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They were in even deeper shit than he initially thought.
“I’m here to tell you, Agent Masterson, that vampires are very,veryreal. And they derive part of their power from people thinking they don’t really exist. What’s the human saying? ‘The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn’t exist’?”
“My God,” she whispered, shaking her head, looking down. “So, it’s true then?”
He gave her a slow nod, thinking out loud. “Humans are such foolishly gullible creatures in general. It’s made worse though when their own Bureau acts like vampires are a fairy tale.”
“Did they… do you think that’s who killed Caleb? Vampires?” Her words were almost a murmur, as if she dared not even verbalize them.
“Unfortunately, I’ve ruled out just about everything else. And if even the most unlikely option is the only one remaining? Well…” He began to pace before the door. “But we’ve got a more pressing worry. Caleb was not actually part of my clan. He was Coulee clan—and the much-beloved nephew of their alpha, Kellen Whitlow.”
“Holy shit,” Stacy said. “That means—”
“Whitlow just so happens to be one of the most powerful and influential wolves in North America.”
“I know,” she muttered, shaking her head. “This is… shit, what a mess.”
“For many decades, the Coulee clan has been allied with Cold Ridge. But they could become a mortal enemy now that Caleb has been killed on my lands.”
Kellen Whitlow ruled a vast territory made up of the former areas of southern British Columbia and northern Washington state. Their clan outnumbered Cold Ridge at least three to one. They wouldn’t stand a chance against Coulee in the case of any open hostilities.
“What was Caleb doing here though? Why would a Coulee clan wolf be all the way over here in Montana?”
“The practice of exchanging wolves from ruling groups of clans is ages old. It allows the young and still-maturing wolves to gain valuable skills and knowledge about life outside their own families. Caleb was one of those exchanges.”
“And now he’s dead…”
Dmitri scowled, stopping in front of her. “This practice has always been done with the unspoken but sacred understanding that while in the custody of a pack, such wolves will be guarded as if they were their own blood.”
She peered up at him, her eyes wide. “What happens now?”
“I have to inform the Coulee clan, of course. There’s a non-zero chance that Kellen will demand my life in forfeit. I’ll have to cross that little bridge when I come to it though. But there’s something else that’s been bothering me about this. What if the killing were somehow… intentional? A set up? What if the aim was to do just that, to induce such a conflict among our clans?”
“Why are you telling me this? I’m a human, not a wolf. I don’t know the first thing about”—she waved a hand in front of her—“anyof this shit.”
He growled the words, growing irritated with her obstinacy. “Because it’s part ofyourworld too—and you need to know. You humans think you’re not part of this. I assure you though, you’re already neckdeepin this mess. It’s just that most of you don’t seem to realize it yet.” He drew even closer, the legs of his jeans just brushing her bare knees. “You know more. I can smell it on you.Tellme, agent.”
She rolled her eyes but held out a hand, palm up. “There have been… rumors. Now and then. But no one really believes them. Pretty hard to take seriously the idea that there’s this, what? An entirenationof vampires that was somehow opposed to… everyone? I mean, come on.” She licked the corner of her lip, a sculpted dark eyebrow arching. “What does this Circle thing have to do with this?”
Dmitri glanced down at the floor, breathing deeply for a moment, both to collect his thoughts and to distract himself from his now aching erection. Despite his irritation with the agent, his mere proximity to her—especially in her near-nude state—was making it exceedingly difficult for him to concentrate, regardless of the dire circumstances they now found themselves in.
Finally, he walked over to the dresser, dragging over the wooden chair tucked in along its side and setting it down in front of Stacy. He took a seat, the wood creaking slightly. “I’m going to give you something I don’t think the FMB knows how to give you anymore—which is the truth. You’re not going to like it. You may not want to believe it. But it’s real. It’s whatis.”
“O-okay.”
“Now, I don’t know why Scanlon kept this from you agents, but obviously youshouldhave known. Maybe it wasn’t up to him? Who knows. Doesn’t matter now, I guess.”
“Doesn’t matter? How the fuck can you sa—?”
“Just be quiet for a minute, Stacy. You need tolisten. And understand.”
She nodded, glancing away, but he clearly had her full attention.
“The Circle is basically the… ruling council, more or less, for an entire vampire nation. But it’s not really a unified entity either. I’d say it more closely resembles a conglomeration of oligarchs, essentially. This group, they scheme against both the humans and the wolves, but they know the vampires are too few in number to really do much openly against either one of them. So, they do their dirty work clandestinely instead.”
Stacy’s mouth was working soundlessly, resembling a landed fish. Her eyes blinked several times as she listened. It made him wonder if he was overwhelming her. Perhaps a different tack was called for.
He continued. “Have you ever had unexplained murders? Have you ever had instances where wolves were killed and the Bureau knew humans were definitelynotinvolved?”
