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As if her thoughts had summoned him, she heard a whisper of sound, almost lost to the other noises in the night. Looking up, she caught sight of him. Niko came striding from the woods, his massive body in the half form she’d seen only a couple of times. He was dragging somebody behind him.
His eyes landed on hers, the wild gold clashing with hers and widening, then closing with relief.
A second later, a human hurtled through the air to land a few feet in front of Zee.
The man groaned and tried to roll onto his belly, but Niko planted his foot on his upper back, driving him into the ground.
Boone emerged from the trees only a few feet from where Niko had appeared with his burden. His gaze landed on the intruder, the battered body of the man Niko had hurled across the clearing.
“The others?” Zee barely looked at either Therian, her attention on the human.
“Boone and his team took care of the ones you and I hadn’t gotten to,” Niko said, his voice flat.
“The fire?”
Niko still had his eyes on the man at her feet. “Boone?”
“We’re dealing with it. The rain kept it from spreading and it should be contained shortly. We’d already closed in from the cabin’s northern side and several units peeled off to handle that. The storm was a blessing.” Boone, too, was looking at the man lying on the ground, Niko’s weight rending him immobile.
Zee nodded, then went to brush her damp hair back, only to stop at the sight of blood on her hands.
Analise offered a square of cloth with a faint chemical scent.
Accepting it with a short nod, Zee began to wipe the blood from her hands, both of them staring at Niko’s prisoner.
“Who is he?”
Niko lifted his foot and started to pace, watching the man as the human pushed onto his back and slowly went to a sitting position.
“He’s the man behind my father’s assassination,” Niko responded, his voice far deeper and carrying the echo of a growl.
The bottom of Zee’s stomach dropped out, the breath knocked from her lungs.
“I recognize that stink. Whatever you used to cover your scent doesn’t hold up very long in the rain. And that stink of yours... I’ll never forget it.” Niko came to a crouch in front of the human, eyes narrowed. “But you knew that. That’s why you developed this... chemical compound, whatever it is that masks your body chemistry and leaves a Therian scent-blind. You had to wait until it was ready before you went after my father, otherwise I’d know it was you and I’d track you down and gut you, just like I promised the last time we met.” Niko crouched by the man, his lips peeling back from monstrous canines that gleamed despite the low light. “Isn’t that right, Terrence Ball?”
