Midnight Starling: An Urban Fantasy Romance Series Read online

  “Still, I don’t see what choice we have, so we might have to do it your way,” I said with an audible exhale.

  Isaac’s gaze flicked from me to the building. “I’m not leaving her in there to be abused or worse.”

  The mention of torture made me nauseous.

  “I’m counting to ten, then I’m going in,” he said steadfastly. His face was determined, and I still didn’t have a better plan.

  “Okay, we go in, but we need to be cautious.”

  He nodded, and we both pushed onward. When we neared the building, a tough-looking man stepped into our path.

  “Who are you?” he demanded.

  Isaacs hand was already moving into the motions of a spell. I caught his arm and pressed my nails into his skin. He looked at me with a challenge in his eyes and I shook my head.

  “Think of Bea,” I mouthed.

  “If you return Bea to us immediately, I will show mercy,” Isaac declared, turning back toward the man. I groaned and pressed my fingers to my forehead.

  “This way,” the man said easily, holding out a palm in the direction he wished us to go. My stomach flip-flopped at how suspiciously easy it was going.

  “After you,” Isaac returned. I had to stop myself from slapping him. He was going to get Bea hurt with his attitude.

  To my relief, the man simply looked us both up and down, dropped his arm and went first. It didn’t take long before we were all inside, moving down a corridor. The serious-looking man finally stopped and opened a black door.

  “You have visitors. They are here about your private investigator,” he announced as he leaned inside the room. When he stepped back into the hallway, he raised his arm and gestured for us to go in.

  This time, I shoved the door open and strode in first. My eyes homed in on the familiar face of the man sitting at the desk on the far wall. He returned my frown of distaste as I quietly contemplated his death.

  “Thain Morgan,” I spat, shattering the silence. What was he doing here? He was trouble back when I knew him. Now he was involved with Bea’s kidnapping?

  “Poppy Edevane,” he retorted smartly. Amusement crossed his features, which made me angrier.

  “Give her back,” I demanded.

  “You know the little PI?” Thain asked.

  “She’s my ward. Release her now. You have no right to hold her.”

  Thain stood up and held his hands open in submission. “I did not know.” The cocky expression that I had once loved irked me beyond control. All the unkind words he had said to me the last time we were together came surging back to the front of my mind.

  I took a step forward. “It doesn’t matter! You can’t go around abducting people!”

  He frowned. “Why do you care about this Mimic so much? It’s not like you to involve yourself in their matters. And why would you be the guardian to one, anyhow?”

  “She is not a Mimic. She is under a guise, you idiot. And I don’t have to justify myself to you.”

  “So, she’s Godkin?” he asked.

  “Yes, and she doesn’t yet know,” I answered, frustrated. What is he thinking?

  “She’s strong to be tearing through the enchantment without scrambling her memories. Is she having any other ill effects?” Thain prodded.

  “Who are you to ask me anything? I haven’t seen you in years!” I spat.

  “I’m the person in charge of this city, that’s who,” he countered.

  “No, you’re not. I just spoke with the real sheriff…” I closed my mouth when I realized it had been roughly a year since I talked to anyone in the Tolve. Even with my concern over Bea intensifying because of the knowledge of magic depletion. But now, I couldn’t wait much longer to release her from the spell. He had made sure of that.

  “Yes, Poppy, I am. The previous sheriff died. Did no one tell you?”

  The blood rushed out of my face. He had been an outstanding leader that I admired very much.

  “Jed died? When?”

  Thain sighed, and some frustration seemed to drain from his face. “I had been running a territory on the outer rim of Chicago for some time when the call arrived about eight months ago that they needed me here. We put out an announcement shortly after. Did you not get it?”

  “No,” I whispered. “I had no idea.”

  “I’m sorry to have to tell you this way, but we need to concentrate on the issue at hand,” he said. My face grew hot again. His ego was still intact. “That was cold, even for you.”

  His face relaxed, and he retook his seat. “I was only trying to understand. My intentions were never to harm her, I assure you. I merely wish to hire her,” he explained.

  I took another step forward. My mind still on partially on Jed’s death. “You can’t keep her here.”

  “I can, and I will. I require her help, then she is free to do as she pleases. And you’ll stay out of the way or I’ll tell her the truth about who she is,” he added. My mouth fell open.

  “Finding out about her magic before we discharge her guise could cause her powers to burst through. That surge… she may not survive it. You know this,” I said heavily. Had he become so cruel since I’d seen him last?

  “Like I said, I have no intention of harming her. Allow her to help me with this one task and I will be gone from your life forever.”

  “That’s what you said last time, but here we are,” I muttered. I never dreamed I’d see him again, much less have another disagreement with him. I used to think he was the love of my life, but love hadn’t been enough. I preferred a modest existence, dedicated to our people and their harmony with others. He had a fascination with being in charge and preferred to ascend the political ladder. His drive was too much for me.

  “Yes. Here we are. Strange that we both adopted this little section of America to claim as our home.” He sounded like a stalker.

  My fingers ran over the bronze stallion’s back, sitting on the corner of his desk as my thighs pressed into the front of it. I fantasized about lobbing it at him.

  “I’m surprised you agreed to becoming sheriff. Isn’t this place a little small for your ego?” I taunted.

  “People change. I’m happy here. It’s less fuss and much easier to deal with than a larger city,” he said. I wasn’t sure if I believed him.

  Pointing at him, I said, “I will allow it, only if she agrees of her own free will. If she refuses you, accept it and leave her be.”

  “Agreed.”

  I put my arm down and squinted at him. That was entirely too easy. “What’s the catch?”

  Thain shrugged. “There is none. Desperate times and all that. Franklin will show you out. And Bea will be returned to you soon, you have my word,” he promised.

  “Can I see her?” I asked.

  Thain opened his mouth to answer, but I lifted a hand to interrupt him.

  “No, wait, that would lead to even more questions that I can’t answer right now. Can you at least promise me she can handle your case from home where I can monitor her?”

  He closed his mouth and nodded.

  Not in the least content with what was going on, I turned to leave but paused. “You’ve seen her as a starling. You can’t pretend it didn’t happen, and it will make matters worse. How do you plan on handling that without revealing she’s a Godkin?”

  “Does she know about Mimics?”

  I shifted uncomfortably. “No. She doesn’t know about any of it, Thain. That’s my point.”

  “Then that’s what she will become. A Mimic.”

  I glanced over at Isaac.

  “It should work. I hope,” he said.

  “Only what you must tell her, and nothing more. And only if she directly asks you. If anything happens to her because of your meddling, I will never let it go,” I hissed. I didn’t wait for Thain to agree, I meant what I said. When I turned to Isaac, his fingers were quietly moving in a spell.

  “His aura is white,” he whispered, but I could sense the disbelief in the slight shake in his tone. White
meant that he believed what he said, and his intentions were sincere. But it didn’t mean he couldn’t wreck her entire life on accident.

  I still had an unpleasant taste in my mouth, but I moved to leave the building, anyway. Just as I saw the exit, my attention was drawn to a formidable female guard standing beside it. She had a gun on her hip, multi-pocket tactical pants, and a black t-shirt. She was straight faced. Her quick eye had already noticed us coming. An unexpected jealousy burned in my belly. It took all my willpower to keep walking as if she didn’t matter. She nodded impersonally, and I narrowed my eyes. It was the only reply I could handle. I shouldn’t have felt anything for Thain after all this time, but the woman seemed like someone who would match well if paired with him. I closed my eyes for a second and exhaled to get my irrational feelings under control, then marched out the door.

  My heart raced the entire way home. I needed to concentrate on Bea, not myself. Finally, we walked through my apartment door.

  “Who was that?” Isaac blurted.

  “A phantom from my past. Someone I assumed I’d never see again,” I said. “You could have helped instead of just standing there,” I snapped, switching the topic on purpose.

  “I didn’t know what to do,” he returned.

  “Nothing you could do, really.”

  “Is she going to be okay?” Isaac asked softly.

  I eased the sharp edge from my voice and drew my lips up into a half smile. “Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. As for Thain, he is a lot of things. Stubborn, pig-headed, crude, but he was usually honest. Too much so at times. I think he means what he says, but I think he’s focused on himself not Bea.”

  “I still don’t like it,” he replied.

  I stepped over to him, put my arms around him and squeezed. My head pressed against his chest as his hands reached around me. His touch told me he had forgiven me. It was more quickly than I deserved, but we’d known each other for so long we seldom required words. He was my closest friend in the world.

  “I don’t either,” I muttered.

  “She’s grown up. We’re going to have to get rid of her guise and tell her before someone else does.”

  My body stiffened momentarily before softening against him once again.

  As much as I loathed it, I conceded. “I know.”

  Chapter 5

  Bea

  The sound of panting and a humid breeze right in my ear interrupted my slumber. Startled, I sat up and recoiled, tugging the blanket with me. The chill of the room snapped me to reality, and the truth of where I was came hurtling back.

  Victor, the wolf, was inspecting me attentively, so I dragged the blanket up over me even further to protect as much of myself as possible.

  “You need to back up before you make me sneeze again and we end up where we started,” I instructed, pointing purposefully toward his snout.

  He angled his head to the side like I was speaking an alien language.

  “Sneezing equals bird, got it?” I spelled out slowly in cave man talk.

  He grunted and withdrew a few paces.

  Seeing him began to confirm my wonder of there being others out there like me. Until Victor, I had never encountered one. It figures this is how I’d finally get to meet another shifter, I thought sarcastically. Unless he was just a really smart wolf and I was suddenly going crazy.

  Victor seemed inclined to be more courteous this time around. I was presently too large to boss around and carry in his mouth, so maybe that was why. He could still bite me if he wanted, but it didn’t seem like that was his objective.

  “So, you’re a werewolf, right?” I asked while struggling to imitate wolf’s claws with my hands. He was unfazed until I swiped at him, my top lip drew back in a snarl which caused him to scoot back further. Poppy would have strangled me for being so reckless. The thought of her made me hesitate. But I needed to get out of here. These suckers wanted me for something, and I wasn’t sticking around to find out what it was.

  Risking it, I stood up and attempted to use my entire body to do my best scary werewolf rendition. Victor squinted, but he didn’t move this time. I sat back down on the flimsy mattress while maintaining a steely expression. The metal bar holding it was higher than the padding and dug into my thighs. When I readjusted, the whole setup screeched as it scooted backwards over the floor.

  I received a wolf huff. Returning my stare to him, I thought I spotted amusement brewing, which allowed me a micro-spec of hope. If taming the monster was the only means of getting out of here, I would do it. No hesitation required. I was in unexplored territory here, and it felt as if all of my years of reading people and being a good PI were not adequate anymore.

  Just as I was about to try something to wow my guard, the door opened and the same mysterious man who had greeted us when we first arrived stepped in. He had a bundle of clothing tucked under his arm. He didn’t look like the type of individual I could win over with antics, so I kept my mouth shut and remained seated.

  He bowed his head once in my direction. “Miss Voronin. I assumed you’d be… bare when you shifted back.”

  My lips puckered together to one side as I answered, “Who?”

  Without acknowledging my evasion, he untucked the clothing from his arm and thrust the bundle out toward me. “Well, here is a change of clothes if you want them. And I suggest you tidy up before you meet the boss.” He eyed the outfit I had on and cleared his throat in distaste.

  I gawked at him. What the hell?

  There was no way I was getting naked around these maniacs. After a hushed ten seconds, he stepped forward and tossed them onto the bed beside me. He then shifted his attention to the wolf.

  “Come along Victor, I’m sure Miss Voronin doesn’t require company while she dresses,” he said pointedly with a glower in my direction after voicing the last part.

  Victor led the way out.

  “I would suggest cooperating if you prefer things to go easily. I’ll return in a few moments to collect you,” the man said, closing the door behind him.

  A combination of resentment and fear stirred in my gut. I inhaled slowly through my mouth and counted to twenty. Losing my cool was the worst thing I could do. I had to keep cool to figure out what they wanted, and hopefully I could use that knowledge to get out of here. But there was no way in hell I was going to change my clothes for that. That dude was out of his mind.

  True to his word, the man returned after a few moments. He was again glowering at my defiance. I offered him a smug look and crossed my arms as I stood up. Although his gesture of sweeping an arm to show that I should go out ahead of him was stiff, it looked weirdly normal coming from him. He must have trained quite a bit for his over-serious butler job.

  My cooperation was limited, but I evaluated my choices before I calmly stepped into the hall. Victor was there. His presence caused me to feel better, even though I wasn’t positive why. I suppose being in someone’s mouth has a way of bonding people, whether or not they appreciated it.

  I was yanked out of my reflections when a hand was placed on my back. Chills ran up my spine and I shuddered from the contact. Holding me hostage was one thing. Touching me like that was an altogether different degree of nope. Mister Serious wasn’t even fazed by my reaction. He just dropped his arm back down to his side and began walking.

  “This way, please,” he said.

  To my astonishment, when I glanced down at Victor, his eyes were full of compassion. The slight token of kindness gave me the courage to do as ordered. As soon as my feet were in motion, the wolf fell in behind me.

  Our pace was constant but slow, and I kept my eyes open for anything of interest. There was nothing except the layout. I stored it away as I mentally drew a meticulously detailed map with every step. No one had taken much care of the place. I noted peeling paint and dingy flooring until we reached an adjoining hall that headed off to the left. Here, the overhead lights were fitted with functional lightbulbs, and the tile went from a filthy gray to a golden
daffodil with a sage horizontal pattern. The dust evaporated as the walkway transformed into something any talented interior designer would be honored to claim as their work.

  At the hall’s end was an ordinary but well-built door, finished with a polished silver doorknob. I bounced on my feet as our guide knocked and waited patiently for a response.

  “Come in!” called a warm and welcoming voice. I was not at all expecting that.

  The serious man turned the knob and nudged the door inward. Once again, he gestured for me to go first into the unknown. It was a habit I didn’t appreciate.

  I considered objecting, but Victor brushed past my legs and dashed in ahead of me, killing my desire to be difficult. With a sigh, I straightened and stomped forward.

  “You must be Miss Voronin,” a man stated instantly.

  “What? Oh. Yes, but Bea is fine,” I answered. I didn’t like being called Miss. It was weird.

  I was expecting a seasoned criminal, not some sincere-looking guy clad in a suit. Not that his look mattered one bit to me. I learned over the years it was generally the least suspecting looking individuals who did the most damage in the world.

  “Who are you and why am I here?” I demanded.

  The sunny haired villain’s smile slipped somewhat. “My apologies, Miss–Bea. My name is Thain, and the reason I brought you here is of the utmost seriousness, as it is time sensitive. I did not, however, realize you were a Mimic.”

  “A what?”

  His eyes drifted to the men behind me, then back to my face. “Your bird form. The term is Mimic, is it not?”

  “No, I’m a…” I began. I didn’t know what I was, and I never had an actual word for it.

  Thain gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Please, have a seat. The sooner we attend to this matter, the sooner you can go.” It seemed as if he wanted to say more on the subject but dismissed the topic of my bird form and my lack of proper terminology altogether.

  “Alright,” I sputtered. I didn’t want to sit, but I felt oddly compelled. I settled for angling my chair so my back wasn’t as exposed. If nothing else, I could see any motion out of the corner of my view. Hopefully.