Page 47 of Bad Medicine

When Aaron dropped me in frontof my house, I clipped the badge to my belt and went in to collect my friendand my dog and head to Shadowfield. There was a lot to do, and before I coulddo anything else—training, helping Detective Moreno find a serial killer, chasingdaywalkers…

I had to kill an alpha.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Rick called me as I was drivingto Shadowfield. “Rick,” I greeted. “Did our shapeshifter kill another human?”

“Not that I’ve discovered,” hesaid. “Are you alone?”

“No, Lucy’s in the car.”

“Take me off speaker.”

I did, frowning as I held thecell phone to my ear. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m seeing things. And I’m notsure if they’re memories or if I’m losing my mind.”

“Things like what, Detective?”My heart began to thump with the heaviness of dread, because I was pretty sureI knew what Rick was remembering.

“What did he do to me, Kait?You know more than you’ve said.” He blew out a breath and I could almost seehim pacing. “I need to know.”

“We’ll talk about it when I seeyou,” I told him. “Right now, I can tell you that whatever happened while youwere under Axton’s control was not your fault. It was not you, Rick.”

“I know,” he said, and therewas anger beneath his words. “I abducted Lucy and could have killed her. Thatwasn’t me, either. I’m not asking you to soothe me or assure me I’m innocent ofwrongdoing. I’m asking you what he did to me. While I was under his control,Kait, what happened? The things I’m seeing, remembering. Are those things real?”

I didn’t know what to say.Finally, I settled on, “I think he twisted your mind. We can’t know what reallyhappened—which memories are planted and which are real. Or partly real. I don’tknow.” But I did know, really, didn’t I? Avis had known. Most likely, his timein captivity had been recorded. The vampires loved to put their darkness onvideo. If they had, then the awful proof of Rick’s torment was out there somewhere,floating around, waiting for someone to grab it. Waiting forhimto seeit. Would his mind survive that? I couldn’t know.

And Avis was right about onething. Rick was changing.

“Where are you now?” he asked.

“I’m on my way to Shadowfield.”

He must’ve heard something inmy voice. “You’re going after Adam Thorne.”

I hesitated. “Yes.”

“I could put him away forever,Kait.”

“No,” I said. “You couldn’t.Besides, you have enough to worry about.”

He didn’t argue. He knew whereI stood on the issue of Adam Thorne. He also knew I was going to kill him, andapparently he was okay with that. “You wanted to know about Tammy Keyser’sson.”

“The little boy, Anthony,” Isaid. “Where is he?”

He gave me the address. “HisAunt Anita has all the children. I’ve told her to expect you.”

“Thanks, Rick. I’ll go visitthem as soon as I get a chance.”

“Kait,” he said, before I couldhang up, and I thought,oh shit, he’s going to want to talk about that kiss.But into my silence he simply said, “You need to understand that I will haveyour back whenever you need me.”

“I know,” I murmured. “Back atyou, Detective.”

“I’ll call you when Sam killsagain,” he said.

“Wait,” I said quickly, beforehe could go. I knew how the rest of my people felt about the serial killer. Iwasn’t sure exactly where Rick stood. Not anymore. “About Sam. You haven’tstopped looking for him, have you? You don’t think we should ignore what hedoes because he’s killing abusive women or…” I hesitated, then plunged on.“Because he saved my life?”

“No. I’ll do everything I canto stop him.”