The Kidnapper's Brother

and his hand had found the hem of my shirt before

e late,

shoulder. The desk lamp caught the auburn in his hair and the pale

I co

s frame. The terminal was empty at this hour. Ozan had gone home at ten, and the only light left was the d

he always was, as if he expected me to step back. I did not step back. I got a ha

would smell him on me, of washing my hands twice before I went back to the terminal. Five years of a bond I had never declared to a single livin

erate. I got my hands under his shirt and felt the heat of his skin. The office smelled of him, of rain and pine and something benea

said agai

't t

I came here to te

me a

desk creaked, and the strip light above the registry board flickered once and

Tarik traced the line of my collarbone with one finger. My hair had c

has been holding his brea

y head to look at him. "Wh

t the pilings under the terminal. "Deniz is back on this side,"

brother, a name he said as rarely

arik sat up and reached for his shirt. "He asked about

tion a rogue asks f

er his head. "I told him nothing

he wall read eleven forty. "

many questions about Baran." He found his shoes. "I

it every o

Deniz comes near this terminal, you call me b

y y

ned it, and the cold air off the Bosphorus cam

er me," he sai

rder, and took my place behind the

lost-and-found line for the ferry company. They get a recording. The wolves get me. The registry pulls the caller's scent from the line, and if the caller is one of ours, the board lights up

I drank half of Ozan's tea standing at the window, watching the

neteen the b

ly supposed to open from a phone registered inside the pack house. The name field was empty. That

a moment later, and I read

level two. The

no Luna in the Boğaziçi Pack for eleven months, not since the last one left. Selin had arrived three weeks ago as the new candidate, and sh

the console and

cue," I said.

's voice, low, close to the mouthpiece as if she wer

e said. "I

ght to the pack house and presented to us all with a speech about new beginnings. She had smiled at me tha

I said. "Wh

the healer's room." A pause. "The

s with

e code to the Luna wing is seven fo

Seven four one nine two is not a code a Luna candidate is given when she arrives. It is the co

u learn that

ard them speaking to a man on a phone, and they said my name, and then they said another name, a

he pack house, Selin was on the floor in the dark with a phone she should not have had, te

u are," I said

dor is sealed from the outs

ing for my coat. "T

hear her. "The person who stood in my room was not a stranger. They knew the pa

ne wen

the ferry horn sounded again down on the water, and I thought of Tarik at

up my coa