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Rory was just so different. Not only was she powerful in a way that could take a male’s breath away, or beautiful in a way that men had wet dreams about. She was a beautiful person on the inside, too.
Which was why I was in so much trouble. Damn it, I had so much to take care of, so much to deal with. Why was I stuck on a woman? I couldn’t afford this shit. It would have been better if Rory had just let me run her out of town the first time instead of fighting back, feisty as she was, and insisting on doing what she wanted, rather than what she was told.
A part of me was glad she hadn’t left, though. She challenged me. She made me think about things.
She made mefeelthings.
I just couldn’t see how I could fit her into my future. I needed power so I could protect my own and nothing like what had happened before would ever happen again, and being attached to someone was the opposite of power. It would take away from what I needed—to be invincible.
I picked up my phone and hovered over the names on my call list. Remus was right at the top, and I called him first.
“Have you found anything on Turk yet?” I asked.
“He’s a slippery son of a bitch,” Remus said. “I could trace all the shit that’s public knowledge, like him going to New York and staying there a while, his comings and goings there, but there is a big gap where I can’t find anything about where he was, who he was with, or why.”
“That’s cause for concern.”
“It is,” Remus said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I think you were right that he’s playing at something. I just can’t figure out what it is yet.”
“Yeah, me either.” I took a deep breath. “He wants to take Rory as his mate.”
Remus was quiet for a beat. “The new wolf?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what he was thinking.” A growl involuntarily pushed up my throat. “She’s not a part of our pack, so I don’t know what he’s trying to achieve.”
“You’re right, she’s not one of us,” Remus said carefully. “Why aren’t you letting him have her, then?”
“What?” My ears burned, and my heart hammered against my throat. “I’m supposed to just give her to him?”
“Well, no. You can’t, since you’re not her alpha, but if that’s what he wants, it’s all the better for us. You agreed to give him a mate from the pack to solidify his strength and position, but if he’s not getting someone fromourpack, then it’s a win-win for you. You’re getting your side of the deal, and somehow, he thinks he’s getting his side, but it’s not costing you anything.”
“The hell it’s not,” I growled.
“Ah,” Remus said softly. “I see.”
He didn’t have to put into words that he’d figured it out. I wouldn’t give Rory to Turk, even if I could have, because she wasmine, and there was no fucking way I would let that entitled asshole get his hands on her.
“I want to know where he was when he couldn’t be found,” I said, changing the topic.
“I have an idea of where he might have been,” Remus offered.
“Yeah?”
He hesitated long enough that I added, “Spit it out, then! What the hell is going on?”
“Well, with no trace of him for a while—trust me, I lookedeverywhere—I can only assume he wasn’t on Earth.”
I frowned, trying to make sense of what Remus was saying.
“He couldn’t have gone to the Underworld. Shifters don’t travel there.”
“No, not unless he was dead.”
The Underworld was where the souls of the dead ended up.
“Only demons who guard the Underworld, and the vampires who pick the souls they like sometimes, have access to the Underworld,” I said, as if this was something Remus didn’t already know. “Without dark magic, how the fuck would he get there?”
Shifters didn’t own a shred of dark magic, and after the dark deals my dad had made, getting the wrong kind of magic involved that resulted in Aster’s death, there was no way I would allow anything like that on my turf again.
