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As far as anyone knew, he was human. The spells and magical tattoos worked so well that even blood tests didn’t reveal him as anything other. Malachi suspected he was supernatural in some way, but had never pressed Lucian on the details, and he appreciated that. He wouldn’t know what to say, anyway. His kind were dangerous. Far, far more dangerous than any of the criminals he’d ever put away.
He looked down at the tattoos that crept under his shirtsleeve and covered the top of his hand. Every year, give or take a month, he had to get additional ones. It had been eight months since he’d gotten his last tattoo. He felt like at some point every inch of his skin would be covered. Then he’d be getting tattoos on top of tattoos, and what a mess that would be.
Shaking himself back to the present, he glanced up and saw they were three levels below ground. The elevator shuddered to a stop with a groan, and the door slid open. Two heavily armed guards stood in front of the elevator. They relaxed when they saw Lucian and Simon.
“We finally got the head bird, yeah?” Abraham said as he rested his hand on the butt of his rifle.
Antonio growled but didn’t struggle. He was pretty helpless at this point. Simon and Lucian had shackled his ankles and attached his handcuffs to a chain around his waist. The chains were plated with silver, which was detrimental to raven shifters. As long as Antonio had something silver touching his skin, he couldn’t shift. As far as Lucian knew, ravens were the only group affected by a particular metal.
“I don’t think he likes being called a bird,” Simon said with a chuckle.
“Cell D,” Abraham said. “And the boss wants to see you, Luc.”
“Great.”
They half-carried and half-dragged the angry raven shifter to Cell D. The door opened as they approached and they put him inside, efficiently unshackling him until only his wrist was cuffed. That cuff was attached to a long chain in the center of the floor.
“Welcome home,” Simon said cheerily as the door shut and locked.
Antonio ripped the duct tape off his mouth and stood slowly. His eyes blazed with fury. “You’ll let me free or my people will rain down hell on you.”
“Nah,” Simon said. “They won’t get anywhere near you.”
Lucian turned and headed back to the elevator. Simon caught up to him, joining him in the elevator as it took them to the ground floor. There they entered a second elevator that took them to the hunters’ offices.
“Why does Geflin want to see you?” Simon asked.
“No idea.”
“Well, I hope it’s nothing serious. He can be an ass.”
“I heard that,” Geflin said as he leaned his head out of his office.
“Shit,” Simon said.
“Go handle the paperwork for the intake tonight,” Geflin said. “Luc, come on in.”
Simon clapped Lucian on the back and walked in the opposite direction to his office. Lucian had an office too, a glorified cubicle with zero personal effects. He was careful to keep his personal and professional lives separate, even going so far as to change his last name.
Plus, his only family members – a grandfather, an aunt, and two cousins – lived out of state, and he didn’t have much contact with them. And there was another family member that he had no interest in talking to ever again – the man who had taken Lucian’s mom from him, and left him fearful of what his own life would turn out like.
“What’s up, Commander?” Lucian asked as he sat down across from the head of the hunter division.
“I wanted to commend you on the capture tonight.”
“It was a team effort.”
“Perhaps, but you were instrumental in taking out the bodyguards. Do you think that Antonio will implicate his people?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s pretty angry right now, but a few days in holding might change his mind.”
“One way or another we’ll figure out who in his nest work directly with him, and we’ll take the whole damn thing down.”
“The town will be a lot nicer without them.”
“Indeed. You’re off for a few days?”
“Yeah. I have some business to catch up on.”
