Page 75 of White Raven (Nevermore Duet #2)

“That woman gave your man an envelope. I found it on him when I dropped him at your apartment. Your old lady friend knew your father’s real identity.

She knew a lot of shit. I assumed he was supposed to share that with you.

He never got the chance to look inside. I was ordered to get rid of it, and any other potential clues as to who he really is.

When I got to the antique shop, and found what I was looking for, she walked in and freaked out.

She grabbed her chest and hit the floor!

I swear to you, I didn’t hurt that woman.

I stayed with her until she took her last breath, said my prayers, and ran.

After that, I had a deadline to drop your mate off, and I barely made it in time! ”

Sarah wasn’t sure she was breathing. So, she didn’t kill her. Tony stood in silence, listening as best he could and keeping a sharp eye on Sykes.

“Why the hell should I believe you? And drop him off where?! ”

“I told you; I can’t tell you that. You don’t have to believe me.

You’ve got friends with connections. I posed as one of them.

You’ve gotta be aware of the truth by now.

Look up her coroner’s report. I know you wanna kill me, Sarah.

I can’t say I blame you, but you’ve gotta trust me.

He doesn’t want either of you dead. I am, and always have been… just the messenger.”

“Prove that.”

Sykes turned her head over her shoulder and then glanced back at Sarah with a grin. “We never talked. Got it?”

“Fine.”

“Come and get me, St. James.”

The call ended, and Sykes turned away from the window, disappearing from view.

Tony took off at the same time she did, and they raced across the courtyard, nearly slipping on the worn cobblestone walkway as they made a sharp turn around the wall into the breezeway and jerked the glass door open into the gift shop.

Several patrons looked around in confusion, and it was clear Sykes was gone.

In her wake, was what looked like a prize wheel, spinning its ass off. Sarah glanced above it.

“Poe’s wheel of misfortune?” she asked. The gift shop clerk stared at her, still clearly confused about the commotion.

“Just a little fun,” she said warily. “You spin the wheel and find out how you’d die in one of his tall tales. The lady in the red coat didn’t stick around to find out.”

Tony shared an inquiring look with Sarah, and the wheel began to slow.

As it did, Sarah noticed something attached to one of the slices.

A pamphlet. The wheel finally stopped, and Sarah didn’t bother to see which death the needle landed on.

She snatched the pamphlet, revealing the death underneath …

“BURIED ALIVE”

Tony cursed under his breath as Sarah flipped the pamphlet over. Her heart nearly stopped.

“Poe had already been buried in one place, and even though there were witnesses, some say they were never completely sure they moved the right body to his final resting place. A lot of weird shit happened with that.”

“His cause of death could never be determined.”

“It wasn’t the last time the lad used a fake name…he used another one to enlist in the military…”

Sarah stared at the picture on the front and whispered…almost to herself. “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.”

“What?” Tony asked.

John Allan was an impostor. One that had a mind brilliant enough to fabricate an entire existence long after his death.

Because he never died at all . The truth…

the truth Sykes knew she’d figured out, but still couldn’t believe…

was that Sarah’s real father…was Poe himself.

And Edgar Allan Poe…was a vampire. He had taken Athan to the place it ended…

and the place it started. Find Athan. Find Poe. He went back home .

She looked up from the pamphlet in her hand, her fingers shaking. “Athan…he’s in Poe’s grave. In fucking Baltimore .”

“You’ve been keeping secrets again, Captain,” Foster said, wagging a finger as she stepped into his office.

She shut the door behind her and made herself at home in a chair across from his desk.

He stared quietly at her, revealing nothing.

“You’re not gonna ask me what I’m talking about? Nothing to say?”

“I tend to focus on keeping my aggravation in check when you’re around, Agent Foster.”

“Fine. Play the fool. Good to know I still get under your skin.” She tossed her borrowed files on his desk, and they landed with a thud.

“I’ll just cut the bullshit and tell you exactly what we’re dealing with.

You and Rhaena Northwood are werewolves.

Your old partner got played by a vampire coven, killed, and you managed to lose our best asset—not that I blame you—on the same night you became what you are. How am I doing so far?”

Captain Foley tightened his jaw and rubbed his bald head. “Get to the point, Foster.”

“Alright. So then, Rhaena’s uncle gets flattened, the truth gets covered…redacted. You get your hands on more shit you know nothing about, or how to piece together, and you look at me like I’m the Devil in the flesh because I turn over every stone. No offense taken, by the way.”

He rolled his eyes.

“While you all have been sitting here stirring a pot you have no business even having, I’ve been all over the northern half of the west coast digging up every buried secret these people have. Ryan Sykes, as I told you, is a hybrid. She wasn’t turned. She was born .”

“Yes, you already told us that.”

“Let me finish,” Foster spat, holding up her palm.

“Thanks to this little gold nugget you found in your partner’s old stash of belongings, I’ve come to the conclusion that Rhaena Northwood’s mother had been part of this little experiment long before her uncle lost his unholy shit on you and Lindsay Trainor.

She and her husband entrusted little Rhaena to Elston Warner, who raised her as his own.

Meanwhile, Ashina Northwood, and her husband Baron, fled to the mountains in the northwest. Ashina survived her experiment… Baron didn’t.”

Foley leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk in intrigue. “How the hell do you know all that?”

“I have access to a lot more than you do, and I told you. I’ve been working this case for a while.”

“Tell me more.”

Foster crossed a leg over her knee and leaned back.

“Rhaena’s always believed her birthplace was Texas.

It wasn’t. Ashina’s family originates in Oregon.

She and Elston had a sister. Emery Warner.

Emery was what they called the runt of the pack, and their mother tried to abandon her in the woods because she was small and weak.

What they didn’t know was that Ashina and Elston took her and sought help to protect her.

They found that help from a very influential vampire elder, who raised Emery, and married her off to one of his own coven in Portland. ”

Foley’s mouth parted. “John Allan…”

Foster nodded. “You got it. John was good to them, but they had a baby. Ryan Sykes. Ryan was the first born hybrid. John wanted to study her, but Ryan’s father got fed up and tried to go against him one too many times.

John offered protection to the family, and all others like Ryan and Ashina, from the psycho that had tried to grow hybrids in a dish, so to speak. His oldest rival—Dahlia Van Hausen.”

“Holy shit, Foster.”

“So, you see…Ryan isn’t doing John’s bidding because she’s a shitty person.

She's doing it because John Allan holds the key to her family’s protection, her secret—and her father’s chains.

She can’t be harmed. I’ve been searching all over for her to prove what she is and help protect her.

To get them all out. It’s not all about promotion for me, Captain. I did the same for Sarah St. James.”

Foley slowly shook his head. “You know, don’t you…” She held his pointing stare. “You know what happened to St. James’ mother.”

“I already told her what happened. She was murdered by a vampire.”

Foley smirked and shook his head again as he leaned back and dropped his hands into his lap. “Yeah, okay. But you know more than that. You know who did it.”

Foster frowned. “I think you might know, too.”

Rhaena laid in her bed, a bare leg draped across Brandon’s thigh, staring at her engagement ring. “You sure you’re not a supernatural being?” she chuckled, turning the diamond around her slim finger. Brandon huffed a laugh.

“Last I checked, no…but you’re doing great things for my ego.”

“You’re doing great things for mine,” she said, meaning every word. “I never once thought that I’d look at a set of chains after all these years and be excited for them.”

“It was kind of exciting, wasn’t it?” he laughed.

She laughed with him, but then grew quiet, flattening her hand across his middle.

“Not much has changed as far as control, though. It’s obvious what sets me off now.

It’s not just the moon anymore. Now I have to figure out how to not want you every second of the day.

How to keep my temper nailed down. What the hell am I gonna do in Boston traffic? ”

Brandon laughed again. “God help us.” He slid his fingers between hers. “It’s gonna be a process. Cap’s had to figure it out alone. At least you’ve got us to lean on. You’ve got me .”

“I love you,” she whispered, turning her head to kiss his chest.

“Mmh…baby,” he grunted, kissing the top of her head. “I love you .”

“I’m starving. This time not for blood. That’s never gonna seem not strange to me.”

“I think you’ll adjust with that too.”

Rhaena raised onto her elbow and propped her head up on her hand. “I used to gag every time I saw Kane or Sarah drink from a bag. Sarah put it in her coffee once, and…God it seemed so…”

“I get it. But life’s full of changes, Rhaena. Some good. Some terrible. We learn to live with it all, and everything that comes with it. Then we try to manage the hardest part.”

“What’s that?”