| |
Marina screamed and Rowan roared. The air reeked of fur. From us. From them. I blinked against the awfulness and found Lupe and Tank four-legged, holding the doorway against an unbeatable tide of wolves.
“Give me anything you want to keep, A-bear,” Ryder suggested, voice surprisingly calm as he brushed past me in human form. He grabbed a chair and slammed it against a window. When that didn’t work, he grunted and hoisted up the small but solid desk to repeat the move.
Ryder was right. The windows were our only way out. And Marina was already rising, with no puddle of salt left to throw at her....
So I joined my team mates. Tossed my jacket to Ryder then shifted. Dove at the fae with teeth bared.
Marina tasted foul. Like rotten fruit writhing with maggots. And I didn’t get the impression the chunk I’d taken out of her thigh really harmed her either. Instead, I barely dodged the hand that lashed out, grabbing for my muzzle....
I sidestepped, kicking with my hind feet. Not at Marina, at the ground. The sandy scatter of salt granules sprayed upward, not enough to injure but enough to push her back.
One step. Two. Enough, barely.
Because delay was all Ryder needed. The window shattered. “Move it!” he roared.
He was still human. Weighed down by various shed possessions plus a wooden chair leg. He used the latter like a club as a McCallister wolf tried to enter the room from outside the window. His furry foe yelped while Ryder roared a second time: “Any day now would be nice.”
Obeying, though, meant leaving Rowan’s horde of wolves to tear at our hindquarters. Lupe and Tank backed toward me. I joined them, shoulder to shoulder. A rush of air, then the desk landed between us and our foes.
We spun and ran, three abreast as if our muscles were wired in synchrony. Leapt through the space where window glass had recently blocked our egress. Sprinted after Ryder, who seemed to know where he was headed.
Before we got there, Marina’s voice spiraled upward, the scent of maggoty peaches flying off her. “You are mine, Athena D’Argent. Stop where you are.”
Rot choked me. Pushed into my lungs. Swiveled my body backwards....
Then Tank was pressing me forward with the mass of his furry body. The maggots in my lungs wriggled once then receded.
A car door opened. I leapt inside.
***
RYDER NAVIGATED OUR retreat like a race-car driver on crystal meth. And, as distance yawned between me and Marina, I finally found myself able to catch my breath.
To catch my breath and shift, looking frantically for a cell phone. I hadn’t toed Marina’s line, so she’d go after my sister....
Tank was ahead of me. “Code red,” he barked into his phone. That must have been what he asked Ryder to carry for him. He’d chosen his phone and I’d chosen my leather jacket, a gift from my mother that even now lay crumpled on the floor at my feet.
And why was I thinking about phones and leather jackets when my sister was in danger? “Harper?” I asked, not wanting to intrude, but needing confirmation.
Tank nodded, gaze distant as he pressed the phone closer to his head.
“On it,” an unfamiliar male voice crackled through the speaker. “We’ll report if there’s any problem. I don’t expect one. She’s right in front of us.”
The call ended and the car swerved, pushing my naked shoulder into Tank’s equally naked chest. Then his arm was around me, holding me safe and still as he swiveled to peer backwards.
“Three cars,” he told Ryder.
From the front passenger seat, Lupe’s voice was calm as she interjected: “Take a left.”
Tires squealed, but this time my torso didn’t move. Just my stomach, sloshing in the direction the car had been going before settling into our new trajectory.
Tank’s phone rang. The instant he accepted the call, I grabbed it out of his hands. How could I not when I’d heard Harper’s voice?
“No, I won’t!”
“Give her the phone,” I demanded, hoping Tank’s friend would obey me. And he did, without question. Another crackle, then my sister’s refusal echoed in my ear.
“I don’t know you!”
“Harper.” When she didn’t answer, I yelled it. “Harper!”
“Athena?” The sounds of struggle faded. “There are strange men....”
“They’re friends. I need you to go with them.”
“Get on the highway,” Lupe said from the front seat. But Ryder didn’t signal and change lanes. Instead, he waited for the last possible instant before spinning across oncoming traffic. Tank’s arm was all that prevented me from flying into the window.
And...all of that was irrelevant. Because my sister, for once, wasn’t willing to heed my advice.
“I don’t want to leave! Clara knows where I am. When she stops being mad, she’ll call me. And my phone is inside the house.”
I considered sending her in to get it. But Tank’s head shook. There wasn’t time. Plus, if Nick got involved....
“Listen to me,” I said instead. “It’s important you go with these men right now. If you do, I’ll give you a”—I paused, trying to think what Harper wanted—“a puppy.” Which would mean I’d be the one with a puppy when she went back to school in less than a week. But I’d manage.
Only—“I’m not twelve.” From the tone of Harper’s voice, I was losing her. Losing my ability to manage the situation.
“They have a sedative,” Tank murmured in my ear. “If necessary, they’ll use it.”
No. That wasn’t happening. My sister wasn’t going to wake up woozy, kidnapped by strangers....
Instead, I promised what I knew Harper wanted far more than a puppy. What she wanted, but I had no idea how to give.
“I know you hate vacations with your father,” I told her. “If you go with Tank’s friends now, I’ll find a way to make sure you won’t have to do that again. You and I will be a normal family. We’ll have a house where you won’t be ashamed to bring friends over. I promise. I’ll find a way to make it work.”
***
HARPER CAVED. I COULD tell she didn’t really believe me. But the dream was enough to tempt her to give in and leave with her bodyguards. The dream...which I had no idea how to turn into a reality.
“We’ll figure something out,” Tank assured me. As if he’d read my mind. Or, more likely, given the way I was still tucked beneath his arm, he’d read the tightening of my muscles.
“I hope so,” I answered. But there was no time to deal with it now, not with Rowan’s wolves following us so closely.
We shook them, though. Or, rather, Ryder shook them. Wound in and out of traffic until no one followed. At which point, Lupe ordered us in an unexpected direction—
“Back to camp.”
Tank’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t you think that’s the first place Marina will look for us?”
“That may be. But camp is where Butch intended to spend his vacation.”
And Butch hadn’t been at the McCallister compound. Marina had taken his place there. Which meant our team mate was in danger...or worse.
“There are swords in the trunk,” Lupe continued. “From this moment on, your weapon needs to be your most cherished possession. Eat with it. Sleep with it. If you see fae, it’s your only real defense.”
“Slide over,” Tank murmured. My cheeks reddened as I realized I was still pretty much on his lap.
“Sorry.” I scooted away, the loss of his heat almost physically painful.
But Tank drew me closer instead. “No, not that way. Half the seat flips down....”
Then I was completely on his lap, his muscles pressing into my skin like the most enticing sort of massage chair. The evidence of his own approval hardened against my butt and....
“Could we save that for later?” Ryder grumbled. “Some of us are trying to drive.”
Tank, to my surprise, merely chuckled. Whatever rivalry he and Ryder had engaged in was over. Between fighting against each other and fighting beside each other, what could have been a jibe turned into more of a brotherly tease.
I was the only one whose face burned.
“Can you reach the swords?” Lupe demanded, breaking the moment. Her voice was curt, reminding us that pack togetherness was a hazard.
“Just a sec....” I slid my arm into the darkness of the trunk and fumbled around until I drew out a bundle of scabbarded weapons. One for each of us...plus one.
For Butch.
The car fell silent after that, nothing but darkness outside and inside. Tank and I kept our eyes peeled for ambushes, but no one stopped us. And, at last, we turned up the familiar gravel drive near the lake.
Camp was empty. The air, when we rolled down our window, smelled like fallen leaves and dew.
No sign of wolves, past or present. Still, the rest of us raised our swords and eyed shadows while Lupe strode directly toward Butch’s cabin. The door opened. The light flicked on.
Around the silhouette of Lupe’s back, I caught sight of our final team mate. He was here. Seated, meditating on the bare floorboards.
No, not meditating. A sword had been thrust through his back.