Chapter Nine #2
Apart from Coen, he just grins. He knows me well enough that he doesn’t question my words at all. In fact, he would help, and I wouldn’t have to give him a reason.
I blow him a kiss, simply because I appreciate the shit out of him. Wow, I have such a lovely way with words.
“Neith?” Rana asks.
“I’m so fucking sorry. Did you want me to kill someone for you?”
She laughs, “Not right now, but I will remember that offer, so I hope you were serious.”
“I am,” I reply with no hesitation.
“I would do the same for you,” she replies.
“See, I knew we were friends,” I joke. “Seriously, though, what did you need?”
“If he’s not there, if he escapes, can you promise to call me immediately?
” She asks. “He’s extremely powerful, knows a lot of people, and he is a fairly strong supernatural as well, although it’s the connections that he has that worry me the most. I need to have as big a head start as I possibly can. ”
“Of course,” I reply.
“And don’t look for me. If you look for me, then someone will piggyback onto the search, and he will find me,” she adds. “He has the best of the best working for him.”
“All the big bads think that they have the best working for them,” I reply, and then quickly add. “But I promise that I won’t look for you.”
“Thank you. Trip really is the best at all things missing. He won’t want to find me, but he won’t have a choice,” Rana explains with a heavy sadness in her voice. It’s obvious that Trip meant something to her.
My intuition pings at the way that she has worded her explanation.
“Ask,” the Voices prompt.
“What do you mean by that?”
Rana sighs, “The Owner does a lot of work with the supernatural that came to Derek’s compound and asked about you.”
“Why didn’t you mention it before?” I ask.
“I don’t know. So much was happening. I know that’s not an excuse,” she replies, sounding unsure herself.
“No, it’s understandable,” I reply, because it’s more important that we find out what Casimir was doing with The Owner than it is to find out why Rana hasn’t mentioned it before.
Especially since she has been through a lot, and some things may have genuinely slipped her mind.
She has been in survival mode for a very long time, and that piece of information was not important to her survival.
To be honest, we’re lucky that she remembered it at all.
I continue the line of questioning, “What did this supernatural do with The Owner?”
“He brought wolves mostly, although occasionally he brought a different kind of supernatural off of him. The Owner mostly has wolves, so I think he preferred them because there were more to choose from. The Owner brought this stuff off of him,” Rana explains.
At the mention of the stuff, and knowing that the person she is talking about is absolutely Casimir, I allow my mind to reach for Dimitri’s, finding it far easier than I should.
“Love,” Dimitri starts, surprise heavy in his tone.
“Just listen, I need your opinion. Can you hear what I can?” I ask. Sometimes he can and sometimes he can’t.
“One second,” he says, his interest piqued. “Yes, I can hear.”
“Do you know what the stuff did?” I ask Rana.
“It made the others obey him completely, even doing things that they wouldn’t normally do.
It needed to be topped up regularly though.
Trip explained the feeling to me in the rare moments where the serum didn’t lock his ability to talk freely down.
He was aware of everything, but he had absolutely no control over what he was saying and doing,” she explains.
“Sounds like the same stuff that Casimir used on me, but a weaker version so he would get repeat customers more regularly,” Dimitri says through my mind.
“Thought so,” I reply to Dimitri and then refocus on Rana, “Thank you, Rana. I will let you know as soon as I know anything.”
“Thank you. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know,” she says, and then promptly hangs up.
If she actually stays put at the compound, it will surprise me.
“You’re working a case with Casimir?” Dimitri asks me. “I mean an extra one.”
“Yes, although we didn’t realize that at first, it seems that there are a lot of interwoven threads that we are only just beginning to discover,” I reply honestly.
“Be careful, Love. If you need me, just say the word, and I’ll be there,” he offers sincerely.
I decide not to point out the fact that he’s in a maximum-security prison and that if he escapes from it, not only will all hell break loose, but it wouldn’t do any good anyway because he has no idea where we are, and even if Kar tells him, he won’t be able to get to us in time.
“Thanks, Dimi,” I say softly, unable to stop the nickname from slipping through.
“Love . . .” he starts softly, and I shut the connection down.
I like having him in my head far too much, and it was far too easy for me to reach out to him.
Something inside me settles whenever I hear his voice, and then the reality of his situation kicks in, and I get angry as fuck.
A boom of thunder pulls me from my thoughts.
“I assume that you asked Dimitri’s opinion?” Coen says as his eyes move back from the window to watch me closely.
I nod and take a deep breath, closing my eyes briefly and calling my stray magic back to me.
The weather shifts back to cold and blustery, not thundery and stormy.
I look at the guys sheepishly, “At least I can control it now. It’s going to be an issue if every time I speak to Dimi, I make the weather go hinky.” Not wanting to discuss it anymore, I change the subject, “So I’m assuming from Coen’s question that you heard everything that Rana said?”
River nods, “Yeah. I don’t like the fact that Casimir is involved in this as well.”
“Me neither, although it doesn’t surprise me,” Reed agrees. “He seems to have a finger in fucking everything.”
“The wolf sales are the best place to buy supernaturals who aren’t going to be reported missing,” Griff replies with a sneer of disgust.
“So why has he risked being caught by going after other supernaturals who are not in the sales?” Raiden asks.