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"Hold on," she said, fishing out her car keys and tossing them to me. "Okay. Let's get this over with."
Roz closed his eyes, and they wavered out of sight. The Ionyc Sea wasn't the ideal way to travel, and both Smoky and Roz only took us with them when it was absolutely necessary, but travel through the frozen astral realms came in handy when necessary.
Vanzir, Tril ian, Morio, and I trudged up the stairs. There was nothing left here but destruction. They probably never bothered to use the rest of the house, just the lab in the basement. And the pedestal, where they . . . Images of what was left of Paulo filtered through my mind, and I pressed my lips together.
We'd track them down and destroy them. And we'd put a stop to the Koyanni while we were at it.
Outside, I leaned against Camil e's Lexus. "Where to? I'd like to have Menol y with me when we go after the coyote shifters. She tends to be real handy in situations where we might have to hold our breath. We have an address, but we're definitely down manpower without her and Smoky. Camil e's going to be laid up again, if I don't miss my guess."
"Camil e's probably going to be okay to go in unless she contracts an infection from the cuts, but she'l hurt. You know she won't stay home if there's danger to the rest of us. You head over to the FH-CSI building and see how she is. We'l head out and see what we can track down about the address Marion gave us. Drive by, get a look at it . . . anything we can use for an advantage right now." Vanzir motioned for me to take off as he, Morio, and Tril ian headed for Morio's SUV.
I gave him a long look. At this point, if there was a way we could remove the soul binder, I'd consider it. Vanzir had earned his place with us, but the enslavement lasted for life. He'd never be free. But we were coming to trust him more and more. With one last glance over my shoulder, I hopped in Camil e's car and headed, once again, to the hospital.
Sharah grimaced when she saw me come in. "Again? What's with you two? I think you just like us too much."
"How is she?" I glanced around, looking for any sign of Chase, but if he was here, he was in his office, not in the medic unit.
"We're tweezing out the shards. There are so many that it's going to take a while longer. For the first twenty minutes we used clear strapping tape--
plastered it to her skin and then pul ed. Brought the majority of the bigger pieces and a lot of smal er slivers off. It's a good thing she shaved her legs recently, I can tel you that." Sharah bit her lip, then said, "I need to talk to you about something. They're working on her, so you're going to have to wait for a while anyway."
Worried they'd found something else wrong with Camil e, I fol owed her as she led me back into her office. "What's wrong? She's going to be okay, isn't she?"
"Camil e? Oh, yes--she'l hurt and probably have a number of tiny scars, but she'l be al right. This is something else, something private I needed to ask you." She let out a long breath and sat down--not behind her desk but in the chair next to me. "Delilah, I have something to ask you, and you probably won't like it, but I can't just keep quiet. I have to know."
Sharah was friendly, but she seldom confided in us, and I'd never had a heart-to-heart with her until Chase had been in the ICU.
"What's up? Is something wrong with Chase?"
"That's debatable. We've got a long ways to know how the Nectar of Life wil ultimately affect him. But, no, that's not what I wanted to talk about. Not directly. I know you broke up--he told me, and he told me it was his doing, and that it had nothing to do with you." She cleared her throat, looking definitely uncomfortable.
"Uh . . . yeah. He's right on al counts."
"I know he's not ready for a relationship, but do you think . . . when he is . . . are you planning on getting back together with him?" She glanced up at me then, and I saw it in her eyes. I saw the same look I'd felt at the beginning, after the newness wore off and the affection crept in. Sharah was in love with Chase.
Hel . How was I supposed to respond? Did I even know the answer to her question? We'd only been separated for a day or two. Was I ready to give up the hope of being with him forever? But as I searched my heart, I knew my response, and it wasn't what I expected to feel.
I reached out and stroked her cheek. "You have feelings for him, don't you?"
She blushed--and on an elf, flaming cheeks were not that attractive--and flinched. Just enough to tel me she was afraid of how I'd react.
"It's okay to tel me how you feel. Please, I'd rather know. After Erika, secrets are not my most favorite of pastimes."
"Please, don't think I'm like her--I'd never, ever step in where I wasn't invited." She lowered her gaze to the floor.
"I know you wouldn't. I just . . . meant I'd rather know up front. So, do you love him?"
"Yes," she whispered. "Over the past two years that I've worked with him, I've grown extremely . . . fond of him. I truly see the goodness in his heart, even if he doesn't know what to do with it and bungles it up. He real y does love you, Delilah, but I think . . . I think he doesn't know whether he loves himself."
I closed my eyes, listening to my pain. It stung to hear her say she cared about him, but it wasn't the sting of betrayal. It wasn't the sting of abandonment.>-for the past two weeks. Our only concern was that we get to you before the other recruits."
Realization of what he'd just said swept over me, and I wavered--only for a second--before spreading my legs and taking a firm stance. "So you work for the Bonecrusher."
"This is a setup." Camil e let out a soft sigh. "The coyote shifters, the Wolf Briar . . . al to gain our attention and bring us to you."
"No, we just lucked out with the stupid shifters. They wanted the Wolf Briar, and they wanted it bad. We decided to use that to bring you out. We knew it would catch your attention sooner or later. You've got your nose into everything in this town. We just had to be patient. In the meanwhile, the more werewolves we captured, the more ingredients we had, and the more personal profit we made. Everything we get from the Wolf Briar is ours to keep."
Van shrugged, a pasty grin plastered on his face.
