Werewolves Be Damned - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,53
you that you don’t have to knock.”
At Drake’s silence, she lowered her hands, suddenly noticing her father’s tight expression. “What’s wrong?” Glancing behind her, she listened for any sounds coming from her kitchen, but it appeared Kyden had left.
Turning to Drake, she asked, “Where’s Kyden?”
“He went out on assignment,” Drake replied.
“Oh, he is so dead.” He’d gone out without her? Hadn’t they already gotten over that? But as she studied Drake, she spotted the concern in the depths of his eyes, making her pause. “What’s going on?”
He reached out his hand, and something in his expression made her hesitate to take it. “The Council has summoned us.”
Guarded, Nexi watched him for a moment longer before she took his hand and shut the door behind her. Each step she took down the hallway only raised more alarms. She’d never seen Drake so…worried.
He had stayed silent next to her, and that didn’t help any. He was usually so forthright with his answers to her questions, but she allowed the quiet to engulf her, and hurried along to match his stride.
When they finally entered the Council’s Hall, it surprised Nexi to see not only Finn, but Kyden, too. Her focus stayed on him, and she noticed even Kyden looked tense, making her heart leap into her throat.
Something was wrong.
Seriously wrong.
After she arrived at Kyden’s side, he took her hand from Drake’s, and his sigh was deep and filled with despair, only increasing her discomfort. His hold was so tight—protective almost. She nearly asked what was going on until she looked at the Council and caught sight of Talon, and her mouth clamped shut.
Talon’s gaze slid over Drake, and Nexi could’ve sworn he gave him a compassionate look before he turned to Kyden, his expression hardening. “They’re with us now. Tell us what you learned.”
Kyden looked down to their held hands, his fingers like a vice around hers. “Tonight the lead from Briggs was a wolf with the Texas pack, Calder. He gave us some answers on what this is all about.” His head lifted to Talon. “It’s Lazarus.”
That name instantly registered to Nexi, maybe because the pale faces around her matched Talon’s compassionate look to Drake, and the blood drained from her body. “Not the vampire who killed my mother?” Kyden gave her a soft nod, and she gasped, “How is Tillie’s killer not dead?”
Didn’t the Council exist for this very reason? They killed those who killed others. There was no way the vampire who killed her mother twenty-five years ago still lived, or so she wanted to believe.
Talon sighed, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “He’s been in hiding…for a very long time.” He looked to Kyden. “Are you certain he’s behind this?”
Kyden nodded. “I am.”
“What? Wait.” Nexi shook her head, trying to knock some sense into it, and she glanced at Drake next to her. “How did you not destroy him after her death?”
Drake raised his head, his eyes haunted. “We hunted Lazarus for months.”
She heard the tightness in his father’s voice and the frustration that Lazarus had gotten away when he added, “But his trail ran cold. Eventually, we had to stop searching and focus our efforts elsewhere.”
Zia’s face was sheet white when she said, “We had thought he’d been killed by someone else, because he all but vanished.”
“Not anymore,” Finn muttered.
Zade snorted with a frown. “No, not anymore.”
Holten stood from his chair with his fists clenched. “What is Lazarus after? What could possibly make him return now?”
Kyden drew in a long breath, then blew it out slowly. He turned to Nexi and the sad look in his eyes made her stomach clench, as she wasn’t sure she wanted him to continue, but he did. “He’s after you.”
She blinked. “Me?”
A shiver of ice ran up her spine; somehow she couldn’t find it in herself to think that was a totally crazy theory. She had thought the wolves were focused on her during the assignments or at least they had seemed to know her. But she had hoped she’d been imagining it.
A couple months ago, her biggest problem had been a bad hair day. Now, she had a bulls-eye on her back with a vampire hunting her. “What in the hell does he want with me? I’ve never met him.”
“Actually you have,” Kyden muttered.
At her clearly baffled expression, he added, “From what Calder told us tonight, Lazarus was the vampire we met in Salt Lake City.”
Nexi couldn’t stop her eyes from going wide and she whispered, “The vanishing vampire?”