Speaking of which, he owed me some answers, so I tapped his shoulder. “Tell me about me. Who am I to you really?”
Dane sighed as though he had anticipated my question, but didn’t want to answer it. “I taught you everything you needed to know about how to defend yourself. Being half werewolf, you needed an edge over a regular werewolf. Especially if you wanted to survive this crazy world of ours. About a quarter of our species is female and not everyone survives the transformation if they’re bitten or their blood gets infected with ours. But my point is that your being part werewolf and smelling like a pork chop would only entice a rogue wolf to either rape or kill you. Your father and I weren’t about to let that happen. And it wasn’t like you’d spend the rest of your live living at home either. So, before you went away to college, he sanctioned me to train you. Like I did him.”
Oh my… That made him… Could he be…? “How old are you?”
“Ninety. We age slower than the average human. And before you ask, I was bitten. Most of us were. To die of old age is a rarity in this life because we’re always fighting over territory or whatever scraps we can get. There are packs in many major cities, so this day and age of modernization has made us more civilized. To some extent. There are more werewolves alive today than when you were born. Then you have packs like Parry’s where they believe in the old ways of survival of the fittest and taking it to the extremes.”
“But you taught me how to live among them. Didn’t you?”
Nodding, he taped off the edges of Wednesday’s dressing. “I had to. You’re like the daughter I hoped to raise before she was killed by a werewolf. Once I fell in with your family, I swore I’d never let anything happen to you guys. In fact, I made a promise to your uncle.”
“Uncle?”
“Graham. He’s your grandfather’s brother, to be exact. Anyway, we turned out to be very good friends. From there, his family became my family. After your grandfather had bitten you—by the way, is any of this news to you?”
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“Some, but go on. I know about my grandfather going crazy and attacking me and my…” I gulped and shook my head.
Images of a little boy screaming in terror flooded my brain. I couldn’t get it out of my head, his tiny arm in the mouth of a giant wolf. My throat tightened up, squeezing tears from my eyes. His screams wouldn’t go away. Dammit, they wouldn’t stop. They just kept going and going and going and—
“Hey hey.” Dane was out of the chair and had both hands on my shoulders. He tilted his head, his concerned face studying mine. His thumb swept across my cheek, clearing away a tear trail. A timid smile inched onto his too-tanned face. “While I’m glad you’re getting back some of your memories, Angel, that’s not the one I was hoping for.”
Shaken, I eased out of his hands. What in the world had I gotten myself into? Why did lycanthrope have to choose me instead of my choosing it? Things would have been better if I were a normal kid living in a normal world with normal parents. I’d be like everyone else in the rat race and not standing in some magical Roma’s store with a werewolf looking for signs that I might break.
“You okay?” Dane asked.
I nodded despite another tear slipping down my cheek. Steeling myself, I wiped it away and turned my back to Dane. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t turn my back on anyone in this house, but I had to do it to regain some composure. I hated crying in front of people whether I knew them or not. Wednesday continued her story about her family’s dealings with Robert. I tuned some of it out because the large window overlooking the boardwalk caught my attention. Right in front of the store, Tate stood talking on the phone. His lips moved, but it looked like he did most of the listening. Customers walked right past him and into the store. Below our feet, the bell chimed before a thump signaled the door closing.
More people crowded the boardwalk below. They moved like ants going back and forth without running into each other. Even Tate looked around with an annoyed look on his face. He stepped to the side, just barely in my sights, most likely to hide some of his preternatural conversation. The number of pedestrians doubled in the few minutes he had stood there. Cars and trucks began traveling back and forth along the main road on the north side of the building. The whole scene looked like we had gone from Revere to a busy New York City street.
Wednesday’s attention shot toward the window. “Ohmygod. He’s broken through. Quickly, woman. Where is your friend?”
I pointed at the window. “He’s down there talking on the phone.”
“Outside?”
I nodded. “Why?”
“Because our protection spells don’t go beyond our front doors.”
Aw shit!
Marcia Colette
I began pounding on the window to get Tate’s attention. He lifted his head, smiled at me, and went back to his conversation. Surely, he must have seen me. I continued, smacking the glass, ready to break through it if I had to. Speaking of which, a chair caught the corner of my eye. I grabbed it.
“No!” Wednesday was on her feet. “The protection spell is in full force. You won’t be able to break the glass.”
I tossed the chair at the wall and ran to the backside of the long building. My feet pummeled down the steps until I made it to the ground floor. Racks of clothes hung everywhere and there were more customers clogging the aisles leading to the front door.
I pushed every animate and inanimate object out of my way. Clothes tangled around my arms. I jerked myself free. More clothes…shot out from the racks. Sleeves threw themselves at me, snagged my arms and trying to hold me back. They didn’t have much strength, but they slowed me down. Shirts tried to stop me from reaching the front, but I flung them to the floor hangers and all. By the time I made it to the front door, the traffic and the people had disappeared. Everything looked normal from the guy threading his fishing pole to the woman walking with her two children. I yanked the door open, the force flinging the chime off the wall and clanging against the carpeted floor. Wind brushed across my face like an afterthought. To my right, Tate had disappeared. His cell phone wide open was the only thing left of him. Panic sent my heart thumping in overdrive. I picked up the cell and listened to the angry voice screaming on the other side.
“Answer me, dammit.”
Throbbing nervousness clogged my throat while I continued to scan the streets. I put the phone to my ear just as Dane hurried out of the store and stood beside me. “Who’s this?”
“Who the hell is this?”
Oh crap. I forgot he came down here to call Parry and probably discuss pack business away from us non-pack folk. “Your wolf’s gone.”
“You bitch. If you hurt one hair on my dog’s head—”
“You stupid prick. Maybe if you’d stop being such an Alpha pussy and take some responsibility in your own hands, your so-called dog wouldn’t be in Gamboldt’s.”
“You little cunt! I’ll tear your mongrel, half-bred ass—”
“Fuck you. I don’t have time for this.”
I hung up in the middle of his rant. Alpha werewolf or not, I wasn’t feeling his sense of entitlement. I couldn’t mess around with stupidity like that when I needed to get my friend back. 174
Chapter Thirty-Four
Right in the middle of our crisis, Monica gave me a call and suggested I visit her at her office tomorrow afternoon. She had just finished speaking with Dr. Anri. Against our wishes about lying low and doing her job, she’d called the nursing home to inquire about Llewellyn, but again, no information was allowed to be given out without express wishes of the family. Even if the old guy knew something, there was no way to get it out of him. As if we needed more bad news on top of Tate’s kidnapping. Sadly, the few people we questioned said he’d walked away with some so-called friends of his to have a drink. The Garridans speculated that a confusion spell was used as a diversion. While Dane and I rode the subway back to the city, I tried to reach the Boston Pack’s den again with Tate’s cell. If they didn’t call me a mutt bitch, then it was something worse. Dane took the phone and placed the fifth call as we stepped out of the subway tunnels. Good thing too. Dane’s anxious pacing when the train was in motion had driven me nuts. He seemed a tad more relaxed being on the streets with hundreds of people and less of a chance for another kidnapping.
“I need to speak to…” He looked to me for the answer.
“Matt?” Really, he was the only one I cared about in that hellhole. He frowned. “That’s the guy you’re dating, right?”
I rolled my eyes. This was no time to talk about my personal life or lack thereof. Dane shook his head before going back to the phone again. “Matt.”
He spent another minute or two enforcing his authority like a true Alpha who had some sense in his head. Unlike that jackass running the Boston Pack. It took a few tries and some running around before Matt came to the phone.
I snatched it from Dane just as we rounded the corner a few blocks from Tate’s place. “Hello? Matt?”
“Thank God. Was that your friend Wesley Dane?” His voice was like heaven.
“Forget about him. Look, Robert used whatever powers he possesses to take Tate. I’m not talking the mind control either. This was something different. We were at a consignment shop in Revere talking to Wednesday Garridan when they used magic to swipe him under our noses.”
“Where are you now?”
I glanced around, lifting my head to spot a street sign. “We’re about two blocks from Tate’s.”
“Why are you there? Hell, Lex, you need to be in hiding or something. Get out of town while you can. We’ll figure this out when Parry releases me.”
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“Releases you? I thought you were there because Parry wanted to keep an eye on you. Not hold you prisoner.”
“This is his idea of holding me prisoner. I found out what he meant last night when I tried to leave.”
Uh-oh. I did not like the sound of this. “What happened last night?”
Something like playing cards snapped together in the background. Glass shattered and it sounded like a screaming match had broken out. A door whined opened and closed with a thud. Crows squawked in the distance.
“Where are you and what was all that noise?”
“Had to go outside to get away from the foolishness.” After a huff, he continued. “One of my stupid pack overheard me talking to Tate last night about leaving this place and they told Parry. The bastard broke into my room and…” A hacking cough seized his voice. “Sorry about that. I’ve got a cold, I think.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. What’s going on, Matt?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me!” Whoa. My voice got a little loud on that one. Passersby stepped aside or looked at me like they didn’t want any part of my explosion. Dane gave me a you-might-want-to-chill-out look and I agreed. I took a breath to calm down. “Talk to me. If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll find out even if I have to come down to Kingston to find you.”
“Don’t. Trust me on that.”
“Then say something.”
He paused. “Parry wanted to make sure I stayed put. A good beating usually assures that.”
“What the—?”
I tossed the phone to Dane and grabbed hold of the nearest No Parking sign I found and strangled it. It was a good thing the Department of Transportation cemented these things into the ground. I wanted to throttle something just to get the anger out of me. A growl helped, though it was pitiful compared to that of a real wolf. It didn’t matter. I just needed to get my frustrations out before I battered a storefront window instead. Helplessness and I don’t mix. Boy, did I feel it big time. Dane laughed and waved at the passersby who decided my tantrum was more important than where they were going. “Don’t mind her. Just a little tension release.”
Once I wore myself out, I pulled my clawed fingers off the signpost and flexed the pain out of them. Dane shook his head before handing me the phone.
Matt’s voice brought me back to the conversation. “Look, I don’t want you doing anything crazy.”
A little late for that. Just ask the leaning signpost of Pisa. Matt paused. “Parry’s on a rampage. He jumped in the car and took off with a few of his cronies not too long ago. I have no idea where he’s headed, but I bet anything it’s either your way or Gamboldt’s.”
“What makes you say that?”
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“He mumbled something like ‘that damn Gamboldt’ and ‘not keeping his word’ before taking off.”
Call me crazy, but I had a hunch Parry had sold me out to Gamboldt to “get the stray” out of his territory. The only part that pissed me off was Parry taking his temper out on Matt. The more I learned about this guy, the more I thought the only thing standing between Matt and Parry was a pack of wild wolves who’d rather have a leader who’d let them run wild than one who demanded order. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything about the power struggles among the Boston Pack right now. But once I finished this, all bets were off.
I hung up with Matt and let a new resolve fill me. I turned to Dane. “How much money do you have?”
“Enough. Why?”
“I might need you to bail me out of jail.”
When I started off, Dane snagged my arm and hauled me back. “Just a second, Ms. Death and Destruction. I know that look in your eyes. Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“The one place where I can get my own leverage. We’re hitting that nursing home.”
Haven Park was a beautiful nursing home that looked more like an elegant mansion situated on a mountainside in Waltham. It had a great view of the city and the highway below. A light breeze brought my attention to the setting sun just beyond the rustling tree limbs. Around the side of the tertiary-level building was a parking lot about five times the size of the Crescent Inn’s, if not more. Reserved parking was left for the staff on call. We arrived as a medical transporter had pulled up to the front ready to hand off another patient.
When Dane and I walked inside, it wasn’t anything like I had expected. This place looked more like a cozy hotel than a nursing home. There were flowers everywhere along with a rose pink pattern on the textured walls and matching rug liner. Hardwood flooring spread throughout the entire first floor. The cushioned furniture looked liked it had been professionally cleaned and the magazines lay in two fanned piles on the coffee table. If this was going to be the last resting place for your loved ones, they wanted it as comfortable as possible. One thing was certain. It took a pretty penny to keep your elderly relatives happy in a place like this. If so, then Gamboldt cared a lot about his uncle, meaning I had come to the right place. The receptionist sitting behind the counter didn’t look anything like a nurse and lacked a nametag to confirm it. Two more nurses stood behind her restacking a bunch of folders in the slots along the wall. I thought that was interesting considering this place probably had about fifty rooms at most. I put on my concerned-relative face as I approached the counter. “Excuse me. I’m here to see Llewellyn Gamboldt. I flew all the way from Arizona because I just heard the news. Is he okay? Oh, God, please tell me he’s all right.”
The receptionist frowned at me. “She is doing fine. What did you say your name was?”
She? I thought Monica said Llewellyn was a guy. In fact, I’m pretty sure she did. What gives?
Marcia Colette
Dane smoothed one hand along my back and cupped my free hand with his other one. The sensuality of his gesture touched a nerve inside that made me want to ease away like he had cooties. I stayed put. Though I couldn’t recall, my body must have, because it settled into his hold without my having to think too hard about it. If it were Matt, the endearment would’ve melted off me. With Dane, it said play along. It made me wonder how many times before we had to do a play-along in the past.
“Please.” His voice wasn’t as urgent as mine, but he was sincere. “My fiancée and I have been traveling all day. She’s been frantic with worry and hoping to see her aunt today.”
The receptionist narrowed her eyes on us. “I don’t know. We’re very strict about who—”
I poured on my fake hostility. “Look, what difference does it make? I just flew thousands of miles to see my aunt because Robert said it wouldn’t hurt to pay my respects. You can call him if you want, but he’ll be pissed if anyone disturbs him while he’s at the Children Come First and Second charity dinner at the Westin. I’m sure he’s donated a lot of money to this place, since you guys have been doing such a great job with my aunt and all.”
The woman’s lips thinned, but she handed over two visitor’s badges anyway. She certainly didn’t put up much of a fight. Whether Dane had noticed it too, something told me we needed to make this a short visit. For all I knew that woman could be calling Robert right now and describing us to him. Llewellyn was actually Louise “Lou” Ellen. Monica hadn’t gotten it mixed up either. Dane picked up the old woman’s chart and noticed it said male. Either the woman was a hermaphrodite, or Robert did it with the hopes of keeping her identity a secret from anyone who might have meant him harm. He certainly had enough money to pay them off for a little cover-up in return. Lou Ellen shifted in the bed. She was a large woman who looked every bit of her ninety-plus years old. She had a large, bulbous nose with a wart growing beside it. I couldn’t be sure, but I’d swear someone had put lip gloss on her. There was no way her lips were that juicy while the rest of her looked dried and wrinkly. Thin white hair covered her head with a slight curl on the ends and her fat fingers kept the quilt clutched to her front.
When she opened her eyes, I jumped back. They weren’t just the white of a blind person, they were more like pearls. A thin ring around the middle of her eyes suggested she had an iris among the milky whiteness.
“Who’s there?” Her voice came across in an endearing, grandmotherly way. “Robert, is that you?”
So much for that vegetative state.
I glanced over my shoulder at Dane. He motioned with her chart for me to answer her. I didn’t know what to say to the old woman. A plan had come to fruition on the way, and we’d even rehearsed it twice. Something about seeing her had changed all that. Call me a coward if you want, but I wasn’t into rousting old women out of bed for information. Nonetheless, we needed it. 178
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I leaned close, careful not to touch her. If she had powers like her son’s, I didn’t want her reading me.
“It’s not Robert. It’s…Elaine. From Trixie’s Tricks.”
“Lainey!” She clapped her hands together and started reaching toward me. “Where are you, my sweet grandbaby? Say something.”
Great grand what the f—? That meant my so-called friend at Trixie’s was actually… Dear God. Gamboldt had probably planted her and concocted our friendship to make it easier for her to keep a close eye on me. Just when I’d thought maybe I’d had one friend in that place who I trusted. In reality, I’d had no one. They were all on Robert’s payroll and parts of their jobs were keeping me down. I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from saying something I’d regret later. Gulping helped me regain my friendly persona. “No way. I don’t want you reading what’s been going on in my mind these days.”
Chuckling, she swatted the air next to my head. “Silly girl. You know good and well I burnt myself out a long time ago. If your father’s not careful, he’ll do the same. Tell me. Who else is in the room with you? I can hear him breathing. By the way, your voice sounds a bit strange. Don’t tell me you’ve picked up smoking again.”
I coughed. “I haven’t. Just a cold is all. As for the person in the room with me, this is my fiancé, Herbert.”
Dane shot me such a glare that I thought it would singe my playful grin. Nonetheless, he stepped forward. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“You, too. I hope you’ve been treating my little girl well.” Her wrinkled lips pursed together in a smile.
“I have. Well, perhaps I should leave you two ladies alone to get—”
“No.” I flagged Dane to come closer. Now that I knew she was safe, I cupped Lou Ellen’s pudgy fingers. “I need some advice. And I don’t want to go to Daddy about it. You know how he is.”
“You must be mad at him. The last time you called him that, he said he wanted you working at the nightclub. I hope it hasn’t gotten rough or anything. He promised me it was for a nice lounge in downtown Boston. If any of those executives give you any trouble, you send your father to me. Understand?”
“Will do.” A new plan formed. I had a good idea of where I wanted to go with this and how to get my answers. “You knew about Dad having a half werewolf working for him right? About him brainwashing her to do what he wants? It’s scary.”
All of the joviality fell off Lou Ellen’s stiffened face. She retracted her hands from mine and curled them around her quilt.
That did it. The gig was up. She knew who I really was and didn’t need any powers to give her a clue. In fact, she was probably the type who didn’t have a problem with her life hanging in the balance because it had since the day they had wheeled her in here.
Marcia Colette
“He’s making a name for himself in more than just one community isn’t he?”
I frowned. “Come again?”
“You know what I mean. Your father thinks the best way to get what he wants is through intimidation. If he has the right people in his pocket, then they’ll make it happen. If what you say is true, about him having a half wolf under his control, then he’s on the brink of making it happen. How did he do it—do you know?”
I shook my head, but forgot she couldn’t see it. “I don’t. He doesn’t tell us all his secrets. All I know is the other women and I pinch information off the execs at Trixie’s and it’s used against them.”
“Good Lord.” She threw her head back in the pillows and shook it from side to side. Her eyeballs might have rolled up to the top too, but I couldn’t be sure. “I can’t believe him. Why does that crazy son of mine have to be so damn greedy? His father taught him to take only a little and what rightfully belonged to him. Not take everything because he thinks he can. It’ll be the death of him. Just like trying to control vampires and werewolves. Tell me, what’s he doing with this half wolf? How far has he gotten with her?”
“He’s used her to kill.”
Lou Ellen closed her eyes and crossed the Holy Trinity over her chest. “He can’t do it alone. Your father doesn’t have that kind of power. Someone else must be helping him magnify it. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” She felt three buttons on the inside of her bed before she pressed the fourth one. A whirling motor came to life, raising the bed for her to sit up. “He told me he had necromancers, witches, and others who supported him in his mission. Fools, all of them.”
“What mission?”
She stared straight at me. Her lips trembled, but no words came out. She wet her lips again. “The best way to make someone listen is to make them fear you. Thank goodness he hasn’t taught you that lesson yet. Your father has been pushed around all his life and he’s tired of it. Just when he thinks he’s the big man on campus, he finds out there’s always someone bigger. You want power in our world, then imagine what you can do if you have a Pack Alpha or a member of the Vampire Ministry under your control? That means you have a voice to be reckoned with. A voice that can upset the balance of power in your favor. If you need something, why ask when you can use your mind control to bend their will? Or at least make them fearful enough that they will concede to your whim.”
“Werewolves are unpredictable. They’re meant to be controlled by an Alpha wolf. Anything less and they’ll rebel.”
“True. But regardless of the species, all of them will respond to fear. That’s just the beginning. Curbing it to suit your needs is the next step. Making it happen is the third. If your father has a half wolf under his control, then he’s achieved step one. On to step two.”
And it would tear the supernatural community apart. Nobody appreciated having a leash around their necks. Certain species didn’t work well with one another and it had nothing to do with ancient rivalries or 180
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revenge. It had more to do with instinct. Just like flies would never join a beehive. Gamboldt was insane to think we’d give him respect just because he wanted it. Achieving it through fear was one way, but what he had proposed went beyond that. He wanted complete control over something that human laws had hardly contained for the last millennia. Even then, our laws superseded theirs because we lived in fear of being discovered. We’d be damned before we lived with a new kind of fear from some low-grade supernatural like him. Talk about a revolt. Robert would have one that would rival the Revolutionary War. Big time. Perhaps enough to spill into the human world.
Lou Ellen began fidgeting with the edge of her quilt. “If you’re going to kill me, you might as well get on with it. The only reason Robert hasn’t done it himself is because he’s a good boy who respects his mother. He just gets a little confused at times.”
I straightened and stared at her. “Elaine knew all along, didn’t she?”
She half-smiled. “No. Robert doesn’t tell his daughter everything for her own good. She’s also very wide-eyed and naïve. You don’t strike me as the type, if you’re trying to dupe a blind woman. Are you the half wolf you spoke of?”
I gulped. “Yeah.”
Lou Ellen nodded. “Then you know what’s at stake. While I love my son, he can be a bit screwy at times. I don’t condone whatever he’s done to you. Not to mention, I know my time is near and all I want to do is make things right with the Lord to better my chances of Him calling me home. I don’t want to be a wandering spirit like some of our relatives.”
Dane stepped close to the bed. “Wandering spirit? You mean he can channel dead people?”
She shook her head. “No. But controlling someone else’s mind means you can see through their eyes, too.”
Yes! I punched Dane in the shoulder and grinned. “That’s it. That’s how he’s been able to track me all this time. He can astral project his mind. Chances are, he probably knows we’re here.”
“Thanks to Ralph, the orderly, he does,” a voice said.
Both Dane and I turned toward the door. As fate would have it, Paul was standing there and he wasn’t alone. Frankie, my stripping nemesis, stood behind him and his gun.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I folded my hands over my chest, trying not to look intimidated despite the quake that seized my heart. With that silencer screwed on the tip, he could shoot both of us and nobody would ever know. The only problem was, he needed me alive. Dane, on the hand, was expendable now that Robert already had his hands on a wolf. After all, it only took one for him to experiment.
“You guys messed up royally by kidnapping the wrong wolf.” I glanced at Ms. Gamboldt wondering what would happen if I used her as a shield. Killing had dropped off my list of priorities when she’d told me everything and then some. Besides, I wasn’t in the business of killing old women no matter how prepared this one was for it. “Tate belongs to the main people you don’t want to mess with.”
“Yes, we do.” Frankie closed the door behind them. “Eventually, he would’ve been a target. Might as well have taken him while we had the chance. Made you flinch, didn’ it?”
“Why you miserable, bitch.” I started around the bed for her, but Dane snagged my forearm before I got up in her face. “I’ll do more than flinch if he comes back the worse for wear.”
Paul laughed. “Then you had better get your boxing gloves on because that’s exactly what we plan.”
After nudging me aside, Dane wandered away from the bed and stood on the opposite side of the room. Perhaps he thought firing bullets around Lou Ellen wasn’t a good idea either. “How do you plan on getting us out of here? Shoot us. Then get one of Robert’s necromancers to bring us back to life?”
“We’re going to walk out of here nice and slow.”
“Good.” Huffing, Lou Ellen folded her arms. “Because the sooner you people leave, the sooner I can get my beauty rest before those other men come up here. Real meanies. Especially the redhead.”
All of us stared at her, but I was the one who spoke. “I thought you said your powers didn’t work anymore.”
She smiled. “They don’t. Except for when I’m really scared and get vision flashes. I might be wrong, but they’re asking to see me about something. News about my son, I think.”
Paul ran to the window and shoved the curtain out of his way. He pressed his nose against the glass. Dane grabbed him and wrestled him around the room, crashing into the extra chairs. They only distracted me for a second when I set my sights on Frankie. I jumped her from behind with a chokehold. Until then, I had no idea how hard it was to get your arms in the right place around someone’s neck. Most of it required upper body strength, which was something I had in abundance. The only problem Stripped
was her struggles didn’t make the hold any easier and I had to be careful not to snap her neck in the process.
The gun went off. Despite the muffled sound, it was enough to get my attention. Frankie sagged to the floor by my feet. At first, I thought she’d caught the bullet, but there wasn’t any blood or an exit wound. She’d passed out from the pressure I’d applied to her throat. Gently—not sure why—I laid her down and looked up.
Dane remained in a crawl position with Paul sitting back on his knees and the gun shaking in his hand. A spot of blood dropped on the floor underneath Dane. Another drop followed from the inside of his jacket.
Rage boiled through me. That son of a fucking whore had shot my friend. Granted, though our friendship thing was still on the fence because my head needed more convincing, the hatred and anger swirling inside said otherwise. Messing with a woman’s family would turn her into a madwoman. When Dane went out of his way to protect mine that sealed his status for me. I flew across the room and kicked the gun out of Paul’s hand. Before that same foot touched the floor, I whacked it across his face. Paul grabbed his cheek. My foot came up, ready to pummel him again. To my shock, not once did I lose balance.
I called off my attack. Nothing would have pleased me more than to bash his skull against the wall. Watching that bastard squirm while he held his nose would have to be enough. At least there was some satisfaction with the amount of blood seeping through his fingers. I left him and rushed to Dane’s side to pull open his jacket. Blood had soaked into his blue shirt and over his black jeans. Thick crimson oozed from the bullet hole. Dane touched my sleeve. A strained smile splayed his face. If he did that to comfort me or imply it wasn’t that bad, it wasn’t working.
“No.” He nudged me away. “Just…go to the bathroom. Find a towel or something.”
I did. When I returned, I balled it up and pressed it to his side. He grunted before batting my hands away with his bloodied ones as though he wanted control of the situation and didn’t need my help. Then again, it could’ve just been the Alpha-in-charge in him talking. I let him be without a hint of frustration or offense. If that was how he wanted it, who was I to stand in the way? Not that I didn’t want to, but rather…it was on him to tell me what to do and I’d comply. Why this weirdness had come over me, I hadn’t a clue. However, trying to fight it was like going against some sort of wolf programming.
“What’s going on?” Lou Ellen remained on her bed, her fat fingers quivering while clutching the edge of the quilt up to her mouth. “Is anyone dead?”
“Not yet.” I shoved my arms around Dane’s chest and lifted him to his feet. Screw the wolf programming. He’d take my help and like it.
Marcia Colette
He shook his head and braced his arm between us. “We have to get out of here.”
“We have to get you to a doctor.”
He laughed. “You know of one? We are in a nursing home, after all.”
Oooo, I could’ve smacked him for that smart-aleck comment. Luckily for him, he was already hurt. Dousing my rage, I started us toward the door before stopping and staring at Paul and Frankie. “We should beat Robert’s address out of them, you know.”
Dane shook his head. “No way. If the redhead she’s talking about is Parry, we need to get out of here. Fast. My blood will leave a trail that his bloodhounds will follow.”
Damn his common sense.
I peeked into the hall. Other than an old man in a wheelchair at the other end, it was clear. We hurried into the corridor, leaving blood droplets staining the polished hardwood floor. Just as we made it to the stairwell, I glanced over my shoulder and caught a horde of four coming off the elevator. A man with red hair led the way in the wrong direction. I shoved Dane inside the stairwell and quietly closed the door behind us.
Dane clutched his side and panted. “What gives?”
“Parry and his crew.” I looped his arm around my shoulders and hurried him down the stairs again. They’d pick up that blood trail and Dane’s scent any minute.
Just as we reached the bottom landing, the door on the third floor slammed open. I glanced upward and Parry glared down at me. His teeth formed a snarl through his thick beard while his eyes were livid enough to wish they breathed fire.
That was all I needed to get my ass moving. I threw open the door and stumbled outside onto the asphalt.
Flora stood on the opposite side of the check-in desk when we arrived. She set her eyes on me and shook her head, mumbling an “mmm mmm mmm”.
Once she got over her momentary anger, Flora enveloped me in a hug so heartfelt and sick with worry that her D-sized breasts smothered my air supply. Pulling back, she did a visual inspection before crushing me again to her front.
I couldn’t help returning the tight embrace.
Flora pulled away and planted her fist on her hip. “Girl, where on earth have you been? You scared the life out of us. Lord help me, I should smack the foolishness out of you.” She glanced over my shoulder and noticed Dane for the first time. “Lord, help me. Mr. Dane you look awful. What in the world have you kids been up to?”
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Dane leaned against the wall with one hand hidden under his jacket. Sweat beaded his forehead and haggardness sank his eyes. I thought it funny that she’d call him a kid when he was old enough to be her father. That was slow aging for you.
Uh-oh. Blood dripped to the floor just to the side of his brown deck shoes. My wide-eyed glare told him to play it off. If he didn’t Flora was bound to notice.
Smiling, Dane waved his free hand and straightened. “I’m fine Flora. Just tired and hungry. Any chance I can get you to rustle up some lunch?”
I rolled my eyes. Didn’t he notice it was nighttime? I thought the slow cab ride with darkening skies beyond the windows might have been his first clue.
Grinning, Flora shook her head. “You two are a trip. Young lady, your father has been calling this place like crazy looking for you. I have half a mind to call him back and give you up.”
“Where’s Charles?” Dane blinked several times, though squinting on the last one.
“He’s out running some errands for me.” Flora arched her eyebrow again, studying Dane. “You look like you need some soup. Are you sure you’re all right?”
Dane chuckled. “I’m fine. A little gassy perhaps. Those burritos are still burrowing through my stomach.”
Oh. My. God. Why did he have to go there? A half smile trembled onto my face. I strode across the floor and looped my arm around Flora’s good one. Turning her toward the dining room, I escorted her to the door. “You know how my dad is. Always worried for no reason. Which reminds me, you haven’t rented out my room, have you?”
She patted the back of my hand and met my eyes. “Of course not, baby. And…” Her gaze lowered a moment, a slight flush filling her brown cheeks. “I’m sorry about all the trouble Charles and I caused you. You did a wonderful job with keeping this place running. But running off like that to set things right is no excuse. You shouldn’t have to go up against the mob by yourself. In fact, you should be calling the police on these fools.”
Huh? What in the world was she talking about?
Oh. She meant the last time I supposedly “ran off” to take care of business. Where she got the idea that the mob had something to do with this only left one person. She must have spoken to Monica. Probably wanted to know where I had disappeared or did she have any information on my whereabouts. I bet the police had a field day showing up at the B&B with a warrant out for my arrest and scaring poor Flora half to death.
“Let me take care of this.” I squeezed her pudgy hand and cemented my plastic smile in place with the hopes it passed her scrutinizing gaze. “There’s no reason why you and Charles have to go through this with me. That’s why I canceled all of the reservations and have had next week’s patrons shipped elsewhere for their stay.”
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Flora stared. “You must have hit your head again. That was a month ago.”
“Oh.” Damn, I hated this missing time. The hours, days, and weeks started merging into one clump without any sense of time. “Well…maybe we should think about doing that again. Just in case.”
“You know that’s gonna eat into our savings, right? We’re barely above water as it is.”
“It’s a chance we have to take. I won’t put anyone else in danger if I don’t have to. In fact, I want you and Charles to—”
She shook her head. “We’re not going anywhere. There are only a handful of guests and we’re taking care of them just like we always do. You saw us through our rough patch. We’re gonna see you through yours. This building will still be standing just like it always has. You wait and see. Now…let me go in here and see if I can rustle up some dinner for you two.”
I wished I felt better about that, but I didn’t. While I loved the Hills in the short time I had known them, I wanted to shove both of them on an airplane and fly them as far away from here as possible. They were too old and fragile to be caught up my mess. Dammit, they didn’t deserve this. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to keep Gamboldt away.
But that was the question. They were here and I was here. That bastard could’ve broken into the B&B at any time or used his mind-control powers on them to infiltrate our home. Surely it didn’t take a lot of his power to muck up the minds of two senior citizens.
Dane coughed.
Good Lord, I had forgotten about him standing there. By the time I turned around, he had disappeared up the stairs without me. He moved fast for a guy who had been shot. I followed his scent, but stopped between the first and second floors.
The scent of blood had thickened the air. A red splotch on the burgundy Persian rug caught my eye. It was Dane’s all right. He must be bleeding through the towel. Great. I hurried up the staircase after him. Just as I rounded the end of the railing, I noticed the door to my quarters open. Once inside, I helped Dane take off his jacket while he sat on my bed. Blood soaked the folded towel to the point that there was no white left. If it hadn’t been for Dane needing my help, I’d have backpedaled out the door. I shook my head. “This isn’t good. You need to see a doctor.”
Dane chuckled and forced himself to sit up. “No. I need my bag from my room. I don’t think the bullet hit anything major.”
“It hit you, you nut ball. Isn’t that major enough?”
A humble smile bowed his rubber-band lips. “That’s my stubborn, demanding little Angel I miss. You’re going to have your memory back, Lex. I swear.” Dane reached inside his coat pocket and handed over his room key. “Go and get my black backpack. It’ll have everything I need.”
I did as he asked without having to search too hard. With the backpack slung on my shoulder, I exited his room.
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Footsteps thumped up the stairs. Two flights down, Flora’s arm poked out over the railing. It burned me that she would come up these steps at her age to tend to us. I dropped the backpack on the floor and went down to meet her. Actually, I scolded her first and felt good about getting her back. Then, I thanked her for the giant wicker basket of food. She had better be lucky Charles was out picking up some supplies or he would’ve cursed her out, too, for pushing herself too hard.
With the backpack and picnic basket in hand, I entered my room. Dane wasn’t there. Grunts echoed from the bathroom. I placed the basket on the table and brought him the backpack. Dane sat on the edge of the bathtub holding a different not-so-fresh towel against his side. Thick crimson droplets had stained the white porcelain tub.
“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Engrossed in his cleaning, not once did he look up to acknowledge me. Not like I expected it either.
“Yes, it is.” I lifted more towels off the rack and placed them on the floor for easier access. “Flora’s going to demand an explanation first. Then she’ll kill you.”
“Can you reach inside and hand me the black pouch?”
I let my rant go and found the small bag in the bottom past a bunch of gauze, first-aid tape and other medical kits that left me scratching my head. “What’s in it?”
“Drugs.”
I continued to go through his things. Holy crap. He had all sorts of bandages, ointments, syringes and even a stethoscope. I lifted a blood-pressure cuff out of the bag and held it in front of him. “You mind telling me what this is for?”
“Measuring blood pressure.”
Lord, if it weren’t for him being hurt, I’d give him a reason to feel some real pain. But it was my own fault for not asking the right question. “You know what I meant. Are you a doctor?”
Confusion twisted his eyebrows. “What makes you think—? Oh. Never mind. I forgot you have the amnesia thing going on. But to answer your question: no. I learned my skills in a more unorthodox way.”
“Uh-huh.”
He tossed a bloody rag in the tub. “I killed people for the fun of it the first twelve years after I was bitten. I’ve learned a lot in the five-plus decades I’ve been a werewolf.” He picked up the small pouch and fingered the clanging vials. When he found what he wanted, he leaned over—grunting—and pulled out one of the syringes I’d left lying on top of the bag. “Are you going to watch?”
“Not unless you need a hand. Flora brought us some food.”
He grinned. “I know. The crab cakes and lobster bisque smell delicious, I’ll tell you what. How about you set the table for two while I handle this? Otherwise, your hovering will only make me nervous.”
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An offer to leave? I’d take it. I didn’t want to see him perform surgery on himself anyway. There were some things my stomach could handle, but I drew the line at causing pain to oneself. Besides, I had other things to do like check the roster and see if the new guests’ names sounded familiar. Tate’s cell phone rang to life with a digital rendition of a U2 song. I didn’t recognize the number and hesitated about picking it up. My fingers itched to press the green phone button anyway. Against my better judgment, I answered.
“Thank God.” Matt sighed.
Hearing the care in his voice warmed me. “You’re not going to believe—”
“Where are you?”
“What does it matter? I’m at the inn. But that’s not what I want to—”
“You need to get out of there. Anything familiar to you isn’t safe. I can call my doorman and he’ll let you into my condo.”
“If you’re thinking someone’s going to jump me, it won’t be a first and you know it. The only difference is I’ll be protecting my territory at the end of a knife, if I have to.” I unsheathed the blade at the small of my back and held the sharp edge up to the dim light. Still some blood, but it would have to do until I oiled it down like Tate said.
“For a jackass, Parry can be a smart man. He had one of our members who’s also a PI do a background check on Gamboldt. He found out about the nursing home. Until now, he didn’t give a shit about the place. He caught wind of your delicious scent and that of another wolf.”
“I know. Dane took Tate’s place as sidekick after he was kidnapped. After tonight, he’ll probably think twice about doing it again.” I sat on the bed and stared at the food getting colder by the second. It didn’t matter. I finally had a chance to take the load off and I did. “Matt…I’m sorry about Tate. I didn’t mean to let my guard down or—”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is if he dies. My God, why do I keep getting innocent people caught in my damn crossfire?” Tears blurred my vision. Blinking, I threw my head back to stave them off. This wasn’t the time for a breakdown. Our race against the clock didn’t allow for it. Eventually, Robert would catch up to me and when he did, I had a feeling there wouldn’t be a third escape. He’d either kill me or hide me deep enough inside his twisted world that a pack of were-bloodhounds couldn’t find me.
“It’s not your fault. None of this is. You didn’t ask to be kidnapped. The only thing you did was walk into an auction hoping to buy some furniture.”
No matter what he said, I knew differently. More people were going to die unless I did something to stop this bastard.
“Can you do me a favor?” Matt asked. “Look outside your window and tell me if you see any cars parked on the street. And if so, what kind.”
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“Why?” I left the bed and hurried to the window. “If Gamboldt’s going to do something, he’s going to do it within these walls. Not from the outside.”
“Who said I’m talking about him?”
Uh-oh. My belly knotted at the sound of that. I clutched the rod for the blinds, but didn’t twist it.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Sweetie, you guys left a calling card at that nursing home. One that Parry wasn’t happy about finding.”
Oh man. He was talking about Paul and Frankie. Perhaps they were loyal to Gamboldt, but with enough pressure, they’d turn into squawk machines. I knew we should’ve cut off their air supply when we had the chance.
Chapter Thirty-Six
After a few more minutes with Matt, I said my goodbyes before I died of excessive nagging. Sure, I didn’t take Parry or his antics lightly, but the deed was done. The fool had seen us, tracked us and wanted to kill us. Nothing we could do about that now. Constantly reminding me to “stay safe” was like using an umbrella in a category-five hurricane. The only way I’d be safe is buried six feet under with a stone slab on top to make sure I stayed put. Sorry. No can do.
Whether or not Paul or Frankie talked, I couldn’t say. Unless the police got there before Parry, they’d spill. Even then, that wouldn’t stop Parry from getting what he wanted out of them. The guy probably had a mole or two in the police department.
In all the chaos, I had forgotten about Dane. He had been in the bathroom a long time. I decided to check on him to make sure he hadn’t died on me. That would be disastrous…considering he wasn’t such a bad dude after all.
Dane remained seated on the rim of the bathtub, wrapping the last of his bandages around his waist. Papers and torn pieces of fabric littered the floor. Instead of picking them up, I offered to help him to his feet. He refused it in favor of using the sink as leverage and adding another trail of sweat down his face during the struggle. Biting back the pain or not, anyone who eased into the main room with the help of the wall and pieces of furniture was in agony.
I followed. How I’d break the news to him, I didn’t know. But the sooner I did it the better. “We’ve got a problem. Not yet, but soon.”
He sat on the bed. After lifting his feet off the floor to rest his back against a stack of pillows, he turned and waved his hand for me to spill.
“If Paul or Frankie talked, they’ll lead Parry and his crew here. Until now, I have a feeling they didn’t know where I lived or they would’ve toppled this place by now. They’re probably—”
“—on their way. Believe it or not, that doesn’t surprise me. You might as well tell me about this Matt guy you’re dating.”
“Huh? What’s he got to do with this?”
He pushed away from the pillows and met my gaze. “Who’s Matt?”
His demanding eyes and matching tone made it clear that he’d dig as deep as it took to get the answers out of me. I thought it best to just give in and save him the hassle. Stripped
“He’s a member of the Boston Pack just like Tate. But he’s been helping me because we were apparently an item before my disappearance and—” I stopped because I knew where he was going with this. “Look, if you think Matt had anything to do with this, you’re nuts. I trust him. He never would’ve come all the way to Battle Rose to find me if he didn’t care. What the hell did he have to gain by bringing me back into his pack’s territory? Huh? Isn’t that what you wolves strive to do? To keep interlopers off your land? You can’t get anymore off than Battle Rose.”
A huge smile curved Dane’s lips. “You’re in love with him.”
“Bullshit. We’re just—”
He threw a hand up to stop me. “Uh-uh. I know you, amnesia or not. You’re in love with this guy, which brings new meaning to the Romeo and Juliet thing. His Alpha will never accept you into his pack. Parry has a reputation throughout the world and it’s not good. Why do you think I was against you moving here when you finally—” He waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind. We already had that argument. I just wish you had listened to me in the first place about Boston.”
“Who cares about that? If Matt and I want to get married someday, we’ll—” I caught myself. Grumbling, I folded my arms and refused to look at him.
Where the hell had that come from? Sure, I liked Matt. In fact, I was deeply fond of him. He had a special place in my heart. One that screamed for me to burn Parry and his wolves out of their den for hurting him. That wasn’t love. It was…something else. But nowhere near love. It was just my werewolf and human personas getting crossed. That was all.
Hypothetically speaking, if I wanted to start a family life, it made sense to find out where Matt stood. Seriously, how did I know if he wanted kids or not? Suppose he liked his pack more and refused to leave them? I certainly couldn’t ask him to choose between us because that was unfair. He had known them for a lot longer than me and even formed bonds with them that a lowly half wolf could never break. Dane’s face lightened as fatherly mode slipped behind his eyes. “I didn’t mean to go there. If you like this guy, then I’m sure there’s a good reason. Sorry I teased you.”
“Whatever. Right now, Parry’s going to knock on that front door any minute and when he does, he’s going to know werewolves have encroached on his land. Not to mention, we still have the problem with Gamboldt not having a problem with encroaching on my land. He’s probably waiting in the wings for another attempt. If all hell breaks loose, the police will be handing out arrest warrants like flyers.”
Dane folded his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. “Do you remember how to use a crossbow?”
“No.”
“Well, hopefully it’ll be like riding a bike. Go back to my room and find a black duffle under the bed. It’ll have your name on it. Once you see what’s inside, I’m hoping this will all make sense.”
“What’ll make sense?”
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Dane pushed off the pillows with an excited look in his eyes. “You’re a sniper, Lex. One of the best damn shots I’ve seen in a long time.”
I crossed my hands in a T. “Timeout, buddy. I’m not killing anyone. That extracurricular activity has gotten me into enough trouble.”
“Then get a pretty dress on and some makeup because you’re about to get tossed off Boston Pack property in a body bag.”
“This is a public place, for heaven’s sake. He can’t—”
“Trust me, Lex, you don’t want to be bullied by a monster like that.”
“What do you want me to do? Shoot him in the middle of the street? Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Detective Konoval won’t have to dig up enough evidence to charge me with his murder too. It’ll be lying at his feet.”
Dane chuckled. “I’m asking you to stand your ground by scaring the hell out of him. That, Parry will respect. Otherwise, you’re better off going the rent route.”
“I’m not paying him shit.”
“Then I hope you have lots of insurance.”
I snorted before marching across the room toward the window. On the way, I tripped over the rug. So much for trying to make a graceful retreat. I kicked the ruffle out of the way and parted the blinds. Other than several cars traversing up and down the street, there was nothing out of the ordinary. How long it would stay that way remained to be seen.
“Scare him, huh,” I mumbled.
“Yeah. I’ll go downstairs and field him.”
I turned and offered my own warning gaze. “I don’t want trouble around here, Dane. Understand?”
He chuckled. “Angel, the Hills are like saints for watching over you. I’d never let anyone hurt them.”
Yeah right. Like he was in any condition to stop it. The only thing that would keep a rumble from happening was the human guests. Other than burning the place down, Parry wouldn’t do anything that would give them a reason to call the police. At least, I hoped the arrogant bastard was that smart. I found the duffle bag like Dane had said and what lay inside left me speechless. There was a sleek, black crossbow with the bow’s arms folded down. There were several dials and latches, but something told me not to touch them because they had already been calibrated to perfection. The pulley system on the bow screamed the word “compound” in my head. A small scope lined up with the shaft. The crossbow stirred my senses because my scent covered every inch of the smooth bow from the trigger to the middle of the bow. State-of-the-art came to mind. Uniquely crafted for someone with my expertise. A sniper’s elegant weapon of choice. I loved this puppy. Black quivers sticking out of the bag caught my attention. Pulling one resulted in black straps of Velcro and a pocket filled with arrows. It took me a few turns before my hands placed the pouch on my 192
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thigh and the straps fell to either side. No arrows hung across my chest in a sling. This was something new and specially made for someone on the move. It allowed me to get to my arrows faster. That wasn’t all. I put everything down and pulled out something that looked like a black bodysuit that bordered too close to kinky. There was no way in hell I’d wear that thing. Dane must’ve lost his mind. Something else lay on the bottom of the bag. It was a vest with more Velcro for keeping things in place and… Holy Crap. I remembered this vest. The mesh pockets on the front and the secret zip pockets throughout.
I was more than just a sniper. I was the weapon of choice. Who’s choosing, I couldn’t say, but I had a feeling it was one of my own. It would explain why I didn’t care much for guns when this was my trademark. But…I was missing something. I dug through my blocked memories for anything that would lend a clue to my gut instincts.
An image of me carrying a machete or a large bowie knife flooded my brain.
I walked through the woods carrying a bowie knife. Twigs and dried leaves cracked under my footfalls. I glanced from side to side, anxiety flooding my system. Either something stalked me or I stalked it.
A reddish-brown mass lunged from my right.
I stepped aside and sliced down with the knife. Blood splattered across the trees. A giant werewolf lay on the ground with its side split open. Its front paw kicked a few times. When it stopped, the last of its breath exited, flattening its lungs.
Footsteps pummeled the underbrush from where the werewolf had lunged. The bushes rustled. Another werewolf stepped through the copse. His cold eyes locked on to me. A growl peeled back his black lips, exposing a set of sharp teeth. Spittle mixed with blood dripped out of the monster’s maw. I crouched low and met the bastard’s eyes. “Come on, wolf. You afraid of a little ol’ half breed like me?”
His growling lowered another octave. Pointed ears flattened on his furred head. His front lowered. Instead of coming straight for me, he stepped to the side in a ritualistic death walk, sizing me up for attack. I brought my knife up and held it perpendicular to my arm. With my other hand, I motioned him forward. “Chicken shit.”
The wolf lunged.
My reverie stopped. The most I recalled from that scene was I wore these clothes and fought with the knife. Seeing as I was here to remember the tale, I had won. But like Dane said, I knew what I was supposed to do now. It was like it had been bred into me…and of my own choosing. I needed to make up
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for what I lacked in werewolf skills if I was to survive this world. My instincts demanded it. Whether Dane had chosen to train me or not, the wolf inside me would’ve found another way. I gathered everything in my arms and headed back to my room. If Parry wanted a war, he was messing with the wrong soldier.
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Chapter Thirty-Seven
The tree across the street had a perfect vantage point. I spied everything from here, including the front door to my inn. My black spandex kept me well hidden about twenty feet off the ground. The thick leaves and branches helped too. The occupants of the large home behind me never saw a thing or they would’ve raised holy hell by now. Thank goodness, these people weren’t night owls. Parry had arrived with an entourage about fifteen minutes ago. Yeah, that bitch Frankie had sold us out. What they had done with her was anyone’s guess.
Dane said to stay put and don’t do anything unless he gave a signal. I kept my crossbow aimed at the window in the library. Several people moved about, but Dane remained seated by the window in front of the lace curtains.
He promised me he wouldn’t move from that spot. If he did, then I was to fire an arrow through the window. That would be a warning sign. If he made a motion to get up deliberately, then he’d straighten the curtains first.
Movement in the blue pickup truck caught my attention. Parry and troops had traveled here in two vehicles. Five people entered the inn. Still, the five of them could’ve fit in one car. But they took two vehicles.
Blond hair flashed from the backseat window. I could be wrong, but my gut urged me to act. Best to know the enemy and where they stood than to wait until they got an edge on us. Taking up the crossbow, I dropped out of the tree. Dane was sure Parry wouldn’t do anything crazy, but I didn’t trust that. If they had something or someone hiding out, then I wanted to know about it. I crept across the street, approaching the truck from behind. My eyes continued to scan the area, making sure nobody saw me. If they did, hopefully they’d know the crossbow wasn’t for them. If they thought otherwise, I’d find out after the cops read me my Miranda Rights. Creeping up on the side, I recognized Frankie in the backseat, but Paul was nowhere around. Surely Parry had seen him lying on the floor where we’d left them. Why in the world would Frankie go with them and leave her buddy behind? Something wasn’t right.
I needed that guy in the front seat out of commission. Might as well get to it. I pulled the handle.
The door wouldn’t budge. Damn. That would be my luck.
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When the driver turned his head and growled, impulse took hold. I flipped my crossbow up and rammed the butt through the glass, shattering it. It butted him square in the face. When I pulled back, the man shook his head. Shards pierced his cheeks and nose. Blood began to ooze. He wasn’t down yet. Stunned, perhaps, but not out like I wanted. So, I slugged him a second time to make sure.
His scent touched my nose. The guy definitely smelled like a full-blooded werewolf. He slumped against the seat with a red spot swelling his cheek and blood trails lining his face. I had taken a full-blooded werewolf down. Speed had won over strength in this case. I rocked. Hands clapped.
“Bravo!” Frankie hung out the window smiling and offering up her applause. Lethargy filled her eyes like she had had a few beers before jumping inside the enemy’s truck. “I never saw that coming.”
I whiffed the air. Not that I would know what drugs smelled like, but she didn’t smell inebriated either. I brought the crossbow up to her throat. Her laughter stopped, but the smile remained in place.
“You’re good.” She stopped clapping and remained slumped against the door. “Very good. That’s why I wanted you. Everyone has a special talent that I can’t resist. You’re all like little puppets whose strings are mine alone to pull.”
My feet backpedaled. Stunned, I stood in the middle of the street without realizing it. A car headed straight at me with lights beaming and horn blaring brought me back to reality. I jumped to the side of the truck—threw myself really.
Had I heard what I thought I heard? This wasn’t the Frankie I knew. Something had changed her. She was a born bitch, but this wasn’t normal for her. Parry hadn’t drugged her up. Something had possessed her.
“Gamboldt,” I seethed.
Her smile beamed. “In the flesh. So to speak.” She popped the back door open and stepped onto the street. “I planned on staying with the wolves until I found another prize. They’re hiding your lover, you know. No, scratch that. You do know, don’t you?”
“You son of a bitch.” I knew what he wanted and it wasn’t just me anymore. After all, if he took one wolf, why not take a chance with another? One who was just as valuable as Tate. I’d be damned before I stood here and let him put one of his filthy fingers on Matt. She laughed. “That wolf of yours is a prized hound. A supernatural lawyer? Come on. What are the chances of us coming across something like that in our world? He’s special to say the least. As it turns out, I need his services. Just for a short while though. I’ll return him to his rightful owner when I’m done. The same goes for the cute little nurse.”
“Fuck you.”
Frankie rolled her eyes. “Really, Alexa. I thought you had advanced beyond crudeness.”
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Anger hooded my eyes. I stepped forward ready to hit the stripper with my crossbow, but I decided against it. Although there was hardly anyone on the street, I didn’t know if one of my neighbors might have caught the scene in front of my inn. There weren’t any sirens yet. Why press my luck again? Besides, haughty morons like him liked to talk. I needed him to talk. Talking might lead to leaking important information.
I slipped my hand behind my vest and gripped my sheathed knife. “I hear you had other jobs for me. Any chance on my finding out what they might be?”
Frankie smirked. “Why? You interested?”
“No. Not really. Just curious. I figure if I’m going to go to jail because of you, it wouldn’t hurt to have an idea of why.”
“You can level the playing field where I can’t. If anyone crosses me, you eliminate the competition. Simple as that. You kill quick, fast and unassuming. Just like a predator. I like that.”
“Thanks. But you’re avoiding the question.”
“Tell you what.” Frankie shifted while leaning her back against the door. “If you’re worried about Keisha, don’t be. In a few minutes, those murder charges will be off your back.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, but I didn’t have time to debate it either. Another car traveled toward us. I lowered my folded crossbow to my side and out of sight. However, my hand never came off my knife. When the car passed, I brought my attention back to Frankie.
She was gone.
Damn that bitch! Where did she—he—go? I looked in the truck bed, but it was empty. There were some rusted gardening tools and an old tire, but nothing more. A finger tapped my shoulder. I whirled around while drawing the knife. Frankie stood beside the truck, her bent arm propped on top of a side mirror and leaning her cheek on her knuckles.
“Wonderful trick, don’t you think?” That same maniacal smirk splayed her face.
“Would you like to see a better one?”
Frankie raised her hand. “Please. I’d prefer not to have this pretty face messed up. She’s such a wonderful lay.”
“What did you mean by Keisha would no longer be my problem?”
“I’m shocked you’re not asking about your friend Tate. I assumed he means something to you. Just as much as the werewolf lawyer to be exact.”
I lowered the knife, keeping a tight grip on the leather hilt. “You’re not going to tell me anymore about Tate or Matt. So, unlike you, I’m saving my breath.”
Chuckling, she straightened and stepped around the mirror. “I have another party coming up. I’d like you to attend. You see, the people coming to this one are rich execs on the verge of hitting Boston’s list of
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elite. I want to make sure I’m on their good side. Sometimes it takes more than a good game of poker to ensure that. Especially when they’re the kind of people who can shape local laws in my favor.”
“And my exact role?”
“As it’s always been. A demonstration. Ms. Walker was more like a demonstration for me to get an idea of what you were capable of. She wanted out and failed to read the fine print about nobody simply running away. If I had paid better attention, I would’ve seen that couple walking their damn dog down the street at the time. Then again, you fought my control. You’re stronger than I thought for a half werewolf. But in the end, you killed at my command. Luckily, no one saw. You even escaped before the police came. To be on the safe side, I had to stash you away and Trixie’s seemed like the perfect place. After all, that’s where I keep many of my special treasures.”
“Wow. You’re nothing more than a supernatural leech, aren’t you?”
For the first time, her smirk drained off her face. The look went beyond stolid. She focused all of her bland hatred on me as if she willed me to have an aneurism. “As much as I appreciate your snarky bitchousness, you’ve got other problems. In fact, she’s waiting for you on the third floor.”
A scream radiated through the inn. Flora’s face leaped to mind. Frankie laughed. “Oops. Looks like someone misjudged Keisha’s rising. I’ll have to have a talk with my necro about that. Great skills, though, if I do say so myself.”
I darted around the truck and headed for the front door.
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Chapter Thirty-Eight
I slammed the door open, smacking it against the wall. Several people—werewolves—stood in the lobby. Dane froze halfway up the first landing when his attention landed on me. His shoulders relaxed as if disappointed I had disobeyed him. He’d just have to scold me later. Based on the mumbles and whispers coming from the other floors, I wasn’t the only one who’d heard the commotion. Pushing through the thick clog of snarling werewolf bodies, I passed Dane on the staircase. “Keep everyone off the third floor.”
“What the hell is going on?”
This came from a guy who looked like a redheaded version of St. Nick. A thick beard stopped at his sternum. His waist disappeared under his distended stomach and he was mostly legs from that point on. Shoving one of his minions out of his way, he looped his thumbs through the belt links of his jeans. A show of authority, though it was more a show of potbelly. His narrowed eyes settled on me and his nose wrinkled with a whiff. Rage creased his middle-aged, freckled face.
“You’re the half bitch, aren’t you?”
I opened my mouth for a quick comeback, but decided against it. I needed to get upstairs. One of Parry’s wolves hunched their shoulders and started for me. I flipped my knife over once and hurled the blade at him. It spun end over end and struck him in the shoulder. At first, nothing. He stood there with his jaw hung in disbelief. Just when I expected a scream, he let out a loud exhale and tore it out. By the time he poured his rage on me, he was looking at the tip of my crossbow. Perhaps he’d forgotten I had it. I hadn’t. If he wanted to finish this, I’d be more than happy to put him out of his misery.
Dane didn’t interfere. Instead, he stood by my side with a smirk on his face. “To answer your question, she’s someone who’ll be more than happy to whoop your ass. Any more?”
“I’ve got one.” I held the werewolf in my sites. “Why are you idiots hauling Robert Gamboldt’s ass around town in your truck?”
A tick worked in Parry’s cheek like the information shocked and pissed him all the same, but he refused to show any more emotions than he had. “We’ll finish this later…Mr. Dane.” He turned and his people followed him out the door.
“Good.” I tore away from the herd and hurried up the staircase, taking the steps four at a time.
“Everyone back in your rooms. Now!”
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Did they listen? Of course not. Perhaps a few did, but they didn’t close their doors. When I arrived at my room, I found Flora cowering on the floor in front of a toppled table. Tears streaked her eyes. Keisha Walker stalked across the room like the walking dead with a faraway look in her eyes. I expected them to be gray or white by now, but they weren’t. They were normal. Her dark skin looked blue from lack of oxygen or something, and her teeth had turned varying stages of brown like pieces of wood smudged out. Clumps of her hair were matted with leaves and mud as though she had just crawled out of the grave. Eight months down there hadn’t rotted her away like I had suspected, unless Gamboldt’s necromancer was good at preservation too.
She reached for Flora, but stopped. Her head swiveled more than 180 degrees until her chin rested above her right scapula.
My fear of the Linda Blair zombie didn’t last long. Fury seized me. How dare this monster attack an old woman? Flora had come up here to check on me, and this was the thanks she got? No fucking way. Not in my house.
I yanked my crossbow to my shoulder and pulled the trigger. An arrow slammed into Keisha’s neck. Her head flipped back and she staggered. When she regained her balance, blood seeped through her growling teeth. She started for me.
I had another arrow mounted without thinking about it. I wanted this devil’s reject put down. The second arrow slammed center mass into the dead woman’s chest. Had she been human that shot to the heart would’ve killed her. Time to go for the next best thing. I mounted another arrow and aimed for her head. The arrow hit home, causing Keisha to stumble toward the window. I ran across the room and planted a jump kick square in her chest. She fell, smashing through the glass.
Instead of checking to make sure she was dead, I hurried to Flora’s side and crouched in front of her. It broke my tough-girl in half to watch her tremble in terror. I prayed to God her fear wasn’t on my account. Slowly, I reached for her, but she jumped. I pulled back. Damn, it hurt to see her like this. God knows I’d never meant to scare her.
After a swallow, I steeled myself because I needed to talk to her. “Flora. The police will come. I can’t be here when they arrive. Do you understand? People’s lives are at stake and this is something the police can’t handle.”
“Th-th-that.” She swallowed and closed her eyes. “That demon. She wasn’t… Was she…?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what she was. But I’ll be damned before I let her or anyone else hurt you or Charles.”
Dane hurried into the room. Sweat covered his face and he held his bloodied side. “Cops. They’re only minutes out.”
I stood and rechecked my crossbow. “I know.”
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“You can’t be here.”
“I know.” I glanced at Flora. “Dane, I need you to stay with her. Please. I can’t…”
My throat closed and tears took me by surprise when they flooded my vision. I refused to let that happen. There wasn’t any time for this. I blinked them out of my blurred sights and met Dane’s face. He handed me the keys to his rental car. “I’ve already started taking care of it. But right now you need to go.” Reaching in his back pocket, he pulled out his wallet and handed me a credit card. “Just be safe. Don’t worry about the cost. Lay low until things blow over.”
I shoved the card back. “I’ve got my own money. I won’t—”
“You’ll take it and you’ll like it. Do I make myself clear? Besides, in case you haven’t noticed, it has your name on it too.”
I snatched the card from him and held it up. Sure enough, there was my name. My real name. “Now I know you’ve lost your mind.”
He laughed. “Not really. After all these years of being a werewolf, I’ve learned how to prepare for almost everything. That’s why I took out joint accounts for everyone under my wing, including your family. And before you ask, there’s an extra ID for you in the glove box. Now get out of here. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“No you won’t.” Flora reached up with her good arm. Both Dane and I helped her off the floor. She took a few seconds to catch her breath. Dane watched her with a careful eye. Once she got a second wind, she walked across the floor to the end of the bed. “I can take care of myself. And if I have to, I can take care of both of you too. Now you give me that bow and arrow whatchamacallit and you do as Mr. Dane says. Get your behind out of here. I won’t have you going to jail for saving people from demons like that. Between the two of us, we’ll come up with something. Now get!”
All this time I’d worried about her being able to deal with my situation and here she was taking control of it. I wanted to argue, but she had snatched the crossbow from my hands with this I-dare-you look in her eyes. She meant what she said about taking the blame and that was it. Now if that didn’t call for a tear or two, what did?
A smile bowed my lips, but the sirens hollering in the distance put a stop to it. They were probably audible to human ears by now.
I couldn’t help giving Flora a hug and kiss before I left. Dane didn’t need it. He offered me a nod while waving his hand for me to get gone. I wanted to hug him, but time was of the essence. Darting through the crowd filing into the hall, I made my way downstairs. At the front door, I stopped. Glancing over my shoulder, I hoped and prayed I’d see this place again. More important, I hoped I’d live long enough to see my friends and family again.
Marcia Colette
I found more than just the black rental car parked on the street. Pippa, the witch from the hospital leaned against the passenger’s side door with her arms folded across her chest. She pushed away from the door with her red curly bob waving across her cheeks. Seriousness marred her face.
“You’re the human hybrid who set up a business on Boston Pack territory.” She shook her head. “You should’ve told me instead of letting me hear it from Wednesday Garridan.”
“Come again?” I glanced over my shoulder and noted the sirens drawing closer. In all honesty, I didn’t have time for this, but I wasn’t going anywhere until I got rid of her.
“The hybrid. A year ago, word spread that a hybrid was found on Boston Pack territory. An extremely rare breed. Anyway, Parry is known for a lot of things and boasting is one of them. He wanted to make it clear that no wolf, especially a half breed, was allowed on his land. Word spread among the supernatural underground about your mysterious disappearance a few months later. The gossip didn’t last long, of course, because there were other things going on at the time.”
“What does this have to do with you being here now?” I stalked around to the driver’s side door while keeping an eye on her. “And you might want to talk fast because the cops are on their way. I’d like to be gone before then.”
Pippa leaned against the car, folding her arms on top. “There’s a reason why Robert hasn’t been able to touch your innkeepers’ minds. It has to do with those witch’s ladders hanging around the house, the mobiles with strings, feathers, and sticks? Anyway, it’s part of a protection spell. The problem is it’s breaking down, which means we’re running out of time.”
“You put it there?”
She shrugged. “Not me, per se. Others in my coven. Right before we officially met in the subway, I didn’t know who you were and I destroyed your records before I copied the address. Out of sight out of mind, so to speak. I can tell you more on the way, but that means you have to trust me.”
“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but everyone who’s been around me has met a horrible demise. Are you sure you want to put your neck out like that?”
She pulled the handle, but the door didn’t open. Her eyes fixed on me. She’d meant every word. While I wanted to throw up another argument, I had used up my best one. Against my better judgment, I triggered the automatic locks. “Enter at your own risk.”
Pippa thought it better that I go to a protected place instead of a one-star hotel where criminals choose to hide and raids were sure to follow. While I assumed most witches called Salem home, she took me to Pine Bridge, a small town outside of Worchester. As she put it, any witch worthy of their craft wouldn’t live in the so-called witching capital of the world where there were too many human eyes around. After Pippa had reported her first meeting with me, one of her coven sisters did some checking around and found out the human hybrid, me, had returned. I was the first person to make it back from Gamboldt’s 202
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stronghold with my life intact. Those like Keisha Walker weren’t as lucky because the snake wouldn’t take no for an answer. When you joined his ranks, you joined for life because you knew too much. That was the case with Pippa’s former leader. Sarah Jenkinson had been a powerful witch who’d earned the right to lead Boston’s Western Coven. Unfortunately, her power went to her head. Robert happened to be there to sate her appetite. She went against the teachings of her coven by seeking personal gain and justifying it as the best for her people. In doing so, she opened up their Book of Shadows to an outsider and used its spells for wrong. Her people feared an outsider might trace Sarah’s power back to their coven and put all of their lives in danger. Now, it made sense why Gamboldt had upped the ante by wanting Parry’s wolves. He had a powerful witch on his side to amplify his mind-control powers. Witches were moving up in the world. I parked in front of a large cabin that looked more like the kind of vacation home several people would rent based on seasonal activities. Golden light shone through the first-floor windows, illuminating the glazed wood interior. The second floor was as large as the first. I stepped closer to the edge of the house and looked down into what I thought was a cavern. It was the finished basement with an outdoor Jacuzzi, shower and sauna. Through a set of glass doors was an indoor pool. Now I understood why these guys didn’t live in Salem. Their extravagant lifestyle would stand out among the shacks I’d expected to see.
There wasn’t anyone around. According to Pippa, they were out getting ready for Samhain, the witch’s holiday. Pippa showed me to a room on the second floor. It was simple with a single dresser, a wicker bed and one lamp on the nightstand.
I called Dane to get the scoop and return the favor with what I had learned to this point. Surely my patrons had given the police a wonderful description of me leaving the scene of a crime when I was there to protect them.
To my shock, Flora played it up like an Academy Award Winning Actress. She claimed that while she was checking on one of our guests, she noticed the door open to my room. When she went to investigate, Keisha attacked her. They wrestled for the crossbow, but Flora got the upper hand and shot her in selfdefense. The bruises on Flora’s shoulder and arm from her hitting the wall were all the evidence they needed for a scuffle. Dane backed up her story by saying he had arrived just as Keisha fell out the window. Fingerprints worried me, but Dane said not to worry about that. Easy for him to say. Detective Konoval bought it…for now…but he confiscated my crossbow as evidence. Whether they’d put Flora in jail was another story. So far, no charges had been brought against her. A senior citizen fighting for her life wasn’t the kind of honor badge a police chief wanted on his arm as a fight against crime. Right now, Detective Konoval needed to look into bringing charges of fraud against someone for faking Keisha’s first death. While there were some extenuating circumstances involved, like the state of her body just before she died, it was hard to argue that she’d been dead to begin with.
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That was what Robert had meant by taking care of my possible murder charge. I had a feeling there would be more questions than answers when all was said and done. Like how and when the body went missing from the morgue. Where had Keisha been all these months? Whether or not Robert had an answer for that, I didn’t care. I was off the hook and that was what mattered. Well…not entirely off the hook. I still had to deal with Billy the bum’s assault and battery charges among other things. After a hot shower, I ventured back to my room and noticed another one of those witch’s ladders hanging from the upper part of the windowsill. It was on a smaller scale with feathers, knots and different color beads all tied into a loop, but it stifled the room nonetheless. My stomach churned and nausea began to travel up my throat. I lunged for the trashcan sitting in the corner just in case.
“Alexa?” Pippa stepped into the room and smoothed her hand along my water-beaded shoulder. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. If I opened my mouth, I couldn’t be sure of what might come out. I pointed at the ladder and waved it away, hoping she got the idea.
“Oh.” She went to the window and unraveled it from the lock. She rushed it out of the room and returned to open the window. “Sorry about that. I didn’t think the ladder would bother you.”
The fresh air did wonders for my nausea. It was swept away like the sun breaking through a morning mist. “Those things make me sick. Or at least that one does. The others just…they make me uncomfortable.”
She cocked her head. “They’re used for protection sort of like a rosary. You don’t mean me any harm, do you?”
“You haven’t given me any reason to.”
Her head lifted with a light-bulb-moment gesture. “Oh, I get it. Robert still has a hold on you. A weak one because he hasn’t been able to influence you. But it’s there. There’s also the possibility that your heightened senses are picking some of it up too. Although for a hybrid, I never would’ve thought your senses would be that sensitive. You sure you’re not psychic yourself?”
My eyebrow arched. “Are you serious? If I were psychic, I’d be more than just Robert’s personal assassin.”
“You’re an assassin?”
I waved a hand to stop the questioning and approached the window for some clean air. Despite the chill on the breeze, it was a welcome freshness to my lungs. “That’s another story, but yes. Apparently, I’m a damn good shot with a crossbow. I had to be in order to survive. Werewolves see me as an intruder, regardless of how much wolf there is in my blood. So, my family took measures to make sure I had a fighting chance. Self-defense is one of them.”
Pippa whistled through her teeth. “It sure came in handy if you survived Robert.”
I shook my head. “Not yet. When this is over and I’m still standing, that’s when I’ll call it surviving.”
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Pippa didn’t stay. She left me alone to my thoughts, but the only thoughts I had were for Matt. This was the first time I’d had a chance to call him since all hell had broken loose. The way things were going these days, we both had our own personal battles. I prayed we’d come through in one piece.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Even though it was late, I took a chance and used Tate’s cell to call Matt. For once it didn’t take a series of threats, insults and hang-ups to get through to him. The person who answered sounded too out of it for a basic hello, which was probably why he handed the phone over to Matt without question. From what I understood, those Parry left behind spent part of the night snorting cocaine and drinking. Come morning, they would be nursing headaches, black eyes and various cuts and abrasions. A night of drugs and drinking always turned out the same way, which was why Matt had a condo in the city, far away from these maniacs.
“I’m getting out of here. Even if I have to change and sneak off into the night, I won’t stay. I’ve got a stash of clothes and money in a hole just off the highway in South Weymouth.”
“Matt, if you leave, they might hurt—”
“This is bullshit, Lex. Parry has people following me around all the time and watching everything I do. He doesn’t want me anywhere near you because he thinks you’ve infected my brain. That I should’ve killed you the first chance I got.”
“Why didn’t you, by the way?”
He chuckled. “I thought we discussed this already. I’ve never smelled a werewolf like you and it seemed a shame to let a delicious latte morsel go to waste. Not to mention, you weren’t causing any trouble. You were acting like a normal person, which is weird for a stray wolf, half or otherwise. Your parents must have been a strong influence in your life.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. I was still stuck on that part about a latte morsel. “They were very influential. But right now we’ve got more important things to worry about and I’m not talking about your escape either. Can’t you just sit tight and let me handle this? After all, I’m the one who Gamboldt wants. Once I finish with him, I’ll come down and break you out.”
“Good Lord, Lex, you make it sound so easy and it’s anything but. What happens if that maniac snatches you away from me? I’m scared…” He took a breath. “I’m scared I’ll never get you back if it happens again. We both know I’m right.”
That we did. In fact, I was sure I’d had this same conversation with myself not too long ago. “At least I’ve got a place to stay for the night. How safe it is, remains to be seen.”
“Believe it or not, it’s pretty safe. Witches believe in doing no harm and it’s a rule they live by to the fullest.”
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“Yeah, right. Tell that to their coven leader. She’s the one who fell in with Gamboldt and gave up their craft secrets.”
“You’re beginning to sound like them, you know that?”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not necessarily. But I have a feeling Pippa is setting you up to have an alibi. I’d highly suggest calling Monica and giving her the latest on what happened at the inn. Just keep the supernatural stuff out of it if you can.”
“I know the drill.”
“And don’t forget about your appointment tomorrow with Dr. Anri.”
“I won’t.”
“And make sure—”
“Geesh! Would you stop nagging me?”
“Nagging you?” Matt laughed. “You make it sound like we’re an old married couple. I’m just—”
“Nagging.”
He laughed again. God, it felt good to hear his laughter despite his circumstances. If I helped him do that while living a nightmare, then I was doing a good job. Selfless pat on the back.
The following morning, a knock at the door jolted me from the trenches of sleep. Flora still had my crossbow. That left only my bowie knife for defense. After a few blinks around the room, how I ended up in a strange bed and in a strange house trickled back to me. Since there were no bindings on my wrists or ankles, that meant I had made it through the night in one piece. That was a plus. Did it mean I’d drop my guard? Of course not.
I reached for the knife on the nightstand, unsheathing the blade from the leather case. Keeping my foot planted on the floor a few inches behind the door, I opened it. Pippa wasn’t there. Instead, it was another redhead who looked somewhat like her, only longer wavy hair and rectangular glasses on her rounded face. She smiled, lightening up the freckles on her cheeks. She held a cardboard box in front of her with the address of the house on the To section and the address of my inn on the From and a Founding Fathers Courier Service label where the postage would normally be.
“I’m Pippa’s older sister, Claudia.” She handed it to me.
I tossed the knife on the bed and took it with both hands. I doubted my hosts would appreciate my reaching for a knife in the morning instead of a cup of coffee. She started to walk away, but stopped and turned. “Um…don’t take this the wrong way, but this house isn’t ours. I mean—it belongs to Nora, our new coven leader. The house passes down from leader to leader and has been in our coven for the last seventy years. Anyway, it’s a meeting place for us. It’s also our sanctuary. We don’t give this address out to anyone and—”
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“It won’t happen again.” I knew where she was coming from, but they needed to understand a few things. “The Crescent Inn was my sanctuary and someone turned it into the devil’s nest in my absence. So I understand why you guys don’t want any part of my mess. You want your anonymity.”
“Good. As long as—”
“You need to understand that this has become your war too, when your former leader switched sides. You can’t just wash her under the rug and hope that her betrayal won’t came back to haunt you. Gamboldt will walk over anyone to get what he wants. If he’s bold enough to kidnap a werewolf, then what’s to stop him from having others bow to his whim?”
Claudia approached with her fingers kneading themselves to knuckle whiteness. When it looked like she had gathered all of her thoughts, she met my eyes. “That’s why you’re here. We’ve gone through years of persecution because we’re experts when it comes to power going to our heads. That’s why we avoid Salem and only a few of us have contact with the supernatural community. Too many ghosts and stigmas of our past are up there. We’re a shunned group by choice. But my point is this. We don’t know how to fight Robert when he’s got us at a disadvantage. We’re willing to get our hands dirty to set things right, but we won’t open this house up to any dangers. Not when we have the next generation learning their craft on the bottom floor.”
“Next generation? As in kids?”
She nodded. “Their ages range from five to sixteen.”
“Damn.” This was getting more complicated by the day.
“Sarah knows. We’d be fools not to think that Robert does too. Our little ones’ minds won’t be able to stand up to his brainwashing. That’s why we need help. Your help. If we had approached the Pack Alpha or the leaders of the Vampire Ministry, we’d have ended up dead and perhaps our entire race at the bottom of the Charles River for being stupid enough to open up our teachings to this monster.”
I shifted the box on my arms. “I’m just one person. I can’t hold the fate of the supernatural balance in my hands without some help.”
“We’re here if you need us. Unfortunately, Pippa’s participation might be iffy at best. She was called to the hospital this morning. With a schedule like hers, nothing is guaranteed.” She clapped her hands together and brightened her freckled smile. “I’m going downstairs to get some breakfast started for the students. You’re more than welcome to join us. I’ll steep some tea, unless you’re a coffee drinker.”
“Tea’s fine. Thanks.” I retreated inside and closed the door. The package was from Dane. He’d wanted to know where I was when I called last night to report in. Of course, he’d given me an earful and thought I’d learned my lesson by now about talking to strangers. Pippa wasn’t a real stranger because I’d met her before. She wasn’t a real threat either, as I recalled. Dane didn’t care. He’d gotten all Alpha wolf on the phone, asserting his authority and stuff. So, I’d hung up. 208
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Inside, I found a pair of brass knuckles in a beige drawstring sack-purse and a metallic telescopic baton wrapped in bubble wrap. The leather holster I assumed strapped to my thigh. Gee, and here I had hoped for some cookies and fresh brownies. The last item was a red dress with a pair of matching strappy heels. Did the man think I was headed to a thug picnic? Heaven knows the dress and the baton alone would make an interesting conversation piece. At least the black thigh-length jacket was a nice bonus. A tiny red, white and blue striped flag on the upper part of the heel caught my attention. When I touched it, a sharp metal blade sprang out. A grin lifted my cheeks. Now that was my kind of a shoe. Prada, eat your heart out. Although I’d rather have something that was no more than an inch and half off the ground, I’d take these three-inch daggers of death any day.
Underneath everything was a note. Dane didn’t think it was a good idea for me to show up at the inn wearing my sniper gear and thought this looked more ladylike and harmless at first sight. I couldn’t understand why he’d think I’d show up there, until I read down further. Both he and Flora had agreed to relocate everyone to other bed and breakfasts and pay for their first-night stay for the inconvenience. They cleared the house for my “pretend” return. Considering everything that had happened, he knew it was the last place I’d show up because too many enemies had intruded upon my den. However, those outside our community wouldn’t know that. They’d assume I’d go back home once the coast was clear. In all honesty, I wasn’t feeling the werewolf thing and wanted my den back just like any other human. I owned it. Enough said. Anyone in their right mind would want their possessions back.
*
I finished putting five perfect arrows in the center of a target. The bull’s eye was at least a hundred feet away.
Acres upon acres stretched across the massive estate. Vines crept up the side of the granite wall. A wrought-iron fence surrounded the property. Small mounds of snow sat untouched throughout the brown grass. It was winter and cold as hell with the condensed air fogging from my mouth. To my left sat a garden house that looked like a smaller version of the one behind me. I turned and looked up, counting the three floors and an attic that could’ve passed for a fourth floor.
From the large deck, Robert stepped down the stairs clapping his hands. “Well done, Ms. Wells. I’m impressed.”
Robert reminded me of a younger version of Milton Burroughs. His dark eyes settled on me, bags sagging underneath. He had a long head, making it almost too big for his narrow shoulders. Gray peeked along his temples and reached back into his ink-black hair. The man wore a black sports coat with a dark blue turtleneck underneath and slacks that matched the shirt. Smoke billowed from the end of his cigar, digging into my sensitive nostrils.
I said nothing. In my mind, he hadn’t said anything that required a response.
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He leaned in and engulfed my mouth in a kiss. His tobacco-tasting tongue slicked across mine, demanding to dominate me. The scent of expensive cologne and his sweet cigars continued to assault my senses.
When his hand cupped my ass, I pulled out of the kiss.
My instincts screamed in outrage at this fucker’s invasion of my personal space. I didn’t want that mongrel touching me. As much as I wanted to claw out his throat, something stopped me. Robert wasn’t Alpha enough, although he thought he was, but I knew better. That bastard would never make me his mate. I’d end up bashing his skull before he came up for a breath.
“Leave her alone, Robert.” A woman spoke just out of my view. “If you try to get her to go against her instincts, it’ll break our hold. The potions I made will only open her up so much to your will.”
He snorted, eyes roving up and down my front. “I’ll have her once we’re done.”
“Not unless she wants you. She’s part werewolf. Her Alpha heart is for an Alpha mate. One who’s her equal, not dominant. Unless you can prove you’re her mate, the wolf inside her will fight you. It sleeps right now, which is the only reason we have her under our control. I can’t guarantee what will happen if that wolf should wake.”
Robert turned to the woman out of my view and took a long puff of his cigar. “Then we need to make sure the bitch stays down.”
“She will if you leave her alone.”
No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t force myself to see the woman. My head struggled to turn. That damn unseen force had every inch of me in its grip. All I did was look straight ahead at Robert’s repulsive face.
“What do you plan to do with her?” the woman asked.
Robert puffed his cigar again. He started strutting around me, his vile breath filling my nostrils. When he opened his mouth, he blew cigar smoke in my face. Entranced or not, it didn’t stop me from biting my bottom lip to keep my churning stomach in place. Whoever the woman was, she was right about my senses and instincts overriding his control. Eventually it would happen and I’d be more than happy to twist his head off in return.
He flicked his wrist. I pulled the state-of-the-art bow back, aiming the tip of my arrow at the small red target in the center. “She’s the perfect weapon. Wherever she goes—wherever she strikes—my enemies will know that I’ve sanctioned it. They’ll know by her trademark.”
Robert stepped in front of me. His chin was about an inch away from the sharpened tip. Another puff of smoke blew from his mouth, billowing toward my face. I struggled not to release the taut bow and kill him. My fingers refused to follow through. While I screamed inside to be set free, my body held me prisoner by not doing what I asked.
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When Robert paced to the other side of me, I released the arrow. It pierced the target dead center, slicing one of my previous arrows to pieces.
“The arrow.” Robert’s smile was all teeth as he turned to the anonymous woman again. “She’s a clean killer. The perfect assassin. No torn bodies or blood on her hands. Between your potions and my brainwashing, we’ll be able to command more like her. The Romas did well with bringing her to my attention. Consider their debt wiped clean, but make sure they know my eyes are on them. I have no problem with using them as target practice for my hired gun.”
“Then you had better teach her to wear gloves.”
Grass rustled just behind my ears. Someone approached, threatening my personal space. Again, I tried to turn, but my body was against it.
Hands covered my eyes from behind. This time the invisible force persuaded me to mount another arrow on my bow and fire again. I followed through. The bow snapped. The undulating kickback left the weapon quivering in my solid hand. When the person’s hands came away from my eyes, I noticed the new arrow less than an inch from the last one I had fired.
“Bravo!” Robert clapped his hands.
“Not so fast.” The woman’s voice traveled across the back of my neck like fog on a moonlit pond.
“As good a shot as that is, if her fingerprints are on that arrow, you can kiss your new toy goodbye. Remind her to wear gloves and always use a different arrow with different markings. Make her kills untraceable in every sense of the word.”
My personal space lightened up with the sound of the footfalls retreating.
*
Sarah Jenkinson. The mention of potions had given her away and Pippa had already confirmed one of their own had sold them out. However, there was one good spot about this new development that I should’ve thought of before. If it took a spell to do this to me, then perhaps they knew another spell to counter it. I’d have to ask Claudia when I got downstairs.
Though Dane had good intensions, there was no way I could return to my inn anytime soon. No thanks to his witch, the Romas, a necromancer and whoever else he had in his back pocket, Gamboldt had made my sanctuary unsafe for me. My wolf side wanted to mope around the neighborhood for as long as it took to make sure it was okay to walk through the inn’s front door again. To my human side, that was unacceptable. I wanted my home back, dammit. The only way for that to happen was to start making some waves. I’d start with another trip to the Garridans.
Chapter Forty
I parked Dane’s rental across the street from Vujo Garments, the Garridans’ store, and probably the only one they were able to salvage from the auction block. After flipping the keys around on my finger, I shoved them in the pocket of the jeans I had borrowed from Claudia. Showing up in the dress that Dane gave me was a little over the top. The baton hidden under my coat and the knife sheath against my thigh were enough. People gave me funny stares on my march down the boardwalk. At least they stepped out of my way because they knew I meant business. Let’s just hope the Garridans thought so too. When I shoved open the doors, the only thing familiar was the chiming bell above the threshold. Everything looked different somehow, like there were more clothes and trinkets than before. The musty odor I remembered wasn’t from the old beams running above our heads, but rather incense burning in the corner. If I had my guess about it, I’d say they had strengthened their protection spells—not that I blamed them.
I forwent the clothes shopping and went straight to the counter. An old woman with more wrinkles than an elephant’s butt lifted her sagging eyes. She pointed a gnarled finger at me and began trembling. I hoped that wasn’t Aunt Tatiana because I had a bone to pick with her once this was over.
“M-m-muló.”
A mild tremble clacked the feet of the old woman’s chair against the hardwood floor. I had to do a double take on that one because her legs were too short to touch anything. There was nothing moving that chair except her anxiety and the waving of her finger. From a physical point of view: impossible. From a metaphysical one: highly probable.
“Muló.” She dropped her knitting on the floor.
I stepped forward and picked up her knitting needles and latest creation off the floor. When I went to hand it to her, she shrank away.
“Aunt Tatiana.”
Great. This was the old woman I wanted. What was up with these old people having a hand in this foolishness? Shouldn’t they have known better at their age?
The voice came from a woman standing at the other end of the counter. She finished up with a customer before hurrying to where Aunt Tatiana sat quaking in her chair. The young woman’s long blond hair flowed about her shoulders, waves of curls that reminded me of a fairytale princess. Taking the corner Stripped
of her long skirt in one hand, she moved it out of the way to crouch next to her aunt and rub the back of her pustuled hand.
I couldn’t help thinking of everything I had touched in the shop on my last visit with Tate and Dane. I just hoped whatever the old woman had wasn’t catching.
“Please, dear aunt.” Worry etched her tender face. “Calm down. It’s all right. The muló knows this place is protected.” She poured her ice blue eyes on me. So much for looking delicate. “And if she doesn’t, she’ll find out the hard way.”
I snorted and handed the blonde the knitting. “Don’t even think about it. The witches gave me a protection spell. One that’ll also block Gamboldt’s mind control.”
Okay, I didn’t have all that. The best Claudia had offered me was a pentagram pendant for good luck and some prayers of safety in my quest. In fact, she’d used it as a teaching point to the younger witches and even had them casting spells on my behalf. I had my doubts that any of it would work, but it was the thought that counted. Whether the Garridans believed that or not was up to them. I just hoped I was good enough to bluff my way through it.
The woman rose, but kept a suspicious eye on me. “You’re Alexa, the half wolf, aren’t you? My cousin Wednesday had a feeling you’d return. She said we should be ready.”
“I’m not looking for a fight, Ms…?”
“Summer.” She handed the knitting back to Tatiana and went behind the counter again. “I hope you’re not here for the old woman’s blood.”
I offered a final glance at Tatiana before turning my attention to Summer and following her down the front of the counter. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. But given the choice, I’d rather save my energy for someone who really deserves it.”
“Gamboldt, I presume.” She smiled at a patron and started ringing her items up. “Uncle Cam has caused us enough trouble that our council cast marimé on him. You won’t see him again any time soon.”
“What’s marimé?”
“It means banishment due to impurities. Just as we had washed our hands of Gamboldt, he dirtied himself by falling behind him again. We are serious about not wanting anything more do with that man.”
She handed the customer her change and thanked her for shopping. The smile remained on her face until the bell chimed above the door upon her exit. “If you’re here, that means we have more washing to do.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a snipe at me being dirty or how they handled all muló like me. I let it go.
“Before we exiled him, he left something. Said if someone came here looking for him, that I was to give them this.” Summer reached under the counter and handed me an envelope. “He said he would make things right again. At least right with his soul.”
I tore into the envelope and pulled out an invitation to a high-stakes poker party with an address and formal dress code. It was a good idea Dane had sent the dress after all. Another piece of paper slipped out
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of the invitation. To my shock, it was an apology. It was also the key to how they had managed to track me all this time. Sammy, my love interest back at Trixie’s, was also a telepath. With us having formed a physical connection, it made it easier for Robert to keep tabs on me. I didn’t want to think beyond that “physical” shit. It was time to focus on setting my life right. Whether I got my memory back or not didn’t matter. Protecting my family and friends did.
Life went on around me regardless of my current state of affairs. I still had to catch up with Monica and make my appointment with Dr. Anri. One toe out of place would have both of them thinking I had skipped town again. I couldn’t afford to lose Monica as my defense attorney while Matt remained behind bars with Parry.
My appointment with Dr. Anri was pretty much the same old crap. This time, I refused to let him put me under without someone I trusted in the room. He understood because he still nursed the knot on his head. So, we talked about stupid stuff like feelings and my relationships with friends and family. He challenged me to call my parents and tell them how everything had turned out. As long as I came out of this in one piece, he’d have his answer at our next meeting.
Monica was another story. I tried calling her three times but had to leave a message either on her voice mail or with her secretary. The only person I reached was Dane and that was to fill him in on my plans for his red dress and how they involved a poker party. He didn’t like it, of course. I hung up when he started in with asserting his authority again. I’d make an awful pack wolf. It was a good thing I didn’t feel the need for one.
Come nightfall, I had my knife in place and the retractable baton in the passenger’s seat. With my dagger heels strapped to my feet and the brass knuckles in my purse, I set out to find Gamboldt to finish this.
The house was the same one I had seen in my vision. It looked old and just as stately as ever with more vines having crept up the sides. There were lights on in every window and my heightened hearing picked up classical music coming from somewhere within the house. Even though I had an invitation, I wasn’t sure if going through the front gate was the best idea. The guard would probably announce my arrival and have the whole house waiting for me with guns and potions pointed.
The stone wall surrounding the property wasn’t colonial-fort high. Plus, there were ways over it with the giant trees growing from the corner. I slung my shoes over my shoulder, tied off the flowing length of the halter dress and started climbing the tree. By the time I reached the ten-foot drop at the top, I had only one smudge and it came off with a little spit. I leaped off the wall and landed in a crouch. It was like my body was built for agility along with strength. I’d need them both tonight. 214
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Instead of putting the heels on, I crept across the cold lawn, making my way from tree to tree for coverage. I ducked into the woods on the side of the house. Fresh loam was like a taste of mint bursting inside my mouth. The scent of pine and earth filled my nose. Deer hooves thumped across the ground less than a quarter of a mile away. My mind’s eye pictured rabbits scampering through the underbrush. Here, my senses amplified with the wilderness around me.
An opening at the other end of my hike brought me a few yards behind the guard’s house. Another car, a blue truck, approached the gate. The window lowered and my stomach fell with it. Oh. My. God. Charles sat behind the steering wheel staring straight ahead while Flora remained emotionless in the passenger’s seat. He handed the guard something before the gate slid open and allowed him through. Right on the bumper of his truck was another car. I didn’t recognize the driver. More important, I couldn’t take my eyes off Charles’s truck pulling away from the wrought-iron fence, heading toward the large Tudor mansion.
Several more cars pulled into the driveway, each stopping at the front gate for the guard to check off their names. I didn’t recognize any of the people behind the steering wheels. I continued across the lawn. Instead of going for the front door where a butler greeted those coming in, I headed around to the side to a window. Whatever was going on, I didn’t want them to see all my cards just yet. Besides, a little fear never hurt anyone.
Standing on my tiptoes, I pressed my face close to the glass. Books lined the walls. A series of pictures sat on a small table by the door. Closest to the window sat a desk with a small Tiffany-style lamp in the corner. Several pieces of paper lay strewn across the desk with a magazine on top. Tossing all caution aside, I smashed the window with my baton. Using it, I traced the metal bar around the edges to knock out the rest of the shards. No alarm. That didn’t bode well for my breaking and entering. Either Robert knew I’d do this or he was a fool. A man this careful didn’t strike me as the latter. I put my bets on a silent alarm. It wasn’t like I had a chance at getting in unnoticed anyway. After crawling inside, my sensitive hearing picked up footsteps thudding across the floor just beyond the closed door. I flattened myself against the wall ready for it to open. When one of the butlers stepped inside, I slammed the baton across the back of his head. He crashed into a small side table. One of the collapsed pictures tossed across the floor caught my attention. My eyes refused to leave it. I picked up the silver frame and studied her face to be sure. The woman stood next to a horse wearing a jockey’s hat and a pair of beige slacks. A black braid with apple-red highlights caught the breeze at just the right time, blowing across her face. A smile lifted her crow’s feet and brightened her blue eyes. Although she appeared a few years younger than Gamboldt, I knew that face.
Random images began bouncing back and forth in my brain.
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Sarah Jenkinson lurked in the background at Robert’s house. She paced back and forth while I loaded an arrow onto a compound bow for target practice. My target was a man who’d created his own software company out of his apartment and refused to sell it to Gamboldt. I released the bow and planted the arrow through the center of his chest without remorse. I had silenced the man’s cries. Another innocent death on my hands.
A second image of Sarah came to mind. She stood over me while holding a smoking poultice at breast level. Her thin, wrinkled lips moved to the sounds of a meaningless limerick. Robert waved his hand in a circular motion about my face. Though I couldn’t make out his words, I had the feeling he had issued orders without moving his lips. Sarah sauntered around me mumbling something nonsensical again. Robert’s invisible clout stretched beyond his voice. It was like Sarah projected his will, intensifying whatever hold he had on me.
It was just as she said in one of my earlier vision. Sarah amplified his power. I was nothing more than their guinea pig. Eventually, they’d work out the kinks to control species that were more powerful than little ol’ me. In fact, I bet they took Tate not only as bait, but as the next step in their mystical research. I whipped the picture at the wall and marched out of the room. 216
Chapter Forty-One
Golden wood adorned every inch of the mansion, from the floors to the high ceiling. A line of small chandeliers lit up a path toward the music piping from around the corner. A navy blue Persian rug ran the length of the floor like a red carpet. Fresh flowers adorned side tables every few feet. Large family portraits hung on the walls with their pinched faces and pursed lips. The only ones who seemed to be smiling were the children.
The low hum of the crowd forced my footfalls to slow. I didn’t want these people knowing where to find me. Not yet anyway.
Angry voices jarred my nerves. I hurried back the way I had come, entering a large room filled with various coats of armor, a Samurai statue in the corner with his forked helmet and a Viking carrying a large ax on his shoulder. The stupid doors refused to slide closed and there weren’t a lot of places to hide. I pressed my back against the wall and waited for them to pass.
“Nice place.”
Wait a minute. I recognized that voice. Turning to my front, I inched to the edge of the door and peeked into the hall.
“Glad you like it.” Dottie strutted to a stop wearing a low-cut blouse barely covering her sagging, mega-sized boobs. “Too bad you were all Sarah delivered to us on such short notice. It would’ve been better to include your entire coven, since we’re celebrating your holiday and all.”
Pippa stood next to her. What was she doing here? I thought she had to report to the hospital for something. She had obviously gone there at some point because she wore a pair of blue scrubs with her hospital ID clipped to the breast pocket.
“I know,” Pippa responded in a robotic manner like she wasn’t all there.
“That’s okay.” Dottie patted the back of her hand. “We’ll work something out to bring them into the fold. In fact, Sarah’s working on it as we speak.”
I bet she is. I launched into the hall.
Dottie gasped and stumbled back. “Keisha! N-n-now wait. You have to let me—”
I wound my hand back and bitch-slapped her into a wall. When her head bounced off the wood paneling, I was on her, fisting her hair in my hand. I yanked her around and plowed my fist into her jaw. She hit the floor of the showcase room and slid to a stop. Her head most likely bounced into a concussion Marcia Colette
because she lay on her side, unmoving. I prayed I hadn’t cracked her skull because I didn’t know how to do dead-body disposal yet.
Pippa was another story. I didn’t know if slapping her or snapping my fingers would do the trick. Then again, if it were that easy, surely someone would’ve broken me out of my trance a long time ago. But I wasn’t a full-blooded anything. Maybe she didn’t need as much of a jolt as I did. I grabbed her shoulders, shoved her into the showcase room and gave her a dose of shaken-baby syndrome to snap her out of it. When that didn’t work, I remembered the scented poultice and put her in a headlock. She scratched and clawed at my arm, anything to prevent cutting off her air supply. I didn’t want to kill her, but I needed whatever junk was in her lungs to get the hell out. Maybe forcing her to take in some oxygen after being deprived of it might help. If it didn’t, perhaps the shock to her system would.
“Alexa.” After a series of gasps and her eyes rolling back in her head, I let go, letting her drop to the floor. Her hand rubbed her reddening throat, lethargy clouding her half-closed eyes. Frowning, she blinked at me and adjusted her crooked glasses. “Head hurts. Can’t focus. What…? What happened?”
“You were under Robert’s control just like me.”
“Then how…? What…?”
“You’re a full-blooded witch, right?”
She opened her eyes and stared. “Full blood? There isn’t any such thing among witches. Our powers aren’t necessarily hereditary. With enough training and perseverance any human can do them.”
“Anyone?” This was news to me. If anyone could be a witch, then… “Ohmygod. Does Robert know that?”
Still holding her head, she offered me her arm to help her off the floor. It took a few deep breaths before she answered. “They’ve solidified their partnership in a way I’d rather not think about. Besides finding the right witch and someone who’s powerful enough to teach you without draining their own power, it takes years to master the level that my coven sisters and I have. Sarah could do it, but that means she would’ve had to have started teaching him about ten years ago. She was a different woman back then. Her personality didn’t change until the last two. Gamboldt had started gaining recognition a few months before that.”
I bet anything Sarah had been feeding him secrets to stay on his good side. Even if she swore she’d done it for the safety of her coven, I wouldn’t buy it. Not once did she flinch when it came to drowning me with those stinking potions.
Pippa grabbed my arms, eyes pleading. “Please, Alexa. This information can never get out. If people know about the kind of power we harness, there’s no telling what it’ll do to the rest of the supernatural world. It’s taken us centuries to have order among our community. It would take millennia to set it straight if humans knew.”
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While this was news to me, it was something I planned to store away for future reference. It wasn’t like I wanted to study witchcraft when I had enough problems of my own as a hybrid werewolf. Pippa touched her fingers to her forehead. “I have to think. Have to get in touch with my coven to warn them about the Festival of Darkness that Sarah has planned for tonight.”
“This is a powerful night, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “There’s a poker game going on upstairs, but I can’t recall which room.”
The only other people I knew in this house were the Hills. They wouldn’t do anything to sabotage my plans, at least not under their own volition.
I took Pippa by the arm and led her to the door. “Show me.”
Leading the way, she peeked into the hall before stepping into the corridor. I followed, ducking in and out behind large planters and tables. It wasn’t much for cover, but it would have to do. Besides, if things went awry, I wanted to make sure I was near enough to something to either throw or use as a shield. Pippa forced me back behind a bushy plant growing straight up from a large urn. It wasn’t an ideal spot, but it kept the two men from seeing us. I leaned forward just enough to recognize one of them. It was Sammy.
When they’d finished passing, Pippa motioned me to follow her up the stairs. At the top, we rounded the corner where a familiar scent caught my nose. I didn’t stick around long enough to pay any attention, but there was a lingering memory that tried to poke free. I recognized that smell because it belonged to the monster who held Matt captive.
Son of a bitch. I grabbed Pippa to stop her.
“What do we have here?”
Aw shit. Too late.
Parry stood behind us at the far end of the hall with two growling wolves by his side like sentinels. Pippa screamed. I grabbed her by the arm and threw her behind me. Witch or not, I trusted my survival skills more than hers.
He planted his hands on his hips. “I’d send my wolves to tear a chunk out of your mutt hide, but I’ve got more important things to do. Like the next round.”
We watched as he and his wolves stepped into a far room. Laughter and a little light music floated from behind the doorway. I didn’t want to go in there, but I knew that was where everyone would be. That was where I needed to be too.
“Robert,” Parry shouted. “Your bitch is here.”
So much for the element of surprise.
Pippa clutched my sleeve, panic reeking from her pores. “I don’t want to go down that hall. I’m scared.”
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No reassuring words came to mind. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to go in the opposite direction.
Nevertheless, I steeled myself and started down the hall. If she wanted to leave, then I’d make sure she left in one piece. Pippa caught up to me but clutched my upper arm like a small child entering a haunted-house attraction with their parent.
Nothing prepared me for what lay in that room. Parry’s ferocious wolves laid their ears flat against their heads with spittle dripping from their snarling mouths. The black one stepped forward with his head hung low to the floor. His dark eyes bored into me. The chocolate one followed his lead. I knew those wolves by scent, but I didn’t want to believe it.
“Call off your dogs,” a voice said. “I see my lovely prize has arrived.”
When Matt and Tate backed off, I continued inside.
Hardwood floors covered every inch of the room with its tan and beige décor. A coffee-bean-colored leather couch and chairs sat in the center of the room before a large entertainment center. Two men who I didn’t know sat watching the game on TV while feeling up the thighs of the whores on their laps. One of them was busy with a deep, sultry kiss, her long hair kept me from seeing both her and her lover’s faces. On the other side of the room, five men played cards at a dealer’s table. Several of the strippers from Trixie’s either danced around the table or slithered up next to their man of choice. They smiled to me, some offering their hellos and calling me by that horrible name. The entire room stank of sex, alcohol and some sort of incense.
Charles and Flora were nowhere in sight. Anxiety gnawed my empty gut. Dear God, please tell me they’re okay.
A stronger whiff of the incense dug into my brain. I glanced around the room. Not one window was open. In fact, it was rather stuffy. What better way for the witch bitch to drug everyone. If she kept it up long enough, nobody in the room would be able to withstand Gamboldt’s mind control. Including the strippers. Good Lord. All this time I thought I was the only one under his control and everyone else was acting on free will. The smoke at the strip bar was thick and choking just like this, and it seemed to follow us into the dressing room. Or was it always there? Anyone who walked into that place wasn’t immune to Gamboldt’s will.
Speaking of which, the man himself stood next to Sarah Jenkinson, admiring the large fireplace burning on the opposite side of the room. He cut his dark eyes at me as though he stared into my soul and wanted to tear my heart out with a single thought. A perfect smile flexed his mouth, happy to have his wayward star pupil back.
“Trixie’s was your Petri dish.” I took my time heading straight for him and his witch. “Once you had their minds softened up, you used them to dance on the stage. To do your bidding. Except for Elaine and Frankie. You used them to keep an eye on everyone.”
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He poked a finger at me. “You see that. I knew you were a smart one. The only problem is I’m still trying to figure out how you broke my will.”
“You’ve underestimated me as a hybrid. Even the werewolves don’t know what to do with me because I’m not exactly human or like them.”
He brought a cigar up to his mouth for a long drag. “I’m not buying it. Something else caused you to blink.”
Other than being dressed like a cop and—
Werewolves hated cops. In fact, we detested anything that had to do with possibly exposing our people to the human world. Could that have been enough to snap me out of my mental slumber? That and the combination of doing something that normally went against my will. But surely I had stripped other times on that stage. Dressed as what, I couldn’t say. There was also the possibility that werewolves only responded to Alpha likenesses. A strong witch? Maybe, though the species might give me pause. A strong wolf? Every time Dane had tried to assert his authority, I cut him off. Whenever I was in his presence, my wolf instincts dictated that I at least listened to his commands. Nevertheless, Dane couldn’t cancel out my free will completely.
But Robert? He was nothing more than a chump trying to be a champ. Calling him the equivalent of a beta wolf was an insult to all betas everywhere. He was a pretender. A charlatan. A wannabe trying to belong to the club. He was beyond pathetic. He was nothing more than a rat trying to get a crumb.
“Blink this.” I grabbed one of the leather chairs, yanked it off the floor and hurled it at the panoramic window.
Everything moved in slow motion. Robert and Sarah screamed. They hurried to stop the chair, but it was too late. It took out the entire pane.
“You bitch.” Sarah snapped her fingers at the wolves then pointed at me. “Attack!”
Oh shit.
Matt started out ahead of Tate, both their ears flattened against their head and readying themselves for ass-chomping mode.
While Parry closed his eyes and steadied himself as if waking from a dizzying spell, there was nothing to stop his wolves from attacking.
With the baton in one hand, I unsheathed my knife. God knows I didn’t want to hurt Matt, but I’d defend myself at all costs. I stepped in front of Pippa and shoved her backward. “Go. Now!”
She took off.
The wolves started after us.
Pippa bolted out of the room first. I followed close on her heels, refusing to look back. She hurried down the stairs while I leaped over the railing to the first floor. We started for the front door, but stopped. Sammy and the other bouncer from the bar blocked our exit. I grabbed Pippa by the arm and circled us
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around to the back of the house where we found a door leading to the backyard. I threw it opened…and stopped.
Now, I knew why I wasn’t able to reach Monica. She, Flora, Charles, Frank and Sonya from the hotel, Dr. Anri and several others I didn’t know, stood in front of a bonfire burning on the lawn. Their lifeless eyes stared straight ahead. They were like pieces on a checkerboard, waiting for someone to move them. They weren’t alone. Six nude women stood around the fire wearing flowers in their hair and dancing with their hands held high…until I came along. They stopped and stared, lost looks marring their faces. If I had my guess, I’d say Sarah had converted a few members of the local coven. Glass crashed behind us. I ducked my head and dodged aside. Pippa did the same. I brought the baton around just as a black furred mass leaped for me. I cracked it against the side of Matt’s head. Both of us went down hard.
I rolled away and scrambled back to my feet. Matt lay shaking his head. I noticed the swollen eye and the blood dripping from his nose. I hadn’t meant to hurt him that bad, but he needed someone to snap some sense back into his skull. My heart crumbled as I watched him struggle to get to his feet. Man, I’d hated to do that. Surely, he understood. I prayed he’d come to his senses before he retracted his muzzle with another snarl.
I searched out Pippa. She lay face down on the lawn with Tate growling over her.
“Kill her.” Robert leaned over the balcony looking at us.
I pulled my knife up to my chest ready to defend myself.
He wasn’t talking about me.
Parry hopped over the railing from the second floor. He marched across the lawn and yanked Pippa up by the back of her neck. With his arm wrapped around her chest, he grabbed her head.
“No!” I started for her.
Crack.
He snapped her neck and let her limp body slump to the ground. Oh God. No. Tears welled into my eyes. Not her. Not another because of me. I screamed at Parry. “You lowlife piece of shit! She never did anything to you. You’re gonna let that weak-ass human bend you like a twig? He says jump and your big, bad furry ass waits for him to say how high. What kind of Pack Alpha are you, you psychotic prick? You’re not even fit to lead a group of cockroaches.”
Parry closed one of his eyes like he was going through a migraine. He grabbed his head as if in pain and dropped to one knee.
I stared at Gamboldt. Heaven knew I wanted to smirk, but I couldn’t. I knew the weakness with his mind control and there weren’t enough potions in the world to break down a werewolf’s survival instincts. 222
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We only answered to Alphas. Parry, on the other hand, answered to no one. Gamboldt didn’t even fit that category. Judging from the anger coursing the idiot’s face, he knew it too. Gamboldt tore away from the balcony and hurried back inside.
A body hit me hard, throwing me to the ground and snapping my head back on the grass. Growling had filled my ears, but the dizziness and the pain burrowing into the back of my skull took precedence. By the time I finished blinking the stars from my vision, Tate stood with his growling muzzle a few inches from my face. When I lifted my arm, pain shot through my left shoulder. Something snapped back in place in the joint. Searing hell shot through my bones. That motherfucker had dislocated my shoulder. Friend or not, he was in for a hurtin’.
I wound back my fist and slammed him across the jaw with a right cross. When Tate stumbled backward, Matt snagged him by the scruff of his fur and dragged him away from me. I turned onto my stomach and began searching the ground for my baton and knife. I had lost them when Tate hit me.
Something shiny caught my eye. I scrambled toward it.
A foot came down hard on the back of my right hand before I reached my baton. Sarah stood above me, grinding my palm into the ground with the heel of her shoe. She gritted her teeth in a maniacal grin, growling as she tried to punch a hole through the back of my hand. She wasn’t the only one with a pair of swank shoes. Only, mine were better. I whipped my limber body around in a cool martial arts move and kicked in the side of her knee. She screamed and hopped around on one leg until she collapsed in agony. I picked up the baton and smacked her across the back of the head. I noticed the leather hilt lying on the ground with the blade under Sarah’s shoulder.
“Attack!” She pointed at my friends, family and strangers, ordering them to come after me. I lifted my foot up, pressed the flag on the side and rammed the bladed heel of my shoe into Sarah’s stomach. She grabbed my leg, but it was fruitless. I twisted my heel enough for life to leave her hands and her body to fall to the grass.
Robert burst through the back doors and onto the deck. “Noooooooo!” He dashed across the lawn and dropped to his knees beside his witch’s body. “You cunt. I’ll kill you for what you did to her.”
“You’ll need another army, asshole.” I retracted the stake back into the heel of my shoe. “Yours is waking up.”
A heavy gust of October winds doused the flames from the bonfire to half its blazing glory. Coldness settled into the backyard.
The growling and grunting from Matt and Tate had stopped. Tate stood on shaky legs while Matt stood above him with his head cocked to the side. When he lifted his canine face to me, I returned one hell of a grateful smile.
Marcia Colette
I looked to Gamboldt still mourning his dead witch. He poured his fury into a single scowl when his eyes met mine.
“Bitch.” He jumped to his feet with my knife in his hand, winding it back to fling at me. A body tackled me to the ground, one hand covering my head while the other cuddled me close. Dane took most of the impact. I stared, questions pummeling my mind. The loudest: Where the hell did he come from?
Hitting the ground hard for a third time wasn’t any more pleasurable than the first. It fucking hurt when your once-dislocated shoulder cried out in agony again.
I pulled away from Dane to see Matt standing above Gamboldt with his shoulders hunched and blood dripping from his mouth. The maniac lay on his back with his dead eyes looking at me. More than half of his throat was a mass of bloody muscle and tissue with an artery squirting off the last of his life. Blood seeped into the ground. More tissue and bone lay exposed to the air.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” Dane eased to his feet before helping me up. “This is Boston Pack territory. Let them be the ones to tend to the humans.”
“Where the hell—”
“I followed Charles and Flora. They were acting strange when they left the B&B. Like something had come over them. I think the migraine I had earlier tried to sucker me in too. Anyway, they stopped in the middle of what they were doing and got in the truck.”
Never in my short, forgotten life had I been so happy to see him. Then again, his timing could’ve been a little better.
Like Parry, most of the people, including my friends, had dropped to their knees or lay on the ground. They grabbed their heads and moaned in pain. Flora worried me most because of her high blood pressure. There’s no telling what Sarah’s control might have done or would do to her. I shook my head and started for the Hills. “I can’t leave them. They’re like family to me. Everyone I touched, that bastard used them to bait me. If anything happens—”
Dane silenced my tirade with a finger to my lips. His stern look demanded my attention. “We need to leave. Now. They’ll be fine.”
“He’s right.” I didn’t recognize the voice or the man standing beside him. He had shoulder-length, wavy brown hair and eyes as blue as topaz. The only thing familiar about him was he had sat at the end of the poker table upstairs.
I looked him up and down. “Who are you?”
“My name is Noah Windham. I’m a liaison to the Vampire Ministry and probably your only friend here. As long as you’re not friends of Parry’s, that is.”
“More like intruders on his land.” Dane motioned him to lead the way. Together, the three of us left through the woods.
224
Chapter Forty-Two
Two weeks later…
My memories started coming back the night I killed Sarah. With each brain-shattering migraine, I recalled certain events in my life. The most important—and painful—ones to return were those regarding my family. I knew my mother, my father, my sister and Uncle Graham. In a weird sense, I included Dane and his ragtag group of bounty hunters as family, although I didn’t hunt with them on a regular basis. Only when I needed their help with a problem in or around Boston, like the rogue werewolves haunting my visions.
The one memory I wished I hadn’t gotten back was where my rogue grandfather had attacked both my baby brother and me. Avery Jr. had died because of his wounds. I hadn’t because I was a little older and perhaps a little stronger. At least that was the theory. That bite changed me from a quarter to half werewolf. I sat at the desk in the study trying to figure out how to recoup some of our losses. It had crossed my mind a dozen times to march right up to Parry and demand reparations. After all, if it hadn’t been for my insulting his ass right out of his brainwashing, he might still be a limp rod following behind Gamboldt like a puppy looking for treats. Not knowing how many minions he had under his thumb kept me from following through with it. The splints on my fingers were good deterrents, too. Large snowflakes fell beyond the windows and hadn’t stopped since Pippa’s funeral a few days ago. I went, but I kept my distance. When the ceremony ended, I stepped forward and left my own white rose on her grave. I begged God to forgive me if I had done anything to cause her death. Better safe than sorry. Sweat beaded down the side of my glass of lemonade, enticing me. I lifted the cool drink to my lips and savored the sweet tangy flavor.
“Knock knock.” Flora stuck her head in the room. “Are you still worrying over nothing?”
Putting the glass down, I leaned back in my chair. “Someone has to. I lost my job at the university. The only thing I’ll be using the computer for these days is to keep the bills and the registry in order.”
Flora sauntered into the room with a hand on her hip. “This place can hold its own, you know. In case you forgot in your amnesia craze, we’ve been in business for the past few years.”
“But it takes at least five years to—”
She flipped her hand at me. “Stop reading those foolish business magazines. You take pride in this place. Respect the business because that’s all you’ll need to carry us through. Besides, we’re not in the hole yet.”
Marcia Colette
That we weren’t. I couldn’t help thinking my heroics had earned the mysterious check that had showed up on our doorstep the following day. It wasn’t much, but it certainly helped. Of course, Flora wasn’t happy to see the dried flowers and funky symbols drawn in chalk on the sidewalk or on our white picket fence. She said it looked too much like witchcraft. Gee. I wonder where she got that idea. The bell rang from the hall.
Flora waved a hand. “Hush up, you old fool. Can’t you see I’m trying to talk to the boss woman here?”
My jaw dropped. “Flora. You can’t talk to our guests like that.”
I pushed away from the desk with nothing more than my sincerest apologies on my mind and shook my head at Flora as I passed her. Here we needed the patronage and she wanted to scare the customers off. My heart slipped to my knees when I stepped out of the room.
Matt stood there drenched from his black, glistening hair to his slush-infested black shoes. That beige wool coat he wore hardly did him any good. He let his duffle bag fall to the floor and placed his laptop bag on top of it. A huge smile pressed into his cheeks, creating two adorable dimples. They were like mother’s milk to my eyes.
My parents had spent the last ten days with us. Mom and Dad had helped clean up and get things ready for our grand reopening. They thought I should take some more time off, considering everything that had happened. We had lost enough money, no thanks to Gamboldt. Letting another dime go would only set us back further. Since I was one arm down and hadn’t seen them in months, hoping they would go home was just that. Hopeful. Not probable. Thank goodness Dane didn’t tell them about Parry possibly gunning for me or they’d never have left. Of course, that didn’t stop him from sticking around too. Only yesterday, had they finally headed to their home in Albany, New York, allowing me to settle into a normal routine. All three promised they’d be back next weekend to check up on us. I rolled my eyes. Sure Parry worried the hell out of me, but this was also a very commercial place. If we had guests, then they would be enough to keep the furry boogieman away. I was sure he’d prefer not to kill me in the presence of witnesses.
I straightened up and put on my business face. “You got a reservation?”
Matt grinned. “Yeah. One right up there on the third floor. The corner room.”
“It’s filled.”
“Then how about one next to it?”
“That’s filled too.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake.” Flora marched out of the library and began flipping through the book on the podium. “That room is free and you know it. Stop giving the man a hard time and let him sign in.”
Grinning, she held the pen to him. “Your room is free.”
“What? ” I scowled at her.
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Matt licked his tongue at me as he reached for the pen to sign in. When he finished, he pecked Flora on the cheek and picked up his bags.
I glared at him.
“Don’t stand there like you’ve got mud in your shoes.” Flora pointed at the stairs. “Show the man to his room. It doesn’t take two arms to do that, you know.”
“Fine. Can you handle your own bags or do you need a forklift?”
Glowering behind her glasses, Flora swatted me on the rump as I passed her. “You be civilized to our guest now, you hear? He’s planning to get me off on self-defense tomorrow, which is more than I can say for you, Ms. Insanity Plea.”
Good thing she was my elder or I would’ve had some choice words for her. But like she said, Matt was sure the court would either drop the charges or acquit Flora for having anything to do with Keisha’s second death. There was just too much evidence in her favor and too much unknown. We knew most of the facts were impossible to human eyes, but the coroner wasn’t apt to put zombie as cause of death on her second certificate. Not to mention, Flora’s age, bruises and witness accounts helped. All of the sketchy details left the DA completely confounded about her case. At least Claudia and a couple of the other witches had provided an alibi for me. Although, Detective Konoval still thought someone was out to ruin my name and business. I wanted to give him Parry as a suspect, but once again, our laws superseded others. Matt followed close, breathing his sauna breath across the hairs at the nape of my neck. If I had known it would leave me tingling, I would’ve worn my hair down to shield my bare neck instead of in a French twist. We arrived at the middle landing when Flora cleared her throat. Both of us stopped and turned.
She wiggled her finger at us from below. “And I don’t want to hear any frolicking around while you two are up there. They have motels for that kind of mess.”
“Flora!” I wanted to stick my head in a hole in the ground.
She smirked. “Maybe you two can fool each other, but I know that look when I see it. It got me into all sorts of trouble when I was your age.”
Matt chuckled. “Like what?”
“I married him.” She walked off still waving her finger at us. “You two will end up just like us. Mark my words.”
Matt and I stared at each other. Our lips fluttered until smiles burst through. Without warning, he dropped his bags and slammed his mouth into mine. We kissed like two animals warring for the last drink of water. How had I forgotten something this good in my life? His body heat warmed every inch of me despite his soaking coat. My fingers combed through his wet hair, fisting a few tufts along the way. Our heavy breathing probably echoed up the stairwell.
Marcia Colette
Matt moved me from one side of the boxed staircase to the other. My leg had hooked around his. I pressed my pelvis into his heated bulge. My body burned, wanting him like it knew it had to make up for lost time.
“What did I say about that frolicking?” Flora shouted from downstairs. Matt and I stopped and laughed. He lifted me in his arms and carried me the rest of the way up the stairs. He promised to have me for his mate. We’d just have to see about that. When he put me down on the third floor in front of my door, I pressed a finger into his chest to stop him from going any further.
“One thing.” I folded my arms, clutching the key so he couldn’t get it. “Remember when your friends practically snatched you from the bar?”
“Yes.” He leaned close, desire bleeding into his predatory eyes. “Although, they weren’t exactly snatching. More like accompanying me back to our den. But semantics skemantics. Who cares?”
“I do. You kissed another woman and now you’re standing here ready to make me your mate. You care to comment, counselor, before I unlock this door? Because I assure you, the wrong answer will have you sleeping in a dog house instead of a bed and breakfast.”
Matt stepped back with this look on his face like I had just shattered his world. He ran his hands through his hair and paused as if to figure out how to explain. “Her name is Astrid and she’s nobody. And as for the kiss, it was just a greeting. Many pack wolves greet their fellow wolves with a kiss or a thump to the back. Astrid isn’t the thumping kind.”
“Some kiss.” My brow arched for him to continue or perish. Though I loved Matt, I needed to know for my own peace of mind. No way I was letting someone into my heart if there was room for a mistress or harem on the side.
“Aw, Lex. Don’t do this. Honey, I promise you, it was all for show. When you’re a single guy in a pack who has money and a good career, you make one damn good piece of breeding material. I don’t mean to sound all egotistical, but the females are always throwing themselves at me. No matter what I say, Parry encourages it because he doesn’t want any outsider staking claims on me. His prized possession.”
I looked toward the hall window, wishing I could go to their den and beat Parry upside the head with a sharp ax. “He’s not going to make this easy for us, is he?”
Matt closed the distance and took my hands in his. “No matter what happens, you’re the only woman I want. You’re alpha and lady enough for me. I’m ready to stake my claim, if you are. And if Parry and the others don’t respect that, then I have no place with them. My place is with you. My happiness is with you.”
“You’d give up the only pack you’ve known for a half wolf like me?”
He shook his head and tipped my chin closer to his lips. “From where I’m standing you’re all woman. And yes. Corny as it sounds, I’d give up the entire world for you.”
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Oh man. What does a chick say to something like that? Luckily, I had the answer in my hand in the form of a key to our room. After a sultry kiss with the man I wanted in my life more than anything else, I unlocked the door to 3-A…and invited a wolf into my heart.