Page 21 of Bold Mercy

Chapter Twelve

I felt naked without my demon blade. As I left Jared’s house, planning to see my mother, Lucy, and Ash before I went hunting, I called the detective.

“I was getting ready to call you,” he said, when he answered. He sounded rushed, exhausted, and angry. Overwhelmed. And it wasn’t even dark yet. “I had an ID badge made for you in case you get stopped.”

“Good. It’ll be easier to hunt the bitch if there aren’t so many humans in the way. I’ll be in the city within the hour. Can you bring my blade?”

How quickly things could change.

“I’ll meet you at my house in forty-five minutes,” he told me. “I’ve secured your weapon there.”

“Thanks.” I hesitated. “How bad is it, Rick?”

“It’s daylight,” he said, somewhat dryly, “and people are still killing each other. We’re doing what we can.” He blew out a hard breath. “It’s like the fucking end of the world out there, Kait. How the hell did this happen?”

I squeezed my phone, my heart aching. “I’m sorry, Rick.”

“Not your fault,” he murmured.

But wasn’t it? I was one of “them.” One of the nonhumans. My kind was killing his kind. And I absolutely felt responsible. Jared would feel the same. The supernaturals were going to be as traumatized by the changing world and the horror as the humans were.

As just as the other nonhumans would be, I was terrified and heartbroken. Not just for the humans, but for my people. Even the vampires—at least some of them. Not all—or even most—of them wanted to be yanked out of their shadows so violently and abruptly. Those who were eating humans or killing them were not all evil butchers like Avis, but the madness, confusion, freedom, and fear had overtaken them. They would rush from their dark prisons, drunk and giddy after centuries of repression, of existing for so very long in a world that would never really belong to them, and they would do the wrong thing.

For a few seconds, I lost my breath, and I shoved my fist against my mouth to keep from sobbing. Better I should rail and curse and embrace my anger.

“Suck it up, Princess. It’s time to fight.”

I nodded, straightened my spine, and let my rage smother my fear. “I’ll see you in a little while,” I said. “Be careful, Detective.”

I was eager to have my blade in my hand. It would take out Avis and her crew as easily as my wolf would, and I wouldn’t need to shift. Right now, shifting was a bad idea. People were searching for killer monsters—vampires, yes, but wolves were next. It was just a matter of time, and I didn’t want to rush it by getting seen. I had to protect my people.

My mother and Lucy had been given rooms in the Rose Inn, and as though they had known I was coming, both of them were waiting inside the little common room when I walked inside. My stress immediately lessened when Ash, wooing and snuffling, rushed to greet me.

I fell to my knees and caught him to me, hugging his wiggly body, laughing as I turned my face from side to side, attempting to keep his tongue out of my nose, mouth, and ears. When Ash was loving on me, all the bad stuff melted away.

Finally he tore himself away and got a case of the zoomies, sliding on the shiny hardwood floors and crashing into furniture as he raced around the room, grinning at the attention he was getting. The more we laughed, the harder he ran.

But time was running by as fast as Ash, and I needed to get to work. I hugged my mother and then Lucy. “Thanks for bringing me clothes, Lucy. I hope you didn’t leave Shadowfield without half a dozen guards.”

She laughed, but she had new dark circles under her eyes and her face was paler than usual. “I wish we could go home.”

I wished that, too. “Are you okay, Luce?”

“She isn’t sleeping,” my mother said. “She can’t sleep for the bad dreams.”

Lucy tried to grin but failed rather miserably. “Every time I close my eyes,” she said, then shrugged. “I’ve had them my entire life, but somehow, this is different.”

“Because your dreams are about you,” I said. “But you’re safe here, and you have to get some rest.”

She avoided my stare. “I know.”

“Kait,” someone called, and I looked up to watch as Lennon walked into the room. “Welcome to my inn.”

I lifted an eyebrow, surprised. “Your inn?”

She grinned and held out her hand, then retracted it before I could actually take it. It was painful for a seer to touch people, sometimes for both seer and the other person. Mostly just for the seer, though. “It’s a special place. You’d be surprised at the things that happen here. Someday, you’ll have to stay for a few nights.”

“The alpha likes her right where she is,” my mother said serenely. “In his house.” And there was a mother’s pride in her voice.