Hidden in Plain Sight. Amy Lee Burgess

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      “Honestly, I didn’t get pregnant. I’ve never been pregnant.”

      “Your fear of having a baby, Stanzie, has to come from somewhere.” Kathy’s voice was warm and soothing as butterscotch but I wasn’t lulled by the false sweetness.

      It was truly amazing how this woman took every opportunity to wave my fears in front of my face as if we stood in a bullring and I had hooves and a fucking tail while she sported a toreador’s outfit and a red cape.

      We were supposed to be concentrating on the missing girl, not some phantom pregnancy in my past. Vaughn opened his mouth as if to argue, but closed it again. I knew damn well what he thought because we’d been pack mates for a decade and he knew how I felt about babies. Yet I could tell by his expression he still wondered if I’d gotten pregnant the first time I shifted. So did Murphy. Goddamn Kathy Manning. Goddamn her.

      “You’re a Regional Councilor. You should know all the nasty secrets of the New England area packs. I don’t have a nasty secret about being pregnant, Kathy.”

      “Your birth pack is extremely reticent and close-minded. There’s hasn’t been a member on either Council or even an Advisor from Mayflower for years.” That fact seemed to puzzle, even exasperate her. “These cases are supposed to be brought before the Regional Council. At the very least we’re supposed to be notified.”

      “Well, Maplefair notified you,” I tried to bring the focus back to Bethany.

      “Yes, Jocelyn and Nate brought it to our attention right away.” Kathy nodded. “You and Liam will be staying at their house in Easton. They’re restoring the most adorable rambling old farmhouse and are expecting you tomorrow afternoon.”

      Murphy shifted in his seat, a look of protest spread across his face.

      “We haven’t said we’d do this yet,” he objected softly.

      “Councilor Allerton offered me your services, remember?” Kathy swept on as if Murphy hadn’t spoken and he rolled his eyes. “Jason’s attending to some personal business at the moment, but you can call him and confirm that if you doubt my word.”

      Murphy grumbled something under his breath, which Kathy ignored with her usual serenity.

      “Hopefully, this situation won’t take long to resolve and you can return here. Although I would think Dublin might be nice this time of year. Isn’t that so, Liam?” She turned her gaze in Murphy’s direction.

      He blew out his breath gustily. “We’re well aware of our pack obligations, Councilor Manning, thank you just the same for the reminder.”

      “I know you are, Liam.” Kathy’s voice oozed sympathy and I could almost hear his teeth grind. I kept my gaze fixed on my coffee cup.

      After she dabbed her mouth with her napkin, Kathy rose gracefully to her feet. Murphy was on his half a second later. I didn’t bother to get up. My head was full of memories of the past.

      * * * *

       “Oh, god, Rudi.” I am scared because my body feels weird. Something is wrong. My face burns, my skin itches. A strange pressure builds inside me and it needs to be released. Now.

       Rudi’s face in the moonlight is unearthly and beautiful. He is so perfectly gorgeous—everything Wes Hanover is not. But I can’t concentrate on Rudi’s face or Wes Hanover’s either. Pain, shocking and bright, stabs me.

       I can hear the others in the cane field. One of them howls. It is not a human sound, but that thing within me howls back, ripping me to shreds in the process.

       “Rudi,” I cry, aware that he is on all fours and his back is arched like Halloween cat’s, but his face is not feline. It is lupine. It is...wolf.

      * * * *

      Vaughn’s chair scraped against the laminate floor and tore me away from the memory. I watched him walk out of the kitchen as Murphy’s footsteps sounded on the stairs. I shoved my own chair back and retreated into the living room.

      * * * *

      Murphy found me and sat next to me on the sofa. He took one look at my face and knew something was wrong.

      “You thinking about Rudi?” He was so damn perceptive. Too damn perceptive sometimes.

      I nodded and he put an arm around my shoulders.

      “I’m sorry, honey.”

      The last time I’d seen Rudi Grunwald, his eyes had been empty. Dead. Just like him. Murdered by a Paris grandmother—another casualty of the conspiracy. All because he worked in the world of the Others and had made name for himself in technological circles. He drew attention to himself instead of existing in the shadows where the Pack had lived for millennia.

      “I’m so happy with you, but I wish he weren’t dead.” If he hadn’t died at the Great Gathering, I would be in Germany now with Rudi’s pack. We’d be bonded. I couldn’t imagine life without Murphy, but it wasn’t fair Rudi was dead.

      Murphy played with ends of my hair. I’d put it back in a messy bun, but some of it had escaped. I thought of us the night before, of him above me in the bed, how he’d felt inside me, his expression as he’d concentrated and tried to hold himself back so I could come first. Love rushed through my veins and I smiled at him.

      He gave me another infatuated look and my smile faltered.

      “Why do you look at me like that?” I couldn’t help ask.

      Wistfulness replaced infatuation. “You don’t like it?”

      “I don’t understand it.” He loved Sorcha even though she was dead. Why did he look at me the way he did? I was his bond mate and he was devoted to me, but what he felt for me couldn’t touch what he’d felt for her. Already I suspected my love for him went even deeper than what I’d felt for Grey. Which confused and terrified the hell out of me because I’d loved Grey so much and when I’d lost him, my whole world had crumbled. I didn’t ever want to feel like that again. I didn’t ever want to be so vulnerable, so wrapped up in another person that I exposed myself to potential devastation. But I had the sinking suspicion it was way too late.

      “It’s simple really.” Murphy took a deep breath and for a moment I swore I saw fear in his dark eyes, but then he smiled at me. “Stanzie, I—”

      Vaughn’s bedroom door slammed. Murphy and I both jerked and the moment between us shattered.

      Vaughn stalked into the living room. He saw something on our faces and drew up short, his smile nervous.

      “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to tell you that I’m coming with you to Vermont tomorrow.”

      Murphy regarded him silently for a moment. “You know the girl? Bethany?”

      Vaughn grimaced. “She’s seventeen and I left the pack twenty years ago. Does it seem likely that I know her?”

      “Precisely my point, Vaughn.”

      “I СКАЧАТЬ