The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,72
gemstone dealers and then wandered around their properties half naked.
“Lakota?” Robert stroked his beard. “Which one is that?”
“We also call him Sky Hunter.”
Jack eased away from the car, his hands on his hips. “You mean the guy in the black pickup?” He scrunched his face and gave Robert a look I couldn’t discern.
Shikoba squared his shoulders. “They’re to be mated. Ceremony is tonight.”
I stifled a laugh.
That seemed to satisfy Robert, and he motioned for Jack to get in the car. “Take my advice, Shikoba. Cooperate and hand over the killer. We’ll be heading out now. If you hear any news, give me a call.” He glanced around. “Do you have phones out here? Anyhow, I’ll do what I can to keep the peace on my end, but I can’t make any promises. We uphold the laws, not enforce them. We would have to call in Regulators of the Security Force, and they’re not going to come out here and act as security guards. We’ll talk more later.”
Without another word, the two men got in the car and conversed for a few moments before driving away.
What other evidence did the Council have against the tribe? They seemed certain it was one of Shikoba’s packmates, so they must have been keeping something else to themselves. If someone in the tribe had murdered Koi by accident, he would have panicked for sure. Koi was Shikoba’s beloved nephew. Maybe the killer had taken the clothes because his scent was on them. I tried to imagine different scenarios, but detective work wasn’t my forte.
Shikoba climbed the steps.
“You lied to him,” I said. “About me and Lakota.”
He turned and smiled. “It’s only a lie if it doesn’t happen.”
Chapter 15
Lakota pulled up to the local Shifter bar and parked his truck at the back. When he’d woken up late that morning, he was lying naked on the floor. His wolf must have stayed up with her the whole night. Melody had slept through his shower, and he even stomped around loudly to rouse her before leaving. But she barely fluttered her eyelids, and he didn’t have the heart to wake her. She looked so angelic, and he wanted to remember her that way. Since she was free to leave, maybe goodbyes would only make it harder for him to concentrate on the job at hand—the crime he still had to solve. After placing a chaste kiss on her forehead, he’d closed the door and headed to town to see what the word on the street was.
The first thing he’d done was swing by his apartment to change clothes and grab something to eat. He gassed up his truck, talked to a few people at the market, and finally headed over to the bar, where most of the gossip usually took place.
When he hopped out of the truck, he tied his hair up in a topknot and tucked his black skull T-shirt into his jeans to look less tribal. He wasn’t as brown as the local tribes, his features were softer, and he didn’t speak with the same intonation and dialect. Lakota knew very well how to tweak the way he spoke to different groups of people in order to blend in like a chameleon. Because of those factors, some of the locals were more relaxed around him.
The afternoon crowd was a slow one, with just a few regulars sitting at the bar. An old Patsy Cline song was playing on the jukebox while the local drunks watched a court show on TV.
Lakota eased up to the bar and ordered a cold one. Normally he drank in the back, but technically he didn’t belong to the local tribes. The sign wasn’t a hard rule so much as a means to keep order and prevent fights from breaking out. The bartender popped the lid off a bottle and set it on a coaster. Lakota remained standing, his forearm resting on the bar as he casually glanced up at the television.
He nodded to Red. “Any news on the murders?”
The slender man polished a glass, his mustache twitching and his eyes swinging up as he thought. “There was just a small mention at the end. The big story was the latest scandal with the mayor. Did ya hear about that one? Apparently someone got caught taking bribes. Just as well. We don’t need all that media attention in our backyard. People like stickin’ their noses where they don’t belong.” When a man at the end of the bar called for another