“Go home,” she said. “I lived at the academy, and they think I murdered Balthazar. I can’t go back there. And what’s left of my pack is seven hundred miles south. I have nowhere to go.”
I stared back at her, dumbfounded by my lack of foresight. Of course she lived at the academy.
You’ve gotten rusty, Declan.
“Well, shit,” I said.
“I could sleep here?” she offered.
I blinked as that mental image of my finger sliding into her mouth, her tongue gliding around my skin, bounced back into my mind.
“Uh…I’m sorry?” I managed.
“On the couch,” she said, pointing back to the office.
“Oh. Right,” I said, swallowing hard.
The thought ofanyonesleeping in my home, much less a beautiful woman who was wanted for murder, made me incredibly uneasy. If I’d learned anything in my line of work, it was that you never let a client stay in your house. That was a good way to get killed.
“Better idea,” I said. “A safe house.”
“A safe…what?” she scowled in confusion.
“A safe house. Someplace witnesses or people on the run from danger stay to… well, to be safe.”
“I thought you were retired,” she said. “Do you still have a place like that?”
“I may be retired,” I said, moving toward my bedroom, “but I know how smart it is to stay prepared. There are still people out there who might like to see me six feet under. Always good to have a fallback location no one knows about. Let me get dressed, and I’ll take you there.”
She stayed in the kitchen while I left to get dressed. Rather than grabbing leisure clothes, I peered at my old work clothes. Slacks and a dress shirt, both magically enchanted to repel simple magic and small blades. Brown leather wingtips, cushioned to allow me to run if necessary, a shoulder holster for my gun, and a thin, coffee-colored leather jacket to hide it. I hadn’t worn any of it in years.
“Once more unto the breach,” I muttered as I pulled the clothing out of the closet.
7
VERONICA
“It’s so big,” I said, leaning my forehead on the glass to look up at the buildings.
“Chi town, baby,” Declan said. “One of the biggest and best. You a Sox fan or a Cubs fan? I’m not saying I’ll judge your answer, but I will mostcertainlyjudge your answer.”
I chuckled. “I always thought bear shifters were kinda cool, only second to wolves like me, so I guess I’ll go with the Cubs.”
“Good girl,” he said, his voice warm and happy. “You chose well.”
Again, I looked out into the city. The night before, I’d been too terrified of being caught to truly take in the size of the place. In all the months I’d been at the academy, last night had been my first foray into the metropolis. After coming from a poor southern pack town in Arkansas, this was a majorshock, and now that the first rays of sunlight pierced in from the horizon, it only made it all the more intimidating.
“Have you always lived here?” I asked, dragging my eyes from the skyscrapers.
“I have,” he said with a nod. “Born and raised on the South Side, but I spent summers out in the country a couple hours west of the city in a little town called White Crest. That’s where my family really hails from. My parents moved to the city when my mom was pregnant with me. This city is my home. The human sideandthe supernatural side.”
There was a huge supernatural population here. Even if I hadn’t known it from rumors and reading, I couldsenseit. As a magic user, the subtle vibrations and waves of magic tugged at my mind, the way a distant static charge might pull at your clothes. As we drove, I spotted a few shimmering neon signs in the alleyways we passed. Bars, clubs, and shops designed for the magical population fully hidden from humans with cloaking spells. All a human would see were derelict and boarded-up doorways, rather than what was really there. Humanity really had nocluewhat was right beneath their noses.
“Do you like being in the country more or the city?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine living in a place like this.
“The country is fine to visit,” he said, then made a sound that was something between clearing his throat and grunting in irritation. “Other than the damned fish in the rivers.”
“Huh?” I frowned at him.
