Chapter 27 Avery
AVERY
Elijah’s body went rigid against mine. “What?” he rasped. “Of course she was latent.”
I rubbed a soothing hand over his thigh. “Maybe. Or she might’ve been hiding a powerful animal. It would make sense.”
He shook his head. “I…. Would she have lied to my uncle?”
My dad’s smile was full of empathy. “We don’t know anything for sure, but if she was some kind of powerful Prime, she likely hid it from everyone who wasn’t your fathers.
Gwen did, and as did her grandmother before her.
And, of course, you understand how hard Avery works to keep her own beast a secret. ”
Elijah nodded. He’d seen me take enough hits without shifting to know how much someone like me didn’t trust the shifter population at large.
“Do you have any other family members on your mother’s side you could contact?” Ian asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. My mother was an only child, and my grandparents on that side are long dead.”
I rubbed his thigh again. The thought of little orphan Elijah made my heart pinch, but he had his aunt and uncle, and Ward, and his quad brothers. Also a gaggle of teenage sisters. He wasn’t alone.
“Elijah,” Ward said, “why don’t you bring Avery’s family up to speed on what your investigation has revealed in the months since you discovered that dagger. Then we can all be on the same page and move forward together.”
I sat up straighter. I hadn’t known until today that Elijah had recovered his mother’s murder weapon. It was just like him to immediately throw himself into finding answers, and it explained his lengthy absences from school last semester.
I listened, riveted, as he walked us through everything he’d learned, absently playing with the ends of my hair as he spoke.
He told us how he’d come across the dagger while out in a bar with Wyatt last fall, how he’d traced it to a scummy shifter motorcycle club in South Fulton, how he’d discovered the old President and VP had been doing jobs for some unknown rich Primes and that their contact went by the name of “Archprime.”
How he suspected that the President and VP had been the ones to kill his mom.
And how the President’s widow had given him a name from a bank statement.
Lunar Heritage.
“Horatio’s looked into this company,” Elijah said, “and so far hasn’t been able to find anything.”
“It is probably not a normal law-abiding, tax-paying business that would be on the government’s books,” Joseph mused. “And it’s entirely possible it no longer exists or has changed its name. That was twenty years ago.”
I rolled all the horrifying, tragic things I’d learned while sitting at this table around in my head.
My beast paced her cage, her thirst for violence spurred by Elijah’s beast doing the same.
My family had always believed my mother’s death was no accident, but for damn near two decades, there’d been nothing but dead ends when we’d tried to figure out more.
My dads had to tread so lightly, always terrified that their poking around could result in someone asking questions about my mother’s beast. They’d never even been able to get the identities of the hunters out of the human authorities.
Elijah’s discovery of the dagger and the subsequent intertwining of our lives—both by happenstance and divine will—had changed everything.
A focused calm descended. This was another battle to fight, another enemy to slay.
“Okay,” I said. “Here’s what we think we know: Both our mothers were killed by the same untraceable poison—”
“It was their injuries that killed them,” my dad said gently. “The poison prevented them from being able to heal or be healed.”
“Right,” I said. “And it was made with belladonna extract that both masked and amplified the effects of silver as it entered their bloodstreams via the bullets or the dagger. This substance could only have been made by a shifter with an apothecary affinity so powerful that they were able to successfully create something that is still, to this day, considered theoretical. How am I doing?”
“Wonderfully,” Joseph replied. “That’s another head-scratching aspect of this. Whoever created this poison has not gone public with their skill. They would be printing money. The absolute top of the profession.”
“Obviously they prefer to use their powers for evil, J,” Ian said.
“And it seems odd,” Elijah mused, “that they’d broadcast the key to their special poison by using a dagger with the secret ingredient carved into the hilt.”
“I suspect they thought it was poetic,” Joseph said wryly. “A deadly flower with rich human lore behind it.”
“And they think they’re smarter than we are,” Ian said derisively. “Joke’s on them.”
“And we also know,” I went on, “that, at least back then, the people behind this were rich Primes with evil genius apothecary talents on their payroll and a penchant for paying motorcycle clubs to do their dirty work.”
“And they were going by the dumb moniker ‘Lunar Heritage,’” Ian added with a roll of his eyes. “And were possibly being led by someone using the even dumber moniker ‘Archprime.’”
My tiger bristled. Some asshole had anointed himself king of the jungle.
“And lastly,” I went on, “both of our mothers were killed in the wake of wraith attacks. My mom after she shifted to fight a Giant, Elijah’s mom after she survived the attack on their home by Giants and an Apex wraith during a lunar eclipse.”
“Do you think someone was there the night my parents died?” Elijah asked. “Maybe my mother saw something she wasn’t supposed to see?”
“We’re going to find out,” I told him.
Ward slapped his meaty hand on the table. “Damn right we are. I have a few ideas.” He stood up and pointed at my dad. “How about a scotch, J? It’s happy hour in my office, and these young people tire me.”
Joseph jumped to his feet and winked at me. I tamped down my scowl. My dad had gotten chummy very fast with one of my Fated’s fathers. I’d call him a turncoat, but I also happened to like Ward Gale. He’d never been anything but awesome to me.
“Sure,” he said to Ward. “We can finish our chat about the various remedies I can whip up for your back pain.”
“My man,” Ward replied, grinning.
And then the old bear and the kind fox disappeared inside the building without a backwards glance.
Ian smothered a smile when I glared at him. He rose and shrugged on his backpack. “Well, I’m off. Brody and I are having a picnic by the campfire.”
“Oh, is that what we’re calling it now?” I asked, snorting. “No one wants to see that, Ian.”
He gave me a droll look. “Not everything is about sex, Aves. Just because Gale flipped the hornball switch in your brain by busting your dry spell—”
“Stop talking,” I snapped.
He grinned triumphantly.
Elijah squeezed me affectionately and cleared his throat. “Thank you, Little Baxter. For everything.”
Ian saluted him. “I should be thanking you. Your penchant for stabbing people when they insult my sister is what brought us all here.”
With that, he strode away.
“Elijah,” I growled. “Who did you stab?”
He chuckled. “Just a little cleaning up after the Mahoney incident.” He threw one of his long legs over the side of the bench to straddle it, turning to face me where I sat next to him. His sly grin faded, and he sighed heavily. “Are you okay, love?”
I arranged myself on the bench to face him. Our knees touched, my face mere inches from his. He smelled like mint and citrus and the lingering musk of a man who’d spent the afternoon sweating in the sun. His yellow-gold eyes were sorrowful, devoid of his usual mischief and danger.
“I’m okay,” I assured him. “That was a lot to take in, and I’m not exactly sure how I feel about being left in the dark while Ian and J were running down their theory. I’m sure my other dads knew too. I guess Ian probably didn’t want to worry me until he had something.”
“Yes,” Elijah agreed. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it, Dove, but I actually had very little idea about what your brother was up to.
I assumed he’d tell us both when he was ready.
” He was quiet for a moment, deep in thought while he absently stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.
“I’m still just… astounded at what he and your dad were able to figure out.
It is beyond my wildest dreams to have made such a breakthrough in the hunt for my mother’s killer. ”
Pride buoyed me. “Ian can be focused and relentless when he wants to be.”
He nodded and tucked a finger under my chin, lifting so that I was looking him right in those mesmerizing eyes.
“But I wish this wasn’t happening to you and your family too.
I’m glad you’re getting answers, but hate that those answers involve some secret cabal that’s hunting female shifters, and I’m terrified we may find it still exists and is a danger to you. ”
I had a strong suspicion that these killers did still exist in some form, but that wasn’t news. I’d been living my life under that assumption since I’d gotten my beast as a preteen.
But this pain and worry on Elijah’s face? This was new. He’d been after his mother’s murderer for months and had taken it in stride like the focused, cold-blooded killer he was in his own right.
What was new was that it was all connected to my family.
To me.
And that threat, that nebulous danger that had me hiding for the past ten years of my life, that had sent me to the Guardians—it had become all too real.
And it scared him because I was his Fated.
I grasped his face. He was so hauntingly beautiful. “I won’t let them get me, Elijah. We’re going to find them, and we’re going to destroy them.”
His eyes hooded, and his sinful smile returned. “I look forward to ripping their hearts from their chests and bathing in their blood with you, my love.”
I couldn’t help my amused grin. “You had to go there.”
“Of course. I don’t lie to you.”
The chill of the basilisk licked my skin, and my tiger purred and flicked her tail in return.
Elijah wrapped his hands around my hips and pulled me into his lap, maneuvering my legs snuggly around him.
He was hot and hard and smelled really good.
My heart thudded against my ribs, and an ache bloomed between my thighs.
Elijah licked his lips, and his golden eyes began to glow. “You tempt me, Dove. I want to sit you on my cock, right here on this bench, and drive you mad with pleasure. I want to be inside you, to become a part of you, and to never fucking be away from you ever again.”
I sucked in a breath. His luminous eyes had me ensnared, and it wasn’t the basilisk. It was all Elijah.
The ache intensified.
“But I won’t,” he murmured. “Not now. You’re not ready for me yet. You can have my cock when you decide to let yourself love me back. When you decide I’ve earned it. Then I’ll fuck you, and love you, and never leave your side for the rest of our long shifter lives.”
“Elijah—”
“For now,” he went on, “we’re a team. You and me. The others, too, if you want them. We fight together, and we’re going to find out who did such irreparable harm to our families and wipe them from the face of the earth.”
It was heady, the power of having this terrifying monster on my side as well as underneath me and between my legs.
I slid my fingers through his silky hair and down the back of his neck.
He shivered ever so slightly underneath me, and I almost broke right there.
I almost begged him to do exactly as he’d said and bury his cock in me until I fell apart, and I didn’t have beastly post-fight urges to blame this time.
“Okay,” I whispered. “A team. You and me.”
“Perfect,” he purred. “My perfect mate.”
He closed the distance between us and kissed me. My entire body melted into a gooey puddle, and I moaned against his lips.
He took his time, exploring, nipping, stroking my tongue with his. His hands wandered up my back, and he skimmed his fingertips along my shirt and my exposed skin, sending chills through my entire body.
After a few minutes, he nipped my lip one last time and pressed his forehead to mine. “I need to take you to get some dinner, Dove, or Heath will have my head.”
I snorted. “He’s so bossy.”
“Indeed,” Elijah replied with a suggestive grin. “And you haven’t even been naked in his bed yet.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and batted that image away. It was not what I needed when I was straddling this gorgeous man while he was hard underneath me and my tiger was ready to roll over and show him her belly.
With a reluctant sigh, I climbed off him and put myself back together. I smoothed my clothes, tightened my ponytail, and strapped my blades to my back where they belonged.
We set off for dinner, and I shored up my resolve.
There was so much work to do, and we still had to survive the rest of camp and whatever the wraiths had in store for us when we finally went out on patrol.