The bar had gone silent. Every head turned our way, their breath held at bay when she stood up and scanned the room’s occupants.
“Now that you know what I’m after….” She fingered the handle of the knife, twisting it until the old wolf gave a groan. “And that I’m serious, let’s add some incentive.” Her whole face lit up, and she took her hand away from the knife. “Whoever coughs up information first gets a thousand dollars cash. Right here, right now.”
It didn’t take the room more than a few seconds before they started moving. Half the room surged forward, waving for her attention, eager to spill whatever they knew.
While all that commotion happened, the wolf was desperately trying to yank the knife out, but it was useless. Nova laughed at him. “It’s spelled, sweetheart. Only I can pull it free.” His eyes went wide, despair creeping in.
Her fingers elongated, nails hardening into claws as she slowly raked them down his hand. Thin red lines bubbled along her path as her tone became almost soothing. “Now, your job is to sit tight. Let’s hope these people you were willing to defend will tell the truth. The sooner I get what I want, the sooner this will be pulled out.”
Some individuals in the crowd recoiled. A bunch of eyes flicking to his hand, burning with a blade shaped hole, before looking at her, reconsidering their odds of survival.
Some red-haired fae lifted his head and pushed his way forward. “I saw them a few days ago.”
The closer he got, the easier it was to take in his appearance. The fairy kid looked like he was fresh out of school and struggling to make it on his own. His worn-out hoodie and jeans had obvious holes, and his shoes looked like they were barely hanging on. Not to mention, that glowing skin fairies had when they were regularly fed life essence was vacant. It was obvious what side of the tracks this kid was from.
“So, you saw them?Bothof them?” Nova asked.
The kid nodded. “Yeah. About two days ago. They came in and had a few beers. Looked like they were in a heated conversation, but it stopped the second the human boy showed up.”
Nova’s eye twitched, and I forced my expression into something neutral, not wanting either of them to see my shock. A human was mixed up in this? That was bad.
“How long did they stay after he got here?”
Nova placed her hand on the hilt of the knife and spoke the incantation, letting the old wolf go now that we had someone who was talking. The fairy boy tilted his head, searching his memory, then snapped his fingers. “They left once they finished their beers. I guess they didn’t want to stick around long.”
“Where did they go after that?” she asked, a bloodhound locked on the trail.
Trembling under her gaze, the fairy blurted, “The human underground fights! I heard Reece telling Jeremy it was wrong, that they didn’t need to do it, but Jeremy said they had to. He was meeting someone to make a bunch of money, so they all went.” I pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to the fairy boy, whose eyes went so wide you would think they might pop out.
“One last question.” He looked at her, nodding. “How old was the boy who showed up?”
The kid squinted, thinking. “Probably seven or eight.”
Nova’s eyes snapped to mine. Fuck. That changed everything. A human child in the middle of this made the entire situation a hell of a lot messier.
7
NOVA
A kid? Why the hell would anyone bring a human kid into this world? Especially as a turned wolf. Who knew what kind of control he really had and whether he could keep the kid out of harm's way. This situation already reeked of disaster, and it soured my mood.
Staring out the window with my arms folded, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something. The fairy kid at the bar had been generous with information, his eyes growing double in size when Zeth handed him a wad of hundreds, but all he left me with was more questions.
Why had Jeremy gone to a human fight club? Sure, being a turned wolf meant he might still have ties to the human world, but he’d left his home and moved here. Most turned wolves or vampires did so in an effort to distance themselves from those they loved or hide from the world and themselves. Also, what did Reece have to do with all of this?
Was he just playing the part of the concerned surrogate big brother, or was this something more? Did he know about the kid? Did he bring the kid here?
I pulled out my phone and typed out a message to my tech guy, asking him to find out if Reece had purchased an extra ticket when he flew out.
“Thoughts?”
I glanced at Zeth in the window’s reflection, blowing out a frustrated breath. “All I was supposed to do was find Reece Walton.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. It’s feeling like a goose chase, but I’m sure we’ll find him once we know where Jeremy went, and this human fight club is the next step to finding him.”
“And the kid,” I reminded him. The kid, since he was human, was now my number one priority. “Now that a human’s involved, there’s more pressure to bring them back alive. A dead human trailing after turned wolves spells nothing but trouble for us—trouble we’ve worked too hard to avoid.”
If the U.S. government got even a whiff of a human being killed by supernatural means, they’d be up our asses, and we’d be screwed. The treaty between the human government and our family, one that we’d kept alive for decades, would shatter, which could lead to all-out war with the humans. That was a hassle none of us needed, especially with all the work Ezra had put into making part of our business legitimate. She’d put a lot of time and effort into convincing the humans and their leaders that we were people to workwith, not against.
