Despite her exhaustion, it took time to wind down after a long night of surveillance. She entered the gathering room and poured herself a generous glass of red wine at the liquor cabinet. It was predawn, and the colorful windows barely captured the light. Her eyes steered up to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf as she drank her wine. One glass wouldn’t be enough to induce sleep, so she gulped down the drink and poured another.
“I saved you a plate of our dinner last night,” Niko said.
Blue set the bottle down and then joined him on the leather sofa. It felt good to sit down, but her circadian rhythm was screwed up, and it was difficult to think about sleeping when the sun was on the rise.
Niko clasped his hands in his lap. “Would you like me to heat it up?”
“I think I’m skipping breakfast today, amigo.”
“What happened?”
She sipped wine and pushed away thoughts of the vile scene that had unfolded. Niko was a sharp light reader, and he could often detect lies. “It’s tough staying up all night and sharing headspace with my falcon. Sometimes she wants to fly off, and I have to fight those urges and keep her still. It’s one thing to do it occasionally, but night after night? I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“Wyatt said Raven was active, but you called in a false alarm.”
Blue took another sip of wine and then rested the glass on her leg. “I didn’t want anyone panicking and busting in on the scene. Raven got an offer that looks promising. She might be going on the job as soon as today. Is Viktor around? I want to talk to him before I go to bed.”
“He’s in his office. He asked not to be disturbed.” Niko stared pensively at the space before him.
What a shame that Niko couldn’t see the beautiful window to their left that depicted wolves and humans living in harmony. Did he even know it was there?
“Something troubles you.” He shifted in her direction and studied her light. “We’re partners, are we not?”
“Sure.”
“Christian isn’t here. We have privacy if you want to speak freely.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Is it your scars?”
It wasn’t. But in a way it was. Blue had to watch Raven from the sidelines. The Shifter in her wanted to be more involved in this particular case, and if it weren’t for her scars, she would have been Raven’s backup instead of Claude.
“I wish I had words of comfort, but I don’t,” he admitted. “I can tell you what I think, but that won’t ease your suffering. If it makes you feel better, I haven’t noticed them at all.”
She chuckled. “Is that so?”
Niko smiled with his eyes. “I would never pry.”
Blue swallowed a mouthful of the full-bodied wine and set the glass on the end table. “I know you’re looking out for me, but this isn’t a subject I want to talk about. I’m just having a bad night.”
Niko inclined his head. “Apologies.”
“Thank the fates for Viktor. He really changed my life. It’s a tough job, but the work I do makes me sleep like a baby.”
“Which is more than I can say for our leader. He’s been pacing again.”
Blue sighed, her thoughts drifting to the long nights between jobs when she’d occasionally hear Viktor playing his violin. Sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, a haunting melody crept through the halls like a distant dream. No one ever mentioned it, so she couldn’t be certain if she was the only one who had ever heard him play. She speculated that whatever tormented him reared its ugly head when things got too peaceful.
“He’s worried about Raven,” she said. “This is her first time on a solo job, and it’s a big one.”
“If anyone’s up for the task, it’s Raven. She’s young but brave. Fear is our worst enemy.”
Blue slouched and closed her eyes. “I just wish my mind would quit spinning.”
“The stillness of life makes us dizzy with regrets.”
“What makes you think I regret anything?”
Niko sighed. “I know something about quiet moments. When the noise of the world goes away and you’re left with your thoughts, they tend to wander in the realm of regret. Things we wish we hadn’t done, things we wish we had. Things we wish we could do. That’s the noise that keeps us awake. It makes immortality insufferable.”
“Maybe we should live a perfect life so we’ll have no regrets.”