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Chapter Six
Elias
All of this would be so much less complicated if I had just wiped her memory. I had my orders, I knew what I should have done. It wasn’t too late. I could and probably should eliminate everything from last night, but I didn’t want to. There was some part of me that couldn’t stand the idea of doing anything that might harm Skylar.
I’d never felt guilt for anything I’d done in the name of my mission. And I knew that helping her find her friend’s killer was taking me away from my goal for two days, but I couldn’t stop myself. Every piece of me was driven to help her. To protect her.
I told myself it was because she reminded me of my sister, Clara, but that wasn’t entirely true. Clara had been fragile and elegant. Skylar was tough as nails and still covered in vampire blood.
The thought made me smile.
“What?” she demanded.
“You’re a mess,” I said.
“Thanks to you.” She pushed herself to standing, still clutching the stone in her grip. “Now, are you going to finish explaining why this stone is a big deal or am I going to have to head to the pawn shop and ask some questions?”
“You do that, you’re going to start a war,” I said.
“Aren’t you dramatic,” she deadpanned.
“The moon stone, when combined with the proper ingredients, can control shifting. It might even work on you.” I knew the stories of the stone’s bloody past, but I wasn’t sure what it would do to a half shifter. Especially one who I was beginning to suspect wasn’t half human, after all.
“What do you meancontrols shifting?” She was staring at the stone again as if it was about to bite her.
“In the before days, vampires used these stones to force shifters to serve them. They could make them change at their command. Control them, even.” I nodded to the stone. “They remove a shifter’s free will. It’s how the vampires enslaved the wolves so long ago.”
“Why have I never heard of this before?” She looked skeptical.
“Because they shouldn’t exist anymore. Most of them were made into jewelry and spelled to activate the magic. What you have is a dormant stone. It needs a few other things to pull it all together, but those are easy to find. The stone is what’s rare. They were all destroyed during the shifter emancipation wars.”
“Apparently not,” she said. “Unless this is a replica?”
“You felt the magic yourself,” I said.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “How do you know so much about what I can and can’t do?”
“I’m observant,” I said.
“Liar,” she said.
“Does it matter? What I can and can’t do isn’t going to help us find your friend’s killer or clear your name.”
“You have the power to clear my name by being honest,” she said.
“We’re going in circles and wasting time. I’m not giving you that information and I’m not going to talk about it again.” This woman was annoyingly persistent. Which I supposed was part of what made her good at her job.
“We start with Lola’s pack,” she said. “We need to find out why Lola has this and who else knew it was in her possession.”
“Agree,” I said.
“Give me five minutes,” she said, turning away from me.
“You do realize that if you run off on me I’ll have to hunt you down instead of looking for Lola’s killer.”
She turned around and glared at me. Her full lips were pressed together and for a moment, I wondered if they were as soft as they looked.
That was a dangerous thought. I was already getting more emotionally attached to this half-shifter than I should.
