I moved forward again, but tiredness washed through my particles and I stopped. I might shift to Aedh with far greater accuracy and power these days, but it still took a lot of energy to hold this form, and I wasn’t at my best. Not to mention the fact I was now pregnant. I had no idea how far along I was, but even if it was little more than a week or so, it would no doubt drain my strength faster. After all, there were now two beings for the energy to alter. I just had to hope that being in this form wouldn’t affect my child. But Azriel was energy rather than flesh, and I was half werewolf and half Aedh, so our child belonged to all three. Surely something that was part of my child’s heritage would not harm him or her.
Still, given the building site was closed, there was little reason to remain in Aedh form. I called to the transforming magic once again, and it stormed through me, rearranging cells until I was once again wearing flesh.
Dizziness immediately swept me, and I had to grab at the nearby wall to remain upright. But the pain that raced through my being was next to nothing when compared to my usual state after a shift.
My clothes, however, came through the change as disastrously as ever. They always disintegrated just fine, but re-forming them was trickier, as the magic didn’t always delineate bits of me from the other particles. Which meant I often ended up with a dustlike sheen covering my skin rather than fully formed pieces of clothing. My jeans generally came through relatively intact, although the breeze teasing my left butt cheek suggested a rather largish hole around that area. My underwear, as usual, hadn’t fared all that well, given both my knickers and bra were little more than fluff that clung to my skin and itched like hell. My sweater had also survived – a good thing, considering the state of my bra. Being nearly naked on a building site probably wasn’t a great idea, even if the building site was currently empty.
But I’d barely pushed away from the wall when a familiar scent teased my nostrils. I swore softly and turned around, my gaze scanning the plastic sheeting. As I did, Jak Talbott stepped out from behind it and said, “Well, that was certainly one hell of an entrance. Care to explain how you did that, exactly?”
“No,” I bit back. “Care to explain why the hell you’re here?”
Because he was certainly the last person I wanted – or had expected – to see here. Not only was he my first love – though one, thankfully, I’d finally gotten over – but also a reporter with a nose for a story. I did not want said nose sticking in this particular story, even if I’d been using him – and his resources – to help find the ley-line gate.
His answering smile was slow and sexy. At five ten, he was pretty much the average height for a male werewolf, and while he wasn’t what I’d term drop-dead gorgeous, his rough-hewn features could certainly be classified as handsome. His hair, like his skin, was black, but there was a whole lot of gray in it these days. More, perhaps, since he’d become part of my quest. As for the smile – well, it had certainly enabled him to slay more than his fair share of maidens. Me included.
“Where else was I supposed to be?” he said, his dark eyes showing little of the amusement evident in his expression and his voice. “You wouldn’t answer the phone, Tao threatened to cut my nuts off if I went near you, and Ilianna – well, heaven only knows what she would have threatened had I contacted her.”
Amusement bubbled briefly. Given Ilianna’s opinion of Jak’s reappearance in my life, her threat would probably have been a whole lot nastier than Tao’s. “None of which explains your presence here.”
“Where else might I be given the Directorate’s reticence about answering questions concerning Lucian?” He eyed me for a second, the amusement fading. “I figured that, given your involvement with the man, sooner or later you’d come here.”
A statement that made me wonder just how much he knew about Lucian’s death. “You could have been waiting a long time —”
“I doubt it. Now, it’s your turn.”
I grimaced. “Look, the way I reappeared… it’s not something —”
“Don’t try that,” he cut in. “We passed the whole ‘it’s not something I need to know’ thing around the time we were attacked by hellhounds. I deserve some honesty, Ris, if nothing else.”
I sighed. He was right. He did. After all, I could hardly bitch about people lying to me when I was doing the exact same thing to him.
“You know how Azriel comes and goes —”
“You’re not a reaper.” His gaze swept me, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. When Azriel wore flesh, it wasn’t obvious he was anything else.
“No, I’m not.” Not yet, anyway. “But I am partially an energy form. My father is an Aedh, just as Lucian was.”
Something sparked in his eyes. The reporter within had the scent of a story. “So you do know he died?”
I hesitated, though there was little point in denying it. “Yeah.”
“And do you happen to know how?”
“Why? What have you heard?”
“Interesting way of not answering the question, Ris.” He studied me for a moment, then added, “I talked to several people who were near the warehouse at the time of his murder. By their accounts, it appeared that Lucian had been blown up – something later refuted by the Directorate. They said the cause was accidental.”
If the Directorate were saying that, it could only mean Uncle Rhoan was cleaning up my mess and protecting my ass. They knew, as much as I did, that it had been no accident.
But if Jak had been talking to people who’d been near the warehouse at the time of Lucian’s death, it was more than possible he knew my part in it. Still, I returned his gaze steadily. “And you don’t believe the Directorate’s statement?”
He snorted. “I saw the photographer, remember? From what the witnesses said, the manner in which Lucian died was almost identical.”
The photographer had been one of the many leads Lucian had erased before we’d had the chance to talk to him. I’d forgotten Jak had been there when I’d discovered the body. “Whoever killed Lucian didn’t kill the photographer.”>“I’ll take her there immediately.” The doubt in her expression suggested she held little hope of them being able to do anything. She gently squeezed my arm. “Find the keys, Risa. Fast.”
Easier said than done, and she knew it. But I pressed my hand over hers in reassurance, then spun and walked back into the room I’d woken in. I gathered my keys and wallet, shoving them into pockets as I looked around to see if there was anything else I’d left behind.
There wasn’t. I’d obviously travelled light when I’d gone on my drinking binge. I took a deep breath and released it slowly, vaguely hoping it might help calm the turmoil inside. I may as well have tried to stop the moon from rising.