Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,3
if I wanted to, dear old Dad would make sure I got there on time.”
Lily shut the office door as Jean took her call. She glanced at the clock over the bookcase. Seven thirty, which meant that with any luck, she’d have time to get her desk cleared before lunch. Her head was still pounding like a damned jackhammer, but she flopped down in the comfortable chair behind her desk and read through Jean’s messages. All were carefully organized by importance. The stack from her father—and damn, but how many times had the man called?—was set off to one side.
Obviously, he was already awake. Might as well check in with the boss first. The phone rang as she reached for it. She glanced at the caller ID, sighed, and flipped on the video.
“Hello, Dad. I was just getting ready to call you.”
“How’s your headache?”
She frowned at his smug image. “How do you know I’ve got a headache?”
“Because I’ve been trying to mindspeak all morning and I know you’re blocking me.”
“Oh.” No wonder her head hurt. She’d developed the habit of keeping her shields high and tight since she was just a child, but that never kept her father from trying. He’d rarely managed to give her a headache, though. “Well, if you knew you were giving me a headache, why’d you keep pushing?”
No answer. Typical. She was convinced he only heard what he wanted to hear.
“You’ve talked to Alex.”
Not a question. He’d know, of course. Anton Cheval knew everything. “Yes. He called first thing yesterday morning, but he didn’t have any details. I expect to hear more today. Have you learned anything else?”
“How well do you know Aldo Xenakis?”
“Not well at all,” she said, used to her father’s non sequiturs. Amazing . . . her headache was gone. She almost laughed. Dear old Dad had been the cause all along. “Why do you ask?”
“His son will be attending the reception Thursday night. I want you to meet him.”
“He has a son? Since when? I thought Xenakis lived alone.”
“The younger Xenakis has stayed in the background. From what I’ve learned, he didn’t even know Aldo was his father until a couple of years ago. When the boy’s mother died, he traced Aldo through her private papers.”
“Interesting. Why do you think the son’s important?”
“He’s been staying at his father’s home up here for the past month. You know where the house is. It’s a few miles from our place, though our properties share the southern boundary. Tinker thought he smelled an unfamiliar wolf near the edge of our holdings night before last. He traced the scent to a ridge on the Xenakis property. The wolf scent disappeared, but he picked up the trail of a man and followed it to the house. The only one there was a young man who appeared to be Xenakis’s son.”
“He’s Chanku?” Now that would be interesting, considering how xenophobic the father was.
“We don’t know. The elder Xenakis has powerful magic. If the son inherited his father’s gift, he could be shifting by magical means, not natural. I want you to get close enough, see if you sense anything.”
“Do you think he’s our murderer?”
“I don’t know, Lily. But the women have been killed near Kalispell and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Xenakis has homes in both places, and his son spends time at both locations. I’ve got Alex looking into his schedule now, checking flight records, that sort of thing. Be very careful.”
“One question. What’s his name? How will I know him?”
“Sebastian. I don’t know what surname he used before, but he’s taken his father’s name. Look for Sebastian Xenakis. Tinker says he’s tall with dark hair. And really odd eyes. Teal blue, according to Tink. Not amber like most of us. And, Lily?”
“Yes?”
“I love you, sweetheart, but I have a bad feeling about this. Be very careful. We don’t know a thing about this guy, but he’s got my sense of premonition in high gear. No specific danger, just a strong feeling he’ll have some kind of effect on our family.”
Lily stared at the handset long after her father had ended the call. The pack might tease Anton Cheval about his premonitions, but invariably he’d been proven correct. She flipped on her computer and typed in Sebastian Xenakis’s name.
It never hurt to be fully informed about the enemy.
“Lily. So glad you agreed to meet even after my office bungled this so badly.”
“Well, hopefully the media haven’t bugged the dining room.” Lily smiled at the mayor