“Maddy?” My voice betrayed my fear and wonder. “This Edemas? Was his full name Edemas Hollander?”
The look Maddy gave me sent another bolt of fear into my gut. She looked pleased and relieved. I’d just scratched an itch that had been tickling her mind, and it meant something awful.
She nodded. “That’s it!” The pleasant surprise faded and she frowned at me. “How the hell could you know that?”
My blood ran cold, sending a dark chill up my arms. The puzzle was sliding together, revealing the picture. Her distinct scent? My wolf’s reaction to her? It all made sense now. She didn’t smell quite human because…she wasn’t fully human. She was a descendant of a line of wolves.
Javi’s guys were right. She shouldn’t exist. All the stories said the bloodline had been fully wiped out down to the roots. Maddy was of the line of Edemas. The Hollander Clan. Sweet Christ.
I put a hand to my head, fighting back dizziness. Royal wolves.?A line that was so hated and reviled that all written history of them had been erased and destroyed. I looked at Maddy, and true fear enveloped me. How the fuck could I protect her now?
MADDY
Something was wrong. I could tell by the way Nico was acting. Ever since I’d told him the name of my long-lost ancestor, he’d been behaving strangely. I’d finally gotten my phone back that night, and for the next two days, all I’d done was scoured the internet for info on this Edemas guy. It was, however, pointless. I kept getting medical links for pulmonary edema,?articles about some nu-metal band from the late nineties, a few dozen people on social media with the last name Edam, but nothing else. Not a single thing that explained Nico’s reaction. No birthdate or even birth country.
I’d pressed him for information as soon as I saw the expression on his face, but that had been pointless. He’d brushed it off as being tired and worried, so I’d tried to keep my distance from him for the last few days. For one, I didn’t want to poke the wolf since he was obviously in a bad mood. Second, I was a guest in his house, and I didn’t want to wear out my welcome by always being underfoot.
I’d managed to forget about Edemas and
Nico by that afternoon, though. It was Thursday. I was going back to work, and I was nervous. Luis had already let me know that he’d be the one escorting me to the bar that evening. It took the better part of the day for me to work up the courage to go.
Luis arrived early. As we walked to the door, Nico appeared from his room where he’d spent most of his time the last couple days. “Are you sure you’re okay to go?” he asked.
“Yeah, totally,” I said, lying through my teeth.
Nico nodded and glanced at Luis, then back to me. “Make sure you call me if you have any issues. Luis will be able to handle anything, though.”
“Thanks, I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Without another word, Luis and I left.
The ride to the bar should have been liberating. I’d been stuck in Nico’s house for days. I was getting out and seeing a place I knew would usually be refreshing. Instead, the drive was filled with flashes of memories. A snarling face. Screams. The flash of a knife. By the time we actually got to the bar, I was almost shaking.
“Here we go,” Luis said, turning his truck off. “I’ll get you inside, then do a few circuits of the outside, make sure it’s all clear. Once that’s good, I’ll be inside the rest of the night.”
“Yeah. Sounds good,” I muttered, fumbling with the door handle.
“Hey?”
I turned and looked at him, clenching my fists to keep my hands from shaking.
“Are you sure you’re all right? You know, you don’t have to go in there tonight if you don’t want to. You…well, you don’t look very good.”
“Thanks. Same to you, buddy.”
Luis blinked, then barked out a laugh. It was the first time I’d heard him laugh or even seen him smile for that matter. “Got it. I’ll stay in my lane,” he said, getting out.
The walk from the parking lot to the front door felt fraught with danger. Even with Luis right behind me, I kept glancing around. I wasn’t sure what I thought would jump out at me, but I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. Every shadow looked like a place someone could hide. The only thing that kept me going was the sound of Luis’s boots thumping into the pavement. I’d be damned if I’d break down and lose my shit in front of him.
I stepped inside, the cool blast of the air conditioning refreshing against the late afternoon heat, but it also chilled me to the bone. My eyes locked onto the spot on the floor where the shifters had attacked me, and more memories flashed through my head-things I hadn’t been able to recall while I recovered at Nico’s. The shifters attacking. Me climbing over the bar, scrambling to try and get to the door. Then the chink sound of a thick beer glass being pulled from the shelf. I could almost hear it banging into the base of my skull. I could even recall the flash of metal in the last moment of consciousness. All of it came roaring back as I stared at the floor.
“Holy shit. Maddy!” Abi ran from the kitchen and threw her arms around me.
Luis nudged my side. “I’m going to check outside. Be back in a minute.”
“Thanks. I’m good here,” I said, walking back to the bar with Abi.
The rest of the staff was there, setting up. They all knew something had happened to me, but none of them had heard the truth. Only Abi knew, and I wanted to keep it that way. There was no reason for them to think it was unsafe working here. Shifters weren’t trying to kill them. Only me.
“What do you want to do tonight?” Abi asked. “Kitchen? Stay away from everyone in there?”
I shook my head. “I’ll help bartend. Staying behind the bar will feel safe, but I can still feel like I’m here.”
As the night got started, it became obvious that I’d made a mistake. The first time a customer called to get my attention, I jumped and dropped a full bottle of beer on the floor. Then I heard a bunch of guys having a good-natured argument about whether the Dolphins or Buccaneers had a better chance at the Super Bowl that coming fall. Their happy, boisterous voices had seemed like rage-filled shouts for an instant. That was all it took to send me back to the kitchen, almost hyperventilating. It was all I could do to keep the staff from seeing me like that.
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