Chosen by Blood (26 page)

“Listen, Boy Toy, you might want to watch where you put those hands before you lose them. Then how will you satisfy the ladies?”

“The same way I always do. With both hands tied behind my back.”

“Oh God,” Wraith groaned from behind them. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

O’Flare’s flinty expression could have been set in stone. He glared at Hunt, who glared right back. Then Hunt’s eye twitched.

Twice.

The werebeast began to chuckle.

Felicia let out a sigh of relief.

O’Flare stepped back with a small smile.

Hunt knocked the smile off O’Flare’s face with one powerful punch.

Caught off guard, O’Flare staggered back and crashed into Felicia, and they both fell to the ground. Felicia pushed O’Flare away so she’d see Hunt’s next move. Instead, she saw Wraith. “Now, that was just uncalled for,” Wraith said. A second later, she raised a huge marble bust of a basset hound and slammed it down on Hunt’s head. Felicia winced at the sound, which reminded her of a watermelon hitting the ground.

The werebeast dropped just as Knox barreled in through the front door. “What the . . .” His expression turned deadly when he saw Felicia. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

With a growl, Knox picked Hunt up by his leather jacket. Rushing over, Felicia placed a hand on his arm, stilling him. “Not so fast, Lancelot.” She shook her head. “And don’t even try flashing me those red eyes, either. He didn’t touch me. He punched O’Flare, who was standing between us, and I got knocked down. Accidentally. Wraith made sure he won’t be a happy boy when he wakes up. Let’s leave it at that.”

“He’s off the team,” Knox said. “He’s too dangerous.”

A low groan filtered up toward them. “Me? I’m a whipped dog, remember?”

Felicia briefly closed her eyes, not sure how the werebeast could even think of mouthing off when he was still hanging like a dishrag in Knox’s grasp.

“Let him go, Knox.”

Knox shot her a “get real” look.

“Please,” she said. “For me?”

“Fine,” he said, letting go. Hunt dropped back to the floor. Neither of them looked down when he moaned again. “Thank—” Felicia jumped when music blasted out of Concannon’s speakers.

Knox covered his ears. “Wraith,” he shouted when it became apparent she wasn’t going to lower the sound. “Turn it off.”

Wraith ignored him. She laughed—again—and began to swivel her hips to the tune of “Celebration.” Entranced, they all watched her dance.

Wraith danced as if she’d been born to do nothing else.

Uninhibited. Unrestrained. Unabashed.

She raised her arms above her head. She pushed her butt out and bumped the air. She pulled her shoulders back and shimmied them.

She even mouthed along to the words.

When the song ended, she flipped off the stereo, still grinning and breathing hard.

Within seconds, awareness filled her eyes. Even so, her grin didn’t disappear.

She held up a slim CD case. “I found something.”

 

 

What Wraith “found” was a blank CD with a label that had been worn just enough on its edges that it had caught her eye. She’d peeled back the label and found that underneath, someone—most likely, Concannon—had written numbers. Wraith, who had earlier claimed to be pretty good with puzzles, took one look at them and announced, “They’re coordinates.” She refused to say anything else until they’d gotten back to Quantico.

Now, everyone but Hunt, who was passed out in his bedroom, gathered around Wraith as she sat at one of the dining room tables while she worked on decoding whatever it was she saw.

Knox paced impatiently. All he’d seen were several rows of numbers. How anyone could see coordinates in the mess was beyond him.

Standing behind Wraith, O’Flare leaned over her shoulder to get a better look at the disc. “Those don’t look like any coordinates I’ve ever seen.”

“Maybe that’s because you were spending too much time cooped up in your bedroom. If you came up for air more often, you’d have learned a thing or two,” Wraith muttered, still jotting down numbers as she stared at the CD in her hand.

Knox stopped pacing and looked straight at Felicia. She held up three fingers, then silently mouthed: one, two—

“When you get inside my bedroom, I’ll be the one teaching you a thing or two.”

Knox shook his head as Felicia laughed silently. Their silent connection helped loosen the knot that had twisted his insides together all day. The others? He wasn’t so sure. But he and Felicia, they were truly a team. More so than he’d ever felt with Noella.

A quick glance confirmed that O’Flare had managed to render Wraith speechless. She’d turned at O’Flare’s outrageous comment and now the two of them were staring at one another. “I—I—” she stuttered.

“It’s okay,” O’Flare said gently. “Plenty of time for that later.”

Wraith recovered fast. “In your dreams,” she snapped.

“Oh, yeah. There, too,” O’Flare agreed.

“You—you—egotistical, stupid—”

“Wraith,” Knox interrupted, correctly reading O’Flare’s expression even if Wraith was too pissed off—and scared—to do so. “I wouldn’t go there if I were you.”

“Oh, please, like I can’t handle—”

“Wraith. Listen to him,” O’Flare said, his tone so silky smooth and filled with such dark sexual intent that Felicia breathed out a whoosh of air and fanned herself. Knox shot her a punishing glare but she simply shrugged.

For a fraction of a second, Wraith hesitated, then turned her attention back to the CD. “Whatever. Back off and give me some air, will you? I’m working here.”

O’Flare straightened and did as Wraith commanded.

Knox had no doubts that O’Flare could see what he did—Wraith’s hands were shaking.

Twenty minutes later, Wraith held out the piece of paper to Knox. “Here.”

Knox took the paper and looked at it. He felt a smile split his face.

“What is it?” Felicia demanded.

“If I’m remembering my geography, Wraith’s right. These are coordinates. To an area near the center of North Korea, about halfway to the Chinese border.”

“What’s there?” Wraith asked.

“As far as I know, hills and mountains, separated by deep narrow valleys. Most of the population lives in the low plains, not the forests.”

“Forests,” Felicia echoed.

“Probably close enough to a major city so that getting supplies wouldn’t be so difficult. Far enough away that if you had something to hide, most people wouldn’t know where to look.”

“Something—or someone—to hide. Or maybe several someones. Otherborn,” Felicia said.

“And maybe the vamp antidote?” asked O’Flare.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Knox said. Hoping, hell. Knox was praying this was their big break. “We need to find a map. Then we’ll decide whether to call Mahone—”

“You better call for a plane, too. Those aren’t as easy to wrangle up as one might think.”

Knox turned to face Hunt, who was standing in the doorway.

“You can get the hell out of here, Hunt. You’re off the team.”

Hunt crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think so.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think or say or do. I lead this team and I say you’re gone.”

“Look,” Hunt growled. “I admit I got a little carried away, but Red—”

Knox stared at the were. “What?” Knox challenged. “What could Felicia have said that pissed you off that much?”

“I implied he didn’t care about his family,” Felicia said quietly.

“And that upset you?” Knox asked Hunt.

“Look, it wasn’t a big deal,” Hunt growled.

“By the size of the bruise on O’Flare’s face, he’d probably disagree.”

Hunt turned to O’Flare. “I apologize.”

O’Flare couldn’t have looked more shocked if the werebeast had kissed him full on the mouth. “Uh. Okay. Forget about it,” he said, clearly baffled.

Hunt ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I was feeling restless. Weres get bored really fast. Sometimes it makes me easily . . . riled. But from what I heard before I came in, we’re ready to rock and roll. You’re going to need me. And you know I can get the job done.”

“Need you for what?” Mahone stepped into the room. “Knox, what’s Hunt talking about?” He looked around the room. “And where’s the mage?”

 

 

Felicia had heard Knox loud and clear before Hunt had interrupted him.

We’ll decide whether to talk to Mahone
, he’d said. Which meant he was still having doubts about both Kyle’s veracity and his loyalty. She had to admit she was having doubts herself.

The notion that Wraith could so easily find a clue in Concannon’s condo when the FBI hadn’t been able to was a hard pill to swallow. So was the discovery of a disc with an obscure code just hours before Kyle showed up unannounced. Felicia turned to the man who’d been her boss and mentor for years.

“What are you doing here, Kyle?”

He frowned. “I got a phone message from Lucy. She said she needed me to get down here, fast. Something about a mole.”

“Are you shitting me?” Knox snapped. His gaze met Felicia’s. “Have you seen her?”

“Not since we came back. She headed straight to her room. I remember thinking she wasn’t looking so good, but—”

Knox was already headed out of the room and down the hall, then up the flight of stairs that would take him to Lucy’s room. Felicia had to run to keep up with him, and Mahone and the rest of the team weren’t too far behind.

“Why would she call Mahone instead of coming to me with her concerns?” Knox growled.

Felicia shook her head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense. Not unless she . . .”

They got to her door. Knox nodded. “Yeah. Unless she was going to identify me as the mole.”

“That’s impossible,” Felicia said. “Lucy wouldn’t do that. She has no reason to. Unless . . .” Felicia hesitated and bit her lip. She’d read Lucy’s file. She knew the mage’s secrets, even if no one else did. Could that rumor actually be true? But what did that have to do with Lucy’s call to Mahone about a mole?

“What is it?” Knox asked impatiently.

Felicia shook her head. “Nothing. Not yet.” She jerked her chin at the door. “Do it.”

Knox banged on the door. “Lucy. Get your ass out here. Now.”

Mahone and the others joined them. Felicia could tell Mahone was as much confused as worried.

When Lucy didn’t answer, Knox banged again. He raised his fist for the third time.

A faint sound drifted through the door from inside. “Wait,” Felicia said, grabbing Knox’s arm. “I hear something.” She strained her ears, trying to identify the sound.

The sound came again, this time slightly louder. Loud enough for Felicia to tell it was a moan of pain. Obviously hearing the same thing, Knox said, “Oh shit!” and tried the knob. It was locked.

He disappeared. Two seconds later, he opened the door from the inside.

His face was pale and awash with panic. Gripping Felicia’s arm, he dragged her inside. “Something’s wrong with her.”

Felicia took one look at Lucy, who was writhing on the bed, and knew she’d been right. Lucy’s rounded face was flushed, her wide eyes—devoid of lashes or brows—were glazed and fevered, blinking rapidly as sweat dripped down her temple. Another low moan escaped the mage just as her eyes locked with Felicia’s. “I can’t—it’s never been this bad . . .”

Shoving Knox toward the door, Felicia ordered, “Get everyone out of here.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Knox, I need you to leave and keep everyone out, okay? She’s fine.”

“Fine?” Knox stared over her shoulder at Lucy, his eyes filled with disbelief. “Felicia, we need to let O’Flare look at her.”

“No!” Felicia shouted, pointing her finger to order O’Flare out of the room. “I can handle this. Now leave. Everybody leave. You, too, Mahone.”

Mahone didn’t put up any resistance. He merely nodded and waved everyone on. “Come with me, Knox. Please.”

For a second longer, Knox resisted. Then he gently gripped Felicia’s chin. “You’ll tell me later what the hell is going on, understood?”

Felicia nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll tell you what I can.”

A
lmost an hour later, Felicia found Knox. He and Mahone were sitting in the rec room, each nursing a strong drink and stubbornly trying to prove that he could maintain his silence longer than the other. When he saw Felicia, Knox jumped to his feet. “Well?”

Felicia nodded. “She’s okay, but she’s not feeling well. She fell asleep.”

“Asleep? When she was in that much pain? I’m not sure that’s wise. I still say we should have O’Flare look at her.”

Knox frowned when he saw Felicia and Mahone exchange a glance. He wasn’t a fool. Even without reading their minds, he knew they shared a secret.

No, he thought, suddenly feeling sick. Not Felicia.

To his utter shock, she reached out and punched him on the arm. “Don’t look at me like that, Devereaux. It’s not what you think.”

Angry now, he lightly shoved her shoulder, just enough to warn her he wasn’t feeling charitable. “And what is it that I think?”

“What you thought before. That Mahone and I are in cahoots.”

“What?” Mahone asked. “He thinks we’re playing him?”

“I never said that,” Knox denied. “But obviously something’s going on. Why don’t you just tell me?”

“Because it’s not my secret to tell.”

“So you admit you’re keeping a secret from me?”

“Knox, it’s not like that. This is confidential information about—”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Mahone interrupted. “Lucy’s a half-Other.”

Felicia’s teeth clicked together as she shut her mouth.

Knox shook his head in confusion. “Mages aren’t considered half-Others—”

“She’s a half-Other,” Felicia explained, “because she’s part feline. Half-mage, half-werecat.”