Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Alistair
I knock lightly on Percy’s office door. He has an assistant, but she was on a call when I walked past her, so I’m not sure if I can just go in or not.
“Enter!”
So that’s a yes.
I open the door and walk in, my sense of smell telling me immediately that Percy’s not alone. Turning back to close the door again gives me a few extra seconds to compose myself.
The Irish cat. Aidan Byrne.
There’s a lot to say about Aidan. He’s the species leader of all shifters, both canid and felid. Like Percy’s position as lucifer, it’s a job conferred by the existential magic. You could be living your ordinary life, then one day you wake up and bam… you’ve been invested with the power to lead.
That better bloody never happen to me, is all I’m saying.
Anyway, Aidan is… well, he’s a cat, for starters, which tells you how uptight he is. I can’t deny that he’s very good at his job and very highly respected, and not just because we shifters have an intrinsic need to show respect to our leaders.
Does it sound like I have a problem with Aidan?
Because I do. Just a little one. I can’t quite bring myself to forget how quick he was to suggest compelling Sam’s shift that first time.
It turned out to be the best option, but a compelled shift is awful, an experience we actively avoid, and Aidan just threw it out there like it was a walk in the park.
My bestie deserved better than that.
But that’s in the past, and the fact he’s here and Percy’s asked me to be here too means something is going on in the shifter world.
Last I heard, he was still on the West Coast, visiting with the pack the traitors were from and trying to find out more about the elf people who can open portals between dimensions.
“Hi, Alistair,” Percy calls from the small table by the window. “Come and join us.”
I obey, like the good boy I am, but we’re going to be awfully cozy with three of us sitting at that table.
Lucky that felids aren’t as big as hellhounds.
Percy’s not much over five and a half feet tall, and Aidan’s only a few inches taller than that, and they’re both slender.
It makes me feel somewhat of a hulking beast as I pull out a chair and join them.
I do make a very good beast, though. I have the perfect growl and everything.
“Hello, Alistair,” Aidan says, that faint Irish lilt coming out on my name.
“Good morning,” I reply cheerfully to them both, because I have a feeling I’m not going to enjoy this meeting, and it’s worth getting some cheer in while I can.
“We’ll jump right in,” Percy begins. “You know Aidan has been with the Oregon pack for the last few weeks.”
I nod. “Yes. Any luck?”
Aidan shakes his head. “Not really. It doesn’t help that so much of what we know is classified and can’t be shared.
All I’ve been able to tell anyone is that the two lads we have in custody are being charged with an attack on government agents and that we suspect the involvement of three more.
So far, I haven’t even managed to confirm the identities of the ones Noah saw with Tish. ”
“Are people clamming up?” I’m a little surprised. Not that they’d want to protect their own, but that nobody is willing to talk to the species leader.
“I’m sure some are, but if I’m right in my suspicions, it’s more that all five lads are from a very rural area and a very small, closely related subgroup within the pack.”
It hits me what he’s trying not to say. “You think everyone who knows them well is involved with Tish.”
He shrugs and spreads his hands. “It’s possible.”
“Likely,” Percy corrects. “As awful as it would be for this to be more than a group of young hellhounds seduced by the promise of wealth, I think we need to assume it may actually be an ideology that led them to follow Tish.”
I rub my hand through my hair. “I hate that idea,” I admit, “but yeah, it’s probably true. Has the pack leader been able to give you any information about the group?”
“Some,” Aidan concedes. “But he says they keep to themselves a lot, and as long as they were appearing to follow the law and not causing trouble, he had no reason to question that. You know how packs are, Alistair. This isn’t some human werewolf movie.
Pack leader is a localized governance position, not a feudal king. ”
“And since we’re trying to keep this low-key, neither he nor you can compel anyone to talk.” I sigh. Not that I like the idea of compelling anyone—it really is awful —but we’re dealing with a crisis of gargantuan levels here.
Tish is trying to enslave humanity.
In his mission to do so, he’s spent more than forty years experimenting on members of our community.
He’s also in league with dimension-hopping elves.
We don’t know what their aim is. All we know is that we have to find some way to stop them all.
Tish is not only guilty of murder on a massive scale, he’s also very close to exposing us all to humans.
And that wouldn’t go well. There’s a reason we’ve been hidden from them for the past nearly nine thousand years, and that’s because they tried to exterminate us.
“So, what do you need from me?” It’s obvious there’s something. Why else would I be here?
Percy smiles, and I immediately feel like I’m being rewarded. It’s a side effect of his investiture as lucifer, but I still like it.
“We think the pack might respond better to a hellhound who isn’t officially in a position of authority.
Aidan’s the species leader and a cat, and they’re used to thinking of their pack leader as being an authority as well.
Someone who seems less official who’s there just to tie up some reporting loose ends might have more luck—not with that particular subgroup, especially if they’re working with Tish, but with other members of the larger pack who might have information. ”
“The adolescent ones, especially, seemed rather awestruck when I tried to actually talk to them,” Aidan adds dryly. “It was a bloody awkward experience, with some of them twice my size.”
None of us bothers to comment that size really doesn’t matter when you’re taking on the species leader. The existential magic invested Aidan with the job, and the magic has a way of making sure its favorites are taken care of.
“So you want me to go out to Oregon and talk to people? Sure, I can do that. People love me.” It’s true. I’m sure you’ve noticed.
“Wonderful,” Percy says with another smile. “I’ll need Aidan for some other matters this afternoon, but you can leave first thing tomorrow.”
Wait… what?
If he needs Aidan, why does that mean I can’t go until tomorrow?
Unless…
I try to keep the horror off my face. “Uh, just throwing it out there, but maybe Ellie would be a better choice for this? She’s, um, got…
um… that sweet face.” I’m really proud of myself for not choking on that last bit.
Have you met my cousin and teammate, Elinor?
She’s got razor-sharp wit, intelligence out the wazoo, and hand-to-hand fighting skills that make people weep—literally and figuratively—but she does not have a sweet face.
Percy seems surprised; not that I can blame him. “Is there a problem?” he asks.
“No, no,” I protest. “Just… Ellie…”
“Elinor is barely healed after the attack,” Percy reminds me. “And as one of the agents assaulted, it’s hardly best practice for her to be directly involved in the investigation. What’s the issue here, Alistair?”
I don’t want to spend the next however long in close proximity with the Irish cat. But I can’t say that.
“There’s no issue,” I say finally. “I just thought El might want to see this through to the end, but you’re right, that would be inappropriate. I’ll make sure my current cases are handed over and be ready to fly out tomorrow.” With Aidan Byrne. Kill me now.
“Excellent,” Percy says, although his smile is a little forced this time, and I feel it like a blow. This is not the best way to be impressing my boss—not to mention it’s a time of crisis and I’m waffling around like an idiot instead of competently stepping up to do my job.
“Did you need me for anything else?”
“That’ll do,” Aidan says. “I can brief you more fully on the pack during the flight. Although, you’re familiar with them already, aren’t you? Percy said you identified the three intruders in the office as being from the Oregon pack.”
“I’ve been there a few times,” I confirm.
“If the pack leader is the same as sixty years ago, we’ve met.
And yeah, I identified they were from Oregon by smell…
which means,” I realize belatedly, “I can probably tell you if they have close relatives among that subgroup. And if they’ve been there recently or have stuff there, I’ll probably be able to smell it. ” My nose is good even for a hellhound.
“Good,” Aidan says with a firm nod and an approving smile that causes conflicting feelings in me. It’s always nice when the species leader is happy with you, but I still don’t like him.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.” I smile and wave— wave? —as I get up and then beeline for the door. Safely on the other side, I lean against it and sigh.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I go back to the office, sit in my desk chair, and then wheel over to Sam’s desk and squish in right beside him.
“Fuck off, Alistair, I’m busy,” he says, not looking away from his screen.
“Heeeeeeelp meeeeeee,” I whine. “I need your help.”
“I’m not calling your hookup from the other night to tell him to stop calling you,” he says, his fingers not even pausing on the keyboard.
Fuck, I’d almost forgotten about that. That’s two things I need his help with.
“Why not?” I lean in and rest my head on his shoulder. He shoves me away.
“Because you need to take responsibility for your own actions. Why did you even give him your number, anyway?”