on a case in Merrimack.”
Silas stared at her as if seeing her for the first time.“How long have you been a detective?”
“Ten years.Before that I did active duty for six.“
“No shit?”
Maybe she did belong here.She carried the kind of grief Silas had been dealing with for years.And like him, she’d risen above it and was doing something about it.He could respect that, and maybe Laina and Kyle were right about things going faster if he accepted help.As for his wolf’s interest in her, he was strong enough to keep the beast in check if it meant stopping Alex.
Abruptly, he shoved his laptop onto her knees and tossed the headphones at her.Reaching across her body, he grabbed a coffee and blueberry scone then nodded toward the equipment.“Get to work.You don’t want to miss our big break.”
ChapterSeven
“Silas!Goddess, Silas, I think it’s him.”Meredith pressed the headphones to her ears and squinted at the screen.Fuck, it was almost midnight.A man she thought was about Alex’s size, dressed in jeans, athletic shoes, and a dark hoodie, looked both ways before entering the Copper Herald stairwell.Was that him?She needed Silas to confirm.
He must have dozed off.
Meredith shook his shoulder.“Silas!”
He shifted in his seat and blinked at the laptop screen.But if it had been Alex, he was already upstairs.
“I didn’t see his face, but his movements were what I remembered,” she said.
“Let’s go.”Silas unsnapped the thin strap that secured his gun inside his shoulder holster and shrugged into a Boston Red Sox jacket.Weapon concealed but with easy access.Smart.
“I loaded silver bullets,” she said, adjusting her gun at the small of her back.It was common knowledge that silver caused the most injury in werewolves, wood in vampires, and iron in anything fae.She had a little of everything in her bag, but she planned to travel light.
“Even silver won’t kill him.Not while he’s wearing the amulet.But it’ll slow him down.”Silas cracked his neck.“That’s what I have loaded.”
Meredith quietly slid the door open and climbed out of the van, tossing on her leather blazer to completely conceal her weapon.With a nod of her head, she confirmed she was ready.Silas led the way toward Copper Herald’s.This time she allowed him to go up the stairs first, ready to back him up, her hand on her gun.
The door to the Health & Wellness facility was partially open.Suspicious.A shiver traveled the length of her spine.She drew her gun.
Silas gently pushed the door and slid in sideways through the opening.The office was dark, vacant.The door to the small bedroom was also cracked, a light on inside.
Every hair follicle on Meredith’s body tingled with her unease.“Silas…,” she whispered.
A dark shadow interrupted the steady glow from within.
Silas burst forward, kicking open the door.“Stop!”He chased the man in the dark hoodie through the window, down the fire escape, and into the alley.Was it Alex?The man was Alex’s height and weight and too fast to be human.But she couldn’t see his face, and he wasn’t using the amulet.
Meredith sprinted after them, crawling through the window and throwing her legs over the side of the fire escape rather than bothering with the stairs.She landed easily on the balls of her feet and chased Silas and the hooded man around the next corner.
“He went inside ZeroHour,” Silas said, heading for a packed nightclub.The music inside thumped in Meredith’s ears.
Damn.Humans.Just what they needed.She pulled her jacket tighter around herself and slipped inside, following Silas.The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd pulsated on the dance floor, the scent of humans burning in her nostrils and the volume of the music rendering her deaf.
A flash of black hoodie in the crowd drew her forward, and she nudged her way into the throng.Meredith swept past Silas, her smaller body weaving between the dancers faster.Among the gyrating bodies, she homed in on her target, her fox senses tracking him to the back of the club.
“Hey!”a girl yelled as Meredith shoved her aside.
There was no time for apologies.She chased the hooded man up a set of stairs and into a private room near the back of the club.By the design of this building, there wasn’t a way out aside from the way in—no windows.Which meant either Alex was stupid or this was a trap.And she knew for a fact Alex wasn’t stupid.
But Meredith forged ahead, suppressing her fears as she ducked inside and drew her weapon.“Hold it right there!”she yelled.
She heard Silas enter the room behind her, saw his weapon in her peripheral vision.
