But I really, really wanted to avoid this particular fight. They were completely unreasonable, and I wasn’t going to let their male pride and bravado get in the way of doing what was right. They should have known me well enough to figure out I wouldn’t let the subject drop. If they weren’t going to help me, I would find someone who would.
“Here she comes,” I whispered out the side of my mouth as Jane Nichols walked off the dance floor in her mini skirt and tank top. She looked super cute and young. On the surface, she looked like the girl you went to college with and wished you still saw on a regular basis because she was so much fun. She didn’t look like a badass werewolf private detective.
“Oh, my god, Zoey Wharton!” She practically squealed my name. She jumped up and down and pulled me into the girliest hug ever. I glanced back and saw Zack was comfortable the Legally Blonde reject wasn’t a threat. Even in the werewolf world, a female like Jane is considered soft and sweet right up to the point when she takes your head off. Her blonde Barbie look is one of her greatest assets.
“Jane, it’s been so long,” I said with a sorority sister sincerity. It hadn’t been that long. I’d been talking to her almost daily on my cell.
Jane seated herself and we chatted lightly, as though we were catching up. When I was satisfied that Zack was paying attention to Lisa and nothing else, I looked at Jane and asked the question I’d been asking every single day for the last six months.
“So where is Neil?”
Chapter Two
I missed Neil Roberts every second we were apart. He was my best friend and official gay husband. He’d been my bodyguard and my playmate. Everything that had gone on in the last six months didn’t quite seem real because I had yet to share it with him. I might have been able to handle the separation if I knew he was off somewhere having a good time and enjoying his life, but he was in trouble.
Neil had been Daniel’s servant for several years. He was a crucial member of the crew I worked with. Before Daniel had come clean about his status as the Council’s Nex Apparatus—a really pretentious way of saying he was their assassin—we made our money the old-fashioned way. We stole things. We specialized in arcane objects no human thief would touch.
Neil was the muscle. Sarah was our witch. Daniel handled everything we needed a broody vampire for, and I held us all together and took care of anything that required a deft touch. Over the years, we’d become close.
That all changed six months ago when Daniel had forced his will on his servant.
Danny had been riding a high from feeding off some supercharged sexual energy and discovered his new power over his preferred animal, the wolf. Neil was angry because his lover had been the one chosen for sacrificial lamb duty. Back then I sided with Neil, causing a rift between myself and Danny that led to my untimely death and Daniel’s refusal to even hear Neil’s name spoken.
I didn’t blame Neil. Maybe he should have hung around and fought it out with Danny, but I understood the impulse to run. I also understood how stubbornness could put a person into a corner it was hard to get out of. I wanted to reach out to my friend to let him know I was still here for him. I just needed to find his ass first.
“He’s been really hard to track.” All the bimbo act had been erased from Jane’s demeanor. “I started in Vegas where Sarah saw him last.”
Sarah nodded and shared a look with Felix. “I wasn’t very helpful, I’m afraid. He hugged me. He told me to ask you to forgive him. Then he changed and he ran off.”
The minute Felix had picked up Neil, he’d come out from under Daniel’s influence and been able to act on his own again. He fled Las Vegas that night with nothing but the fur on his back. I made sure to put money in his bank account, but as far as I could tell, he hadn’t touched it. He was alone with no money, no cell phone, and no friends.
“I suspect he spent most of the winter in wolf form. I have reports of a white wolf wandering the Sangre de Cristo mountains in Colorado. Most of the wolves in the area are gray or brown, so he stands out,” Jane explained. “I tracked him for a while in my wolf form, and I spent a couple of days running with him, but I couldn’t get him to change into his human form.”
I took a long breath. At least he was alive. “How did he seem?”
Jane frowned. “He seemed weak. It’s surprising because staying in his animal form for that long should have made his wolf incredibly strong. It makes it harder when you’re in human form, but his wolf should be solid. Do you have any idea why he was weak? He was thin despite the fact there was ample game in those woods.”
I had a theory, but I suspected Jane wouldn’t like it. “Do you know who my husband is?”
Jane nodded, but her expression was blank as though she didn’t want to give away her real opinions on the subject. Daniel was a controversial figure even in the vampire world. Jane was a wolf, and wolves rarely trusted vampires. What I was about to tell her wouldn’t make that trust any easier. “I know who Daniel Donovan is. Everyone in our world is aware of him. Your faery made sure of that.”
The last bit was said with a hint of salacious question. Lots of people were interested in our living arrangements. I had learned to ignore it. “Neil was Daniel’s servant.”
Her eyes tensed slightly. “So it’s true. Donovan can call wolves.”
There was no point in lying about it. Daniel didn’t. “Yes, he can. Neil took a blood oath to serve my husband several years ago. When he made the oath, Daniel’s control of this particular power was nominal. Since then he’s grown and his power grew with him. When Neil attempted to break his oath, Daniel was able to control him physically.”
Jane shuddered. “I’ve heard of this power, but it’s been many generations since a vampire’s shown mastery of it. You have to understand how this will affect my people’s view of him. They’ll fear him.”
Making inroads with the werewolves had proven difficult despite the fact that he couldn’t control a wolf without the wolf making a blood oath to him. It almost would have been easier if his animal to call had been the panther or the tiger. For sheer numbers, the wolf reigned supreme. “That’s neither here nor there. Our problem is Neil. Neil was justifiably upset by the turn of events. He felt betrayed by Daniel. In my husband’s defense, we were going into an incredibly dangerous situation and Neil was our only backup.”
“I’m not judging anyone, Zoey,” Jane said. “I’m just trying to do my job, and I don’t see how any of this makes him weak.”
“Part of the oath is an exchange of blood. Neil took Daniel’s blood once a week. It made him unnaturally strong. Without the blood, he would become weak, possibly weaker than he was before.” I knew how addictive Daniel’s blood could be.
“None of us knew Neil before he made his arrangement with Daniel,” Sarah said quietly. “We don’t know what he was like before. All I know is how freaking strong he was with the blood. He could control the change down to a single finger, and he wouldn’t break a sweat.”
The blonde wolf tapped a finger against the table. “I can see where that kind of power would be tempting. It certainly seems to have tempted Zack over there. Tell me, Mrs. Donovan, does it make you stronger?”
I smiled wryly because I wasn’t about to let that phase me. I was married to a vampire. What did she expect? “It tends to make me heal, and after some of the damage I’ve taken, I appreciate that. Look, I understand you might not like my husband. Perhaps you don’t approve of my lifestyle. It doesn’t matter. I just want to find my friend. If you can’t do that for me, please let me know so I can find someone who can.”