Page 59 of Cold Sacrifice

“Of course. I’m not leaving you to battle her alone.” He smiled down at me. “Especially not with Joe gone.”

“I miss him.”

“I’m quite sure he misses you even more.”

I sighed. “He couldn’t be here right now anyway with the sun waiting.”

I didn’t want to think about the dead humans or the chaos that would come when the news hit the city. I wasn’t sure Jakeston could take much more.

The ghoul had told me that the supernaturals in my world would become known to the humans sooner than I’d imagined. I believed he was right. With some of the supernaturals determined to get us there, it would become impossible to stay hidden for much longer. There was only so much we could cover up.

So many humans knew about us already. The humans who walked into Bastien’s clubs. The humans who fell in love with supernaturals. The governments, certainly.

It was just a matter of time before we became common knowledge.

I couldn’t imagine that would ever be a good thing.

I called Remy, Zach, and Sam as Jared drove us to the city, three of his wolves in a car behind us. Sam offered to bring my car, and Zach said he’d ride with him. Remy would drive in, because he wasn’t at Silverwood. Besides, he liked having his own car in case he decided he wanted to leave or ended up with another job to see to.

Remy’s life was a little more private than Zach’s and Sam’s, probably because those two lived with me full time, and Remy kept his own apartment in the city. And though Sam tended to leave more to scratch his murderous, bloody itch, Remy sometimes went “home,” wherever that was. He had his connections all over the country, and just because he technically belonged to the Silver Claw pack didn’t mean he didn’t go off to hunt in other places, for other people. Or sometimes for himself if he caught wind of a particularly troublesome supernatural he wanted to put down.

But right now, he was only interested in putting down the necromancer.

I frowned.

Jared noticed, because Jared noticed everything. “What?” he asked me.

“I just realized I have no idea what the necromancer’s name is. I should have asked Bastien. Who was she before they put her in the ground?”

“Who she was then isn’t who she is now. If you need something to call her besides ‘necromancer,’ then give her a name.”

“All right,” I said. “I’ll call her Jolene.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because everyone wants to see that bitch get her comeuppance.”

He grinned.

Rick saw us coming and met us at the edge of the crime scene tape. He reached over to shake Jared’s hand, then lifted the tape for me. “Just Kait,” he said, his stare going to Zach and Sam, who were striding toward us. Remy would soon add himself to the group.

Jared hesitated.

“I’m sorry,” Rick told him, “but there are already too many people in the alley. I’ll call for you if we need you.”

I squeezed Jared’s forearm. “I’ll be fine, Alpha.”

And finally, he stepped back and gave us a nod. “I’ll be watching to make sure you are.”

The transit van sat half a block ahead, boxed in by patrol cars and yellow tape. Its doors stood open, and those entering and exiting wore gloves and shoe covers, swarming the scene like busy ants.

“Rick,” I said, as we walked toward the alley. “You don’t look like you should be out of bed yet.”

“I can’t lie in bed when supernaturals are in my city killing humans,” he said. “And I can’t leave it for the humans to investigate alone. They have no idea what they’re dealing with.”

He was talking like he’d forgotten he was one of the humans. I didn’t point it out. “I’ll see if I can find where she went into the ground,” I told him.

“And then what? There are people all over back there. Even if you think you can go into the ground, you can’t do it with them watching.”