Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) (11 page)

“Marcus,” Jared said, grinning. He
snapped up the name like a grizzly grabbing a salmon mid-jump.

Melcher shook his head. “He doesn’t like to get his clothes wrinkled, let alone his hands bloody.”

Jared smirked. “He’s not the only one.”

“It’s not Marcus,” Melcher reiterated, sitting up in his chair. “He wants to draw as little attention to himself as possible.”

How did Melcher know so much about Marcus? My head started spinning. At least the attention wasn’t on me…whoops, spoke too soon.

Melcher had his eyes on me. “You were at Marcus’s?”

My mouth hung open.

“
We’ve been seen together at West so the guys inquired about her and extended an invitation,” Noel said.

Melcher thought this over then nodded. “And what was the
other boy doing there?”

“He saw Aurora getting into my car Friday night and follo
wed us. I think he had a crush on her.”

Now my mouth
really dropped. I didn’t mind Noel speaking for me at first, but I was starting to now.

D
ante whistled. “Heart. Breaker,” he said, beating a fist against his chest.

I glared so hard I swear I
strained my eyeballs.

“I didn’t even know the boy! We had like one conversation. Maybe two.”

“Two too many.” I heard Valerie say under her breath.

Maybe she’d like a shiner to match the one she got the week before.

“Who all was at this party?” Melcher asked.

His question was directed at Noel
, so I sat back. If she wanted to do the talking then, fine, she could be the one to out everyone in Marcus’s inner circle. As soon as they let us out of here, I was warning Fane. I didn’t think Noel would have been the vindictive type when it came to Gavin hooking up with Valerie, but then you never really knew a person until a boy ended up dead.

Melcher had a notepad out. He picked up a pen and looked at Noel.

“Obviously, Marcus was there,” Noel began.

She began reciting
names. I couldn’t imagine how she’d become familiar with so many. Someone knew how to do her job.

As the list continued, my fists tightened
, my fingernails leaving crescent indents in the palms of my hands.

Noel stopped speaking. I didn’t look at her for fear of attracting attention, but now that she’d finished, I noticed she’d left out Gavin, Henry, and Fane from the guest list.
I loosened my fists. I shouldn’t have doubted her.

Valerie didn’t pipe
up, either. Maybe she really did want to protect her suck buddies.

“And that’s everyone?
” Melcher asked.

“Everyone I can think of,” Noel replied without hesitation. “If I think of anyone else, I’ll let you know.”

“Very well,” Melcher said. “I need you all to wait in the hall while Jared and I talk. We’ll call you back to deliver your instructions so don’t wander far.”

8

The four of us filed out in silence.

Valerie began texting the moment we walked out. She leaned against a corner at the far end of the hall.

“I had no choice,” Noel whispered.

“I know,” I
said.

There
wasn’t time to say anything more. Dante slipped in between us. “Poor Agent Crist, who would have dreamed?”

I nodded solemnly. “It’s horrific. And
Mike.” I had to stop talking. My throat constricted.

I felt like such a wretch
—always bellyaching about not leaving the state for college. At least I got to go to college. Mike wasn’t going anywhere anymore. No bucking bronco at Boise State. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

Dante
put an arm around me and Noel. I thought he’d say some words of condolence or support. I should have known better. “What’s with this party I wasn’t invited to?”

I pressed my shoulder against my ear. Dante’s breath tickled against my neck.

“You wouldn’t last five minutes with Marcus,” Noel said.

Dante chuckled.
“So he’s a biter, is he?”

I rolled my eyes. “Only when it comes to hot younger men.”

Dante leaned into me. “You just admitted you think I’m hot.”

“Did I?” I raised a brow.

Dante nodded slowly, staring me straight in the eyes. “Can’t take it back now.”

“I can’t believe you two, flirting when Agent Crist’s killer is on the loose.”

I gave a little jump when Valerie appeared behind us. “We’re not flirting!” And don’t tell me she hadn’t been off texting with Gavin.

“Speak for yourself, Sky,” Dante said and winked.

Valerie made a sound of disgust. She folded her arms beneath her bosom, pushing up both breasts, and tapped her foot. “Do they plan on keeping us here all afternoon?”

I took a breath. “Val, it’s been like three minutes.”

Valerie stopped tapping and glared at me. “Don’t call me Val. Only my close friends have permission to call me Val.”

“Whatever,” I said, throwing up my hands before I walked away.

Noel quickly followed me.

“That time of the month?” Dante asked
Valerie before joining us.

Dante put an arm around me. I didn’t want him to, but I couldn’t exactly shrug him off when he’d dissed Valerie on my behalf.

“That one’s wound tight,” Dante remarked, massaging my shoulders.

Noel watched Dante’s hands
at work on my back. When she met my eye I gave her what I hoped was a “we’re just friends” look.

Noel’s lips twisted. “I’ll be right back.”

Shit. Maybe she misread me and thought I wanted some privacy.

I pulled out of Dante’s arms as Noel disappeared around the corner. I faced Dante
with my arms folded
over
my chest. He shot me a lopsided grin.

“Feel better?”

“A little.” Not even close.

Dante leaned into me. “Listen,” he said, glancing
to the side then back. “As soon as I arrived I had a chat with Melcher.”

“Oh?” Now what?

“I requested he pair us up again. We work well together.”

I nearly laughed. My arms actually dropped.

“Dante, we don’t work together at all. You left me alone with two vamps in Fairbanks…during my
first
mission. You weren’t even in town when Renard and his henchmen abducted me.”

Dante listened to all this with the kind of expression that indicates a guy isn’t listening at all but rather rewriting everything you say inside his head to fit his version of the facts. “What about when we went back to interrogate the boy? We got him into the cabin together. You tied him up. You even handed me the knife when it came time to interrogate the subject.”

I shuddered. This wasn’t exactly something I wanted to remember. Great teamwork—torturing and killing a human.

Dante took me by both shoulders and dipped down to look me in the eyes. “What’s the matter, Sky?”

I shook my head. “I still can’t believe they’re dead—Agent Crist and Mike.”

“Did you like this boy?”

My lower lip threatened to tremble. “No. That’s just the thing. I thought he was annoying. I was relieved he wasn’t at school today, and that makes me feel a thousand times worse.”

“Hey.” Dante squeezed my shoulders gently. “There’s no
thing wrong with being honest.”

A phone rang behind us. The secretary
informed us that we could go back inside Melcher’s office. I looked over my shoulder and saw Noel reappear from around the corner.

Valerie walked in f
ront of Noel and took her former seat.

Noel stumbled on the way
, quickly righted herself, and went for the next available chair. Dante took his usual stance against the wall. He looked from me to the spot beside him. I joined him. Better than sitting beside Valerie.

“All right everyone, let’s get down to business,” Melcher said.

He and Jared were in the same positions we’d left them in: Melcher at his desk, Jared on top of Crist’s.

“Two of the guests at this party have left town. We’ll start with them.”

Jared slipped off the edge of Crist’s desk in one fluid motion and stood. “Listen up, rookies. We’re splitting into two teams.”

It was almost worth being called a rookie to
see the scowl on Valerie’s lips.

Almost.

“Ginger and Raven, you’re with me.”

Should have known I’d get
paired with the vixen and Commando.

“We have names
, you know,” Valerie retorted.

“Not on mission
, you don’t,” Jared said. “You two,” he said louder, looking between Dante and Noel. “Moose and Mouse. You’re a team.”

I snorted. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not.”

I swear I saw Jared grin at me. In a flash it
disappeared.

“We have a person of interest in
Sitka and one in Fairbanks.” Jared set a quarter with a
click
on Crist’s desk. He slid it across the surface then scooped it up off the edge. He looked directly at Dante. “Heads you go north. Tails, south.”

Dante grinned. This
was the sort of game he liked to play.

Jared used his thumb to flick the quarter in the air. We all leaned forward.

Heads, heads, heads
, I chanted in my own head. I’d sooner go to Siberia than back to Fairbanks.

Jared caught the quarter mid-air and slapped it on his arm. “Heads,” he announced.

I actually smiled and let out a breath. It was pretty funny seeing as there wasn’t anything to be relieved about. I still had to leave town on mission with “Ginger” and Jared.

I met Jared’s eye. “What do we call you on mission?”

“Just Jared.”

Naturally.

“Why do you get to keep your name?” Valerie asked, her lips forming a pout.

“Because I’m in charge on mission.”

“
It’s settled,” Melcher said. “I’ll book three seats on Alaska Airlines leaving tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” My jaw dropped. “What about school?”

“Sorry, Aurora. This takes precedence.” 

I might have left it at that,
Lord knows I didn’t want an audience, but my stomach had twisted into angry knots and something inside me snapped. “You’re kidding! I can’t go to an out of state college, and now I can’t even finish high school?”

I hated Melcher’s nonchalant attitude. I hated the lack of concern in his smug expression.

“You’ll get your degree, Aurora. If you get too far behind this semester I can always arrange correspondence. Just hang in there another few months. Here.” He handed me a slip of paper.

“What’s this?” I
asked after taking the paper from him.