Eying them with suspicion, she asked Kyden, “Everything okay?”
He nodded, took her hand, and pulled her out into the hall. “The Council is sending us out on an assignment.”
“Like hell they are.” She yanked her hand back, pinning him with a hard stare. “They’re sending you out, not me.” At Kyden’s frown, she reminded him, “I’m going to hunt my parent’s killer tonight.” She narrowed her eyes on Drake, who gave her a measured look. “You said that once I joined the Council’s Guard I could go after the wolf. Remember?”
Drake looked at her reassuringly. “You have a responsibility to the Council now that you’re a part of the Guard. The matter in New York is apparently not over. You need to finish the assignment you’ve taken on first.”
She bit back a curse, turned to Kyden, and tried another approach. “It was really your assignment. You deal with it.”
He shook his head in clear frustration. “Honestly, Nexi, do you think I’d allow you to hunt that werewolf alone?”
She gave a firm nod. “That’s exactly what I think.”
“So it begins–” He sighed, exasperated. “Again.”
Her lips parted to tell him where he could stuff his plans, when he wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her to him. He leaned down, bringing his eyes level with hers. “Please don’t argue with me.”
Too bad for him she planned to argue. Before she could, he added, “We have a responsibility to deal with the matter in New York City. The first assignment was given to us—we are a team, get used to that because I won’t have it any other way—and Drake is right: we cannot abandon our responsibility.”
At the part of her lips to lay down her side of the argument, Kyden placed a finger over her mouth. “If we don’t stop this, more lives will be lost. Do you want that on your conscience?”
She stared down the two determined faces and finally accepted defeat, glaring at both of them. “I hate you for using that to make me agree.”
Kyden grinned, brazenly. “Worked, though, didn’t it?”
“Maybe,” she muttered.
Drake kissed Nexi’s forehead and said to Kyden, “Be sure she stays safe.”
“Always,” Kyden said, with a firm nod.
Nexi scrunched up her nose, wondering if she’d stepped into the Twilight Zone. What in the heck had made these two so tolerant of each other? Had they beaten the testosterone out of their caveman bodies?
With a smile and a wave goodbye, Drake spun on his heel, heading down the hallway toward the Guardians’ Hall. Nexi followed his every step and once he vanished from sight, she jerked her head to Kyden. “Drake left a raging lunatic and returned not one. What the heck happened?”
Kyden’s mouth curved as he urged her forward with a hand along her lower back. “We had a discussion about my intentions.”
Nexi dug in her heels. “You cannot be serious?”
“Very serious.” He inclined his head, urging her forward again, and this time she obliged him.
She nearly laughed. As if she needed Drake to ensure Kyden was an appropriate suitor, or to kick the shit out of him if he wasn’t. “He obviously approved of you, considering you’re not dead.”
Kyden gave his arrogant grin, and smacked her ass. “Of course he did.”
She studied him, not blind to the mischievous hint in his eyes. “Are you going to tell me what you said to him?” A slow smile spread across his lips and he increased his stride, moving ahead of her. “Kyden…”
His low chuckle echoed in the hallway.
…
Talk about déjà vu.
The large parking lot, located only a block away from the last scene in New York City, had a factory with a loading dock to the left. The only light in the area came from a few parking lot lights above Nexi, which hindered her ability to see the body.
With Foley and Haven beside her, Nexi kicked a rock with a hard thump, sending it rolling toward Kyden, who strode ahead. She watched the rock hit his boot when he stopped dead, then she heard him curse.
Glancing over his shoulder, he stared at Nexi with troubled eyes. “Prepare yourself.”
“Prepare myself for what?” She hurried her steps, and as she drew near where he stood, her stomach churned, understanding his concern.
Next to the loading dock, a woman—or the pieces left of her—was scattered around the parking lot. Holding her breath, Nexi refused to inhale the scent of decomposed flesh, laced with the sordid odor of blood and internal organs. She scanned the area and found the woman’s head to the left and her torso to the right.
“Fuck, look at this.” Foley grunted a low, wolfish sound. “When Myers said it was a bad scene I thought he was gettin’ soft.”
Kyden’s jaw clenched as he turned to Foley. ”You weren’t first on the scene?”
Foley shook his head, looking grimly at the pools of blood beneath his feet. “Myers worked the day shift. I arrived mere seconds before you did.”
A soft cry sounded behind Nexi, and a dark emotion coursed through her body, causing her to gasp. Spinning around, she spotted Haven, who gawked at the torso, tears rushing down her cheeks. “Haven?”
Haven blinked slowly, then she ran into Nexi’s arms, embracing her tight. Her body trembled uncontrollably. “Who would do this?”
Before Nexi had the chance to think up a good answer other than a psychopath, Kyden approached. He took Haven from her arms and said to her in an unusually soft voice, “You have to be strong.”
Haven’s stared at the torso, and a blank, faraway look settled over her face.
Kyden gave her a firm, but gentle, shake. “We can’t let the one who did this get away. Recreate the scene and I’ll make it all disappear.”
Haven blinked again, slow and distant, and the trauma drifted from her eyes. “Oookay.”
Keeping Haven in his arms, Kyden helped her walk toward the torso, taking slow steps. He maneuvered around the scattered body and dodged the puddles of blood. When they finally settled over the woman’s torso, Haven raised her shaky hands to the sky.
Within seconds, the scene appeared, and Nexi used all her strength to keep her eyes open. Two wolves tore into the woman as if no one had fed them for months. The sound alone disturbed her. The horror in the woman’s eyes was much harder to accept.
It took way, way, too long before the woman actually died, and that only came when one of the wolves gnawed on her neck. The scene froze right after the wolves had shifted, and both wore big smiles planted on their faces.
Nexi didn’t hesitate, and she didn’t need Kyden’s direction. Raged burned in her blood as she approached the wolves, studying them from every angle. The first wolf looked like an everyday white-collar businessman, clean cut and shaven. The next guy, a little rugged, more of an outdoorsy type.
“Done?” Kyden asked.
Nexi nodded. “Very done.”
The sooner this scene vanished, the better.
Kyden drew his sword and slashed down into the torso of the woman. Then the evidence of this brutal killing vanished. The woman’s now joined body had a single wound at her neck.
“Cruelty at its finest,” Foley muttered.
“Nexi…” Haven inhaled a deep shuddering breath, then, she fell into Kyden’s arms, her emotions breaking wide open.
Nexi stood stuck on the spot and she fought to catch her breath under the sheer force of Haven’s despair. Her throat tightened, muscles tensed as she battled through Haven’s raw horror. Not only her sadness, but more so, her complete mental breakdown.
This, Nexi hoped to never feel again.
Kyden scooped Haven up in his arms, cradling her against him. To Foley he said, “Get the trackers on these wolves. Call in the location. We’ll meet you there.”
Foley nodded, reached into his pocket and grabbed out his phone.
Running forward, and without any explanation, since she didn’t one, Nexi followed on Kyden’s heels. He and Haven vanished first through the portal, and in a blink of an eye, she joined them. The dark night drifted away to a flash of light and the wind rushed over her body before her feet connected with the ground.
Nexi blinked, then spotted the Council’s Foyer around her.
Before she could even move, considering she still endured Haven’s torment, Zia ran out of the Council’s Hall. “What happened?”
Kyden knelt down, keeping Haven in his arms. “Bad scene.”
“Hush now, Haven.” Zia grabbed her hands as Haven sobbed. Not a second passed before Haven’s eyes fluttered and she drifted off to sleep. Zia sighed and turned to Nexi. “She’s fine now. I’ve erased her memory.”
Nexi shuddered at the release of Haven’s horror. If she never experienced that again, that would be a good day. Then she realized what had happened, and she narrowed her eyes on Zia. “You did what?”
“Haven has difficulty dealing with disturbing murders,” Zia replied, as if discussing a pair of shoes. “It’s in her best interests that I remove her memories.”