Inked

Because Sebastian licked his lips. Full-grown Weres, especially High Clan, don’t show nervousness. It’s viewed as a weakness and is drilled out of them early. So that little gesture was the equivalent of a human throwing a hissy fit.
    “I didn’t like the idea of Cyrus chasing this thing alone,” Sebastian finally said. “And I knew he could cover more ground if he had help. I therefore sent Grayshadow to act as a go-between—”
    “Wait.” I stared at the gory photos and, suddenly, my brain didn’t seem to be working at all. “That man in there…who ended up like that…You’re telling me he was working with Cyrus?”
    “Yes. He was supposed to bring me a report this morning, but he missed the meeting. And shortly thereafter, we received the call from Central.”
    “Then where is Cyrus?”
    Sebastian met my eyes, and I knew the answer before he said it. “I don’t know.”
    “You don’t know ? And we’ve just been sitting here for the past twenty minutes?” I leapt up and started for the door, but Sebastian got there first. I tried to push past, but he wasn’t budging. I could have moved him; hell, the way I felt I could have moved the wall . But that was likely to bring security running and I didn’t have time for that.
    “Lia!” Sebastian grabbed me by the upper arms, tightly enough to remind me of just how much brute strength that polished linen was hiding. “Listen to me! The only report from Cyrus I received said his quarry was hiding somewhere in Tartarus. But there are four hundred miles of tunnels. We could search for weeks and never find them!”
    “So what are you saying? We just sit here and hope for the best?” Because that so wasn’t happening.
    “No, we must go after him.”
    That stopped me. “We? As in…”
    “You and I.”
    “But you’re bardric . You can’t put yourself—”
    The skin along his jaw stretched white over the bone. “What I cannot do is let my brother die at the hand of a monster!”
    “Then send someone else!”
    “And who would you suggest? Cyrus is vargulf —dead, as far as the clan is concerned! I cannot send a team in after him without admitting the deception. And if I do that, the Council will be within their rights to call for a new election, one which almost certainly would go against me.”
    “And your position is worth more than Cyrus’s life ?”
    Those blue eyes flashed, and for the first time, he looked more like a predator than a diplomat. “My most likely replacement is Whirlwind of Rand. He hates our alliance with the humans. One of his first actions in office would almost certainly be to undo it!”
    I stopped struggling for a moment. The Corps was supposed to be a police force, not an army, but lately we’d had to be both. One of the few saving graces had been the Weres, who were as vicious in combat as legend said. They’d saved our asses more than once, however much the Corps might not want to admit it. I honestly didn’t know what we’d do without them.
    “Grayshadow was my Third,” Sebastian told me more quietly. “And the only one, other than White Sun, who knew the truth about Cyrus. Now that they’re both dead, I do not know who I can trust, and I cannot risk making a mistake when the repercussions could be disastrous.”
    I was trying for calm, trying hard, but it wasn’t working that great. “But how are we supposed to find him without help? The only witness is dead!” And if I didn’t find Cyrus soon, he might be, too. I suddenly couldn’t seem to get enough air in the claustrophobic little room.
    “You will lead me to him.”
    “If I knew where he was, don’t you think I’d have told you?” There was a weird, teakettle sound. The air around us had gone into motion, sending Sedgewick’s piles of clutter flapping against the ceiling like trapped birds.
    “Lia!” Sebastian’s fingers bit into my arms, bruising hard. “Sedgewick was wrong! Our abilities are not defined by the limitations of anatomy. We are magical beings, and when we make connections, they are magical also. In some cases, mated pairs among our people have been known to share images of what one is seeing, or to experience something of what the other is feeling—”
    “For Weres, perhaps. I’m not one!”
    That won me a hard glance. “We both know that isn’t true.”
    “My mother was Were; I am human,” I repeated, angry that he couldn’t seem to understand. “Considering how often I have to say that, maybe I ought to