Chapter Twenty-Four
The moon did not control him. Being a werewolf did not define him. He was in control. After making love to Miranda all night in the moon garden, Darren was sure of it.
He could still feel the change in him, sense the pull of the moon. But now when the urge toward violence rose in him, he had one purpose only—to protect Miranda. And part of that meant protecting the world she lived in.
She let out a little sigh in her sleep. Darren had carried her to the car just before dawn, after they’d both dressed. She’d passed out before they even reached the end of Shade’s driveway.
They hadn’t slept much.
The memory of the wind on his skin—the moonlight bathing every inch of him as he buried himself in Miranda’s body over and over again—was strong. But if he thought about that, things could get a little awkward.
They were sitting in the parking lot of Ford Security. He was just waiting for her to wake up.
She let out a sort of purring sound and stretched, her head flopping toward him. Her eyes opened, rich brown like the earth. She smiled.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Good morning.”
She sat up and looked around. “Where are we?”
“Ford Security. You said you wanted to talk to Morrison. I’m pretty sure he’s inside.”
“Do you think he’ll agree to see us?”
Yesterday, Darren would have growled and felt his hackles rise. Today, he smiled. He was pretty sure it wasn’t a nice smile.
“He will.”
She gave him a skeptical look. “What do you have in mind?”
He felt his smile widen and let his gaze slowly caress her body, lingering on her breasts and the apex of her legs. Her scent shifted. She had definitely received his message. He looked back at her face and noticed her throat work as she swallowed.
“I meant for Mr. Morrison.” She opened her door, letting in a gentle breeze. “Geeze, it just rose like ten degrees in here.”
Darren laughed. “I guess we should take care of him first. But don’t worry, I won’t kill him.”
Unless he threatened Miranda. Then Darren would tear the building apart and burn it.
In a very controlled manner.
She started to unbuckle her seatbelt. By the time she was finished and had her feet on the ground, Darren was already at her door offering his hand.
Werewolf speed and agility was really useful. He helped her to her feet, which was good, because she swayed a little.
“I guess my knees are still a little weak.” She smiled up at him almost shyly.
After everything they’d done last night, he was a little surprised and absolutely charmed. He leaned in to kiss her, but she stopped him with a finger on his lips.
“If we start that again, I don’t know when we’ll stop,” she said. “And you’re right, we really need to take care of this.”
He sighed, but nodded. “Okay. But afterwards, we’re going back to my place. I have a huge bed and a bathtub that can easily fit two. And it has jets.”
She groaned and rested her forehead against his chest. He stepped back, pulling her along with him, and shut the door to the car. With her arm wrapped around his waist, he tucked her against his side and they headed for the building.
Darren wasn’t sure what sort of reception they would get. If he still worked for the company, he could probably talk Miranda past the guard. As it was, whoever was on duty might call the cops the moment they saw Darren approaching. His skin prickled as he opened the door.
Terry was sitting behind the desk inside. He jumped to his feet and headed for them as soon as they stepped into the lobby.
Darren tensed. He didn’t want to hurt anyone—least of all Terry. But the guard was approaching fast. He was armed.
Darren clamped down on the violent thoughts that rose in his mind. He willed his muscles to relax, his skin to stop itching. If he needed to change, it would happen fast enough. If he needed to protect Miranda, he could.
Luckily, it wasn’t an issue. Terry stopped an arm’s length away and smiled broadly.
“Mr. Calverton! I am so glad you’re back.”
He reached out to shake Darren’s hand. Darren flexed his fingers a few times to make sure there were no claws sprouting from them, then shook it.
“That’s nice to hear,” he said.
“I have your badge for you.” Terry gave Darren the small plastic rectangle. “Mr. Morrison gave it to me as soon as I came on duty. Looks like it’s been upgraded.”
Darren turned the badge over in his hand. His old badge had been a deep green. This one was silver. He would have laughed at the coincidence if he wasn’t floored by what it meant.
Full-access.
Silver was the highest clearance anyone at Ford Security could get. As far as he knew, only Mrs. Ford and Morrison had silver badges.
“It’s a shame about the Fords,” Terry said. “I suppose it goes with the territory, though, working security. I still can’t believe they were blackmailed into aiding with that theft. Morrison said you helped with the case on the down-low and that’s why they had to make it look like you were fired.”
Darren played along. “Yeah. But I think we’re trying to keep that information in the company.”
“Right. I’ll keep it to myself. Don’t worry.” Terry looked at Miranda for the first time. He was probably wondering if he’d stepped in it by saying that in front of someone else.
“I’m Miranda.”
Miranda offered her hand and Terry took it. She held on, shaking it for long enough to make the moment awkward. Terry cast a look at Darren, and Darren shrugged. She finally let Terry go and smiled.
“Miranda Lennox,” she said. “I helped Darren with his investigation.”
Darren didn’t know what she’d seen, but he played along. He didn’t even have to lie. “Ms. Lennox was invaluable in figuring out what happened.”
“Are you with law enforcement?” Terry asked.
“I’m an independent consultant,” she said. “You’ll be seeing me around quite a bit.”
Terry smiled at her. “Well, then, let me get you a badge.”
He trotted back to the front desk. After scribbling something down, he opened a drawer and returned with a beige piece of plastic on a clip.
“It’s just a guest badge,” he said, “but I’m sure Mr. Morrison will hook you up with something a little more permanent soon.”
She grinned at Darren. “I’m sure he will.”
“Well, I won’t keep you,” Terry said. “Mr. Morrison is in Mrs. Ford’s office.”
“Thanks, Terry.” Darren nodded to the taller man as they stepped past him.
Darren led Miranda deeper into the building. He held his breath when he passed his badge over the scanner and didn’t relax until the door beeped and he heard the latch retract.
Miranda leaned in close and said, “That went better than expected.”
“No kidding.”
The door to Mrs. Ford’s office was open when they arrived. Morrison was inside, standing at the desk and sifting through piles of paperwork.
Darren’s chest suddenly constricted. Rage flooded him. It came on so fast, he couldn’t think himself out of it.
Seeing Morrison here, it brought back everything that had happened at the park—and before. Losing his job, Miranda’s accident, watching Scott die. Darren wanted to leap into the room and snap Morrison’s head off of his body.
Until Darren felt Miranda’s hand on his chest.
She was staring up at him, her eyes were so warm, so full of concern. He let it soak into him, used it to bolster his strength as he fought back the rage. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.
“Whatever you’re going to do to me, you need to come in and close the door first.” Morrison’s voice was rough and lower than usual. “Honestly, if you’re here to kill me, you’d be doing me a fucking favor.”
The last traces of Darren’s rage evaporated when he finally really looked at Morrison.
His eyes were red. He smelled of saltwater and there were stains around the collar of his shirt from where he’d cried. A lot. His scalp and face were covered in stubble and his tie was loose, the top button of his shirt undone. He was a wreck.
Miranda pulled Darren into the room, then closed the door behind them.
Morrison stared at them expectantly. After a few moments, he dropped the papers he was holding back onto the desk. He actually looked disappointed.
“I don’t suppose you owe me any favors,” Morrison said.
“He doesn’t.” Miranda’s voice was stronger than Darren had ever heard it. “But you owe us.”
Morrison turned around to face them. He didn’t say anything.
“Mrs. Ford left everything to you,” Miranda said. “Because Scott—”
She stopped herself, casting a quick glance at Darren. He worked harder at holding it together. He could always kill Morrison later. Darren chanted that in his mind to keep from jumping over the desk and sinking his teeth into Morrison’s neck.
“You run the company now.” Darren could hardly believe it.
“Yeah,” Morrison said. “So, what do you want? Money? Access to information?”
“We want you to shift the company’s resources into Research and Development,” Miranda said.
Morrison’s brow furrowed. “What kind of R&D are we talking about?”
“The kind that kills things like Forester,” she said.
Her voice was like steel. A frisson of pleasure shot down Darren’s spine from the sound.
“I thought you were calling in a favor,” Morrison said. “If you know how to kill him, I’ll gladly help.”
“Good. Because this is only the beginning.” Miranda nodded curtly, a General marshaling her resources. “We’re going to need holding cells that can contain powerful beings. Cells lined with iron and silver to start. And we’ll need weapons and armor to support the fairy-fighting community that already exists.”
“Fairy fighters?” Morrison let out a harsh laugh and shook his head. “If I hadn’t seen with my own eyes…”
“You did see it,” Darren said. “And if you ever need a reminder, I’m right here.”
Morrison’s heartbeat picked up and his scent shifted with the sharp tang of fear. Morrison might say he was ready to die, but on some level, he would fight it. That was good. From what Miranda had said, they needed him. Not just his resources, but his commitment.
Morrison cleared his throat. “Is that all?”
“No,” Darren said. “I want an apology.”
“I’m genuinely sorry we framed you—”
“Not for me. For Miranda. You almost killed her with that stunt you pulled to get me away from the package.”
Morrison actually paled. His lips pulled into a tight line.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen. I was going to pull into the intersection and let somebody hit the passenger’s side of the SUV. You came out of nowhere.”
“It was me or a family in a minivan,” Miranda said. “A family that would have been killed.”
“Christ.” Morrison ran a shaking hand over his head. “Edith was set on getting this done. I hadn’t driven anything other than the company cars in so long. The brakes and the response were—”
He shook his head. “That’s just a lame-assed excuse. We never meant for anyone to be hurt. I am truly sorry for putting you and others in danger.”
“I accept your apology,” Miranda said. “And I apologize in advance for doing the same to you. You’re going to be working with very dangerous individuals. Both as targets and as colleagues.”
“I can handle myself,” he said.
She smiled. “I know. Forewarned is forearmed. I’ll take care of the warnings. You take care of the armaments. Deal?”
He let out a snort. “Deal. But you need to go after Forester first.”
“You don’t choose our targets,” Darren said. “Miranda does.”
If they were going to stave off the apocalypse, they needed to follow her visions.
Morrison shook his head. “I’m not talking about revenge. Yeah, it kills me that he’s walking—or teleporting—around out there. But he’s also plotting, regrouping, getting ready to strike. I heard what he said about Miranda. He’s going to come for her, and soon. You need to take the fight to him, strike while he’s still weakened.”
Shit. That made a lot of sense. Morrison was going to be a better ally than Darren thought.
“He’s right.” Miranda’s gaze was unfocused. He’d seen that look before when she was thinking things through or concentrating on a vision.
“Do you know where we can find Forester?” Darren said.
“No idea.” Morrison shrugged. “The only place we ever met him was that damned park.”
“We don’t need to find him,” Miranda said. “He’ll find us.”
Darren didn’t like the sound of that. But Miranda was smiling.
“We can use the coin to lure him into a trap,” she said. “If we take it out of the iron box, he’ll come to it, like he did before.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Darren said.
“It’s the best chance we have.”
“If you can draw him out, that means you pick the terrain for battle,” Morrison said. “You can choose a location that gives you an advantage. But I’m going to need time to develop weapons for you.”
“I’m all the weapon she needs.” Darren relaxed his hold on his change a bit. He felt his teeth lengthen, his skin prickle. Most gratifying of all, he saw Morrison’s eyes grow wide and his mouth fall open.
“Darren, stop showing off,” Miranda said.
Darren took a deep breath and willed the change to recede. It was getting easier, not harder. Maybe it was because the moon wasn’t out. Maybe it was because he had spent the entire night making love to Miranda bathed in its glow.
“If Forester hadn’t had home field advantage...” Morrison shook his head. “Things might have ended differently.”
“They’ll end differently this time.” Forester’s immortality would end the next time Darren saw him.
“I just wish I could be there when it happens,” Morrison said.
Darren didn’t doubt it. He wanted to rip Forester’s head off for threatening Miranda. Forester had killed Mrs. Ford—the woman Morrison loved.
Darren actually started to feel sorry for the guy. It was a hell of a lot better than murderous rage.
“Could you give us a moment, Mr. Morrison?” Miranda asked. “I need to speak with Darren in private.”
Morrison nodded. “Sure.”
He kept his distance as he headed out the door, closing it behind him.
As soon as he was gone, Miranda said, “The Red Thread. That’s where we should spring the trap. We make sure Jack’s friends aren’t around, load ourselves up with skillets, and—”
Darren’s skin started to crawl again and his shoulders bunched. “Hang on. You’re not going to be anywhere near where this goes down.”
She glared at him with an unmistakable challenge. Even in her frail human form, she was willing to take him on. Part of him wanted to lock her up somewhere to keep her safe. Another part wanted to bend her over the desk.
“You need me there to help you come back from the change,” she said.
Darren stepped closer, towering over her. “I’m better at controlling it. I was able to come back after fighting with Shade.”
She wasn’t impressed by his posturing at all. “I still helped. Besides, we don’t know what sort of spells are on that coin. When we’re done using it, we need to put it back in the iron box, and you can’t touch it.”
“Jack can help me.”
“Jack is still considering killing you.”
“I can take him.”
“He’s our ally. You might kill him accidentally or he might kill you on purpose. He’s an experienced werewolf hunter. And he’s my friend. He’s the closest thing I’ve had to family since my mom died.”
Shit.
Okay, fighting Jack was definitely a bad idea. But so was having Miranda on site when they lured in Forester.
As if she could read his thoughts, she said, “Forester doesn’t want to kill me. He wants to capture me. I have faith in you. You won’t let that happen.”
“It’s too much of a risk.”
“And it’s my risk to take.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, visibly calming herself down. “This is turning into a pivotal moment in our relationship, Darren. I know your instinct is to protect me. But you have to let me make my own decisions. If you can’t do that, if we can’t be partners in this—”
“I get it,” he said.
He couldn’t let her finish her sentence. Couldn’t even think it. To lose her over this would be…something he couldn’t handle.
And she was right. She had risked her life before to protect people. Given what she’d seen—the apocalypse they had to fight, together—she would probably have to do so again. She’d choose to do so. It was part of why he loved her. He had to be strong enough to live with the fear that came along with it.
“Let’s call Jack and set it up,” he said.