Blind Salvage (2 page)

M
y back stiffened
and I clenched my jaw shut to keep from giving anything away. I turned ever so slightly and caught Liam’s eyes as they widened a fraction before he, too, caught himself.

“Nothing, sir,” Liam said, his voice even and smooth. Perfectly believable, I thought. Yet Agent Valley didn’t look convinced. Not a bit. His eyes narrowed and he clasped his hands in front of his belly.

“You’re telling me you don’t know anything about a demon named Orion? Or some prophecy that goes like this:
the heart of the mountains he will prick, and the land will know Orion’s fury for being condemned to the seventh veil. He shall cleanse the land with fire for his coming.
” Agent Valley’s eyebrows shot up over his muddy brown eyes. Liam shook his head and I mimicked him, as did Pamela and Alex. All together now, kiddos, and maybe Agent Valley would believe us. Though how he had this information intrigued me, it wasn’t enough to make me ask.

Will and Deanna withdrew. Though they didn’t know the particulars, they did know that I’d stuffed the black-skinned demon book into my weapons bag, which happened to speak a great deal about Orion. Not that Jack knew I’d taken it—no, we’d left a dummy book in its place.

I shrugged, going for casual. “Nope, not a single thing.” Nor did I want to know what Agent Valley had going on with his intelligence gathering. Humans were notorious for reading into things that weren’t there and missing the things that did exist. Nor did I want to guess at the prophecy he’d quoted to us. I’d been reading the black-skinned demon book of prophecies and there was nothing good in them. Not all of them were about Orion, but a lot of them were, enough to seriously worry me. Mostly, they were about how he would help the demon nation be reborn to the world, how he would kill the ‘Tracker’ and defile her corpse in a variety of ways.

Yeah, not exactly bedtime reading material.

Giselle
had always told me prophecies were not to be ignored. But honestly, they were all so freaking contradictory, particularly when it came to comparing the demon’s prophecies to any other supernaturals. Black and white. So how could they both come to pass? That’s right, they couldn’t. I had to believe that. Giselle’s teachings, her words, floated in my head.

Different branches of possibilities. You know that. Don’t delude yourself, either side of a prophecy can come true dependent on people’s decisions.

Yeah, I did know it. I just didn’t want to think about any of the demon prophecies as being even remotely possible. Or of people being stupid enough to help the dark branches of prophecy along.

I slid into my seat beside Pamela in the back of the cab and shut the door. Or tried to. Agent Valley stuck his hand out and caught the door before I could shut it completely.

“Adamson, this is serious. The rumors that are flying—they make our little zombie problem from last month look like a picnic on a fine summer’s day. We don’t even know what the seventh veil is—worse, we have nothing on this Orion fellow. We need your help.”

I shrugged, did my best not to let him see my mind working. “Not my issue. I’m going home. And for the record, I don’t know what the seventh veil is either.” And that was the truth; whatever the veil fully encompassed, I didn’t know.

Liam slid into the passenger seat next to the cabbie.

Agent Valley took his hand off the door. “We think someone is trying to bring Orion through, to our side, and with everything I’ve heard about how very bad this demon is, I would think you wouldn’t want that.”

How the hell did he know all this? He’d gone from all but begging me to help him and his Arcane Arts division, to now knowing shit about the supernatural that we didn’t? The only answer was that he’d found someone to help him, someone who knew the supernatural. Maybe a Reader like Giselle that was my guess. Not that it mattered. If he got the information he wanted and didn’t need us, all the better.

I glared at him. “Guilt trips aside, who the hell
would
want a demon on our side of the veil, you moron? Find somebody else to do your dirty work. I find kids; I don’t go after demons. I don’t have what it takes to be some fucking superwoman.”

Liam gave the cabbie a nod and the driver turned over the key.

Nothing, the engine didn’t even sputter once. Fuck me sideways, it looked like Monday had struck again. I looked over Pamela’s head at Liam. “Too many of us.”

He gave a quick nod, and then opened the door. “Alex and I will meet you there.”

In other words, he would shift, and the two boys would run all the way to the point out in the bush where the cabbie would drop us off.

Pamela slid closer to me. “Will we have to wait for them?”

I snorted. “Not likely, they’ll probably beat us there, going as the crow flies.”

Liam and Alex disappeared around the side of the house. Agent Valley followed them, close on their heels. Shit. Liam would have to just deal with his boss without me.

“Ma’am, are you ready to go now?”

“Yes.”

I slammed the door shut and leaned back in my seat. The cabbie had no problem with the engine this time, and he maneuvered around Agent Valley’s black sedan.

Not a word was said, not one word. But my gut was rolling. Without a doubt, this news about Orion was bad … very, very bad. But I was being honest with Agent Valley. Demons were not my forte. Just look at what had happened when I’d tangled with the last one—a minor demon, on the scale of things. I’d almost died, and in the process, had nearly caused an apocalyptic winter. I was nobody’s hero.

Liam strode toward the back of the house, Alex tight on his heels.

“Running, Boss?” Alex panted eagerly, his ears flicking up and down several times.

“Yes.” Liam didn’t want to get in any sort of a discussion with the more submissive werewolf. While Liam liked him well enough,
his
wolf wanted very badly to remind Alex that he was still a submissive. Not that Alex stepped out of line very often, but there were little things.

Like Alex eating before him and Rylee were done. Or knocking into their legs, or pissing on the shrubbery around Jack’s mansion as if it was
his
territory. And the wolf in him was already on edge from dealing with Will and his pussy cat attitude. Will’s desire for Rylee was obvious, both in his actions and his scent, and it sent Liam’s wolf into a rage he could barely contain. All of that together set the wolf in him off something fierce and made him want to pin the goofy werewolf to the ground and force him to submit. The logical side of his brain knew that was ridiculous; Alex was zero threat to his leadership or his relationship with Rylee. But the other side … .

“Liam. We aren’t done yet.” Agent Valley called to him, bringing Liam’s feet to a standstill. Even with the wolf in him, there were too many years of obeying his superiors to just turn it off completely. Besides, he owed Agent Valley a moment of his time, if nothing else.

Even his wolf understood that.

“Agent Valley, there isn’t anything I can do to help change her mind, so don’t bother asking.” Liam placed his hands on his hips, his back still to his former boss.

Agent Valley caught up to him, out of breath, his face flushed pink even with the cool mist that floated down on them. Liam took a breath in, scenting the air around them. Agent Valley didn’t smell like he’d been hanging out with humans. There was something else clinging to him, a faint hint of rot, though … .

“O’Shea, I don’t think anyone could change her mind once she’s set on a course; Adamson is stubborn as a rock. That’s what my mother would say.” Agent Valley walked along beside him.

“Then what is it you want?”

Alex angled his head so he could stare up at Agent Valley with one big golden eye. “Yeah. What you want with Boss?”

Valley startled, a shiver visibly running through him. “He never ceases to give me the heebie jeebies.” Then, seeming to catch what he’d implied, he lifted his hands. “I’m sorry, no offense meant. I’m still getting used to the idea of the supernatural even existing. Never mind going for a walk with one of them.”

Liam grunted, but didn’t excuse his former boss. He was one of those supernaturals now. And though it felt as natural to him as breathing, and he wondered how he had existed without knowing the supernatural before, he did understand what Valley was saying. It took some getting used to. Hell, he’d been far more freaked out the first time he’d met Alex.

“How are you handling the transition?” Agent Valley tucked his hands into his coat pockets.

Liam would never tell Valley the truth. Since he’d been freed from Milly and then freed from the control of his own wolf, there was a good deal of peace in him. For the first time in his life he knew where each step took him.

Rylee. Always Rylee.

And being a werewolf meant that no matter where she went, or what she was up against, he would be there to protect her.

“The transition has been fine. Easy.”

“I thought when you’d run off, back home, that you’d lost it altogether. There are numerous cases where that has happened.”

Alex gave a low growl. “Fatty stupid head. Boss is strong.”

Agent Valley glared down at Alex, who glared right back up at the agent. Liam had to bite his tongue to keep from smiling. Instead, he cleared his throat.

“Agent Valley, I have to go.” He didn’t want to say he had to shift forms in order to catch up to Rylee and Pamela. “So if you have something of importance to share with me, I suggest you do it now.”

His former boss drew his eyes away from Alex and refocused on Liam.

“If you don’t want to work for us directly, that’s fine. But as a former FBI agent, I’d ask you to keep us informed of the goings-on that you observe.”

Liam’s eyebrows shot upward. “Goings-on?” He damn well knew where this was headed and he didn’t like it. They were in the backyard now, and Jack watched them from an upper window. He probably thought that they couldn’t see him, but the flutter of the curtains as the old Tracker stepped up to the window caught Liam’s eye.

Agent Valley flapped his coat with his hands still in his pockets. “We need to be kept up to speed on what is happening in the supernatural world. I have only one other contact, and between you and me, that makes me nervous. I can’t be certain the information is correct when it is only from one source. You are our best bet for additional information, as Rylee seems to be at the center of so much; hell, she’s nearly always in the thick of things. Will you help us?”

Liam crossed his arms over his chest. Rylee would be beyond livid if she found out he was secretly feeding information to the FBI and Agent Valley. Loyalty, though, was something Liam understood all too well. As loyal as he was to Rylee, he had a loyalty to those he’d once worked for too. And a part of him recognized that Valley was right. The Arcane Arts division of the FBI needed help and information badly.

He took a deep breath, the decisions weighing in his mind. He stuck his hand out, and Agent Valley shook it.

“Good man. I’ll expect you will have something for us on a regular basis, say once a week?”

Laughing, Liam shook his head. “You’ll get what you get and nothing more. Everything I can send you will be via snail mail. Electronics aren’t all that favorable around me anymore.”

Agent Valley frowned. “That will take too long; we’ll be behind the eight ball right off the start line.”

“That’s all I can offer.” He waited, knowing Valley would take him up on it. Liam also knew that, in a pinch, the AA division could be useful for Rylee; might even have information that she could use in her salvages. That was how he justified it; how he soothed the niggling thoughts that he was making the wrong decision.

“Fine. We’ll try it.”

Maybe it was some perverse pleasure he took in making his old boss uncomfortable, but he didn’t look away from him as he shifted. The wolf in him clamored up, eager to break free of the bonds of the human flesh that held him.

Agent Valley’s eyes widened and his face drained of color. “Mother of God have mercy,” he whispered as he stumbled backward.

Alex looked from Liam to Agent Valley and snorted. “Pussy.”