She doesn’t answer, and I head down the hall. Stopping just inside the door, I see Koa is on his burner phone. He’s standing in the center of my room in jeans and a plaid shirt. His dark hair is pushed back from his face, and his green eyes glow with determination.
“If you find anything, call me on this number. We don’t have much time.” He waits a moment. “Thanks. I owe you.”
He disconnects, and I go to where he’s standing. “Who was that?”
“All our talk about my past, about Slayde, it gave me an idea. He works in paranormal investigations now, with one of the top four guys in the country. I thought maybe—”
“You think he can help us?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think it can hurt to ask him.”
Going to my armoire, I pull out a small bag and put the few items I can’t live without in it. A photograph of me with my mother, one of my first really nice ceramics, Koa’s shirt.
“Where did you find that?”
“The night you came here. When you shifted, you left your clothes. I slept in it when we were apart.” Holding the black tee to my nose, I take a deep sniff. “It smells like you, wild woods.”
He catches my chin and plants a kiss on my lips. “You don’t need a shirt anymore. You have me.”
“Still…” I go to my dresser and take out underwear, a sleep shirt, shoes. “Oh! Aunt Penny said the man who killed Hayden’s wife, my ancestor’s name was Hunter Strong. Apparently, he changed our name after it happened.”
“That explains it.” Koa nods, rubbing his chin as he paces my room. “I found an article about the construction of this mansion. Did you know it was called Chateau Croix?”
“I never knew it had a name.”
“He built it for his wife, the former Cora Strong of Columbus.”
“Columbus? My family came here from the north, from Canada.”
“I’ll call Slayde and give him this new information. It sounds like a lot of what we think we know has changed through the years. Perhaps the truth has also been changed.”
“You think we might find a loophole?”
“I don’t know, but I won’t stop looking.”
For the first time in days, a glimmer of hope spreads across my chest. Koa pulls me into his arms at once.
“Yes, Mercy. Hold onto that hope.” His lips are against the top of my head, and my eyes close. His strong arms surround me. I’m protected by my fierce panther. “You’re mine. Nothing mortal or immortal is taking you away from me.”
* * *
Koa
Mercy still goes to her job at the gym, even though the new moon is two nights away. I suppose it takes her mind off the hours slipping past as we search for any way around what’s coming. It gives me time to scour the library, searching for anything we might use.
So far, my efforts have been futile. I’ve switched from looking for news about Mercy’s family to researching fault lines in the area, trying to pinpoint where the rift occurs, where the boundary between our world and the underworld breaks.
Back at my apartment, looking at the calendar on my phone, I feel the first twist of fear. My fists tighten, and the network of ink on my forearm ripples. I can fight. I can use my fists to beat him to death, only it isn’t that easy. Thinking back to that sermon Doris made me sit through, I remember that pastor’s words, Our battle isn’t against flesh and blood. I can’t kill an immortal with my bare hands.
Fuck! I punch up Slayde’s number and hit send, waiting as the tone buzzes in my ear.
“Slayde here.” His voice has lost the cold it once had, but he’s still focused.
“It’s Koa. Just checking in.” He emits a low growl, and my insides cramp. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“I searched the existing databases. We have good people scanning the old records into our system, but this case is more than a century old.”
“So nothing?” My fist clenches again.