Chapter 28
We made it back to Cognito by midafternoon.
It would’ve been sooner had I not stopped Krys from speeding.
I tried not to imagine the worst. Kids were dramatic.
Maybe Cleo was overwhelmed by her new surroundings, and this was a tactic to see us again.
A smaller house, a strange city, a new mom—it was undoubtedly frightening. She needed time to settle in.
Yet during the drive, my wolf twisted and turned. Darcy wasn’t helping matters either. It took an hour before she stopped rambling about every worst-case scenario.
Krys zigzagged through the city streets without needing directions. He had memorized the route. When we reached the brownstone, he slammed the brakes, shut off the engine, and jumped out before I had a chance to get my seat belt off.
“Wait for me!” I leaped over the fire hydrant and hurried to catch up.
Krys reached the door and pressed his knuckles to the wood without knocking. After a deep breath, he waited a few more seconds and knocked calmly.
“Maybe she’s at work,” I suggested.
Krys knocked again. “Be cool. Remember, she’s a Chitah. She can smell our emotions, so think of something calm. I don’t want her bailing before I get information out of her.”
I glanced at the window and waited to see if Cleo would appear with a guilty look on her face. That would’ve been the best outcome.
The door unlocked, and a harried-looking version of Faye answered while clutching her floral robe.
Why is she wearing a robe in the afternoon? She’s not exactly a woman of leisure.
She squinted at us. A tendril of cigarette smoke floated into view from where she held the door. “Did you forget something?”
Krys’s voice was surprisingly mellow. “We need to see Cleo.”
“Who?”
“Bailey.”
She shook her head. “Bailey went out. She’s not here.”
Krys walked right past her. “Then we’ll wait.”
“Hey! You can’t just walk into my house.”
But he could.
And he did.
I smiled at the Chitah. “How about a little drinkypoo while we wait?”
She floated into the living area, a long ash clinging to the cigarette wedged between her fingers. “I can give her a message.”
Krys spread his arms over the back of the sofa and crossed one leg over his knee. “When did you last see her?”
I walked behind the sofa while Cleo’s mother stood confrontationally in front of Krys.
“I don’t know,” she said, crossing one arm over her middle and taking a drag of her cigarette. “She left thirty minutes ago. I’m not sure where.”
He gave her a stone-cold look. “Lies.”
“I don’t know what this is all about, but you need to leave.”
“Someone took her,” he said coolly. “She called us this morning.”
She paced into the kitchen, still puffing on her cigarette. If Faye could scent our emotions through all that cigarette smoke, I’d give her an award.
Krys launched out of his seat and stood by the kitchen entry. “Why aren’t you freaking the fuck out that your daughter’s gone?”
Faye leaned against the counter and stared at the sink while taking another drag. She seemed colder than before and distant.
Krys sighed harshly. “You knew. Where is she?”
“Ran away. Again. She’s not my problem anymore.”
Krys stormed in and caged her against the counter. They matched in height, but she shrank at his eviscerating stare. “If you don’t start talking, I’ll call the higher authorities. They’ll send a Regulator out. Aren’t Regulators mostly Chitahs? I’m sure they’ll be able to scent the truth.”
“Bailey’s not coming back,” Faye snapped. “You two might as well leave. She’s gone.”
Krys kept his arms locked tight on the counter while corralling her in place. When she ducked, he hooked his arm around her waist and held her tightly against him. Faye put the cigarette out on his arm, but he didn’t budge.
“Don’t threaten me,” she snarled, and a spotted pattern appeared on her skin. “I’ll flip my switch.”
“You think that scares me, lady? You have no idea who you’re talking to. Virgil, call the authorities.”
She writhed in his arms. The instant I pulled out my phone, she yelped. “Wait! Wait. Don’t call them.”
Krys bent to her ear, his voice low and dangerous. “Then tell us.”
“Let me go.”
“Just remember, we’re wolves. You can run, but you can’t hide.”
She wrenched free from his arms and tightened her robe, her eyes fixed on the refrigerator. There weren’t any pictures of Cleo pinned by magnets. Nor were there any childhood drawings, unlike on our own fridge.
Krys folded his arms. “I don’t give a shit about you right now. All I want is Cleo. Was it her father?”
Faye combed her disheveled hair away from her face. “That loser isn’t in the picture. Never was.”
On the small round table outside the kitchen were several bottles of alcohol, three cartons of cigarettes, and a large tote. I approached the table and opened the bag. “Krys, look.” I held up a stack of banknotes.
His lips pressed together tightly before he glared at her.
Faye retrieved a glass, sat at the table, and poured herself a generous amount of liquor.
After gulping down the alcohol, she crossed her legs.
“Bailey’s father worked for a carnival that was passing through town.
You know that saying, curiosity kills the cat?
Well, it also gets them pregnant. We weren’t the same Breed, and I wasn’t in heat.
But out popped a baby nine months later.
” Faye shook her head with disdain and drank more.
“I knew she had Shifter in her, but I didn’t think she’d wind up a freak show like her father. ”
Krys stalked to the table. “How much was she worth?” He threw a stack of bills at the wall. “What kind of mother are you?”
“The kind who didn’t ask for this shit!” she fired back.
“You don’t walk in my shoes. You don’t live my life.
I have to find a way to scrape by for the next thousand years.
Do you see a husband around here? You can thank Bailey for that.
She drove off two of my boyfriends.” Faye set her glass down and opened a box of cigarettes.
“That little terror is more trouble than she’s worth.
You have no idea. Sneaking out, ignoring rules, avoiding chores, wasting food.
Money doesn’t grow on trees. If you sit at my table, you eat what I give you.
” Faye lit up another cigarette. “When she was eleven, she started sneaking out, so I put a lock on her door. She kicked the door that first night, so I took out her mattress. A few nights sleeping on the floor would straighten most kids out, but not Bailey. That child was a hellion from day one.” Faye tapped her temple. “Not right in the head.”
Krys brushed his hand over the burn on his arm. “You sold her to a lab the last time. Did you know that? They did experiments on her.”
Faye reclined in her chair, guilt flashing across her hardened features.
“I don’t know anything about that. All they told me was that she would have a job and could help people.
That’s how I was able to buy this place instead of renting.
Bailey didn’t want to live here anymore, so I figured someone else could set her straight. ”
“Where is she?” Krys bit out.
When Faye lifted her glass, Krys snatched it from her. He knocked it back and immediately spit it out. “You fucking addict.” He flipped over a chair and marched through the kitchen.
Faye wouldn’t be stupid enough to run. The woman could barely stand straight.
I found him in Cleo’s bedroom. “What are you doing?”
“Those bottles are spiked with sensory magic.” Krys pulled open all the drawers and tossed the clothes onto the floor. “She sold her daughter for drugs and cigarettes.”
I spotted her camera and picked it up. “Hey. She left this.”
He lifted her bag, which she hadn’t unpacked, and searched it before placing the camera inside.
“What are you looking for?”
“I thought she might’ve left a note for us. She’s a smart kid.”
“Ask her mother.”
He shook his head. “If that woman knows anything, she’s not telling us. She knows it’ll be ten times worse if we find her.”
“Then we call the authorities. They’ll question her.”
“And some rookie will get her killed. Or toss the file into a drawer and say it’s not worth looking into. It’ll be a waiting game. Cleo doesn’t have that kind of time.”
Realizing Cleo might be gone forever if we didn’t do something, I strolled back to the kitchen table. “You obviously don’t want the girl, but we do. It’s as simple as that. Tell us where she is so we can take her back home. We’ll raise her, and you’ll consent to the adoption.”
“Are you calling the authorities?”
“That depends entirely on you.”
Krys walked in. “Where is she?”
Faye shrugged. “They don’t tell me that part. You think I’d still be alive if I knew?”
“How did you meet them?”
She stubbed out her cigarette in an amber-colored ashtray. “They have this place on the internet where you can exchange private messages.”
Krys locked eyes with me. “Black market.”
Criminals erased their tracks on the black market.
It was a separate part of the internet on some type of encrypted network that wasn’t accessible to humans.
Gatekeepers took care of that, and the password changed frequently.
Messages and profiles could be wiped from existence with no backup system in place.
“Did they give you an email or phone number?” I pressed. “Where did you meet? Did you see anyone’s face? What can you tell us?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Someone came and got her.”
“What did he look like?”
“I don’t know! I can’t remember anything about it. I just know it happened.”
Krys and I shared a glance. It could only mean Vampires.
Faye got up and retrieved her purse from the sofa. After a second, she held out a piece of paper. “That’s all I’ve got.”
Krys took it.
“I found it in my purse and don’t recognize it. If they scrubbed my memory, they forgot to search my things. They stole my phone and computer, but I can replace those.”
Krys stuffed the paper into his pocket. “Glad you weren’t put out.”
“Don’t you judge me! Don’t you dare.”
He pointed angrily at her. “You sold your daughter twice. Twice! You are fucking diabolical.”
“You don’t know what I’ve gone through to survive.
Bailey’s a bad egg. Her father probably had mental issues he passed on to her.
It was only a matter of time before she ran away or got knocked up.
You think I want to deal with another baby?
” Faye lit up another cigarette and gave him a condescending look.
“I don’t owe that ungrateful bitch anything.
I could’ve given her to an orphanage, but I didn’t.
Being her mother was a thankless job. I did everything for that little brat.
” She scoffed and puffed on her cigarette while giving us a self-righteous look.
Krys marched back to the table and grabbed the money bag. “Stay away from her, and stay away from us.”
“You can’t take my money!”
“Try to stop me.”
I strode out to the vehicle. After setting Cleo’s luggage in the back seat, Krys got in the driver’s side with the money.
Darcy appeared. “Did you find out anything?”
“Not now,” I warned her.
“I stayed in the car because I knew it was private business.”
Darcy obviously wanted me to praise her, but I was shaking.
Krys slammed his fist against the wheel.
“Give me the number,” I insisted. “I’ll send it to Lucian. Maybe he can find a lead.”
After handing me the paper, he revved the engine and sped off. I sent Lucian a discreet message to see what he could uncover.
“We should call Tak,” I said.
“He’ll tell us to come home. You know him. He wouldn’t want us tearing up the town.”
“So what do you plan to do?”
Krys put on his shades. “Tear up the town.”