Page 62 of Grave Beginnings

I did a little fake drum riff on the top of my desk, ending with an air cymbal strike. “I’m here all week,” I said, letting the humor ease the mood I’d been in as I flipped through the first book. Would any of these tell me who the fuck that guy was?

“Creepy landlord…” Angel said.

“Roommate doesn’t really fit if you have your own apartment.”

“He feels more like a mother hen most days.”

“Is that good or bad? My grandpa feels that way sometimes, even though he can’t really do much to take care of me anymore.” I shrugged. “Other than listen and offer hugs. He hovers.”

“Xavier is seen as the leader of our area across the Veil. A reasonable leader,” Angel said. “Mostly,” he amended. “He can be a bit of an asshole. But a well-meaning one.”

I thought about that for a few minutes, then finally decided to ask. “Does he happen to be super tall, with silver hair and stormy eyes? All big and muscly, with two pretty boy goons following him around?”

Angel’s eyes widened. “You’ve met?”

“NHVs who wanted my brother,” I said.

“That makes sense. Xavier’s got his number on file with most police departments in the state to retrieve shifters. It’s a way to keep our kind out of police custody where things might go wrong.”

“Wrong how? I was a cop.” Was he implying we’d randomly lock up shifters for the hell of it? No one wanted that kind of paperwork.

“It doesn’t happen often,” Angel said with a sigh. “Runs two ways. Shifter injures a cop trying to protect themselves—and weall know how cops take personal injury like it’s a death threat requiring instant annihilation—or they rough up a shifter too much for fun. It’s better that Xavier takes care of the shifter.”

“That’s not the mob sort oftake care of,right? Since you said he’s a leader of some kind.”

“Only to those who skirt the rules,” Angel said. “If a shifter is on a rampage, killing people for the hell of it or something, he handles it. It’s not always cake and warm pets to be a shifter. I wouldn’t want his job.”

“So, he’s like your alpha?”

“Alphas aren’t a thing outside of romance novels,” Angel said. “You know that wolf study was proven wrong, right? The guy who did the original study spent his entire life trying to get press for how wrong he was.”

“Yeah, but humans run that way,” I pointed out.

“That’s because humans are assholes,” Angel said.

I put my hand on my chest. “Human.” Then pointed at him. “Human.”

“Not according to a lot of people. And if it makes you happy, think of it aspeopleare assholes. Human and otherwise. But no, Xavier is not an alpha with a capital A, like the romance novels make alphas out to be. But he can be both savior and villain. It’s best to stay on his good side.”

“Are there a lot of leaders on the other side?”

“It’s broken up by districts. Xavier’s is fairly small, but one of the safest.”

“Is he going to be mad about you bringing me into his district?”

“No, it won’t bother him. Whether or not he gives us peace is a mystery. I mentioned to him that I was making you dinner, so he knows you’ll be there. His advice is often unrequested and cryptic. Does he realize you are the guy who took the new shifter from him? I don’t know.”

I stared at Angel, debating if I wanted to know or not. “What did he tell you today?”

“The dead are rising.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“Nope. Told you, he’s cryptic.”

“Do I need to worry about putting the dead to rest or something? Is that an SV ability? ‘Cause you might want to contact another SV.”

“Merrill can’t do it even if we needed that. His power is about as strong as listening to a seashell makes people think they hear the ocean,” Angel said. He pulled a box out of a bag from the bakery.