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It seemed odd, heading out with Nerissa and Luke, when I was so used to handling cases with my sisters. Iris waved from the door, and I waved back, feeling an abrupt sense of loneliness.
The sky was dark, rain looming again, and the wind, chil . I watched as a murder of crows perched in the tal oak near the back of the house. Morgaine, come to spy on us? Shaking the thought off--I was getting paranoid in my not-so-old age--I slowly inhaled a deep breath. The scent of woodsmoke and air made crisp by the sparkling raindrops fil ed my lungs, fol owed by the deep, pungent scents of cedar and fir, moss and mildew. This was Hi'ran's season.
The Autumn Lord ruled over these months, and once again, I felt a longing to summon him to my side, to talk with him. His presence was becoming oddly soothing, and I felt calm when I thought about him.
A sudden movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, but there was no one there. A second later, I felt someone cup my elbow. Hi'ran? I could feel his heat, and yet--and yet--again, it wasn't him. Shaking my head but feeling less lonely, I unlocked the Jeep and motioned for the others to get in.
Nerissa cal ed shotgun. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved top, and stilettos that brought her to my height. Her golden hair trailed down her back, curling in tendrils that made me smile. She real y was beautiful; I could see how Menol y had fal en for her. Luke sat in the backseat, his face a tense slate of worry. He was hunched forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
"Could you please sit back and put on a seat belt. I don't want to be responsible for kil ing you if we have an accident, the gods forbid."
Blinking, he obeyed without question. As I inched us out of the driveway, I could tel he was struggling with something.
"Are you okay, Luke? Whatever it is, you can tel us."
He shrugged. "It's just . . . as much as I hate Rice, I hope to hel he's not the one who did this. Any member of the Pack who would use Wolf Briar against another member should be shot. I don't want to think about Rice having the bal s to use it, especial y not against my sister. One thing Sharah didn't mention to you, apparently--and perhaps she doesn't know, we tend to keep a tight rein on the information--is that too much exposure to Wolf Briar can lead to domestication. Ultra-submissiveness. Wolf Briar can turn a Were near the top of the Pack into a groveling slave. Forever." Venom fil ed his voice.
I winced. "Not good. I didn't know that, and I don't think Sharah does either. I take it you'd prefer that information to be kept quiet?"
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, if you and Nerissa would be so kind. If it leaked out to the general public, do you know what the hate groups would do with it? Or anybody with a beef against a werewolf?"
I could see his point. What if the Freedom's Angels got hold of this information? They'd crossed the line from hate speech into action, and they would have no problem with funding the production of Wolf Briar and using it. Anything to get rid of the object of their fear and disgust.
"So, why does your friend Katrina live in Seattle when her Pack is over on the Peninsula?" I turned onto Greenwood Avenue.
"She works over here, and it's easier for her Pack to keep their paws in the Supe Community Council activities with one member nearby."
We headed north through the Bitter Lake area, then took a right onto Westminster Way, then left again on Dayton. When Dayton intersected Carlyle Hal Road, we curved left and continued along past the Shoreline Community Col ege area, where the woods were stil thick and the city took on a greenish hue. Seattle wasn't cal ed the Emerald City just because somebody liked L. Frank Baum's books. Eventual y, Carlyle merged into Third Avenue, and shortly after that, 175th Street, where we turned left.
"She lives out there a ways, doesn't she?" Luke said.
"Katrina lives near the sound, on Sixteenth." I quickly turned onto Tenth, and we wound our way through more wooded suburbs, until we came to 167th.
From there, it was a short jog, and we were on the right street, the last street before Puget Sound. I slowed as we drove through the cul-de-sac, stopping in front of a modest house that had recently been built at the end of the road.
As I parked, I glanced at the view and thought that, modest or not, this had to have set the werewolf back a pretty penny. Waterfront property--and that included anything with even a remote view of the water--was mega-expensive.
The wind was whipping a froth on the sound as we climbed out of my Jeep. The scent of brine hung heavy as it filtered in, and the screech of seagul s made me nervous. I didn't like the water--most werecats didn't. Even though we were nowhere near any danger of fal ing in, the mere sight of such a vast expanse of silvery waves unsettled me. I never could figure out what people found so soothing about the water. To me it was al one big scary bathtub.
Luke, on the other hand, lifted his nose into the air and sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes as the wind whistled past.
"I love this weather," he said. "I love this area. I'd never go back to Arizona, even if the Pack asked me to return."
"Let's go," Nerissa said. "Katrina's waiting for us. I don't know if Luke gave you the rundown, Delilah, but a few pointers: never stare down a werewolf.
It's a chal enge, and even though Katrina's not an alpha bitch, it wil set her on edge. When you greet her, smile, nod, but don't lock gazes."
"Good point," Luke said. "I'm pretty good about control ing the impulse, but a lot of werewolves haven't been able to master their inner beast."
"I'm glad you told me, because in the feline Were world, it's the opposite."
We headed up the sloping lawn to the house, where Nerissa rang the bel on the freshly painted house. The smel of paint had faded and now mingled with the smel s of overturned earth--which meant Katrina probably had a garden--and woodsmoke. A glance at the roof showed she had a chimney and yes--it was puffing away.
The door opened, and a dark-haired, rather intimidating looking woman stood there. I don't know what I'd expected, but it hadn't been to see a woman in a corporate skirt suit, with her hair done up in a bun, wearing wire-framed glasses. She was trim and petite, barely five five I guessed, and her jaw was set strong and firm. In days gone by, she would have been cal ed a handsome woman. Her eyes, though, were arresting. Dark, bril iant brown, like molten chocolate, ringed with a circle of topaz.
As she saw Nerissa, a smile washed over her face, and the stern primness turned to warm beauty. "Nessa! Long time, no see. Are these your friends?"
She glanced at Luke and me. "Weres, both of you, but you--" She pointed to me. "You have something else in the mix. You're not a typical Were."
