Roy

 

“Hello?” Kesari asked in a soft, sleepy voice. I could picture her sitting in the office with her chin on her hand and her eyes half-closed, and found myself smiling, even as I fumbled for words. “Roy, you’re calling me,” she continued, sounding vaguely incredulous.

“I am,” I said, pulling at my shirt collar and walking in a circle. “I had a moment and thought I would call with an update, partner. Uphold the contract.”

“Oh,” she said, sounding more awake. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I said, swallowing hard. “So, Heriot and Macale woke up earlier today. They’re fine.” I paused. “Finni’s still being worked on." Looking out the window at the foggy cityscape of San Francisco, I pulled in a deep breath and said, “They’re not telling us anything more.”

I heard her pull in a soft breath and I wished she was here with me. “Finni – he’ll pull through,” she said after a moment, with a quaver in her voice. “He’s a strong guy.”

“The strongest,” I agreed. “Anyway, I just wanted to call and…” Hear your voice. “Say hi.”

I could have laughed at myself as I rubbed across my jaw. I hadn’t been in a position like this in a long time, not after years of one-off one-nighters and blondes. Something I had no interest in going back to. All of that held zero appeal next to Kesari.

I’ve been thinking about you all day. I hate being away from you and it’s only been a few hours.

It’s jarring not to have you around all the time.

“Is everything else going okay?” Kesari asked.

I miss you.

“Of course,” I replied breezily. “What about you? I know you haven’t gone home yet since I interrupted your nap in the office.”

“How did you know?” Kesari sounded indignant and a shade embarrassed.

“I know you,” I said, grinning to myself.

“There’s no damn coffee here,” Kesari muttered and I laughed. “There isn’t!”

“Get out of there, Kes. Go get coffee or something. Maybe go to Talori’s,” I suggested.

“You know about that?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said slowly. “Wait, you didn’t?”

“I’ll leave in a little while,” she promised. “But I’m not going to Talori’s, I think. Going to go home and go to bed early.”

I frowned a little at the lower notes in her voice. She sounded wistful and sad.

“Did something happen today?” I pressed, gripping my phone.

“Uh,” Kesari said, sounding flustered. “No. Well, I almost burned down the kitchen.”

“What?” I half-choked out the word, half-laughed. “Tell me everything. Right now.” Listening avidly, I laughed harder as Kesari told me the whole story and shook my head. “I leave you alone for one day – actually what, I’d been gone an hour?”

“I know,” Kesari said. “You should never have left me alone.”

There was silence between us as I absorbed those words, smiling widely and trying to think of something to say. “I didn’t want to,” I admitted honestly, my pulse spiking a little.

“Roy, Finni’s awake,” Piper suddenly said from behind me and I turned. “Who’s that?”

“He is?” Kesari asked in my ear.

“It’s Kesari,” I said to Piper. “And yeah, sounds like it. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye Roy,” she said in that same small voice and the call disconnected.

As we walked down the hall, Piper kept looking over at me, squinting and smirking.

Finally, I gave her a sharp look. “What is it, Piper?”

“Nothing,” she said, her face impassive. “So, calling to give Kesari an update, huh? You didn’t have to be so mysterious about sneaking off to do it – took me awhile to find you, Roy.”

“I apologize,” I said honestly. “I thought we’d be here all night waiting for an update.”

“Roy, I’m kidding,” Piper said, stopping and catching my arm. Her eyes searched my face and then she smiled widely. “Well, well, well.”

“What?” I said, pulling away from her and trying to sound gruff, but I had to fight down an embarrassed, happy kind of grin. “What?”

“Nothing,” Piper said again. “Yet.”

“You sound like you need a nap, cousin,” I retorted. “However, maybe after, I could talk to you about something…”

My heart leaped. I’d asked. I was going to do it.

“Anything, Roy,” Piper said, this time looping her arm in mine. “I mean it.”

Outside of Finni’s room, Piper let go of my arm, squaring her shoulders as Balt nodded at her and Dara gripped her hands together. I took a deep breath as the door opened and we filed in.

Finni was propped on pillows, his eyes barely open, but he still gave us a lopsided grin. His face was bruised, his torso bandaged, and Dara let out a soft sound.

For a moment there was silence, then Finni croaked out, “What? I’m still better lookin’ than Roy and Balt put together.”

Dara, Balt and I laughed, while Piper shook her head. Stepping closer, she placed a hand on Finni’s bed and said, “I’m glad to see you awake, Finni. I let Layla know you’re okay.”

“Is she coming?” he asked, sounding both eager and worried.

“No, I wanted to ask you first,” Piper said.

He nodded, then winced and rolled his shoulder. “Give me a few days.” Letting out a sigh, Finni seemed to lose track of what he was saying for a moment. “Sorry, these drugs are killer.”

My stomach clenched. It was only in serious cases that Shifters of Anubis agents were administered painkillers. There was a lot of pride in the quick and potent healing of shifters.

“We’ll let you rest,” Piper said.

“Finni, you bastard, you better never do that again,” Dara choked out.

“Once you’re well, we’re taking you out,” Balt said. “Wherever you want.”

“Everyone sends their love,” I said.

Finni focused on me and frowned. “Wait, Roy, there was something I needed to tell you.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead and settling back. “What the hell was it?”

“It can wait,” I said gently. “Rest.”

“No, it was important. Crucial to…” He paused, frowning. “The hybrids.”

Piper went still. “What about them?”

"The ones that attacked us – I know you must be thinking that you are all at fault, somehow, but you're not. These were new – they'd been recently created. I could tell they were different – they were struggling and more violent, more impulsive. Then I heard one of them say so." His eyes closed. "And something about the foundry, whatever that is.”

Balt and Piper exchanged a glance, while Dara frowned at Finni. Meanwhile, my mind was racing. New hybrids appearing in the middle of winter? I’d assumed they’d been laying low somewhere. This changed everything – where and how had they come to Bear Valley?

Finni let out a snore at that moment and we all left the room quietly. Piper glanced around at all of us, her hands clenched. “We need to talk and figure this out. Tonight.”

 

Back at Piper’s office, we were talking over empty containers of Chinese takeout and arguing about next steps. Piper wanted to either pull us from the site or at least send in more agents. Dara and I were arguing for the latter, while Balt was considering the first.

I did not want to leave a job half-finished. Privately, I was considering staying on my own if I had to. My heart sagged. Even if that meant separating from Kesari.

“If you try to pull us out of there, I’ll stay. And I guarantee the others will. After what happened to Finni especially, people want answers to stop the TLO.” Dara crossed her arms.

“You read my mind,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Maybe we’re getting closer…”

Balt sighed. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

“From what Heriot said, it seemed like the Blood Bird is the most vicious. The others were confused sometimes." Piper's tone had changed. She sounded more official like she was solving a problem, instead of trying to persuade us to leave in anxious tones. "We'll send out a squadron of black ops and field teams. More security. Bigger tracking teams."

“Where are these new hybrids coming from, though?” Balt asked. “What, were they dropped off somewhere in the mountains? And where are they going?”

“We’ve been trying to track them down for months,” Dara said frustrated. “All of the attacks have happened when it’s snowing and so we lose the trail. They’re good. Calculated.”

“This can’t be just the hybrids, then,” Piper said slowly. “Maybe TLO is there. Frost hasn’t been seen in months and she was last spotted in San Francisco. Someone assumed she went to Asia, but now I’m not so sure.”

“We’ve been thinking that, too. But we’ve combed those mountains as best we can – looking for some kind of base and the TLO puppet-master pulling the strings.” I paused. “Either we haven’t found it or they’re keeping a step ahead.”

“Hm,” Piper said. “And the Cantina hasn’t given up any more clues?”

“Only the prisons,” Dara said.

Piper’s eyes flashed and her hands tightened on the desk. “Frost’s cruelty at its best.”

“There was something interesting about those rooms,” I said. “They were older than the rest of the building.” All eyes focused on me. “I don’t know, Kesari and me thought it was odd at least.”

Dara’s lips curled into a small smirk. “Oh, of course. If Kesari thought so...”

Balt laughed as I glared at her. “Does Kesari have any other theories, Roy?” he teased.

“Leave Roy alone,” Piper said, shushing them. “Perhaps that is telling. I’m not sure how yet.”

From there, the conversation drifted, then Dara and Balt were making plans to go back to the hospital, and Piper was looking relieved when Balt insisted she didn’t have to come.

“I’m so tired, I’m sorry. I need to go home and lie down,” she said. “Thank you Balty.”

The two glanced at me as they got to their feet and I shook my head. “I’ll catch up to you. I have to talk to Piper.” Balt fixed me with a glare and I amended, “Quickly. Won’t take long.”

After they left, Balt saying good-night in a tone that said the conversation had better be quick, I found my heart acting up. My mouth opened and closed.

“Not easy to ask for things, huh?” Piper asked, then sighed. “We have that in common.”

I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah. And admitting I was wrong.”

Her lips quirked. “You, Roy?”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I can’t go back to being a Runner,” I said. Her eyes went wide and her eyebrows raised. “Not after this. I like this kind of work and I want more of it.” I was surprised at the robustness of my voice. “More research-focused would even be fine”

“Roy, I’m so happy to hear this,” Piper said. “You have no idea. It’s about time, too.”

“I know,” I said. “I didn’t realize how much I missed all of this. And working this Op has been broadening. Tiring, but invigorating.” I laughed at the contradiction. “You were right, Piper.”

Piper leaned back in her chair. “So, you’ll work for me? Or do you want me to try to find you this work under someone else?” She gave me a small smile. “I don’t think you want a job like mine just yet, so you’ll need to report to someone.”

“I don’t mind working under you,” I said and Piper smiled softly.

“That is the highest compliment I could receive from you,” she said and I flushed. “No, I don’t mean it in a petty way. I’m honestly flattered.” She sighed. “It’s about time we remembered we were cousins and stuck together more.” Pausing, Piper fiddled with her rings. “I’m sorry if we made it hard on you as a kid, Roy.”

I laughed. “Trust me, you didn’t. You’ve got nothing on the Zimas.”

“Still,” Piper said. “It’s important to me to have a better relationship with you.”

I sighed. “You know, don’t you? Who told you? Dara? Finni? I trust Obi.”

“Oh, I knew that story a long time ago, Roy,” Piper said, looking confused. “No,” she said slowly, flushing. “It wasn’t until after Greece. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “You didn’t erect those walls, I did.”

“So, is that your only request?” Piper asked bluntly and I blinked at her. She grinned. “Oh, I know there’s more. You’re stalling, but I am exhausted and we don’t want to rile Balt.”

“Oh,” I said, clearing my throat and sitting up straighter. “I was thinking that, well, maybe, if it’s not a lot of trouble and if she goes for it, since you and Balt are a two-man team, that maybe I could have her as a partner since we work so well together…” I winced. I was rambling like her. “I haven’t asked her yet, but I don’t think she’d say no and it’s been a success so far…” I stopped myself and fumbled for the right words. “Do you think it could work?”

“You and Kesari?” Piper asked.

“Kesari,” I said, on a quick exhale.

“Consider it done,” she said. “I’ll have to pull some strings, but that’s my problem.”

My heart was soaring upwards and I realized I was smiling widely. Trying to smooth out my expression, I said brusquely, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Again, I’m happy to hear it,” Piper said, putting her hands over her heart. “I had my concerns. Many of them, in fact.” Her tone was a shade too convincing.

I gave Piper a look. “Did you? Or did you get creative on me, cousin?”

She permitted herself a triumphant smirk. “Maybe. I can’t lie – I did hope it would happen.”

A rueful laugh escaped me. “Of course,” I said. “Was Balt in on it?”

Before she could reply, a soft knock came at the door. We both glanced at it, a confused and wary expression crossing Piper's face. Usually, visitors were announced – unless it was someone high up in Shifters of Anubis and they bypassed clearance. Or family.

Getting up, I padded over softly to the door, poised and ready, then opened it a crack.

A tall, blonde woman with familiar blue eyes was standing on the other side and she gave me a small smile. I pulled open the door wider as I stared in disbelief.

“Auntie?” Piper asked from behind me.

“Hi Piper,” she said, her voice faintly accented with Russian. Then her eyes landed on me. “Hello, my beautiful son.”

“Mom?” I finally got out.