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“Perhaps, but he does have a point when it comes to your restaurant. It’s too easy for the Raziq to find you there.”
“Except, as I keep telling him, they’re hardly going to attack me somewhere where there’s lots of people.” But even as I said that, I remembered the Ania attack in the café and shivered. And I had a bad feeling I’d just tempted fate.
“If it proves easier for the Raziq to net you in a public space, then they will do so. For an Aedh, the end goal is all and nothing else matters.”
“And what is your end goal, Lucian?”
“Revenge,” he said flatly. “Whatever it takes, whatever I have to do. But I’ve never hidden that from you.”
No, he hadn’t. But I was beginning to wonder just how big a part I was playing in his end goal. It was certainly bigger than what he was admitting, and that was making me more and more nervous.
And yet I still didn’t want to walk away from him. Maybe I really was addicted to the damn man.
“Well, this little piece of your revenge pie isn’t ready to play nice just yet.” I dug my keys out of my pocket and clicked the UNLOCK button. Lights flashed as the car opened.
“You know, that background noise isn’t sounding like you’re in the restaurant.”
“I never said I was.”
“So, the bored and horny investment adviser isn’t even allowed to live vicariously through your eventful day-to-day life?”>“Yes. It would appear he loses the connection when we take alternate form.”
“Then it’s a shame I haven’t the strength to take it more often.” It would have been nice to be able to follow up on leads without Hunter knowing our every move.
Azriel touched Jak on the neck, and disappeared. Jak blinked; then his gaze focused on me and he said, “I guess making a run for it with the disks is out of the question?”
It took me a moment to realize he was continuing the conversation we’d been having before Azriel froze him. “You can try, but that will only lead to the access we’ve been given to the crime site being abruptly withdrawn. Besides, Uncle Rhoan isn’t only half wolf; he’s half vampire, too. You wouldn’t have any hope of outrunning him.”
“So we lose the information we came here to get?” he said, frustration evident in his voice.
“No, we won’t. Just trust me, okay?”
He frowned, and then his gaze swept me. “How come your clothes are suddenly tatty? And how the hell did your hair change color?”
“Long story. Let’s get these back to Uncle Rhoan before he comes looking for us.”
I grabbed my purse and walked out. He was very quickly beside me. “You’re avoiding the question.”
“Too right.”
“Why? What are you hiding?”
“Secrets, of course.” I gave him a somewhat wry glance. “Secrets I’m not about to reveal to a reporter, let alone the one who besmirched my mom’s name.”
He was silent for a moment, then said slowly, “Nadler’s not the only one who’s a face-shifter, is he?”
I didn’t say anything. He grinned. “That’s it. That’s the secret. Or at least one of them. I suspect you have a whole lot more, because from what I understand of face-shifting, it doesn’t destroy clothes like shifting into wolf form can.”
“And you’ve talked to lots of face-shifters to confirm this, have you?” I asked.
“Ha. Confirmation of my guess. Where’d the skill come from—your mom?”
I glanced at him. “You’re the one who did the extensive background check on my mom. You tell me.”
He grimaced. “Pack background wasn’t something I could pin down. But if she was a face-shifter, she had to be a Helki. No other pack has that skill.”
“You know I’m not going to confirm or deny anything, so give it up.”
“And you know I won’t. I’m afraid you’ve become something of a challenge to me.”
