Chapter 12 - Drake
The next morning, I came into the office to find Oz in the meeting room, piles of books stacked high over his head as he sat hunched over one, pages of notes strewn across the massive table.
Dark circles ran beneath his eyes, and a large cup of coffee sat within reach.
He yawned as I walked in, giving me an exhausted nod.
“Any sleep?” I asked.
“You know me. When disaster strikes, that’s when I get insomnia until I have something that can be of use.”
I nodded. This had been a thing with Oz since he was a kid. When the wraith showed up last year, he stayed up for four days straight doing research before we forced him to go home until he got at least eight hours of sleep.
“Don’t kill yourself over it at least,” I grunted.
Oz yawned and flapped his hand. “Sleep deprivation won’t kill me,” he muttered. “Side effects, maybe. But one night is fine.”
I shrugged, knowing better than to argue with Oz when it came to his sleep schedule. The only reason we had forced him to sleep last time was that he’d been too tired to come up with a coherent argument. That wouldn’t happen for another two days at least.
“What’d you find?” I asked Oz as I sat next to him.
“A lot, and none of it’s good,” he responded, his face grim. He spread out the pages clutched in his hand across the table so I could look at them. “Azaret’s a nasty piece of work. He’s shown up all over the place, and nothing good ever comes of him.”
I let out a puff of air as I leaned forward to scan the pages. “Let’s see the worst of it.”
He pointed to one page that looked like a print of a journal.
“This one comes from England in 1348.” At my blank expression, he added, “The Black Death. Azaret was there when it started. And this one shows him skulking around France in the late 1700s, during the revolution. And this journal here suggests he was probably part of the Taiping Rebellion in China.”
“So wherever he shows up, death and destruction follow,” I said.
“That’s the nuts and bolts of it.” Oz slumped back, yawning as he pushed his hair back from his forehead. “This demon’s bad news, even by demon standards.”
“It sounds like he’s perfectly capable of causing chaos on his own,” I muttered, eyes skimming over the papers. “So why does he need to team up with a wraith?”
Oz nodded, finger tapping on the table as he surveyed the pages. “That’s what I’ve been wondering,” he said.
Sam and Elias strolled into the room.
“Has he been up all night again?” Sam asked after one look at Oz. When I nodded, Sam shook his head. “You’re going to—”
“—kill yourself, yeah,” Oz said. “Drake’s already given me the spiel.”
Elias shrugged, all too aware that arguing with Oz about his sleeping habits was almost as effective as arguing with a brick wall. “Wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t gripe to you about it. What have you got for us?”
Oz filled them in, going over the same bits of information he had relayed to me. Elias rubbed his face, a low growl escaping his throat as he looked out the window. Sam scowled down at his fingers as they curled into fists.
“That’s about the worst it could possibly be,” Sam said.
“So what’s his endgame?” Elias asked.
“My guess? He’s drawn to natural sources of magic, such as the underground spring,” Oz explained. “Which is probably why he’s here.”
“He wants it. He more or less told us as much,” Elias said.
“So he thinks that teaming up with the wraith will help him here,” Sam said.
“That’s my assumption, yes,” Oz said.
Snorting, Sam said, “They, what, plan on sharing?”
I shook my head. “That can’t be all there is to it. There’s more going on there than just a simple team-up.”
“I have to agree,” Elias muttered, scanning the pages. “Think about it. The wraith isn’t going to share with Azaret, and Azaret won’t share the power with it. It doesn’t make sense.”
“You heard what it said at the oasis: It’s expecting a double-cross,” I said. “My guess is they’re going to turn on one another the second they get what they want.”
“The question is which one is going to come out on top?” Sam muttered.
“I’ll bet fifty on the wraith,” Oz said.
“My money’s on Azaret,” I responded.
Elias pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s not make bets about which evil supernatural creature is going to take over our town and the underground spring to wreak havoc on the desert with their newfound power. Because if we do our job right, it’s not going to come to that.”
“What’s the plan, then?” I asked.
“Figure out more about Azaret, what his plan is,” Elias replied.
“What do we do about the pack?” Oz asked.
Elias let out a low breath as he rubbed his face. “Difficult to say,” he said. “I think we need to plan for a potential evacuation, but I don’t want to alarm anyone by suggesting it just yet.”
“For now, I’ll do some more digging,” Oz said. “The rest of you guys should start coming up with the exit plan.”
“Thought I was the one who was supposed to give orders,” Elias quipped.
Oz shrugged, then yawned. “Just trying to expedite the conversation,” he said. He reached out and grabbed a book. “Now, go and do your thing.”
***
When I came in from work, Liv was fixing dinner, standing over the stove. She stiffened when she saw me, though this time not because of anything I had done.
“How are things at Town Hall?” she asked. I knew what she was really asking: Was there any news on Azaret?
“We’re still doing research,” I said, answering the unasked question.
“We’re trying to figure out contingency plans as well, in case he or the wraith decides to come strolling back into town.
Emma and Rachel are rebuilding the wards, just to give us a bit of extra protection.
It’ll buy us a bit of time the next time Azaret tries to break through. ”
She nodded, her normally sunny demeanor hidden behind her anxious expression.
I hadn’t forgotten the concern and worry I had felt through the mating bond during the fight.
I had hated knowing she felt that way, even as I had forced myself to continue fighting.
The thought that something could make someone so sunny and bright worry sent ripples of rage through me.
I hated the idea that she would ever feel that way.
You made her feel that way once, a voice whispered.
I ignored it. Whether that was the truth or not, thinking about it wasn’t going to do anyone any favors. And I had more pressing things that I needed to discuss.
“There was something I wanted to talk to you about, actually,” I muttered.
She raised an eyebrow and waited.
“I wanted to ask if you would rather go somewhere else until all this blows over.”
Liv frowned, brow furrowed as she stared at me like I had corn for ears. “What are you talking about?”
“We’re talking about evacuating the women and children,” I said. “I think it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if you considered going with them.”
“Like hell.” Liv dropped her book on the table and pushed herself to her feet as she scowled at me. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The conviction and borderline vitriol that reverberated through the words took me by surprise. I blinked, tilting my head as I took in her set jaw, her folded arms, the burning intensity in her eyes.
“Liv, it’s going to be dangerous,” I said. “We don’t know when Azaret or the wraith might strike again.”
“And the last time that demon attacked, I had to sit at home for an hour agonizing whether or not I was going to feel the mating bond cut off. If I have to do that somewhere further away, I’ll feel like I’m going to lose my mind.”
I walked over to stand in front of her. Her scent, something enticing and tropical, wafted toward me as I neared. She looked up at me through her eyelashes, her features set in determination.
“And if I told you that it would put me more at ease?” I asked.
Her lips thinned, and she folded her arms. “Then I would tell you, ‘Tough.’ I’m not leaving you here to deal with this on your own, no matter what.”
Her eyes were like fire, her voice a snarl.
It was so easy to see just her typically cheerful demeanor and forget that, at heart, she was a wolf, a member of the pack.
I gave a half-snort. Without realizing I was planning on doing it, I stepped forward, closing the gap between us.
My hand went to the back of her neck, thumb stroking up and down.
She leaned into my touch, pressing against me as she looked up at me through her eyelashes.
Her breath hitched a little, the movement pressing her breasts against me for the briefest of moments.
She didn’t go motionless, but everything about her body seemed to scream anticipation, as if she was waiting to see what I was going to do next.
“You’re an enigma to me sometimes, you know that?” I muttered.
She cracked a half-smirk that gave her entire face a shrewdness that drove my wolf wild, and I felt that tug toward her deepening, intensifying.
“That’s a good thing, if you ask me,” she said. “Enigmas are far more interesting than knowing exactly what you’re going to get all the time.”
My wolf snarled in want, going out of his mind being this close to Liv. I knew I was treading into dangerous waters, but I was tired of trying to hold myself back around her. I needed her, and I was tired of trying to restrain myself.
Hesitation flickered across her gaze, even as she took another step closer until all it would take was a small shift of one of our bodies for us to touch. She bit her lip, and I could tell she was debating whether to take a step back or lean further into the touch.
My wolf growled, wanting to press her against the wall, to close that gap before she could do anything to stop me and claim her. I wanted her. I was tired of holding that back. At the moment, I couldn’t figure out why I had bothered holding back in the first place.