8. Lycan
Lycan
“Sorry to interrupt,” Locust said as he walked me down the hall to the room security had set up as their headquarters.
From there, they had eyes and ears on everything.
Our bedrooms were off-limits, for obvious reasons, but everywhere else had a camera on it at all times.
“We got new information from Mill about Marx’s sister. ”
Sister?
I didn’t know Marx had a sister. Hell, I didn’t know Marx had a family at all, except for the fucking demon spawn he’d crawled out of hell with. We’d killed most of them, and the rest had scattered to the winds.
Locust walked me into the room where Bow sat in front of a bank of monitors, clicking his keyboard as the screens flashed from one photo to the next.
“Well, look who it is,” came a familiar voice on the computer. “If it isn’t my favorite big brother.”
I laughed. “Hey ya, Chan.”
“Hey ya, Chan? That’s all I get? I’m your most important baby sister, after all.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head, her curly blond hair shaking from the bun on top of her head. “Did my best friend get there alright?”
“Yep,” I said. “Settling in great.”
Gods, to see him again, to be so close to him again, it sent stupid flutters through my stomach.
When he first walked through the door, it took every ounce of resistance I had not to pull him in for a hug and a kiss.
I wanted to curl myself around him, run my hands through his dark, messy hair, and push all his buttons until he broke.
And when he pointed out the wedding bands, the lurch in my chest reminded me of why I couldn’t do those things.
After years of giving him everything he wanted, of being everything he needed, I had told him no. It had broken both of us. Now, here I was, married to an almost stranger. He’d said it was none of his business. He couldn’t be more wrong.
“Wonderful,” Channing said, pushing her glasses higher on her nose.
“So here’s the deal. We’ve been digging into Marx’s history, just a little R&D while we wait for the vampires to regroup.
” She pushed a few things around on the screenshare, revealing a photo of a striking blond woman wearing black heels, a floor-length black peacoat, and dark sunglasses.
It was a candid shot captured at an airport from security footage, so the quality wasn’t great. “This is Evelyn Vane, Marx’s sister.”
I crossed my arms and zeroed in on her face, memorizing every detail.
“Jury’s still out on whether it’s a blood relation or if the same vampire sired them,” Channing said.
“In either case, she’s been lying low for the last few decades.
She runs a few businesses in LA, all legit, and our latest intel suggests she’s the head of a nest in Seattle.
We reached out to Jameson for confirmation.
His crew used to run around those parts, but he’s never heard of her before. ”
Something about her seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I blamed it on lack of sleep…and blood…and magic. Fuck, I was still winded from the transition. I needed to lie down. I needed to sleep for the next ten years.
“A few days ago, we got confirmation that she was in Paris,” Channing said. “This photo is from her walking through Roissy airport three weeks ago.”
“Before Marx died,” Bow added.
“Does she come to France a lot?” Locust asked.
Channing chomped on a potato chip. “Before this, she was a ghost.”
“Why’s she in France now?” I asked. “She’s been Stateside all this time? Now she’s gone international?”
“You know why,” said a gruff voice as Mill stepped into frame. He was the head of tech and intel for a reason. I’d seen him do things with computers I didn’t know were possible. “My mate killed her brother.”
“She came here before Maeve killed Marx,” I said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Evelyn’s been there a few weeks and hasn’t done anything,” Channing said. “It’s possible she’s not there for Ava. She could be there for business.”
“I doubt it.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, racking my brain for where I’d seen this woman before. In the weeks we’d been here, we’d been to countless fucking dinners. We’d rubbed elbows with the richest snobs in Europe. Had she been one of them?
My wolf yipped and snarled, panting in the back of my mind. He didn’t like this, not one fucking bit.
“She could have been helping him,” Mill said. “And now that he’s gone, she’s taking over.”
“I don’t see her patching a cut and straddling a hog,” Bow added.
“So why not go after…” Locust paused. “Oh.”
“Right,” Mill said. “There are Vanderbilts outside the pack wards right now. Galahad is at college, but we’ve sent a few Bastards to infiltrate the staff and keep him safe. Liam is protected here in Montana, which leaves Avalon.”
“We can cut the trip short,” I said. “I’ll convince her. We’ll come home.”
“Kodiak doesn’t think you should call it quits yet,” Mill cut in. “Neither do I.”
“Why?” I stared at my packmate through the screen.
We were blood brothers, sworn to the same alpha, but we were also officers in the RBMC.
I was the road captain, the fourth-in-command.
The only three above me were Kodiak, Orion, and Moose, the prez, veep, and sergeant-at-arms, respectively.
Ultimately, I outranked everyone else on this call.
I could pull the plug if I wanted and drag her ass back to Montana, but I waited to hear him out.
“She’s the only one out there,” Mill said.
“None of the other Scorpions followed her, or at least we can’t find any evidence they did.
Current intel says the Scorpions in France and Denmark are human, and the vampires over there don’t seem to want any part of whatever blood feud she plans to bring with her. ”
“If she’s up to something, she doesn’t have any allies,” Channing said. “At least, none that we can find. Doesn’t mean they aren’t covering their tracks.”
“You’ve got a small pack of Montana Bastards with you,” Mill continued, “and the weight of the RBMC Copenhagen chapter, if it comes to that.”
I rubbed my tongue over my canine and considered this proposal.
My instincts said Evelyn was up to no good.
Maeve had killed her brother. Now, she’d take a sibling from Maeve.
But, on the other hand, it could be nothing.
We still had a lot of work to do here, and after Ava’s transition, we were four days behind.
Besides, the Copenhagen chapter was a large shifter pack, and they’d already extended their hospitality.
The Bastards brotherhood pact ran internationally. They’d back us up if we needed it.
“Alright,” I said, giving Mill a nod. “Keep us posted if you hear anything else.”
“We’ll set up eyes and ears,” Locust said, patting me on the shoulder. “We’ve got it, my man. Go get some rest.”
“Yeah, you look dead on your feet,” Channing said. “Worse than that one time you actually almost died.”
“And you wonder why you’re not my most important baby sister.
” Technically, she was my only baby sister, but between Ren and me, Channing had inherited my sense of humor and stunning arrogance.
Ren was more like our mother: even-keeled, level-headed, and smarter than anyone in any room she walked into.
“Love you, big brother,” Channing called.
“Love you, baby sister,” I said before walking back down the hallway toward Ava’s room.
I hardened myself before walking back in, determined not to let my past get in the way of protecting Ava.
I trusted Poe with my life, and he was the only other Bastard I’d trust with Ava’s, but the broken thing between us could turn into a distraction.
If I were forced to choose between his life and hers, could I make that call? Could he?
Shaking the thought away, I found Ava in the living room, sitting on the couch with her laptop open on her thighs. Poe’s scent disappeared into the spare bedroom, his typical pine and leather now mixed with something darker…more territorial. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was—
“Everything go okay?” Ava furrowed her brows. “You look worried.”
No sense in keeping it from her. If this Evelyn bitch were after her, it would only benefit Ava to know. Poe, too.
“Hold that thought.” I walked to Poe’s room and knocked.
“Yeah?” He opened the door a crack, seemingly surprised to see me.
“I’ve got some updates,” I said, nodding toward the living room. “You should hear this.”
He cleared his throat and followed me into the room, sitting down on the ottoman next to Ava. They both looked up at me with big, wide eyes, expectant expressions on their faces.
Like this, they made quite the pair—their dark coloring, their intelligent gazes, their brilliant minds and wicked tongues. Oh, to be able to enact all the deviant, despicable things I had rolling around in my head.
Focus.
“Marx had a sister,” I said, explaining everything Channing had told me—her appearance in Europe and the timing around Marx’s death. When I pulled out my phone to show them the picture, Ava gasped and straightened.
“That’s the woman from the gala,” she said. “The one who said I looked like my mother.”
“Fuck.” I ran my hands back through my hair. Bow had been trying to find her, but there weren’t any standouts on the guest list.
“Wait, what?” Poe said. “What’d she say to you?”
Ava frowned. “She said she knew my mother. From before.”
“From before what?” Poe’s jaw tightened.
“I don’t know. Her death, maybe? My mother’s been gone twenty years, and I look nothing like her.” Ava pursed her lips in consideration. “Is she trailing us?”
“Maybe,” I said. “It could be coincidence. Evelyn owns some businesses. She could be here for the same reason we are.”
“Doubtful,” Poe said. “My money’s on revenge. She’s already made contact. She’s waiting for the right moment to pounce.”
That itched my brain for reasons I couldn’t pinpoint. If she wanted revenge, why not take it as soon as she got here, before we knew who she was? Why wait all this time? What was the right moment? No, this seemed much deeper than that.