Shadow of Doubt - Hailey Edwards Page 0,85
about the ultimate identity theft.
“Sacrifices must be made.”
Ambrose was nearby, which meant my swords were close, but he wasn’t here yet. So help me, if he was dragging his heels to get more chocolate out of me, I was going to shove my stash down his throat and hope he choked on them. I had to keep the killer chameleon talking until he arrived. “That explains how Siemen got into my apartment.”
Talk about the ultimate inside job. No wonder he knew where the cameras were located. He killed the nightshift doorman to infiltrate the staff, which gained him full access to the building, to my schedule, and to Bonnie. The position put him outside, which proved he thought along the same lines as me in regards to allowing Mother Nature to cover his tracks.
More troubling was learning they had killed the doorman to take his place, meaning the choice of victims shown to us was a statement, not a predilection. They had tailored their dead to hurt Midas, yes, but I was still missing the purpose of dragging the warg packs into the fray. “Why bother with the charade?”
“Atlanta has belonged to the dogs for long enough.”
“There’s plenty of room for a new faction. There are already dozens.”
“Share with them?” She touched her ruined cheek. “Never.”
“Your people can share, or they can leave.”
“Who are you to issue orders to me? You’re a parasite. You share your life essence with a being of pure darkness.”
The truth hurt, but that wasn’t my whole truth anymore. “I’m the future POA.”
“You won’t survive on your own.”
“I’m still standing. That’s more than Siemen can say.”
“This city will be mine.” Her irises flared blue with power as her temper spiked. “You can’t hold it, not against me.”
“I can hold plenty against you.” A patch of velvet shadow darker than the rest brushed against the back of my hand. “Starting with this.” I dipped my hand into his icy core and wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my right-hand blade. “You killed almost a dozen women for no reason but to further your own agenda.”
“The mongrels were meant to turn on themselves.”
“You wanted to pit the gwyllgi against the wargs.”
That explained the diversity of the victims’ species. The coven had been ensuring every pack in the area had a stake in the outcome of this investigation. Had Siemen not made a mistake with Jessica, he would have kept killing until tempers boiled over and fights broke out between grieving gwyllgi and wargs. Once that happened, turning them against each other would be as simple as donning a new identity.
“The gwyllgi are the power in this city. They are the ones who must stumble before the others will fall. All Midas needs is a little push.”
Interesting that the OPA didn’t rate a mention. “Did you think I would sit back and let that happen?”
“I didn’t expect them to involve you. This was a pack matter. It should have stayed a pack matter. The gwyllgi would have taken one look at the cleaners’ reports and demanded justice.” Her lip curled over her teeth. “Mendelsohn is an incompetent alpha, and the Loups will run their course once Garou’s heir is in power. Clairmont is sly, but she’s too cautious. She would let a crime go unpunished before she lost more of her miniscule number. The Kinases are our strongest rival, but they would have fallen without Midas now that Lethe has defected.”
“The city would experience a power vacuum if the gwyllgi were taken out, leaving it ripe for the plucking. That makes it a city matter.” I tested my grip, readying myself. “That makes it mine.”
“I am willing to let you live,” she bargained. “My coven and I have no quarrel with the Society.”
The fae part of her ancestry must carry more weight than her witch blood if her plan was to avoid the Society altogether. Its agreement with the Earthen Conclave, the ruling body for fae this side of Faerie, meant there would be harsh repercussions for her actions if civilian necromancers got killed or harmed.
The Society wouldn’t be thrilled with losing a potentate, or his protégé, either. Still, she had wiggle room there. The job was dangerous, and accidents happened. Especially to potentates-in-training while their boss was out of town.
“Siemen must not have gotten the memo.” I grimaced as my left arm reminded me I was fighting at half-strength. “Did you not catch the part where he tried to kill me? You were standing a few feet