Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,7
someone,” Viktor said.
Talia threw up her hands, surrendering. “All right, I’ll tell you. Yes, I just started dating someone new and it’s going well. And before you ask, he’s independently wealthy, he’s a wolf shifter, and his father owned a multimillion-dollar company specializing in organic baby food. Tanjin inherited the company.”
“Tanjin? That’s an unusual name, even in shifter families. So he’s a shifter? What’s he like?” I knew full well that Yutani would be logging into the computer, doing research on the guy. We all looked after each other, and nobody wanted to see anyone get hurt.
Talia gave me a smug look. “Before you start snooping, yes, he’s a wolf shifter. He looks about thirty, though I think he’s in his sixties. He spends his days at the office, but he’s set up the organization so his sister runs the day-to-day duties, since she’s vice president. Tanjin is also managing his father’s fortune and he organizes charity drives. His father never donated a dime to anybody, but Tanjin and his sister, Cali, are philanthropists. Tanjin’s never been in trouble with the law, he’s an upstanding member of the Shifter Alliance, and he’s a well-respected member of the Chamber of Commerce.”
Viktor laughed. “Well, he sounds nice, and the fact that you’re telling us about him means it’s more than a casual fling.” He turned to me. “Talia never talks about her boy toys unless they’re a serious item.”
I was about to ask how long they’d been seeing each other when Herne entered the room, followed by Angel. They sat down and the meeting began. We covered all the usual points, including two new potential cases that had come through in the last twenty-four hours, but we all knew we were just marking time until Deputy Mayor Serenades got there.
We didn’t have long to wait. Angel hustled to open the elevators when Maria texted her to say she was on the way up. She returned with two women behind her. One was a police officer, the other the deputy mayor.
Deputy Mayor Serenades was about my height, with shoulder-length blond hair pulled back in a sleek French braid. She was trim, wearing a navy blue pantsuit, and she carried a large briefcase. The look on her face was grim as she entered the room.
Herne stood, extending his hand. “Maria, I’m glad to see you.”
“Thank you, Herne. This is Officer Wyles.”
As the police officer took her place near the open door leading to the hall out into the waiting room, Viktor hurried to pull out a chair for the deputy mayor.
I wasn’t even sure what a deputy mayor did. I knew she was adjunct to the mayor, but how much actual power she wielded, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to ask, though, because it seemed rude. Instead, I just murmured a hello when Herne introduced her to the rest of us, and shook her hand as she reached across the table to everyone in turn.
As soon as she was settled in a chair, she lifted her briefcase onto the table. “The mayor asked me to talk to you because we have a problem and we need your help. We’d like you to investigate a case that’s cropped up. The police department is having trouble with it, due to the delicate nature of the circumstances.”
What was this? She sounded far more worried than her expression showed.
Herne frowned. “What’s going on?”
“We have a serial killer on the loose, and this is one case we’re trying to keep out of the papers. The police have investigated every lead they can find and come up with nothing. Somebody’s going to put two and two together soon, and when they do, the media will be all over this. We don’t want them to find out. Whoever the killer is, he’s smart, powerful, and deadly.”
That brought the mood of the room to a crashing halt.
After a moment, Herne said, “All right, I assume you need our help because you think the killer isn’t human?”
“We have no clue, though I think we can assume so. We need your help because there are a lot of the magic-born in this town, and we don’t want the guilds going all vigilante, which they would.” She frowned. “Dealing with the magic-born can be tricky. They’ve been demanding a spot on the United Coalition council and I think they’ll get it, which isn’t exactly a problem, but they’re more powerful than most of the other groups put together. Except, perhaps, the vampires.”