Page 33 of Silver Claw

I felt no joy inside Scarlett’s.

And maybe that was just me.

After all, it was an insanely popular club. But I knew what lived beneath it, and I still felt the lingering horror that had existed when Frederick Axton had ruled the city.

Bastien led us to one of the private, quieter rooms, and though I didn’t see him give the order, we’d barely sat down before a man—human—rushed in balancing a huge tray.

When I took off the silver domes, I found half a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and what appeared to be five pounds of chocolate cake.

“Damn, Bastien,” I said. “This is a lot. Even for me.”

“I like to watch you eat,” he murmured, and though he didn’t quite smile, there was a distinct twinkle in his eye.

“So that really never goes away,” Joe said mournfully.

Bastien lifted an eyebrow. “I told you it does. My appetites have nothing to do with the food.”

I would have glared at him but I was too busy eating. After my attack, my appetite had diminished. Somehow, it had sneaked back in and was apparently bigger than ever. I didn’t care that Bastien watched with something distinctly hot in his eyes, or that Joe watched with regret that he wasn’t the one devouring the chicken.

Finally, I shoved the empty tray away and leaned back in my chair with a sigh of satisfaction.

“Coffee?” Bastien asked.

“I’m too full for coffee,” I told him, patting my belly.

“It’s good to see you smile,” he said as the same man returned to remove the tray.

I got up to pace, needing to work off some of the energy the food had given me. I got to the point of my visit. “The siphoner who took my power called me. She said Voss has magic. He’s powerful, but not nearly as powerful as I…as I was.” I let the pain of that loss shiver over me, there and gone.

Something changed in his face. Not fear, but anger. “If he wants to take what doesn’t belong to him and cause chaos in my city, I’ll end his life. Quickly, if that’s what you want.” He smiled. “Or slowly, if you’d prefer it.”

“I just want him gone,” I told him. “Fast or slow depends on what he does to me and mine before we can stop him.”

He gave me a nod but didn’t say anything. I knew that if Bastien decided the wolf alpha needed to die, fast or slow depended on how pissed off the master was.

“Let the hunt begin,” Joe said, already striding to the door. “Let’s go, boss. We need to find this bastard before dawn. I’m not going to sleep while the city is wrecked and leave you out there fighting without me.”

I grinned and followed him to the door. “You’re a good man, Joe Patrick.”

I felt Bastien at my back, his body surprisingly warm for a vampire, all the way through the club. I paused at the door. “How’s Farrow?”

For a second, pain lit his gaze. “She is surviving.” Then he softened. “She will be okay, Kait. Because of you.”

I surprised him—and myself, a little—by taking his hand. I squeezed it, holding on for a few seconds before letting go. I said nothing. Vampires had a hard fucking life, and it made me sick to think that someday, Joe would face the kind of horrors that would inevitably change him into darkness.

Chapter Fourteen

Joe and I were wrapping up things in the city—five men we sent to jail, two supernaturals we put down for attacking humans, and more than two dozen assholes we scared the shit out of and sent home when we happened upon them doing things they shouldn’t have been doing. We could have left the humans for the human cops, but they were overwhelmed with troublesome individuals, and I was more than happy to help them police the city.

And that night, the humans causing trouble way outpaced the supes causing trouble.

Dawn wasn’t far away when Voss showed himself—but not in the city.

Shadowfield.

My mother called me, panic in her voice. “Kaity, we need you here.”

I did a fast turn that nearly sent Joe into the dashboard. “Voss?” I asked.