Eternally Devoted (Frostbite 4)

I didn’t show him a response, because of Amelia, but he was right. No one had been shot, and there was only one shot. If it had been aimed at someone here—maybe me—I’d be dead or someone else would.

“We’re all on edge, Tess,” Max said, waving out to the cops walking the grounds, and not hearing Kipp’s question. “No one has shown violence since you’ve been here, so let’s hope that continues.”

He hesitated for what I suspected was my further argument. At my silence, since what he said did make sense, he added, “As I was asking before, have you seen Wayde at all?”

I shook my head. “Negative.”

Folding my arms, I rubbed them, and hated how chilled I felt now. The dark night didn’t help much, but my comfort came in the form of not only my friends around me—with shiny weapons—but the presence of the White Castle police force, too.

If Wayde was the killer, which I still didn’t believe because why would Wayde kill his friend and leader, what could he do now? Take out everyone here? I doubted he had the skill, or firepower to succeed. “Do you know who Wayde is?”

“Not yet,” Max said, and frustration clipped his voice. “Right now, he’s a mystery.”

Didn’t that bring up a good question?

To Dane, I asked, “When did Wayde come into the picture with the Animus?” For whatever reason, I thought he’d been around for a long time, just as Dane and Gretchen had. Clearly, I assumed wrong.

“He joined us over fifteen years ago, I believe,” Dane replied, taking his wife’s hand as she stared up at him with worried eyes. “Alexander had welcomed him without question. Wayde’s level of skill with spells and such was strong, and I didn’t sense any darkness in his aura. Of course, I was a teenager when he came and wasn’t as strong as I am now, but I still don’t sense evil within him.”

Dane had the ability, which I had learned when he visited me in Memphis, to read people’s auras. Mine, of course, held a gold hue because of my gifts—still something that seemed slightly strange. But what was stranger was Dane’s statement. “Wouldn’t him taking on someone else’s identity, I don’t know—,” I shrugged, “make him a criminal or something? Shouldn’t that make his aura bad?”

“Like I told you before,” Dane answered on a deep sigh. “Wayde is a great spell caster. He might have found a way to block his real aura and project another. Or he believes he’s not in the wrong and therefore, it wouldn’t taint his soul.”

“Or he’s a psycho,” I muttered.

Dane nodded. “I happen to agree with you there.”

Amelia glanced up at her husband, mirroring his troubled expression. “What would that mean, then? Who is he?”

“I have no idea.” Dane tucked her shoulder-length honey-colored hair behind her ear gently. The concern in his features portrayed his dislike of how much danger his wife had been in being in house with a now confirmed criminal.

He finally turned to Max, his lips pressed into a firm line before he asked, “How will you find out Wayde’s real identity?”

“We need to get a fingerprint,” Eddie interjected, stepping in next to me. “He did stay at this house, right?” At my nod, he added, “Wayde’s prints will be all over this house.” To Dane, he asked, “Will you show me to his bedroom?”

“Of course,” Dane replied.

Eddie turned to Max and continued, “Once I get the print, I’ll run it through AFIS and see if we get a hit.”

Max agreed with a nod. “I’m confident we’ll get a hit. No one goes from nothing to stealing someone’s identity. I have no doubt, once we find out his real identify, we’ll discover a past criminal record.”

I wondered if that’s why Max was so concerned. Who knew what Wayde was capable of if he could steal someone’s identity? Perhaps even Max acknowledged what Dane had, too—I’d been staying in this house with Wayde for days now.

Max paused and regarded me, rubbing his jaw covered with salt and pepper colored scruff. “Zach and I will stay with you and find a safe place to go.” Glancing at Dane, red-hot rage burned in his features. “I don’t trust you’ll be looked after.”

Gretchen chuckled, giving me a hard nudge on my back. “Um…Tess.”

Oh, crap, I hadn’t told him the news yet. Dane had been the enemy at one time, but in hindsight, he was actually someone who tried to protect Kipp and me.

Smiling at Gretchen, I turned my attention onto the boys. “Right, I have an update—Dane is no longer on the to-whack-list.”

Zach arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Kipp laughed.

I sighed, not finding it amusing at all. I’d have to spell it all out to them and explain the series of events that led to my trusting Dane. I just didn’t want to do it right now. “It’s an incredibly long, very exhausting conversation I’ll get into later.” I smiled at Dane and it even shocked me slightly when I said, “Trust me, he’s a good guy.”

Max again took my word for it and turned to Eddie. “Let us know if you get a hit on who Wayde is. It’s our best shot right now at nailing this bastard.”