Proof of Life (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 4) Read online

  “Thank you.” She nodded to him. “I can’t…” She squared her shoulders. “I need to move.”

  That right there, the way Ford anticipated her needs and met them, made him an invaluable asset to the pack, and an excellent friend.

  “I’ll call Bishop,” I volunteered. “He’ll coordinate with Swyft and your hotel to get everyone there.”

  Swyft had stolen all the paranormal business in town, but the personal vehicle factor made renting a van or other large vehicle on short notice easier. Lots of soccer moms and dads, parents in general, had spun their hulking rides into moneymakers.

  Bobbing her head, Claudia went to address the cluster of packmates that remained after tonight’s fiasco. I couldn’t tell if they took comfort from her words. No one would look at her. I couldn’t decide if it was a fear response to her, to the situation, or to the shadow of the former alpha that loomed over their pack, but I didn’t imagine their exhales of relief when Claudia strode off, Ford in her wake, her hands clenched into fists.

  “This just got more complicated.” I leaned into Midas. “Will this blow back onto the pack?”

  “No.” Midas snaked his arm around my shoulders. “Mother warned Claudia about the coven.”

  Not that I was pointing fingers, but I did wonder, “Why didn’t Claudia postpone her trip?”

  “Mom awards an annual scholarship, more or less, for new alphas who inherit packs in distress.” His arm tightened, forcing us closer. “She takes one under her wing for a month, gives them a room at the den—not in the den, but in the house—and there’s a considerable financial aid packet that goes along with it.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “No one outside the packs would have reason to know.” He smiled down at me. “Now you do.”

  “Claudia was hoping to snag it,” I realized. “She’s asking for help to heal her pack the only way she knows how.”

  “That’s my guess.” He hesitated. “She has made advances in the past but—”

  “I don’t think she’ll bother you again.” I kissed his worried brow. “She was just yanking your chain.”

  I explained to him what she told me, that she would have taken an out if he had offered, but it was too late for that now, for either of them.

  Fingers drumming my arm, he glanced down at me. “You two got along well.”

  “Yeah.” I saw a lot of myself in her. “I guess we did.”

  “You didn’t talk about…me…did you?”

  Now it was my turn to frown. “Only in the abstract sense, why?”

  “No reason.” He pivoted as Gray trotted over to us. “Hey.”

  “Twice in one week?” He was out of breath, and his hair slicked to his scalp. “What the hell did you do?”

  “Nothing I hadn’t already done,” I assured him. “Until now, the coven has been denned up, licking their wounds.”

  “A very gwyllgi turn of phrase for you,” he rumbled, laughing.

  “You know how it is with old mated couples.” I smiled at him. “Finishing each other’s sentences, wearing each other’s clothes, stealing each other’s food…”

  “Stealing a predator’s food?” Gray’s eyebrows climbed. “It must be love.”

  “It is,” Midas assured him. “Otherwise, she would have gnawed off my hands by now.”

  Laughter boomed out of Gray’s deep chest, so at odds with the grim scene around us, and it felt good.

  We all coped with grief in different ways, and laughter was the least self-destructive option.

  “Aubrey has the fire under control.” He wiped the amusement off his face. “He says it tastes the same. It’s slightly off from what we encountered at the battle with the coven, but it’s identical to last night’s fire.”

  Part of me wished I could share the intel, use Aubrey as a source, but we had a promise to Gray to uphold. We would keep Aubrey’s identity a secret for as long as possible. It was the only way to give the teen a taste of a normal life, considering what he was and what he was capable of.

  But if he ever lost control, if the citizens ever paid for it, I would learn firsthand how Linus had felt during the past year when he took personal responsibility for me and my actions.

  Second chances didn’t come free, and they didn’t come cheap. Someone always, always paid for them.

  “The cleaners are on their way,” he kept going. “I understand several of the individuals are gwyllgi?”

  “From a visiting pack,” I confirmed. “The alpha was lucky to escape with her life.”

  “We’ll update you if we learn anything else.” Gray bowed his head. “Let me know if we can help.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  Thinking back to how Claudia had pieced herself together in front of me, I doubted we would have to lean on Gray or his pride for help. Guilt must be eating her alive. She had known the risks, but she had accepted them. For their sake. And hers.

  After what Midas told me, I couldn’t blame her. The scholarship was nice and all, but I was willing to bet what she had been after was Tisdale’s seal of approval. That would go further than a check or a few weeks’ worth of lessons.

  Alone again, Midas and I looked at one another, but I was the one to break the silence.

  “There’s already been too much collateral damage.” I twisted one of the silver rings on my fingers, the one responsible for my Hadley persona. “Now my family is here.”

  “Don’t go down that road.”

  “This could have been them. Addie and Boaz. They could have been in the lobby tonight, taken her offer, the same as me.” I forced myself to leave the ring alone before my glamour flickered. “They could have stayed to grab a bite after I left.” I swallowed hard. “They could be dead.”

  The night Addie and Boaz decided to drop in early was the first we had seen of the coven since the battle. Coincidence? Nah. I don’t think so. More like a carefully executed strike against me, right to the heart. But why not blow up their hotel? Or their Swyft? Or the restaurant where they ate dinner?

  They had gone after Midas and me and then Claudia and me. I was definitely the common denominator. Did that mean my family was safe as long as I wasn’t with them? Or did it mean I had gone so far around the paranoia bend I ought to be crafting my own tinfoil hat right about now?

  “Hadley.”

  “Our inner circle is feeding them information.” I read the same pain in my heart in his eyes. “There’s no other explanation.”

  Another packmate lost. No, lost wasn’t the right word. Stolen. One with decent security clearance if they had ready access to Midas and me. We hadn’t suspected a breach until now, so the coven mole or moles were a light touch, aided by wearing others’ skins and partial, if not total, access to the hosts’ memories.

  A worse possibility slithered down my spine, that a member of my team might have been compromised. The information and resources available to OPA staff posed a much deadlier threat if they had been turned against me.

  “I’m sorry.” I touched his arm, echoing his grief while pulling him back from the ledge. “We’ll find them, and we’ll stop them.”

  Midas bobbed his head, and his breath came out harsh. He cut his eyes toward me then almost smiled.

  Happy to distract him, I pressed for details. “What?”

  “I believe you.” He kissed my forehead. “You have never let me down.”

  “Give it time.” I patted his chest. “You haven’t known me very long.”

  The negative comment earned me a scowl, but he lost his chance to lecture me on self-worth when the screen lit on my phone. “Yeah?”

  “You didn’t call back,” Bishop grumped. “What’s happening over there?”

  A snort escaped me. “Like you don’t have eyes on me right now?”

  “Smoke,” he clipped out. “Makes it kind of hard to see out of overhead cameras.”

  Smarting from the well-deserved smackdown, I rattled off a quick report in my best potentate voice.

  “S
tation Thirteen has the fire under control. Claudia is alive. A third of her pack left the bar when she did, so they’re okay. The others…” I stared at the blaze. “She wants a piece of the coven for what they did to her people. We need to keep her in the loop, or she’ll go vigilante on us.”

  Of that, I had no doubt. It’s what I would do in her situation.

  “Are you coming in tonight?”

  “That was the plan, after the bar.” I rubbed my forehead. “Addie and Boaz came in last night, which I’m sure you already know, you stalker. The rest of my guests must be here too, though I didn’t think to ask.”

  A silence lingered during which I heard his teeth grinding.

  Family? Or city? Which would I choose? Which was my priority?

  Suddenly, this felt like a test I could fail, and if I did, he would lose respect for me.

  Paranoia? Yeah. Probably. Maybe?

  “Since it’s pretty obvious I’m being targeted, that means we’ll be moving my family from their hotel into the Faraday for the duration of their visit.” The Faraday, despite its hiccups with me, still far outclassed any simple hotel on security. Even if it meant putting my mother underfoot for several days. “Can you coordinate that with them for me?”

  “What will you be doing?”

  “What do you think?”

  As much as I wanted to rush to Boaz and Addie, they were both alive. Safe. We had time.

  These people…

  They had been guests in my city, and their time had run out.

  On my clock.

  At dawn, when I laid my head on my pillow, I would never fall asleep if I witnessed this then spent the night out at museums and nice restaurants like their deaths didn’t matter, like the attack on my city, my people, to get to me, didn’t matter.

  “Put two in the field,” I told him. “I’ll check the burn sites, see if I can catch our firebug reminiscing, but I want eyes on me. I want to know if I’m being followed in a way I can’t track.”

  “Milo and I will do the honors,” he volunteered. “Sorry your reunion has gone bust.”

  “This is more important.”

  And a busy schedule also meant a valid reason for avoiding my mother.

  Hello, silver lining.

  “That glint I texted you about? Can you check surveillance in the area? See if you can isolate its origin?”

  There was no guarantee it was connected to the explosion, but I wanted an answer.

  “Already on it.”

  “I need to check in with Abbott too.” I expected no miracles, but I could always hope. “Maybe he’s made progress on a field test for rooting out who’s been infected by any Martian Roaches we’ve missed or anyone whose skin is being worn by the coven.”

  The last two days made it more time critical than ever to ferret out any coven members in our midst. We had to act, but lips moved faster than we could mobilize. We had to plug the leaks before there was any hope of washing our hands clean of them.

  “I can handle that,” Midas volunteered. “I need to update Mom anyway.”

  “I called her earlier,” I confessed. “I figured with it being pack related, she would want to know first.”

  “Thanks.” A bright smile creased his face. “I appreciate that.”

  “Why are you goofy grinning at me?”

  Bishop, who was still on the line, said, “He likes that you’re getting close with his mom.”

  Annoyed with him being nosy, I ended the call without another word.

  “I do like that you called her. It’s a big improvement over the flu.”

  A flush threatened to burn my cheeks, but my face was already scalded. “Will I never live that down?”

  “Gwyllgi have long memories, so no.” He chuckled. “You won’t.”

  “Crap,” I muttered, half serious. “That means the same trick won’t work twice.”

  “You’ll think of something else, I’m sure.”

  “I can’t decide if I appreciate your vote of confidence or if I’m insulted by it.”

  “Gray has this under control.” He nudged me toward the sidewalk. “We should leave him to it.”

  A shiver of unease swept through me. “Where are you going?”

  “With you.” The way he looked at me called my sanity into question. “Where else?”

  Five

  The predator under Midas’s skin didn’t care that Hadley had survived a bomb. Make that two bombs. Or that she could survive another. He made his calls and sent his texts while keeping her in arm’s reach. She humored him, though it must have annoyed her for him to hover. He couldn’t help it with his instincts in his ears, roaring he must protect her at any cost, when she was more than capable of watching her own back.

  The smoke from the bar fire had sunk into their clothes and hair, dulling his keen nose, but he still noticed the moment a fresh scent joined them on the street.

  The shadow Hadley cast turned its head and paused while she kept walking, then it drifted back to her.

  A Low Society necromancer must not pose much of a temptation if Ambrose dismissed him so quickly.

  That, or he knew Boaz Pritchard was off-limits.

  The punishing stride Hadley had maintained all night didn’t falter. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I came to check on you,” Boaz called, slightly out of breath from his jog. “What do you think?”

  “You should be—”

  “—where it’s safe?” His winded laughter strained him. “I’m no potentate, but my job isn’t a cakewalk.”

  A flash of insight into where she had learned the habit of talking over him blinded Midas.

  “You need to go back to the Faraday.” She didn’t so much as turn her head. “This isn’t your fight.”

  “I’m here.” Boaz caught up with them. “And I’m good at taking hits.”

  That was the exact wrong thing to say to Hadley, and she stopped short, spun on her heel, and growled.

  The slight widening of Boaz’s eyes told Midas he hadn’t seen Hadley in work mode often enough to grasp Amelie was gone. Hadley wasn’t his little sister. She was more. So much more. And he had to accept that if he wanted a place in her life.

  “People died tonight because of me, because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Goddess,” he breathed, and his expression showed he was piecing it together. “You’re the target?”

  “There’s a coven of witchborn fae in the city, and they’re gunning for me.”

  Faint lines bracketed his mouth. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Go back to the Faraday, to Addie. Keep her safe. Take our dad to see the art installation then go home.” Hurt flashed across her face. “I can’t lose you too. You’re all…” She glanced at Midas, took his hand. “You were all I had left until I came here, but I’m not…” She bit down on the words. “I can’t worry about you going off half-cocked and still do my job.”

  “All right.” He scrubbed a palm over his scalp. “I’ll do it on one condition.”

  An exaggerated eye roll, the familiar language of siblings, was her answer.

  “Tell me you’re happy.” His jaw hardened. “And mean it.”

  A dull throb punched Midas behind his ribs, and Hadley must have sensed how much the answer meant to him, because she tightened her fingers on his.

  “I love my life here,” she said, truth bright in every word. “I love my job, my friends, my purpose.” She smiled up at Midas, and his heart turned over. “I love you too.” Turning back to Boaz, she exhaled. “I make a difference here. I’m a different person here. I matter.”

  “You’ve always mattered—”

  “—to you, yes. To our little brother, yes. But I was never myself in Savannah. I didn’t know who I was there. I got lost, so lost, and I had no idea how far I had strayed from the path until it was too late to find my way back.”

  “I’m glad you’ve found what you were looking for,” he rasped, “but I don’t want you
to lose you either.”

  “You never will,” she promised, dropping Midas’s hand. “I’ll always be your annoying little sister.” She walked into his arms, and he squeezed her until she squeaked. “Or I would be, if you would hurry up and marry Addie.”

  A low grunt rose up his throat. “I’m trying.”

  “Try harder.”

  From Hadley, Midas knew long engagements were common in the Society. Years could pass before either party got antsy about finalizing the paperwork. Gwyllgi tended to bond hard and fast, and mate within a year of meeting. Yet another deviation from the norm Hadley must have expected in a partner.

  Releasing her, Boaz took a step back. “You would call if you needed me, right?”

  “Nope.” She patted his cheek. “I would most certainly not.” She shoved him. “Now get.”

  “Take care of her.” Boaz pointed a warning finger at Midas. “I would hate to make Lethe an only child.”

  “Lethe would eat your face.” Hadley chuckled. “So would Tisdale.” She waved. “Buh-bye.”

  Grumbling under his breath, Boaz crammed his hands into his pockets and started walking.

  “I’ll text Hank.” Midas pulled out his phone. “That way we know Boaz did as he was told.”

  “There’s a first time for everything.”

  “We’re going to stop them.” Midas tugged on one of her curls. “It’s going to be all right.”

  The quick nod she gave him didn’t convince him, but he understood her worry. Her family couldn’t have picked a worse time to visit, but they were here now. The best she could hope for was they would view the art installation and go, as Hadley requested, before anyone got hurt.

  The sight proved useless in identifying new hidden nooks or crannies where what remained of the coven might be holed up while they prepared to strike again. Midas suspected they had moved their operation outside the city, their base at least, and Atlanta’s suburbs were a labyrinthine warren in comparison.

  Bishop had shadowed Midas and Hadley all night, his texts were proof of that, but Midas hadn’t sensed him once.