Page 18 of Concluded (The Bureau #13)

D ee found Achilles—now cleaned up, fed, and tucked into bed in one of Jackie’s bedrooms—to be achingly handsome.

Even when Dee was young, he’d never had much sexual interest in anyone.

He had sex occasionally, but rarely got very into it.

He’d always needed to connect with someone emotionally before really wanting them, and that connection had never happened.

Until now. At the worst possible time with the worst possible person: the man whose torture Dee had facilitated. Still, he couldn’t help a stab of longing as he made sure that Achilles was comfortable.

“You should get some rest too.” Achilles spoke through a yawn.

“I will, soon.” Dee turned off the light and exited the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Jackie waited for him in her living room, settled into an armchair with a beer in hand. “Want one?” she asked, lifting the can.

“No thanks. Alcohol and I don’t really get along.

” He took a seat on the couch. Like everything in the house except the kitchen, it was old and worn, but also clean and comfortable.

Dee liked it. Hell, he liked the coyotes, who seemed like forthright, loyal people…

who would all be destroyed if Ashley had her way.

“Thanks for the first aid supplies,” he said before his thoughts got too maudlin. He’d helped disinfect and bandage Achilles’ ankles and wrists torn by the manacles and feet torn by the desert floor. Achilles would need more medical care, Dee figured, but this would suffice for the time being.

Jackie laughed softly. “Pack members are always getting banged up on runs and hunts or from just plain being rambunctious. And we can’t exactly visit a human doctor, so we make do.” She sat up straighter. “But my son’s going to medical school. He’ll be the first coyote doctor.”

“You must be very proud of him.”

“Yes indeed.” She took a long swallow of beer, sighed contentedly, and cocked her head. “What was that about wishes?”

He didn’t especially want to talk about this, but he had been the one to bring it up, and refusing would be rude.

“It’s, uh, something I can do. Grant wishes.

I mean, not for everything . But, like, good luck or fertility or things like that.

” He wasn’t going to mention the sorts of things he’d done for Ashley.

He didn’t even want to think about those.

Jackie looked intrigued. “How come you can do that?”

“No idea.”

“What are you, anyway?”

He blinked at her. “Pardon?”

“Well, you ain’t human. I can smell that for myself. But I don’t recognize… whatever you are.”

Dee stared. Not human ? What the hell did that mean?

Achilles had mentioned a few things, like wolf shifters, vampires, and merpeople, but Dee was fairly certain that he wasn’t any of those.

What else was there? Demons. Achilles had said something about demons.

Gods, what if Dee was one of those? It would explain the name his parents had given him.

Did that mean they were demons too? But he didn’t feel especially…

demonic. He’d done some really shitty things at Ashley’s request, but he hadn’t enjoyed them.

That was a lie. He had enjoyed the process at least, if not necessarily the outcome.

He swallowed bitter bile. “Until a short time ago I didn’t even know that the things I’d heard about in fairy tales were real. I’ve always assumed I was human.”

She shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “Doesn’t matter. I was only curious.”

Thankful that she was willing to drop the subject, Dee pushed the question of his identity deep into the closet where it belonged. “So anyway, I’m really grateful for your pack’s assistance. If I can, I’d like to give you the gift of a wish.”

For several minutes, Jackie sipped her beer thoughtfully.

Most people who came to Dee for charms wanted the same things: money, love, admiration.

He doubted, however, that Jackie would ask for any of those.

She appeared content with her existing lifestyle, and she had the love and admiration of her pack.

Probably she wanted people to leave her pack alone and not mess with their traditional land, but that was likely beyond Dee’s abilities.

Coyotes were predators, so maybe she’d ask for excellent hunting skills or sharper teeth or something like that.

Finally, Jackie finished off the can and set it on the end table.

“You know, we love to sing. We do it while in either of our forms, and it’s pretty important to our culture.

My sister Tammy? She used to have the most beautiful voice.

But we’re getting old, you know, and she just can’t sing as well nowadays.

Do you think you could fix that? It’d sure make her happy.

Make all of us happy, ’cause we loved to hear her. ”

And to think that until recently, he would have called Jackie and her pack monsters.

“I think I can do that,” Dee said. He glanced around for something to use as a charm, since he was out of Ashley’s pearls. He wouldn’t have been comfortable using those anyway. When his gaze fell on the empty beer can, he smiled.

While Jackie watched closely, he stood and picked up the can. He concentrated as he held it, and the now-familiar thrill ran down his spine, making him feel warm and tingly. Reminding him how handsome Achilles was, and how nice it had felt to hold him. Which was so not relevant.

With some effort, he turned off his internal power and handed Jackie the can. “Just hold it and make your wish.”

She looked skeptical. He didn’t blame her. But she clutched the can and closed her eyes, and in a clear voice said, “I wish my sister Tammy could sing as well as she used to.” She made a surprised little yelp when the can crumbled to ashes that then fell onto her lap.

“I don’t know how permanent this is,” Dee warned.

“Don’t matter. Even if it’s for a few hours, it’ll be real nice for her. For all of us.” She stood and brushed her hands clean. “You can have the other bed in Achilles’ room. You need anything more to eat?”

He answered with a jaw-cracking yawn, making both of them chuckle. “No thanks. I’m going to catch some shut-eye.” Tomorrow Achilles’ boss was going to arrive, and gods only knew what that would mean for Dee.

“All right. Sleep well. I’m gonna go find Tammy.”

Thirty minutes later, tucked comfortably in bed, Dee listened to Achilles’ soft snoring and, from outside, the sounds of coyotes accompanying a human voice in song. Dee fell asleep smiling.

* * *

“No! Gods, stop it! Don’t!”

Dee woke so suddenly that he nearly fell out of bed, and for a moment he sat twisted in the blankets, heart racing.

Then he remembered where he was and who else was in the bedroom, and he realized that Achilles had been doing the shouting and thrashing around.

It was too dark to see what was going on, so Dee reached over and switched on the light that sat on the little table between the beds.

Achilles cried out again, jerked upright into a seated position, and then groaned and clutched his belly. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, squinting from the light.

“Nothing,” said Dee, his heart settling into a more normal rhythm. “Sorry. I think you were having a nightmare.”

Achilles let out a long sigh and his shoulders relaxed, although he still gripped his midsection. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

“It’s okay.”

Dee turned off the light and lay down again. He heard Achilles make small pained noises as he did the same. Now both of them were very clearly awake, lying just a few feet apart in the darkness, and it was awkward.

Finally Achilles spoke. “If I do it again, just throw something at me.”

“You’ve been through a lot these past days. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ashley haunts my dreams too.” Dee shuddered at the idea.

“I wasn’t dreaming about her.”

Achilles sounded so bleak that Dee wasn’t sure he should say anything else. He wasn’t accustomed to comforting others and had rarely been comforted himself. But the silence felt oppressive, so finally he ventured a quiet question. “Then, what?”

“The bear. He got to me first, and I couldn’t do anything but lie there and bleed while he killed another agent, Santiago Bautista. He was a good man.” A ghost of a chuckle. “But honestly, there’s a cast of thousands waiting to ruin my sleep. I’ve seen so many fucked-up things.”

Dee had experienced a few horrible things too, although probably not as many as a Bureau agent.

The odd thing was that Dee never had nightmares.

Ever. Not even when he was a kid. In fact, he never had dreams at all, at least not that he could remember when he woke up.

He’d always figured that this was another quirk of his weird brain, maybe related to the same brain chemistry that made him avoid alcohol.

Possibly a mental illness so rare there wasn’t even a name for it.

Now, though, he wondered if the cause wasn’t something else entirely. Like not being human.

“Look,” Achilles said. “Tomorrow’s going to be a bitch of a day. I’m going to try to get more sleep. I feel like I could sleep for a week.”

“When this is… all over, you could take a vacation.” People did that, right? Even Bureau agents.

But Achilles gave another humorless laugh. “It’s never all over. We might win this battle. I hope we do. But there will always be more battles in the future. We’re Sisyphus, man.”

“So then what’s the point of fighting?”

“Well, maybe we can’t win, but I don’t want to lose. Besides, I guess we can find meaning in the struggle. Glory, even. When I die, I’ll know that at least I tried.” Then he yawned, rustled around a bit, and was silent.

Dee lay quietly and thought about his words for a long time.