Change of Heart (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 3) Read online

  “Let’s tie a knot in it here then.” Bishop saluted the team. “Make no apologies.”

  “Survive,” we all echoed, and the screens went dark.

  Bishop gave the silence a moment to settle, and then he appraised me. “Ready to go get our girl?”

  “Born ready.” I scuffed the toe of my sneaker. “Why didn’t you tell them about Blithe?”

  “She’s the dealer, not the source.” He crammed the last donut into his mouth. “She’s one anthill you don’t want to stomp until you’re ready to hose it in gasoline and drop a match on it.”

  An involuntary shiver prickled down my arms, but I had to admit the gas and match thing sounded good.

  “That doesn’t give her a free pass, Bish.”

  Dealing was as bad as manufacturing. Worse, maybe, since they were the ones facilitating the buys.

  “You sound like him when you talk like that.” He chuckled as he stood. “Linus would be proud.”

  A zing of pleasure that he thought so sang through my chest. “You’re bribing me into a good mood.”

  First the donuts and now the seal of approval from the boss by proxy.

  “I should have handled last night better, but I didn’t realize Blithe was in town. She’s owned that club for a decade or two and never stepped foot in it as far as I know. She’s been content to remain on the outskirts. Someone has offered her a bigger piece of the pie, and she’s hungry for it.”

  “The coven has too many irons in the fire.” I rubbed my forehead. “Their attack is so scattered.”

  The release of the drug struck me as scattershot too. Everyone had been targeted, not just the gwyllgi.

  “Maybe not.” He led the way out into the parking deck du jour. “The drug might have been the goal the whole time. The Martian Roaches can only infect so many people, and we’re onto them. They function the same as the coven, albeit as expendable henchmen, so their existence never made sense to me. Why invest the time and expense in creating something so similar to themselves? But get a dozen of the roaches mature enough to drool into vials, and you’ve got yourself a bottomless supply of a weaponized drug.”

  “They really hate gwyllgi.” I called us a Swyft to the Faraday. “There’s got to be more to it than this.”

  “There always is,” he said solemnly. “No matter how good you are, there’s always something you miss.”

  What a pleasant thought to start our night. Talk about your high notes. A great pep-talker was Bishop.

  Once, Abbott had lamented to me the infirmary in the building’s subbasement was as pristine as the day construction ended. Thanks to the coven kicking our butts on the regular, he didn’t have that problem these days. I, for instance, might as well move a few personal items into a room as much time as I spent there.

  When he wasn’t patching boo-boos, he was developing a test to determine whether packmates who had fallen under suspicion of coven tampering had been killed for their identity or used as a host for Martian Roaches. I wasn’t sure if he was leaning more toward the magical or scientific approach, but I had put in a call to an authority on both to give him a hand.

  Doughty was a witch by birth and a forensic analyst by trade. He was brilliant, and he was expensive, but if ever we needed those two disciplines married, it was now. We had to identify any coven members who had infiltrated our ranks and capture them. We had to isolate anyone infected by Martian Roaches and pray Abbott worked out a cure and fast. And, for extra fun, now we required an antidote for Faete.

  Abbott was good, but he couldn’t do it all alone, and not on a timeline that would save the teens already in distress. I had loaned him Reece, but we needed results yesterday, and I was more than happy to pay to get them.

  Hank stood watch at the door, and I swear I heard him groan when he spotted me.

  “Hiya, friend.” I skipped up to him. “Did you miss me?”

  A long exhale parted his lips. “You were gone?”

  “Hadley, stop harassing the man.” Bishop gave me a shove toward the lobby. “Let him do his job.”

  Hank smiled at Bishop—actually smiled, like a normal person.

  Or like a smug jerk who enjoyed me getting called on my shenanigans.

  “To be continued,” I warned Hank on my way in.

  “I hope not,” he muttered at my back.

  “How are you going to lead these people if you pester them within an inch of their lives?” Bishop kept pace with me to the elevators. “You should work on inspiring loyalty, not annoyance.”

  “Leading these people is Midas’s job, not mine.” I mashed the button marked with a red medical symbol I had assumed, until recently, was an emergency call button if the elevator got stuck. “Why does everyone take Hank’s side?”

  “Hank does his job and doesn’t talk smack. That’s why.”

  After the doors shut behind us, I glared at him. “And don’t think I didn’t notice you hinting at me.”

  “Midas is courting you.” Bishop’s smirk gleamed on the silvery walls. “What do you think happens after courtship ends?”

  “I don’t get crowned High Queen Alpha of the Atlanta Gwyllgi.” I glowered at my own reflection. “Wait.” A shot of panic hit my bloodstream. “Do I?”

  “Midas won’t be alpha until Tisdale steps down, so no. But you would be co-beta for all intents and purposes.”

  “I’m already co-potentate.” I made a round shape with my hands. “My plate, she is full.”

  “Either you accept him, or you rebuke him. Rebuke him, and it’s done.”

  “Ugh.” I thumped the back of my head on the wall. “I make a lifetime commitment, or I lose him?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “That sucks.”

  Shrugging, he repeated himself. “Pretty much.”

  The doors opened onto the infirmary, and we went in search of Abbott.

  Meant to accommodate various species, the space was much larger than I had been expecting the first time I saw it. More advanced too. It was basically a mini hospital. How it had sat neglected for so long boggled the mind. Unless you had witnessed firsthand the gwyllgi tendency to require house calls for emergency treatment.

  “Bishop, Hadley.” A young woman dressed in scrubs found us first. “Abbott is waiting on you.”

  She led us to a large room where Lisbeth sat on the bed, chatting away with someone hidden by privacy curtains. Expecting it to be Abbott, I walked in and stumbled when I spotted Ford and Abbott.

  “Hey.” I tried for a hesitant smile. “I didn’t expect to find you here.”

  “I wanted to try an experiment,” Bishop said, gesturing Ford out of the room. “Lisbeth is an LPN. She works at a large clinic that keeps her chained to a desk, a victim of admin drudgery, but she’s an excellent nurse.”

  The dots connected in my mind, and I said, “Oh.”

  “I recruited her to take care of Ford,” he continued. “I was curious if he would remember her.”

  “Did he?” I checked with Lisbeth. “Remember you?”

  “Not until he entered the room.” Her brown eyes sparked with amusement. “Watch this.”

  Cautious about involving Ford again, I started to protest. “I don’t think we should—”

  “Ford,” Bishop called. “Can you come here, please?”

  Ford sauntered into the room, pulled up short when he spotted me, then nodded to Bishop and Abbott. A heartbeat passed before he noticed Lisbeth, and he smiled when he did, but it was only politeness.

  “Ma’am.” He took a step back. “I don’t mean to intrude.” He checked with Abbott. “Should I go or…?”

  “Ford, this is Lisbeth.” Abbott introduced them. “Lisbeth, Ford.”

  She stuck out her hand, and Ford was too much of a gentleman not to take it. The contact sparked instant recall, as best I could tell, and he laughed.

  “You got me again, didn’t you?” He shook his head. “That’s the darnedest thing.”

  It was one thing to hear a geas had been laid o
n someone, even to experience the limits of the ones on me, but it was startling to watch one in action on someone else.

  “They spent enough time together,” Bishop told me, “the geas doesn’t work quite right on him anymore. One touch brings it all back.”

  That could explain how I remembered her too. We talked every day. We may not have shared physical space often, that I recalled, but we had an emotional connection that might have anchored her in my mind during a moment of trauma.

  “I guess that settles it then.” I joined Ford at her bedside. “You can stay with me until you’re over the hump.”

  “Midas is staying with you.” She kept sneaking glances at Ford. “I don’t want to impose.”

  True, my apartment was the size of a shoebox, and I already had a whole lot of gwyllgi male in mine.

  “You could stay in Midas’s apartment maybe?” I would have to ask first. “That way you’d be close.”

  “You can stay with me,” Ford offered. “Or I’ll stay with you.”

  Frowning at this change in his tune, I asked, “How long do you have before you go?”

  “Long enough.” He smiled at Lisbeth. “I’m not on any set timeline.”

  That wasn’t the impression I got during his speech to Midas and me, but I wasn’t about to stick my nose into his personal life. The intersection of a member of Midas’s pack and a member of my team threw up a stop sign I was all too happy to obey.

  “You don’t have to do that.” Roses blossomed in her cheeks. “I can manage on my own.”

  “You took good care of me.” He covered her hand with his. “I don’t mind paying you back.”

  “That’s not why I do what I do,” she protested. “You don’t owe me.”

  “Hadley,” he said, dragging me into their argument. “Tell the stubborn woman to accept help when it’s offered.”

  “Stubborn woman,” I parroted, “accept help when it’s offered.”

  “Fine.” Her complexion glowed as she gazed up at him. “We’ll have to stay at your place or mine, though.” She checked with me. “Humans aren’t allowed in the Faraday, right? That’s why I was under house arrest until Ford recovered?”

  The shock of learning one of my team was human struck me mute. It wasn’t that I was prejudiced against them, or that I didn’t see the value in them, but I hadn’t expected one to step up and put their lives on the line for the paranormal community.

  “The Faraday isn’t safe for humans, no.” I got hives thinking about her staying here without my knowing. Bishop must have put protective measures in place, but I was stunned all the same. “Stay with Ford. Gwyllgi protective instincts being what they are, he’ll feel more comfortable with you in his own territory.”

  “All right,” she said softly.

  “How are we going to get around the geas?” He kept his hand on her, and she didn’t budge. “Never let it be said I mind coming home to find a beautiful woman waiting for me, but I would prefer not to take her head off if she surprises me on a bad day.”

  The dangerous edge Ford had been skating made him a less than ideal host. Then again, recalling Lisbeth had lit a fire under him. He was smiling, laughing, flirting. He wasn’t a fickle man, which led me to believe this wasn’t a sign of him getting over me, for lack of better phrasing, so much as it was him sinking into the mindset he had with Lisbeth before he forgot her.

  That was all kinds of interesting, but none of my business.

  “I can grant Ford temporary immunity.” Bishop frowned at Lisbeth’s mooning. “If you’re both sure that’s what you want.” He waited for her full attention. “He might not be susceptible to the geas after this. You’ve had too much contact as it is, and this will imprint you on his personal space. He’ll scent you and wonder even after you’re gone.”

  “I know how to keep a secret,” Ford said, a growl in his voice. “I won’t endanger her.”

  Yup.

  For good or ill, those gwyllgi protective instincts were already kicking in.

  Lisbeth gave Bishop an opening to work his mojo on Ford. “Can I have a minute alone with Hadley?”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” I murmured to Bishop on his way past.

  Lisbeth made no bones about her flaming crush on Ford, and now we were tossing them together like fried wings and hot sauce.

  “Me too, kid.” He frowned at her. “Me too.”

  The guys filed out, and I was left alone with Lisbeth. If that was her real name.

  “Nice to finally meet you.” She patted the mattress on her hospital-style bed. “I’ve seen you around, but how cool is it that you see me too?” She tapped a finger to her lips. “Well, you could always see me. You just didn’t know who I was, and you forgot the second you figured it out. On the times you did, anyway.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too.” I sat and took the hand she offered me. “I’m not sure why I remember you, but I can’t help but wonder if it has to do with last night.”

  The segue wasn’t my smoothest, but she was a witness, a victim, and I had to ask her a few questions.

  “You’re probably wondering what I was doing at Greenleaf.” She twisted the sheet around her fingertip. “Humans aren’t allowed in the clubs, and we require escorts in that part of the city after dark. So…”

  Waiting for the punchline, I rolled my hand. “So…?”

  “Bishop got me a charm to disguise my scent.” She poked one leg out from under the covers and wiggled her toes, each of them adorned with a silver ring similar to mine. “I read as a witch. Super low level. Almost human.”

  “Just enough magic to get into trouble.”

  Faete didn’t affect humans, that we knew of, or witches, who likely made the charm. Either Lisbeth had gotten sick from a much higher dose based on the assumption she was a witch, or the combination of a magic charm on her body plus magic drug in her body had fried her more fragile immune system.

  “This is why the team is kept anonymous.” The toes stopped wiggling, and the smile faded. “We prefer to be judged for our accomplishments and not our limitations.”

  “You’re right.” I gripped the railing. “You’re right.”

  “You’re under a lot of stress, so I’m willing to cut you some slack.” She poked me in the thigh. “Just because I don’t want to be judged by my limitations doesn’t mean I’m not aware of them.” She flopped back against her pillow. “My dad was a warg. Stepdad, technically. I’ve known about this world since I was two.”

  That explained how she knew to look beyond the mundane, but it was still quite a burden she had undertaken.

  “A human killed him.” She must have read my expression. “He was hunting in wolf form on our land.” A grim smile tipped her lips. “He was always so careful. We lived close to town, but we owned thirty acres. He had plenty of room to roam safely when the mood struck him.”

  Heart breaking, I waited for her to unburden herself with the rest.

  “A couple was out walking through the woods after dark, got turned around I guess, and they crossed onto our property. The boyfriend had a gun on him and…” Her hands clenched and then released. “That’s when I realized paras need more protection from us than we do from them.”

  The sentiment was one I could appreciate, but I couldn’t agree with her. Not when humans were food.

  “You’ve been an invaluable member of this team for longer than I’ve been here. I’m sorry for what brought you to us, but I’m glad you’re here.” I thought back on Bishop’s warning about Ford. “What happens if I can’t forget you again?”

  “I trust you.” Her eyes sparkled. “And this way, you can help me with Ford.”

  Laughter shot out of me, equal parts relief we were okay and incredulousness. “You’re horrible.”

  “I am.” She hung her head, but then she peered at me from under her bangs. “He’s just so…”

  “Yeah.” I had to agree with her. “But I can’t help you. Ford and I aren’t on the greatest terms right now.�
�

  “Midas,” she murmured. “How did you ever choose between them?”

  “Easy.” I stood when Ford and Bishop reentered the room. “I didn’t.”

  Lisbeth had all but forgotten me when her crush sauntered up to her, but I had one question left. “How was the drug administered?”

  “Intranasal or intravenous,” she reported. “From what I can tell, species determined method of administration.” Her lips twisted. “I got a tip and headed downtown to snag us a sample.”

  A beat of hope thrummed in me until I noted her hospital gown and its obvious lack of pockets. “Do you still have it?”

  Doughty could always do with more material for testing, and so could the cleaners.

  “Only what shows up in my blood work.” She rubbed her nose. “They let everyone in the door, invitation or not, but they wouldn’t let you leave until after you ingested it.”

  “Smart.” I had to admit. “That kept the drug itself contained.”

  Leaving Ford with his new charge, Bishop and I exited the Faraday. Most nights I patrolled solo, with him providing radio commentary, but these days it was dangerous for any one of us to get caught out alone.

  We walked Crescent Avenue Northeast from end to end, but its subdued vibe made it hard to believe the manic chaos of last night. The rest of the city hummed with its usual buzz of activity, but nothing required our intervention. Eventually, there was nothing left to do but go home.

  “Do you think Faete will be distributed?” I couldn’t decide yet. “Or do you think Anca was right about it being a clinical trial for the coven?”

  “Hard to say.” He pointed us back toward the Faraday. “A bigger danger is Blithe getting her hands on it. It might be the coven has one purpose in mind, and she has another. She’s got her own chem labs. Feeding others’ habits is how she supports her own. She could, in theory, begin production on her own variant in time.”

  “She would do that, even knowing the side effects?”

  “She wants money, and she wants power.” He shrugged. “They’re the same thing, really.”

  “People like that make my head hurt.” I was glad for the coming dawn and my comfy futon. “If nothing else, you’d think she would see Faete will cripple her income by killing off portions of her client base.”