Sliver of Silver (Blushing Death) (14 page)

“Don’t worry. Really, this is good. You know I can’t sit around here and do nothing. I have a job, benefits, everything’s taken care of.” I tried to reassure her while convincing myself.

“Uh huh,” she groaned, her lips pursing in disbelief. “Like I said, be careful.”

“Stop worrying,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah. You take care of everybody else. If I don’t worry about you, who will?” she teased.

“Go get your laundry.”

“Fine,” she said, getting to her feet. “But get your stuff. We’re going for burgers. This conversation made me hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.” I laughed.

“Then you shouldn’t be surprised.” She trotted up the stairs to the laundry room and I slumped back in the sofa. I shouldn’t go out with her, not with those Strays on the loose but I couldn’t sit here either and think about Dean, Patrick, or Danny. At least for a little while, I could forget over burgers with Am.

Heaving myself up off the sofa, I grabbed my bag and waited for Am to get down with her laundry. Strays, werewolves, and vampires be damned. I was going out for burgers with my friend.

“Shut the door,” Jade whispered as she sat down and fired up the command center. Kurt was upstairs and if she didn’t want Kurt to hear it, it must have been about Jackson.

I did as she asked and came over to the computers, plugging in my iPod and switching it to
Slayer
, blaring the death metal in the tiny space.

“I heard you had a busy day,” she said.

“You have no idea,” I said as I plopped down next to her. Dean didn’t say anything to them over the phone but Jade’s Maserati had been parked in front of my house a long time before she and Kurt came in the house.

“Anything you wanna tell me?” she asked as she caught a glimpse of me out of the corner of her eye.

“You mean other than the body?” I asked, faking a lighthearted tone that I didn’t feel. The skepticism on her face crinkled her brow as she pursed her lips and narrowed her green eyes on me.

“Yeah, beside the body,” she demanded.

Yep, Dean told them.

“Nope, not a thing,” I said, focusing on the screens as I handed the DVD to her. “There’s one clear shot of this guy and we need to find a name to match the face.”
Keep it business and I can forget just about anything, even being shit canned
.

“Fine.” She sighed and I heard the disappointment in that sigh. She queued up the last frame of the DVD and worked her magic. The computer blazed to life, running the killer’s facial features through the recognition software.

Jade swiveled in her chair to face me with her arms crossed over her chest and a devious glint in her eye. “So, on a completely separate topic, I’ve found something irregular.” Spinning back to face the computer screens with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, she brought up another screen of numbers. The list looked like a bank balance sheet.

“What’s this?” I asked, intrigued, as I leaned over her shoulder to see the screen better. She hated that. That’s why I did it.

“Jackson’s bank records.” A proud little grin lit her eyes as she turned to face me.

I was too close and she jumped back. Straightening to my full height, I gave her some space with a stupid grin on my face. She rolled her eyes at my childish antics and continued typing.

“You’re such a good little hacker,” I mocked, patting the top of her head.

“I know,” she replied with an egotistical lilt and a sarcastic smirk. “Do you see this entry here?” She pointed to a line on the screen.

“The $5,000 deposit?” I asked, sitting beside her in another swivel chair as she enlarged the screen.

“Yeah,” she said, scrolling down the page. “It’s then promptly followed by a $5,000 wire transfer out.”

“So?”

“Well, this pattern has been going on every month for about 18 months and the funds are being transferred to three separate accounts. An account in the Caymans, a Swiss account, and believe it or not an IRA.” She snorted in disgust.

I didn’t know werewolves had retirement accounts. I also didn’t know they thought that far ahead. I started tallying the numbers up in my head and froze.

“That’s $90,000. Where is it coming from?”

“I don’t know. All the deposits I’ve seen are cash deposits,” she answered, flipping through another page of his bank records. “I also haven’t been able to crack the Cayman account yet. There hasn’t been any activity on the Swiss account but that Cayman account is a real bitch. They have so many stupid firewalls it gave me a headache last night.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. Spinning round and round in the chair like I was six, I rolled what she’d said around in my mind. “Where is he getting 90K?”

“I don’t know, and the cash deposit thing is really bugging me,” Jade said as she glanced over to monitor the facial recognition program on the other screen. “He doesn’t even deposit the funds at the same branch. They’re coming from all over town so I can’t track his activity,” she bit out.

Jade frustrated was a good thing. She’d try harder, push farther, and dig deeper, annoying everyone in her path.

“Do you think I’m over reacting now?” I asked, still spinning in the chair. Jackson was doing something that he shouldn’t. I felt it in my gut. Catching him might keep someone I cared about safe.

“No, I don’t. I also think Kurt should know. Kurt and Dean,” she chastised. “Now that we know something’s wrong,” she snuck in as she caught my uncertain glance out of the corner of her eye.

I was in no hurry to see Dean again. Every time I was near him, I felt on edge and off balance. No matter how uncomfortable I was, she was right. They needed to know something was wrong in the Pack.

“Let’s call him down,” I said, resigned. I wasn’t going to get any sleep again tonight. That didn’t matter, though. I didn’t have anywhere to be first thing in the morning anymore. A huge weight lifted from my being. For the first time that afternoon, I didn’t regret being shit canned. Not too much, anyway.

Jade called Kurt down and we explained our suspicions to him. He studied me carefully, straddling the chair next to Jade, his back rigid and his jaw tight.

“What made you suspect him?” he asked. 

“He rubbed me the wrong way,” I admitted with a shrug.

When I’d first met Kurt, he was solid but not very dominant. He couldn’t beat Jackson in a fight but now as I watched him, he carried some of Jade’s confidence and some of her
chutzpa
. When I glanced back at Jade, she seemed to have some of his serenity.

Kurt grabbed his phone from his pocket. He stood and headed upstairs. Halfway up the stairs, he said, “I think you need to come back over here. There’s something Dahlia and Jade want to discuss with you.” He was quiet for a long while before he answered. “That’s a while from now. It’s important,” Kurt insisted. “No, Gaoh. I’m not questioning you,” he said defensively. “Yes, Gaoh.”

He trudged back down the stairs, his heavy boot falls stopping for a brief moment. He probably needed to wipe the confusion I heard in his voice from his face, before he turned the corner and rejoined us.

“Dean said he’d be here later, after Patrick was awake,” he said. There was a question in his voice that I wasn’t about to fathom an answer. 

“Don’t worry, Kurt, I think it’s more because of me than because of you,” I said and patted his shoulder as I passed him in the doorway. He sighed in relief as I climbed the stairs. “Let me know when you’ve got something, Jade,” I yelled down the stairs. “I need to take a bath,” I said under my breath.

“You can’t wash him or the Pack off,” Kurt said in a low rumble that I was sure Jade couldn’t hear. Kurt’s head peeked around the door and he met my eyes. He knew why Dean was avoiding me. If I didn’t want to acknowledge it, Kurt would. Hell, if I let him, Kurt might make me actually face whatever was going on and deal with it. I couldn’t let him do that.

“I can try,” I said as I continued up the stairs.

Chapter 14

Patrick blew into my house like a cool breeze on an October night. He closed the back door in the kitchen behind him as Alex waved to me and headed downstairs, seeming much more at ease than the other night.

As he approached me and Patrick’s dark eyes focused on me as if I was the only person in the world. I didn’t want him to worry, especially about me. He’d worried so much already. The caress of his cool power against my skin was like taking a deep breath in winter, sharp and invigorating. He kissed me, delicate and almost chaste, with just the merest press of lips. When I shied away, he grabbed me. His dark eyes bore into mine before he crushed his mouth upon mine. He forced my lips apart and sank his tongue deep into my mouth, as if he would swallow me whole. His arms wrapped around me like a boa constrictor and I was completely secure in his arms.

I was safe.

I was loved.

And something was still missing.

I succumbed to his embrace as his lips parted, tasting me, and I slipped my tongue between his teeth, lightly scraping his fangs against my flesh. Patrick’s hands slid up my back until his fingers were spread through my hair holding my face where he wanted it. The petite sound of Alex clearing her throat behind us halted our kiss. I giggled into his mouth but Patrick finished the kiss, edging away slowly as if Alex hadn’t disturbed us. He gazed down at me with a devilish grin that made my stomach flutter and my heart race. I found myself smiling up at him in return.

“Nice timing,” I said in a saucy tone that didn’t have the
umph
behind it to really be threatening. The shit-eating-grin still on my face and Patrick’s arms wrapped around me, didn’t help.

“I heard you had a busy day,” Alex said with a smirk and strolled by me. She plopped down at the kitchen table and flung her feet and heavy boots up onto
my
kitchen. She leaned back in the chair on two legs. I moved away from Patrick and narrowed my eyes on her with my hands on my hips. Alex rolled her eyes and heaved her feet to the floor with a thud, setting the chair down on all four legs.

“You could say that,” I replied in a terse tone.

“Enough,” Patrick begged. He sounded as tired as I felt. “Alex, find Dean. He should be here soon.”

Alex nodded and left us alone in the kitchen.

A heavy sigh and a rush of relief flowed from Patrick to me, making my skin tingle. “She’s angry with you.” His fingertips traced down the length of my arms in a sensual line that sent shivers up my spine.

“Yeah, well, I’m mad at her, too,” I said. My voice, however, was filled with the craving pulsing through me from his simple touch.

This isn’t helping. I need to talk to him without my head clouded by lust.

Sliding out from under his delicate fingertips, I turned to face him and threw my hands up in surrender. A smirk curled my lips at the expression of satisfaction glinting in his dark eyes. He leaned against the fridge in an easy, graceful stance that seemed too elegant for my kitchen. I took a deep breath as he relaxed and lowered my hands.

“I need to talk to you,” I said. My shoulders tensed as I started what I knew would be a confrontation.

Patrick narrowed his eyes on me, sensing my unease. He didn’t move and his hands stayed loose at his sides but I knew better. His nervousness felt like pin pricks tickling across my skin.

“Okay,” I said.
Quick is best.
“I got fired today.” His eyes grew to the size of saucers but his body remained still. Creepy still.

“What happened?” he asked. His voice was too controlled and his jaw too tight. He didn’t seem surprised; he seemed mad.

“I was late one too many times,” I said. “No big deal.”

He wasn’t buying it.

“You lost your position due to our involvement, didn’t you?” His anger boiled beneath the surface, sparking up my spine like a firecracker. I couldn’t lie to him. He’d smell it and he’d feel it in his gut as I felt it in mine.

“Yes,” I admitted as resignation rang through my words.

“I’m sorry,” he said. His words were so soft that I almost didn’t hear them. Shrugging my shoulders, I crossed to get a glass from the cabinet.

I wasn’t worried anymore. Dean’s offer had taken care of that, no matter how much it stuck in my craw that I’d failed. Regardless of what anyone thought or told me, that’s how I felt. I hadn’t been able to cope with work, a relationship or two, and my extracurricular activities. I’d failed. 

“You could work for me,” Patrick offered. Excitement bubbled up in him, making me lightheaded.

That’s what he really wants and has all along.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I replied. My front door opened behind Patrick and even though I couldn’t see him, I knew who it was. I felt him in the rising heat in the air. A minute or so later, Alex and Dean entered the kitchen.

“Besides, I already have a new job,” I said. 

“Really?” Patrick asked, his eyebrows knitting together in skepticism. “Where?”

“Dean gave me a job,” I said, meeting Dean’s gaze. Alex stopped mid-step and Dean’s shoulders tightened, filling the doorway with his broad expanse.

“He did, did he? How kind of him,” Patrick snarled. Anger, jealousy, and finally betrayal billowed off of him in waves.

“I thought so,” I snapped, confused.

“Is there a problem?” Alex asked with a smirk.

“Yes,” Patrick hissed.

“No, there isn’t,” I snapped, staring Patrick down with as much tenacity as he had anger. Patrick turned on Dean, a growl filling his throat in a deadly rumble.

“It was very convenient for you to offer her a job, and so quickly,” Patrick snapped as his anger boiled over, sending ice skittering across my flesh.

Dean’s eyes flashed crystal blue in reaction.

Shit!

“I came for my keys,” Dean snarled. “She was crying. What was I supposed to do? Leave?” His tone was defensive as his hands fisted at his sides. “I need the help,” he snapped.

“HORSESHIT!” Patrick shouted, to my surprise.

I’d never heard him raise his voice in anger. I wasn’t sure that’s what it was either. Sure, anger was in there somewhere but it was overpowered by jealousy and fear. Sometimes,
I wished the nifty empathic gift came with a
reason
button. My life would’ve been a whole lot easier.

A low growl rumbled through Dean’s chest and his eyes shifted completely to the Caribbean blue of his wolf. His tension-filled shoulders squared as he shifted to the balls of his feet. Patrick’s fists tightened at his sides, and the cold wind of his power swept through the room.

I stepped between them to stop it.
Stupid. Stupid. STUPID!

Placing a hand on both men, dead square in the middle of their chests, I tried to shove them apart before they destroyed my kitchen, or each other.

I was caught. Stuck like I’d caught my hands in superglue. I couldn’t jerk my hands away from either of them.

A surge passed through me as their power collided inside my body like a storm. The heat from Dean’s magic and the Pack mixed with the cold defiance of death from Patrick and his Colony. The swirl of power and magic caused a whirlwind of hurricane strength inside me. Every muscle tensed and my head pounded with the heavy beat of my heart. The eye of the storm was there somewhere. I could feel it teetering around my edges. I was, however, stuck in the winds of their power and being thrashed about like a paper doll.

My breath caught in my throat as the wind of power and magic circulated, seeking someplace to belong, someplace big enough to hold all of it. I couldn’t contain it. Every cell in my body burned with static shock as the power surged in my chest and my brain. My blood pumped fierce, violent, and hot through my veins as I sank to my knees, dragging rigid fingers down the front of their bodies. The hard jolt of linoleum shot through me as my knees hit the floor hard. I couldn’t remove my hands from either of them no matter how much I wanted to, like being electrocuted and handcuffed to the power plant supplying the power.

Magic surrounded me in a bubble of static energy as both Patrick and Dean’s powers tried to consume me, claim me. The more the force of their energies collided into me and mingled, the more they became something more than the polar opposites of each man’s power.

“What’s happening?” Alex screamed from miles away.

“Oh God,” Dean moaned, his voice rumbling in audible pleasure. His muscles quivered beneath my touch as the energy wrapped around us.

“She’s taking our power!” Patrick gasped. He knelt beside me, following me down to the floor, remaining still and cold under my touch.

Pain!

The pulse of power ripped me apart at the seams from the inside out, with no care at all if I was dead or alive at the end of it. I focused on that. Survival. I was good at survival.

I fought with everything I had in me to keep that damned energy from consuming me. It was tearing me apart. The air, thick and static around me, moved as the energy slammed against something solid.
Me.

“STOP!” Patrick growled. “DON’T TOUCH HER!”

The solid object that drove against me, stopped and moved back from my own bubble of energy.

Alex stared down at me with pity in her dark chestnut eyes as she yanked her hand back.

My brain felt like it was melting in my skull. I screamed as both their powers made a final thrust for dominance. The scorching-hot power of Dean and the Pack burned my insides as it rammed into the ice-cold power of Patrick and his Colony freezing everything else. Finally, they merged into something else, something feral and untamed.

I finally yanked my fingertips from both. Like touching a hot stove, my fingers felt like I’d left the top two layers of skin behind but I didn’t care. Collapsing onto my hands and knees in a heaving, exhausted lump, I breathed in the charged air floating static around me. My lungs burned with each breath and my skin tingled like pins digging into my entire body. My skin was raw, like I’d been rubbed down with a glove of tiny needles.

“What the hell was that?” Dean asked in a breathy, husky tone.

I’d never heard him swear before. I would have used a much harsher word of the four-letter variety. Both men’s feet were in my peripheral vision. Patrick’s shiny black Italian leather loafers and Dean’s soft tan work boots. I would’ve given anything to feel my legs again and stand with them.

“Are you all right?” Patrick’s voice was soft, taking a step back from me as he spoke. He moved out of my sight line and my heart sank as he backed away from me. 

“Dahlia?” Patrick hesitated.

I didn’t want to utter a word and have either of them notice the catch in my voice or the tears staining my face.

“Dahlia?” Dean murmured. He inched closer to me and I gasped when my stomach tightened.

“I-I’m,” I stammered, trying to stop my voice from trembling. I hurt all over. I couldn’t move without a stabbing, searing pain shooting up my spine. Sick to my stomach and weak, my brain hummed inside my skull like it was too big to fit in my skull and vibrating to get out. “I’m fine,” I managed to get out through clenched teeth.

“She doesn’t look fine,” Alex offered.

“Alex, don’t touch her,” Patrick snapped.

It was an order. I heard the threat it in his voice.

“Dean,” Patrick warned. His tone was reassuring if nothing else. He wasn’t angry. He was careful, very, very careful. “Step back, please.”

“Why?” he growled.

“Humor me, please,” Patrick ground out through clenched teeth, clearly annoyed.

As Dean moved those few steps away from me, a quiver of release overwhelmed my whole body. I had a momentary empty feeling like I’d lost something. In a flash, I was in my own skin, safe and warm, without any pain. My skin stopped tingling and everything around me hummed like a thousand hummingbirds hovered in the air around me.

Taking a long, easy breath, my lungs expanded to their full capacity without pain for the first time in what felt like years. My hair follicles felt sensitive, as if they stood on end.

“What happened?” Dean asked.

“Can’t you see it?” Patrick asked, his voice sounding mystified and awestruck.

See what? What the hell is he talking about?

“No,” Dean replied with a question in his voice.

I managed to slide up from all fours and lean back on my shins and knees.

“There is a low vibration coming off of her, though.”

What the hell?

“Can you feel it, or hear it?” Patrick asked, all academic-like.

He was starting to piss me off. I wasn’t a specimen to be studied.

Dean breathed in, a long, deep inhale of air, exhaling slowly through his nose.

“Both,” he answered.

“Who the fuck gives a shit?” I snarled through clenched teeth, digging my fingers into the top of my thighs and through the denim of my jeans.

“Dahlia?” Patrick said, too close to my ear.

Patrick crouched down to my level several paces away. I could feel him hovering on the outside of the bubble of energy still humming around me. He made every effort not to touch me. I turned in one stiff motion, my neck and back moving together in one tight line of tension to face him. My jaw clenched at the force of power shoving me down and my eyes went wide with anxiety. The power prodded at me, down on me, and tried to go through me. I didn’t hurt anymore but I wanted it gone.

“Are you fighting it?” Patrick asked.

What the hell is he talking about?
I didn’t answer.

“Dahlia, are you holding the power at bay?” he rephrased.

I gritted my teeth and I nodded sharply.

Of course I was keeping the fucking power out. It didn’t belong in me and I wanted it gone. What the hell did he think I was doing?

“Stop fighting,” he whispered.

There’s no fucking way I’m letting this thing, whatever it is, take me over.
I shook my head until I could feel my brain bounce off the inside of my skull.

“No,” I growled.