Page 24

After a quick lunch at her desk, Lyrica sat back from the computer, her mind spinning. How was it even remotely possible for the newest victim to have shown up in the middle of nowhere like that? She couldn’t find a missing person report for Canada or Alaska with a description that fit the victim. The entire situation just didn’t make any sense.

A shadow crossed her doorway and she looked up, her eyes focusing. “Vero.” Her entire body flushed, head to toe, and heat filled her face until he r cheeks ached.

“Hi,” he said, his eyes a darker blue than usual. “How ar e you feeling?”

She blinked. “Um, good.” This was awkward. She shifted uneasily on her chair and pain ticked through her hips. Even though they’d been together last night, she didn’t feel close enough to him to explain the soreness she felt. Not that she was complaining, because she definitely was not. She would’ve bet that sex like that only happened in romance books. Dark ones. “I’d like to visit some of the newcomers later today. Maybe take them some sort of w elcoming gift?”

“Sure. Just make sure you’re guarded the entire time.” He looked distracted…and d angerous. Sexy.

She swallowed. “That’s fine by me. I’m not stupid, and somebody is killing women. And attacking Kurjan leaders.” The recent attackers had been after Vero, which should terrify her. But he was so dangerous when he fought. Why did she like that about him so much? “Also, I’m creating a presentation for you and Paxton about businesses some of the Kurjan mates would l ike to create.”

He frowned. “Why not just tel l their mates?”

“They want some independence, Vero,” she snapped. “Plus, apparently mates have been worried in the past about the Kurjan leadership and have kept their families out of sight.”

He sighed. “That makes sense. I tried to stay out of sight as much as possible as well. I guess we need to be more obvious about our changes.” He glanced at his watch. “We can do that if we all survive the Convexus.”

She cocked her head. “You and Paxton have been so secretive about that. Is it just a summit?” That’s the most she’d been able to get from either of them.

“Yes. The Dark Solstice for the entire Kurjan nation shall happen on Tuesday night, and it’s the most holy of nights. The Cyst make all important decisions that night, and it only occurs every thousand years or so. We feel the change in the atmosphere as it nears. So, if there will be a treaty, or better yet, if they’ll rejoin the nation, it has to be decided when the far shining star we call Leo Noctis goes dark.” He shrugged. “The Cyst are the spiritual leaders, and t hat’s our law.”

No wonder everyone was freaking out. Hopefully the camp would look like it was in one piece by then. “Leo Noctis? Doesn’t that me an Night Lion?”

“Yes. The star is in the constellation Leo, which looks like a lion, even to us. Humans call the star Regulus.”

Fascinating. “Does the star r eally go dark?”

“Yes. Your people call it occultation, meaning a planet passes in front of it. In our case, Venus passes in front of Leo Noctis, making it go dark. Every one thousand years or so.” He rolled his neck. “Our laws come from a time long before we knew that sc ientific fact.”

Every one thousand years? So, it truly was now or never. “Do you think the Cyst have heard about the killings and attacks in Kurjan ter ritory lately?”

His jaw firmed. “I’d like to say no, but it’s possible. I’m hoping Paxton’s arrival at the Realm will negate our internal problems here, but he still needs to return Tu esday morning.”

Movement sounded and Dr. Fizzlewick stood next to Vero. “Have you found the identity of the newest victim?”

“No,” Lyrica said, lifting both hands. “I don’t understand it. How in the world could somebody have brought the victim into the territory without an ybody knowing?”

Fizzlewick shook his head. “It’s not possible. She had to have already been here and somehow we missed her.”

Vero cut him a look, his gaze finally leaving Lyrica so she could breathe. “There’s no way we missed her. We know everybody in t his territory.”

Frustration darkened the doctor’s face. “We need to search for methods of transporting a victim here.”

“There’s a helicopter,” Vero said flatly. “That’s it. Somebody had to have flow n her in here.”

Grateful to return to a topic other than her tender personal parts, Lyrica relaxed. “You guys are immortal and have super strength as well as endurance. If you needed to do so, couldn’t you physically run to the nearest town?”

“Sure,” Vero said easily. “But it would still take a day or two through the mountains in this horrible weather. I don’t see how a human could survive being brought here. If somebody snowmobiled or drove her in a UTV, we would’ve see n or heard it.”

“Unless somebody in the territory worked with them,” Lyric a said quietly.

Fizzlewick cleaned his glasses on his lab coat. “How did it go with Silas?”

“I’m going to speak with him right now,” Vero said curtly, turning and striding away.

Fizzlewick watched him go. “Is it just me or is he in a mood?”

Lyrica coughed. Was it because of her? Did Vero regret the night they’d spent? She wasn’t sure how she felt about it except confused. He’d been the one who’d shown up with a winter bouquet in an effort to court her. She should smack him for not being smoother about this. Worse yet, she wanted to charge after him and see what was wrong, to somehow ease him. She groaned and tapped her palm against her forehead. She really was l osing her mind.

“Are you feeling all right?” Fi zzlewick asked.

“I’m fine.” She’d forgotten that he was even there. “I’ll return to searching for the identity of the newest victim.” Then she wanted to check on Maeve.

Fizzlewick nodded. “Good luck. For now, do you know where the sparkling water is being kept? I’d like to take a box to the med ical facility.”

“In the kitchen pantry. Botto m two shelves.”

He placed his glasses back on his ancient face. “Those shel ves are empty.”

She sat back. “Seriously?” Who kept taking all the water? “I’ll have more brought from the storage depot.”

“Thank you.” He turned on his spanking white tennis shoes and moved do wn the hallway.

She returned to the computer to broaden her search, having already checked Canada and Alaska. So it was time to try the rest of the United States. There were so many missing persons that it would take her a while to go th rough the data.

She worked in silence for an hour or so until a noise caught her attention from the gathering room. She pa used to listen.

“I said no coffee.” Ralstad’s voice came out strong and irritated.

Lyrica jumped to her feet and crossed around her desk to enter the room. Many of the soldiers popped in throughout the day to freshen their cups at the coffee station. She looked at Ralstad with Maeve next to him. Today the woman wore a long purplish-green gown with a thick wool coat. Her nose and ears were red, so it must still be fr eezing outside.

“I know. I was getting the coffee for you,” Maeve said, reaching for a bag of grounds on t he lower shelf.

“I don’t need coffee if you’re not having coffee,” Ralstad said, his eyes swirling a deep purple with red striations. He towered o ver the female.

Lyrica’s hackles instantly rose. “I think if she wants coffee, she ca n have coffee.”

Maeve jumped and Ralstad slowly turned, partially stepping in front of Maeve. “I don’t think eavesdropping is part of your job,” he said evenly.

Maeve slid to the side and into view. “Good morning, Lyrica. How is your day going?” she asked politely.

“It’s going fine. How are you doing?” Lyrica a sked pointedly.

“We went for a nice walk and are here to fetch more coffee. I hope it’s all right. Our supplies are low,” Maeve h astened to say.

Lyrica studied the tall soldier while speaking with Maeve. “Of course, it’s all right. The supplies are for everyone. There’s a large kitchen through that door if you need any other food, and we have just received fres h perishables.”

“We’re good,” Ralsta d said shortly.

Maeve sighed. “Actually, I would like to order a couple of items for our cabin.”

“No problem,” Lyrica said. “Do you want to come in to the office?”

Ralstad took his mate’s arm. “We don’t need anything.”

“We need a boot warmer,” Maeve corrected him.

His face darkened. “We most certainly do not need a boot warmer.” He looked sideways at Lyrica. “Thank you for your offer, though.”

Irritation and temper warred inside Lyrica. She didn’t want to cause a scene, but this was ridiculous. “Maeve, if you want a boot warmer, considering it’s freezing outside, I am more than happy to get you one.” She l ifted her chin.

Maeve glanced at her mate, then over at Lyrica. “That would be love ly. Thank you.”

Surprise filtered through Lyrica, then warning as Ralstad’s expression dark ened even more.

“We’ll be going now. Have a nice day.” He pivoted smartly on his h umongous boots.

The woman turned to go with him.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay and hang out with me for a while? ” Lyrica asked.

Maeve hustled along with her mate. “No thank you. I have bread to bake. Have a blesse d day, Lyrica.”

They bypassed the kitchen and went directly outside into the snowy day.

Lyrica shook her head. She had to get Maeve alone. This was an untenable position. She would help the woman if it was the last thing she did. Concern filling her, Lyrica eyed the coffee station and immediately began to replenish the automatic dispensers. A lot of the soldiers wandered in around lunchtime f or more coffee.

The outside door opened again and she turned, hopin g to see Maeve.

Instead, Genevieve and Lukas walked inside, holding hands, Genevieve giggling. They paused when they saw her and dropped their hands, guilt flushing across Ge nevieve’s face.

Lukas looked a t her directly.

“Sorry I’m late,” Genevieve said. “We went for a walk down to the river. It’s beautiful.” Her eyes lit up and a pretty smile c urved her lips.

Lukas nodded. “I’m off duty this morning, so we thought we’d take advantage of the pretty morning outside. Have you seen the sun?”

“No,” Lyrica said, surprised. The sun finally made an appearance? She might have to actually go outside. The sky had been dark and cloudy for too long. “I appreciate that it’s pretty outside, Genevieve, but please be on time for work.”

The girl wa s an hour late.

Lyrica hadn’t been worried because Genevieve rarely showed up on time. She wanted to slow dow n that romance.

Lukas’s chest puffed out. “Vero ordered me to provide protection for you today, Lyrica. He mentioned that you wanted to visit some of the cabins, and he also ordered Jonathan to be with us. He’s taking your protection v ery seriously.”

Gee, that was great. Now if only the guy wou ld talk to her.

Genevieve patted Lukas’s hand. “I better get into work.” Today the girl wore a pink sweater and jeans with what looked like new white snow boots. She shrugged off her matching white puffer jacket as she disappeared into L yrica’s office.

“What time do you want to go?” Lukas asked, his gaze on the now empty doorway.

Lyrica didn’t feel hungry, so she figured she’d just skip dinner. It would soon be dark, and she was happy to have the escort. “May be in an hour?”

“All right, I’ll be back,” Lukas said. “Perhaps Genevieve can come with us.”

Lyrica thought about it. She didn’t want to encourage a romance between the teenagers, but perhaps Maeve would respond better to somebody younger like Genevieve. “Not tonight. It’s really cold out th ere,” she said.

Lukas’s eyes lightened to a mellow violet. “That’s true,” he said. “But she always does make the night light er and warmer.”

Oh, for goodness’ sake.