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Marina peered down at me from the dock I clung to. “You stink of swamp muck.”
“Well, hello to you too.” I heaved myself up onto the wooden structure. And, okay, so maybe I didn’t try very hard to keep residual lake water from splashing her. Maybe I enjoyed the way she skittered backwards like a cat unamused by drips from a watering can.
I wasn’t just being spiteful, however. While Marina’s equanimity was shaken, I demanded: “How’d you track me down?”
Because she shouldn’t have been able to find me. And I didn’t like the fact that Harper—who considered this woman a trusted teacher—was no more than a mile or two away.
Marina merely shrugged. “Secrets are a woman’s prerogative.” She dropped a towel at my feet. “Dry off. Meet me at the cafe.”
“This isn’t a social visit,” I called after her. But she was already sliding through the crowd, leaving me alone to drip and fume.
I could either obey or dive back into the lake and catch up with Ryder, who seemed to be plowing through the water with renewed ferocity. Shrugging, I picked up the towel. Removed the swamp muck—what little there was of it—and followed the trace of lemon-meringue-pie aroma that Marina had left behind.
She didn’t remark upon the way I squelched when I took my seat, towel too thin to fully dry me. Instead, she gestured with her chin toward the two jumbo muffins on the table between us. “Take your pick.”
I could taste the sugar just looking at them. Two beautiful baked goods, tops shiny with sweetness. I hadn’t managed to find breakfast before meeting up with Lupe this morning. No wonder my stomach responded to the sight of my favorite flavor—blueberry—with an adamant growl.
On the other hand...hadn’t I read in a fairy tale—once upon a time—about the dangers of eating fae foodstuff?
No, that was Persephone, consuming pomegranate seeds in the underworld. Still, I chose the cranberry muffin—my least favorite flavor—and picked at the wrapper rather than stuffing any pastry into my mouth.
Only then did I return to the point. “You didn’t show up last night.”
Marina leaned in closer, her scent sticking to the insides of my throat as I inhaled. “And you don’t care much about your sister, do you?”
***
“MY SISTER?” I LEANED in closer. Threats would come next, and I’d find a way to defuse them for Harper’s sake....
Only, Marina didn’t threaten. Instead, she delved into Harper’s obvious weakness. “The child craves friendship. The only choices you’ve given her to sate that craving are within a werewolf vigilante squad.”
“They’re not....” I cut myself off, shaking my head to clear it. This was about Harper, not Tank and Ryder and Butch and Lupe.
Marina’s voice was smug as she continued to focus on my sister. “I could help Harper build more appropriate social connections. Boost her self-esteem. Enhance her charisma. Her life could be easier than yours has been.”
If Marina’s goal was to knock me off balance, she’d succeeded. Were there really shortcuts that would make my sister’s future rosy?
Didn’t matter. “Harper’s learning to make friends the hard way.” Or at least I hoped she was. I hoped Harper wasn’t just going along with whatever Clara and Kira wanted, desperate to be part of the human equivalent of a pack.
Marina shook her head slightly. Not a negation. More a sign of pity. “The fae can solve thorny problems with the snap of a finger.”
“The fae?” Suddenly, Harper wasn’t the only thing I cared about. If Marina was admitting what I thought she was admitting, then there was more at stake here than I’d thought. “You are one?”
My companion snorted very delicately. “Fae don’t arrive until Samhain. I thought the old she-wolf would have told you that.”
Lupe wasn’t old. She might have passed forty, but she was at the peak of her fitness, both physically and mentally. I barely prevented myself from bristling while speaking just as plainly as Marina had done. “So you’re a Sleeper,” I suggested, referring to the human allies of the fae that Lupe had mentioned during our first meeting.
“Something like that.” Marina picked up her paper cup and sipped at the steaming liquid. I noticed she hadn’t offered me a beverage, even though something warm would have been much appreciated right about then. Perhaps safer, too, than solid food?
“Then we’re enemies.”
“Are we?” Marina’s pause did just what she’d intended it to—it reminded me that I was a lone wolf. Out for no one except myself and my sister. “The way I see it,” she continued after a long moment, “we each have something the other wants.”
I shook my head, letting the towel slip loose from where I’d wrapped it around my torso. I wasn’t here to do anything other than dredge up a promise of safety for my sister.
To that end, I let my wolf speak through me. “I want you out of Harper’s life.”
“Done.”
That was too easy. Still, I found myself settling back down at the table. “Done?”
Marina blew on her beverage and took another sip before replying. “If you don’t care about friendship for your sister, perhaps you’d prefer a gift for the big male you’re so attached to. His face...is unfortunate. That, however, can be fixed.”
I should have left already. I had what I’d come for. Still...my entire torso bent forward. As if Marina was a tornado sucking me into her vortex.
My words, however, remained level. “With cosmetic surgery. If he wanted that, he would have done it already.”
“Not cosmetic surgery. Magic.” Marina wiggled her fingers and flower petals slid out of the air to fall onto the grungy plastic tabletop.
Everything else Marina had done could be explained away as slight of hand. But not this. The petals had come out of nowhere.
Magic. Marina really was affiliated with the fae.
***
AND SOMETHING CLICKED inside me. A pack bond? Not likely. But Lupe had helped me. Tank had helped me. Even Butch and Ryder, each in their own way, had helped me.
Now I had the opportunity to return the favor. I had an in with a Sleeper. Perhaps, rather than severing this connection, I should maintain it for the greater good.
“Just think what his life would be like if his outsides were as pretty as his insides,” Marina continued.
I shook my head. I might be willing to nurture Marina’s interest so I could keep tabs on her, but I wasn’t throwing anyone I cared about under the bus. Instead, I offered up myself as sacrifice, broaching the problem I hadn’t thought Marina could fix...until I saw flower petals flutter through the air.
“What I need is for the local alpha to stop hassling me.”
“The local alpha.” Her lips curled up. “What a coincidence.”
That didn’t sound good. I wavered, pushing back my chair with a screech against the concrete...and Marina reeled me right back in.
“It would be a simple matter to increase your wolf’s dominance,” she murmured. “If you were as powerful as the alpha hounding you, he’d have no alternative other than to let you be.”
I used the table to draw myself closer. This was supposed to be a ploy...yet I was interested. “You can do that?”
“The fae can. They would offer a boon if you do us a small favor.”
Favor. The word was so minor. Innocuous really.
“My sister has no part in this,” I reminded her. “And I’m not double-crossing my team.”
“Are they a team?” The perfect eyebrow raised again. “Never mind. No, I won’t ask you to double-cross your team. And your sister will not be impacted by my actions.”
“What then?” Nervous energy had me picking up a crumb of muffin. I only realized when it touched my lips that I’d gone into robot mode and almost eaten a bite of the forbidden fruit.
Dropping my hands to my lap, I tried to tell myself it was a chill breeze that raised goosebumps up and down my forearms. That or the fact that I seemed to be playing right into Marina’s hands.
She hummed, then shrugged. “I need another item. From a rich guy you don’t like very much.”
That sounded too easy. The sticking point being.... “Who?”
“Rowan McCallister.”
I shivered. Had she known what I intended to ask before I asked it?
That said, I had no compunction against stealing from Rowan. “What do you want me to take?”
“First, we’ll see if you can infiltrate.” Marina rose, the flower petals on the table swirling around her in a way that didn’t match normal air-flow patterns. Could a Sleeper really be capable of this?
I sat, ceding the high ground as Marina continued. “Find a way into Rowan’s pack and I’ll be in touch once you’re situated. Then, if you’re successful, you’ll earn a boon from the fae.”