happen, but if you need to know something, he always has a way of finding the answer for you. If anyone can help us find Hank on short notice, it’s Cain.”
“And what kind of things does he want?”
Ah, the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.
“It varies.” I paused because I didn’t really feel like finishing my thought. Vague answers were best in situations like this. I’d only needed Cain’s help twice in the past. Once he’d wanted money, but the other time he’d wanted something…darker and more difficult to come by.
I was willing to pay the price, but I couldn’t put the responsibility on Wilder. Whatever Cain wanted, I would be the one to get it for him, end of story. I felt it was my duty. If sacrifices needed to be made and debts had to be paid, it was on me, not Wilder.
“Genie…” He stared at me long and hard. Hearing my real name out of his mouth sounded foreign and strange, but also told me I was worrying him.
“It’s not as bad as I’m making it sound. Normally he wants money. Lots and lots of money.”
“What about when he doesn’t want money?”
I knew right away where Wilder’s mind was going, and I felt guilty because I might have implied it unintentionally. Waving my hands in front of my face, I tried to chase away his fears of anything untoward or dirty.
“It’s not sex.”
His face relaxed so quickly it was like someone had flicked a light off.
God, sex would have been easy by contrast.
“He’s got Delphine, he isn’t interested in anyone else. Calls her his White Queen.” Ironic, since Del was black, but I shrugged. “No, the thing about Cain is he collects…oddities. They call him the Collector in some circles. He’ll always have something in mind, and it’ll never be something you can pop into a CVS for, you know?”
“I really don’t.”
“Okay, for instance, the last time I asked him for a favor, he made me bring back the skull of someone who had died on April 19th, 1864.”
“He… Wait, what?”
I nodded. “Not a specific person. Just the skull of anyone who had died on that day.”
“Why?”
I raised a finger like I was scolding a puppy, my voice dead serious. “You never ask why.”
“And you actually got it for him?”
Grimacing, I nodded again. I wasn’t proud of my grave-robbing escapade, but what was done was done. I’d needed something that could keep me well-hidden inside city limits in my wolf form if I was unable to make it out to a rural area for any reason. Cain had been able to get me what I’d needed, and I wasn’t in a position to ask for the dark details of why he wanted a skull from a specific death date.
Nor did I want to know, if I was being honest.
“This is messed up, Princess, you know that, right? There has to be an easier way for us to find out where they’re hiding Hank.”
“Maybe, but would we find out in time?” I challenged.
We both knew a clock was ticking on his brother’s life. The sooner we figured out where he was the better our chances of saving him.
Wilder had no immediate response for this question, which spoke volumes. The precious little time we had left was already starting to run out.
“You ready for this?” I asked.
“As much as I’ll ever be. Aren’t you going to tell me to let you do the talking or something?”
I laughed, a whoosh of pure amusement escaping my lungs and releasing some of the tension I hadn’t realized I was holding inside me. It felt good, no matter how inappropriate it was.
“Just…don’t let anything surprise you, okay?”
“Sweetheart, you should see my poker face.” He winked.
Maybe. As long as we weren’t playing the strip variety.
We navigated out of the hallway to a small roped-off set of stairs that was too narrow for people to pass each other going up and down. A tall woman with her hair in a slicked-back auburn ponytail eyed Wilder and me as we approached.
“Did Jimmy check your ID?” She pretended she didn’t care about the answer.
“Yup.” No human would have noticed, but I’d seen her nostrils flare as we approached. She didn’t smell like a wolf to me. Definitely something in the big cat family, though I often had trouble telling the difference between leopard and jaguar. It didn’t matter. She knew what we were, which was enough to get you a pass to the VIP section where Cain resided.
“You two have fun.