Addict (Hunter #2)(85)

“I had heard rumors,” Gray said, seating himself on one of the wine-colored couches.

Matthew sat beside him and Tristan gracefully placed himself on the floor, his head going to Matthew’s lap so the demon could pet him.

I nearly crashed on my way down, but Gray caught me, guiding me to the carpet.

When the important men were seated, the duke continued. “I believe we can confirm the rumors are valid. While I haven’t been able to place a man close to the king, I do have a few in positions around the club his partner runs. They’ve heard talk of a Nex Apparatus, and I believe he might already be at work.”

“What makes you think that?” Gray asked, his hand moving on the nape of my neck. He toyed with the small gold and diamond necklace he’d placed around my throat. My “collar” was nothing like Tristan’s.

Winter sat back. “The clinic where I was running trials was breached yesterday. Whoever it was, they were savvy enough to not get caught on camera, but my servant called in prior to being killed. I only heard a few moments of the exchange.”

I kept my eyes on the floor and concentrated on keeping up my mental shields. I had no idea what kind of powers the duke could claim outside of the whole freezing my limbs off shit. He could potentially feel my panic. I focused on presenting a calm front.

“I don’t suppose anyone mentioned a name?” Matthew asked. “That would have been helpful.”

Winter shook his head. “Alas, my man was shot before he could say much, and apparently the call disconnected when he fell. I do believe we have a clue. My servant touched the Nex Apparatus. I had imparted a bit of my power to him, so we’re looking for someone who’s been injured. Likely this man lost whatever limb my servant touched. Ask around. I’d like to meet with him.”

Panic gone. There I sat with two whole arms. They were apparently the best camouflage ever. Though I wondered why he thought I was a dude. My voice isn’t that low. Is it?

“I’ll certainly ask around,” Gray murmured.

“And I’ll get better security,” Bellamy said with a shake of his head. “There are some programs I’ve got in the pipe that no hacker can get through. My problem is being able to roll things out without the government cracking down on me. If I look too good, they’ll have someone watching me. Believe it or not, those *s say they want free enterprise, but at the end of the day, they want all the new tech for themselves.”

“I’ll see what I can do to keep the government off your back,” the duke murmured. “The point of this meeting is to talk about a wider distribution of the drug. The brothers here believe they can do a better job than we’re doing.”

“Getting the drug introduced into Ether is our goal,” Bellamy explained.

The butler returned with an elegant tray. He passed out our drinks and we all settled back in. This was starting to get interesting. I needed to know how and when they planned to move the drugs into Ether. The how would be especially nice. If Gray and his brother got the job, it would be easy to thwart that particular plan, but what I really wanted to know was Winter’s endgame.

Was he trying to kill off supes on the human plane? Trying to start that war I’d been worried about since I’d met the man?

I took a sip of wine as Bellamy began to talk about production. They were planning a large shipment in the near future.

“That’s a lot of product.” Gray took a long sip of his beer. “I suppose we could find a way to move it. Matthew, do you have any thoughts on the subject?”

“I don’t believe we can sell it in the club. Security is far too tight. The key is to get the shifters hooked on it so they come looking for us,” Matthew mused. “What we likely need is a way to liquefy the product. Right now, it’s the form of a pill, correct?”

Bellamy nodded. “It’s injectable as well. At first, those were the only two ways to get enough of the drug into the user’s system. Injecting the drug almost always killed the subjects. Even the demon subjects.” He sat forward, his hands on his knees. “Unfortunately, the true subject turned out to be difficult to deal with. We couldn’t get him to take a pill and we certainly couldn’t inject him without bringing his father’s wrath down on our head. So I’ve spent a good deal of my time refining the drug so it’s odorless and tasteless and easy to slip into a drink.”

“Demons?” Gray asked. “I thought you said it didn’t work on demons.”

Winter’s smile was the only steady thing in the room. “Brimstone doesn’t, but then Brimstone was a smoke screen for my side project. You see, in my line of business, the boss tends to eat you when you don’t obey. I have to have something of value to present to Lucifer Morningstar. He doesn’t like dissent among the ranks. When I kill Donovan and start a war, I have to have…well, a saving grace, and everyone knows what Lucifer values most in the world.”

Gray set down his beer. “I’m not following. What’s this side project?”

“Yes, I’m interested in that, too,” Matthew stated. “I’m beginning to feel like we’ve been brought here on false pretenses.”

“Not at all,” Winter explained with a wave of his hand. “I’m simply trying to explain that the end goal is a bit more involved than I formerly mentioned.”