Of Wolf and Peace (Providence Paranormal College Book 3) Read online

  “Whatever that was, I’m staying out of it.” Fred picked up his plate. “Pizza calls. Maybe those ghosts will surprise me with a stack of bacon cheeseburgers instead some night.”

  The silence Fred left behind was the opposite of comfortable. I sat in it with Nox for a little while because nothing I could break it with was what I really wanted to say.

  Chapter Two

  Nox

  I was about to pass the rest of the rum to Josh and leave when Tony showed up with Blaine in tow. The dragon shifter smiled at us, then dropped me a wink. I’d have to sit there and let Josh’s hackles rise and fall without comment. We needed Blaine’s brain on this, so Josh would just have to deal with his jealousy issues. I wasn’t interested in the dragon shifter, but any time I tried to talk to Josh about it, he shut me down. It was one of the most confusing things I’d ever seen, and being a Kelpie meant my ancestors’ attitudes were constantly humming in the background.

  “You called, we answered.” Blaine sat down across from me, leaning his elbows on the table. “What did you need me for, Nox?”

  “We’ll need the rest of Tinfoil Hat when they wake up, too. Josh has a problem.” I put the bottle to my lips, killing the rum myself. Liquid courage. I might be a Kelpie, but a magical Unseelie horse was small potatoes next to a dragon.

  “You mean a problem besides thinking pajamas go with combat boots instead of a smoking jacket?” Blaine waggled his eyebrows.

  “Knock it off.” Tony sat down next to Blaine, rolling his eyes. “He had to bug out in the middle of the night. I bet you’d look even sillier.” Tony put his head in his hands. “I can’t believe I’m sticking up for a wolf shifter in public like this.”

  I laughed instead of sharing with the group that I’d never texted Tony. Well, it was sort of me covering for the cat shifter. I only half wanted to. The other half of that reaction came from Grandpa. He was the most recent and strongest influence on my magic pelt. Being a Kelpie was kind of a bum deal because someone parental was always watching unless you put the pelt away for a while. It took endless amounts of compromise and battle picking. Laughing at a joke was one I’d gladly lose if it meant I could fight him on something more important later. It was also hell on any attempt at feminine grooming. Styling my hair or makeup was as futile as resisting the Borg. A constant frizz-inducing dampness clung to my scalp, and even waterproof mascara ran like the wind under the pelt’s influence.

  “Oh. You texted Tony, too?” I wondered why Josh sounded so relieved about that. Why would it make any difference whether I got in touch with Tony or Blaine? I let cat-boy answer.

  “Yeah. Guaranteed to be awake all night, you know.” Tony Gitano was lucky none of us were Telepathic Psychics. I only knew he was lying because I’d forgotten to message him.

  “Yeah. Unless you’re bird watching.” Someone would have to be the butt of Blaine’s jokes tonight. After Intersession, the whole pack knew Tony had a soft spot for a certain owl shifter.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony blinked, his pupils narrowing into something resembling catlike slits.

  “Nothing at all. Just groggy. Too bad you couldn’t just let sleeping dragons lie.” Blaine pulled an iPad out of his backpack. “Ah, the curse of being the brainiac.”

  “Thought that was Frampton’s nickname, Trogdor.” Josh gave a Lynn-worthy snort.

  “True enough.” He powered up the tablet, propping it up in its case so he could use the attached keyboard. “Can’t we lose the old Strongbad moniker, though? Call me Smaug or something a little more classic?”

  “How about Puff? You are magic and live by the sea, after all.” I smiled mildly.

  “Trogdor’s fine.” Blaine cracked his knuckles and started typing. “Okay, Josh. What happened?”

  I listened to Josh’s story again, trying to think of anything that hadn’t occurred to me before. A mutiny still seemed most likely, but why? Could it be the alliance he’d made with Henry? No. The response to that had been overwhelmingly supportive. Since Henry had been a Psychic, wasn’t an old vampire, and had no Faerie heritage, he was an excellent choice for the first new alliance since the Big Reveal. Coincidence had been on our side this winter. I gently knocked on the wooden bottom of the table, hoping that trend would continue as we moved into spring.

  “Tell me again about wolf shifter politics and moon phases.” Blaine scratched his chin. “I know there’s something about moon phases and leadership, but can’t remember what, exactly.”

  “See, this is why Lynn’s the brainiac and you’re Trogdor the dragon man. She’d remember that.” Josh leaned back in his chair, glancing down at my now empty rum bottle. “It’s the new moon tonight. I’ve been so out of it I didn’t even think. That changes things by a mile.”

  “How so?” I tossed my dearly departed rum bottle into the wastepaper basket in the corner by the bookcases. “Three points. Anyway, continue.”

  “New moons are the one time packmates can apprehend an Alpha, but then it makes no sense for them to take my sister and stomp into my room. My parents are the real Alphas. No offense, guys, but Tinfoil Hat’s not considered the real thing in wolf shifter terms.”

  “What could it be, though?” Tony scratched his head, then tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. He seemed stumped, but my ancestors noticed something flat in his voice. I wondered whether he shared my suspicion. Now I understood why Grandpa wanted to cover for him. Maybe he’d cover for me now. “Couldn’t be about that whole Summoner problem over winter break, could it?”

  “Well, your parents did arrest that Summoner for murder. What did they find at his house? Anything that might be a problem for the pack or police?” Blaine tapped his fingers on the table. “He had Anchors for pure Faeries, both, um…not the variety that comes in here.”

  “Huh.” Josh leaned forward, palms on the table. “I’m not sure what they found. There’ll be a list down at Campus Police, though.”

  “Good. Then someone can check in the morning.” Blaine blew a smoke ring.

  “Don’t you mean I can check in the morning?” Josh clenched his jaw.

  “That might be a bad idea.” Blaine raised an eyebrow. “Unless you want to end up wherever they’ve got the rest of your family. The moon’s technically still new for a couple more days. Anyway, since you’re not a real Alpha. You have to lie low. They could snatch you anytime. Might want to avoid the general campus until you know it’s safe.”

  “That’s one week. I can’t do anything to defend my family’s honor until the half-moon.” Josh put his head in his hands. “I’m going to flunk a mid-term.”

  “Why?” Blaine typed something on his iPad. “Haven’t you been studying?”

  “No.” Josh sighed. “I slacked off, and our brainiac, Lynn, can’t help me. This exam is shifter-specific and physical.”

  “I’ll do whatever I can.” I wanted to put my arm around him. I fought with Grandpa until he let me punch Josh’s shoulder instead. My ancestors always fought me on displays of affection toward men. “School of hard Nox is in session.”

  “I’ll help, too.” Tony grinned, his eyes going back to normal. “School of homework fetching over here, for the other classes. Also, a little more neutral than Kelpie school, just in case.”

  “Oh, good point.” Blaine tapped the table again. His toothy grin reminded me more of a crocodile than an oligarch. Grandpa thought those were almost the same thing.

  “Maybe.” I peered across the table at Blaine. “What time is it, anyway? I have an early class on Tuesdays.”

  “Almost five.” Blaine shut down his iPad. “I should get out of here, head back to the dorm. I have a plan about how to get the information from Campus Police involving Olivia, but I need to find her before breakfast. Extrahuman Law students can access their files. Where are you staying, Josh?”

  “With me.” Fred loomed behind Tony. “Dad’s at a job on Block Island. Only people home all week are me, Mom, and my kid brother. They’re Psychics and I’m untith
ed, so all good on the Faerie neutrality front just in case.”

  “How did you know all that? You were down there in that noise stuffing your face.” Tony glanced up, doing his cat shifter bristle.

  “Ears.” Fred stuck his hand under the table and pulled something off. “See?” He held up a small gray triangle, then stuck it on the side of his head. I watched the shimmer of falling Glamour as it dropped, revealing his true appearance.

  Everyone else besides me gasped. Tony’s reaction was slightly delayed. Redcaps had gray skin, red eyes, slightly pointed ears, and a set of perfectly even teeth so white they were almost blue. Fred almost looked like one, a sign he’d used faerie magic so much he’d need to tithe to a Monarch soon. Once he’d put the top of his ear back on, Fred’s Glamour came back, rounding his ears and changing his skin back to its usual Mediterranean olive tone. I tried not to look at Tony, wondering why he’d covered for himself like that. With the amount of time he spent in the Nocturnal Lounge and his Nocturnal History major, he’d have studied Changelings by now, surely?

  “Wow. How much longer are you going to be able to put off tithing and taking your Mantle?” Grandpa’s question slipped out before I could censor myself. He’d done that to me all through Magic Theory during Winter Intersession. At least Chuck, Ian, and Maddie had taken it in stride. It wasn’t something I liked doing in front of Josh, though.

  “Maybe summer.” Fred didn’t even grin. “I was hoping to get through the Fall semester before I have to spend a year and a day in the Under. Now I’ll be lucky to make it through Spring.”

  “We’ll miss you.” Tony’s voice cracked a little. “Whenever it’s time, I mean.” I wondered what the cat man wasn’t saying.

  “That’s mutual, squirt.” Fred flicked Tony on the side of the head. “Anyway, we’d better get going before the sun comes up, Josh. You probably don’t want to be on the street in your PJs in broad daylight.”

  “Yeah.” Josh got up, shouldering his bag. He looked me right in the eye. “I’ll call you later.” He ignored the light haze of smoke coming from Blaine’s direction. “Got to let you know what I need help with.”

  I nodded, not breaking eye contact with him even though Grandpa wanted me to. He didn’t much like how interested I was in Josh. I didn’t care. I waited to break eye contact until he had to turn and follow Fred. Blaine packed up and left, too. Tony sat diagonally from me across the table. I kept my eyes on Josh until he was out of sight, making the cat wait.

  “Why are you still here, Tony?” I finally looked at him, startled at the anger flashing in his bright green and vertically slitted eyes. I’d gotten his inner cat up, but had no idea why.

  “Because you need to know Josh’s biggest problem, and I didn’t want to deal with him freaking out over it.” I studied him. His face, posture, and voice all seemed genuine enough. I gave in to Grandpa, this time, and let him nudge me into using a little Kelpie charm. Tony’s pupils dilated slightly, still cat-vertical but more relaxed.

  “All right. I’m listening.” I folded my hands on the tabletop.

  “Faerie neutrality.” Tony took a deep breath. “It’s his part in releasing that Sprite over Intersession that’s screwing things up for his family.”

  “But that’s on me. Josh didn’t do anything but stand there.” I’d been the one to undo the enchantment on the poor creature. I’d even stolen the means to do it right out of Blaine’s backpack. Grandpa made me shudder. Risky business, stealing from a dragon shifter, even a young one.

  “He stood by and let you do it. As your Alpha, he’s responsible.” Tony made a noise halfway between a sigh and a hiss. “And whose idea was it, anyway?”

  “Mine.” I would have fidgeted, but Grandpa kept me still.

  “Bull.” Tony’s eyes narrowed.

  “All right, you got me.” I shrugged the shoulder Grandpa had relinquished to my control. “Josh actually had the idea that freeing the Sprite would stop it. So what?” He’d thought of it right after I saw that funny little Gnome, but Tony didn’t have to know that.

  “Josh took a side. He’s heir to two of the biggest shifter authorities in the city. He’s supposed to be neutral, but he sided with you, an Unseelie shifter. And then, he let you take a Gnome’s advice.” He stared, unblinking.

  “He did it to save his Beta. Nothing more.” I gripped the edge of the table, wondering how he knew about the Gnome with the metal teeth. “We stopped a murderer. No one should complain about that.”

  “If that’s true, why didn’t he turn the Sprite in?”

  “That Sprite owes us all. He’d have lost favors from a Pure Faerie.” That should have been perfectly reasonable as far as the Faerie Courts were concerned.

  “You tell me how that looks.” Tony put his hands flat on the table.

  “Bad.” I closed my eyes. “Like he’s the Alpha they were actually after, not his parents.” I held my breath for a moment. “But he said they don’t consider him a real Alpha, right?”

  “Not right. That idea lives in Understatement City.” Tony dragged his nails against the tabletop, leaving faint grooves. “Him trusting your judgment has to be the reason for all this. Josh’s problem is you. Dump him.”

  “Huh?” I blinked and swallowed at the same time.

  “Break up with him, Yoko.” Tony’s glare was almost palpable.

  “But we’re not even going out. I don’t even think he likes me that way.” I knew I was wrong the second the words came out of my mouth. Why else would he be jealous of Blaine?

  “Bull.” I heard a muffled squeak as Tony ground his teeth. “Leave the pack then.”

  “What’s the big deal about it for you anyway, Tony Gitano?” I leaned back in my chair, unable to stop Grandpa from saying what he wanted. “You’re the shadiest, dodgiest person I’ve ever seen. There’s an awful lot of rule-bending in your family. Plus, you knew about the Gnome. I never breathed a word of that to anyone. What if you’re the problem?”

  Tony’s eyes got big, and his face paled. Something between a hiss and a growl rumbled at the back of his throat. He opened his mouth, then closed it again without saying anything. His nails made a splintery sound against the table. He lifted them up, holding his hands palms out in a gesture of concession, possibly even surrender. He stood, backing away from me. The mantle on his duster drooped as though he’d been out in the rain. I didn’t understand why right away until I felt water dripping from my hair to my shoulders.

  “Jeez Tony, I’m sorry.” I struggled to get my hand to my stomach, fighting Grandpa every step of the way to release myself from the grasp of my pelt. I pulled it off, rolled it up, put it away in the oilcloth in my rucksack. “Look, it’s just me now. No more ancestors.”

  “Are you sure that was all them?” He shivered a little. I didn’t blame him. Grandpa’s spell would freak out any feline. Kelpie Water magic was one reason I’d enrolled at PPC. I needed to learn how to control it. Cat shifters were scared of water, and all my ancestors knew it. Still, Tony seemed even worse off than expected, like he'd come close to drowning before.

  “Almost all. Look, it’s obvious you’re hiding something most of the time, but I don’t think you’re the problem. And that was an unfair low blow, mentioning your family like that. I’m sorry, Tony.”

  “Yeah. And I’m sorry, too.” He sat back down, but only on the edge of the seat. “Look, if we’re going to get Josh out of this and avoid a huge Extrahuman conflict, we need to be honest without attacking each other.”

  “You sound like a diplomat.”

  “I kind of am. Supposed to be if I can ever—” He blinked, eyes redder than they should be. Was he on the verge of tears? “But anyway.” He cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this has something to do with Blaine’s Extramagus. Remember what Henry found in his amulet? An Extramagus around his age, with a possible connection to that Stanhope family. We need to look at that, find out what happened to them.”

  “If they’re Magi, what would they have
to do with wolf shifters?”

  “Could be plenty. That kid Henry described was blond. So was Stanhope. So’s Josh for that matter. Maybe there’s a relation there. Magi used to marry into any Extrahuman family they could back in the day. Have you ever seen his parents? Pictures of his siblings?”

  “He has siblings?” I blinked. He’d never mentioned them.

  “Two. One’s been missing for years. The other’s missing a leg, the sister he mentioned. That’s why he inherits the packs even though he’s the youngest.” Tony spoke without quite meeting my eyes, head tilted slightly to the side as though hearing something I couldn’t.

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Coincidence, convergence, and conniving. One of the reasons all that stuff you said freaked me out so much is because it’s a little true. I am dodgy and shady. I have too many secrets to keep that aren’t mine. The ones that do belong to me…well. Voices carry. I can’t risk mentioning them.”

  “The cat man who knew too much?” I quirked an eyebrow.

  “Yeah. Curiosity kills.” His lips stretched into a thin, flat line.

  “Let’s hope satisfaction works like an AED.” I sighed. “So, what do we do now?”

  “Go to class. Get information. Help Josh study. Wait for Trogdor and the brain to puzzle it out.”

  “All that in a week, huh?” I shook my head.

  “Yeah. Let’s hope it’s a long one.” Tony got up, stretching and clearly more at ease than he’d been just a few minutes before. “It’ll be a long day, at least. Maybe I’ll have time to catch a cat nap this afternoon.”

  “Same here, minus the cat part.” I stifled a yawn. “Hopefully, Josh won’t call in the middle of that.”

  He did, of course.