Ruby was snarling from the moment we walked in, and I cringed back, thinking the other alpha called her about my little episode. I tried to hide behind Lewis, but he was absolutely worthless as she barreled around the corner and dragged me into the center of the room like I was a naughty kid. Before I could even really object, I looked up and saw three of the five Chase brothers sitting at the bar, including the lawyer. Benedict. My heart leapt.
Until the big one — Logan — charged over and hauled me away from Ruby and I squalled like a baby. He was fucking scary. Not the calm quiet kind of scary, like Evershaw, but enraged, rip-your-face-off scary. I fully expected to die, and then Val wouldn't have that to look forward to.
Except Benedict jumped up and bumped chests with his brother, shoving me behind him. I didn't mind in the least, since he had a lovely broad back to hide against, and he radiated warmth after the chill from the car. Lewis didn't believe in using the heat, apparently. So I leaned against Benedict and waited for the storm to blow over. And then I heard a semi-familiar voice, and leaned around the side of my large protector to say, "Charity lady?"
Her perfectly groomed eyebrows arched and I flushed, more than a little embarrassed. I should have remembered her name.
But she smiled and stepped forward to shake my hand, though she didn't get as far as she wanted because of the big dude's hold on her waist, and she had to both lean and stretch to touch me. I started to meet her in the middle but Benedict did the same thing, arms around me to keep me close. She rolled her eyes but pressed my fingers with hers. "It's Natalia, Eloise. It's lovely to see you. I was worried, when we didn't see you for a while."
I pushed away embarrassment. Lots of people needed a little help now and then. Going to a soup kitchen wasn't anything to be ashamed of. But I remembered being rough around the edges then, hating life a lot more and not able to control the scary mojo. "Sure, sorry I forgot your name."
I froze as the door burst open again and the two other Chase brothers came in, both gold eyed and ready for trouble. Atticus straightened as he surveyed the situation and Edgar waved him off, then his gaze rested on me. Incredulity made him look younger than he really was. "Eloise?"
Well, damn. Benedict's arms tightened around me and that grumble started in his chest again. Atticus immediately ducked his head and held his hands up, backing up a step or two.
Natalia glanced between them, then back at me. She must have sensed my discomfort, I could see it in her eyes. But Logan didn't care, glaring at the lawyer who still tried to hide me behind him. "End it, Benedict. We don't consort with criminals or the hyenas, got it? I don't want that in our family."
Benedict's shoulders broadened and Ruby started growling again. But it was Atticus who jumped forward, hands up. "Dude, don't. Don't piss her off."
Silence rocked through the bar and I tried to make myself very small even as panic roiled up in my stomach. Atticus knew at least a part of what I was, he knew why the fight organizers had me on retainer to referee. If they knew what I really was, they'd never help me. Ruby and Rafe would kick me out. No one liked gorgons.
Logan's nostrils flared. "I beg your pardon?"
"Logan, man, she's not — she's a —"
"Shut the fuck up," I said, jumping out and driving a finger into that massive chest. He was an undefeated street fighter but I could end him if I really wanted to. Which he knew very well, and tried to warn his brother. My hands shook and too much mojo curled through my brain and eyes. "Shut up about other people's secrets, Atticus."
He flushed but didn't look away from his brother, trying to sound calm. "Believe me, Logan. Let this one go. Don't piss her off."
Benedict caught my arm and drew me to his side once more. He took a deep breath, as if to assure himself I was still me, then he went stiff and held me at arm's length. "Why do you smell like Todd Evershaw?"
"For fuck's sake." I put a hand to my forehead and tried to collect my thoughts. "Could I just get a drink before we have to fucking talk about this?"
Ruby snapped, "Good idea," and pressed a shot glass into my hand. She downed three of her own before I managed to inhale mine. Then she pointed the knife-hand at me, some of her alpha fury spilling out and making the hair stand on the back of my neck. "Start talking, chickie."
I looked around at the collective audience, the silent pack members just waiting to be dismissed, and massaged my temples. "Somewhere else, if you don't mind?"
The BloodMoon alphas weren't pleased, and Ruby's patience hung on by a thread. She grabbed my shoulder and propelled me toward the stairs. "Get your shit upstairs and sit down. Benedict, Edgar — you may join her. Logan, it is probably best you go home," and she slanted a look at the charity lady.
The Chase alpha practically took Atticus by the ear and dragged his ass out the door like another misbehaving kid, with Charity Lady not far behind and the worried-looking Carter on her heels. Edgar raised his eyebrows at me and gestured at the back staircase. "Ladies first."
I didn't want to like him, but I did. I slanted a look at Ruby, though. "Seriously, do we —"
"Go," she growled, and I went.
The upstairs rooms were for pack business only, usually, with a large central living room and a few smaller bedrooms leading away from it. There were at least two bathrooms that I'd found; I desperately wanted another shower. And a nap. Just the thought of the bears made me shiver. Something draped over my shoulders and I jumped, grabbing the blanket that covered my shoulders. Benedict had a hearty scowl on his face as he nudged me toward one of the couches. "You're cold."
"I'm always cold," I said under my breath. It came from having ice in my heart, quicksilver in my veins. But I collapsed on the battered sofa, the brown leather smooth and soft as butter under my hands. I curled up against one arm and Benedict dropped next to me, still looking irritated.
Edgar took one of the armchairs, studying me with an indecipherable expression. Rafe and Ruby stormed up; though Rafe placed himself with deliberate care in another chair, Ruby paced and stomped around the edge of the room, her eyes throwing sparks almost as well as mine did. I double-checked my sunglasses. All the strong emotions flaring around made me nervous.
Rafe pressed his fingers together at his chin, cold calm settling around him. "What did Miles say?"
"Why don't we start at the beginning?" Edgar could also do the impassive, disinterested look remarkably well. I made a mental note to ask how he did that. I needed lessons in looking like I gave absolutely zero shits about anything.
Ruby growled, and the hair on her forehead started creeping toward her eyebrows. I held up my hands, sitting forward a little. "Jesus, okay. Fine. Everyone stay in their current form, okay? I can't handle any more of this posturing bullshit."
And four pairs of supernatural eyes landed on me. Since they were probably also at the end of their control, and a weirdo with silver eyes yelling at them probably didn't help. My head ached. I sighed, rubbing furiously at my temples. "Sorry. It's just — can I get some aspirin or something, Ruby?"
Edgar handed me the bottle of whisky, instead. I definitely liked him.
I took a deep breath and a deeper swig, easing back on the couch and ignoring that Benedict edged closer and spread another blanket across me. "I had a job to do for Val Thursday night, and I did it. I did it exactly like she said, but something went wrong and the money disappeared. She blames me for it. So I have — one more day," and my stomach dropped. Shit. "To either get her the money back or find her daughter. I dropped the money on SilverLine's territory, so Ruby and Rafe were kind enough to set up a meeting with Evershaw today."
"Fucking Miles Evershaw," Ruby said under her breath, teeth white and pointy as she whirled and made another circuit. She swiped at a shelf and knocked the contents to the floor.
I flinched, squinting behind the sunglasses, and the pain spiked to knives in my eyes. "When I got there, he said he wouldn't tell me what I asked unless I promised him a favor."
"Eloise," Rafe said, eyes darkening.
Flustered, I threw my hands up and drew my knees to my chest. "Well, fuck — if you know what happened, why am I repeating it?"
"Tell me," Edgar said, smooth as a silk garrote and just as dangerous. Calm brown eyes, mild and unthreatening, caught mine. Eased some of the tension from my head and eyes. "What did he do to you?"
Like he was some kind of pervy rapist. I shook my head, fatigue rolling over me until I wanted to just curl up on the sofa and sleep forever. Preferably with Benedict as a pillow or a blanket. Maybe both. "It wasn't that. He wanted to know — what I am, and when I wouldn't tell him, he got all alpha mad. Wouldn't let me look away and then I thought my head would explode, because of the — stuff in it. Todd jumped in and knocked me aside, but then he wouldn't stop smelling me. He said I smelled good."
A threatening grumble rose in Benedict and his arm snaked out to catch me, draw me close. I should have minded. I didn't, not really. He was a warm backrest I could lean against, and his fingers started working at the knots in my shoulders. My hair unraveled and spilled across his lap. "Sorry," I said, and tried to corral it back to someplace manageable. "Sometimes it has a mind of its own."
"Did your hair just —" Edgar started, a frown drawing wrinkles across his forehead.
I flushed, sinking lower. "I can't help it."
Ruby leaned her arms on the back of Rafe's chair, her attention on Benedict more than me. "I can't help this either," and she gestured at the spontaneous hair growth on her arms and forehead. "Keep talking."
I twined the hair around my fingers, dreaming of another hot shower. Maybe with Benedict. Much better than alone. I sighed, sadness creeping over me. "Miles said he wouldn't help me unless I promised him a favor. I didn't have any other choice. Val will kill me, or the jackals will kill me, or you might kill me," and I poked Benedict in the ribs.
"Me?" He rubbed the base of my skull and I went boneless, almost sliding completely off the couch. Benedict sounded almost hurt. "How could you possibly think I would hurt you?"
"Because you're not afraid of me." The words slipped out before I could think to take them back, and then they hung there in the middle of the room.
His hands paused, then worked down toward my shoulders again. His tone was too deliberately casual for it to be an idle question, though I couldn't sense the trap. "What do you mean?"
Maybe if I mopped the floors again, Ruby would let me stay. She watched me with such a fierce frown, I kind of doubted it. "Everyone is afraid of me." It helped that I didn't really have to look at anyone as I leaned against Benedict; the other three were in my peripheral vision, but if I concentrated on the blanket across my lap, it was as if we were alone. "Everyone is. That's the only way I stay safe. If they're afraid of me, even a little bit, they won't hurt me."
"Why do they fear you?" This from Edgar, so smooth and patient. He was dangerous, probably more dangerous than anyone else in the room. He was the patient hunter, the one who would chase you for forty or eighty or a hundred miles until you died of exhaustion.
I shook my head and Benedict resumed working his fingers against the knot of tension at the base of my skull, around to behind my ears. He said quietly, "So you agreed to the favor?"
"I had to," I repeated, trying to convince myself as much as him. "So he told me the bears had been on their territory, right near where the money disappeared, and he said they might know what was going on."
"The bears." This from Rafe in his flat, creepy voice, and I shivered. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did he say which ones?"
Benedict draped another blanket over me, frowning as I fumbled and pulled the piece of paper from where I'd stuck it in my pocket. I felt cocooned and sleepy, him a furnace at my back and side with layers of blankets all around me. I cleared my throat. "The polar bear and the brown bear. Do you know them?"
Ruby started pacing again, throwing her hands in the air and muttering under her breath. Rafe took a deep breath and shook his head. "If they took whoever you're looking for, Eloise, chances are there won't be much left. The bears aren't very nice people."
My throat closed up. I'd assumed the same, but to hear the normally optimistic Rafe say that Lacey was probably dead made it too real. I had to move the sunglasses so I could wipe some moisture from my eyes, clearing my throat. "That's what I — that's what I figured. I just need to know for sure."
Benedict drew me closer, fingers working through my hair and kneading my scalp, but he spoke to his brother. "Ed, I thought Kaiser and his guys were doing security these days."
"They are. Bodyguard work mostly, from what I hear, but a variety of other services as well. What are you thinking?"
Benedict took a deep breath and I nearly sat up as his chest expanded. He leaned down and inhaled from my hair as well. "Kidnapping and ransom isn't their style. And they might not care about territory, as long as they can roam where they want, but they'd damn well know violating Evershaw's territory on behalf of the hyenas and whoever paid them to take the girl would jeopardize everything else they have going on. It's too stupid for them."
I tried to sit up. "It wasn't the bears?"
"They might have been providing security," Edgar said, then glanced at his phone with a frown. "Bodyguard services for whoever showed up for the cash. They don't like getting involved in other people's drama, but they're also pretty serious about keeping agreements."
"Would they help?" Hope gave me enough energy to push back the blankets and try to rise, but Benedict's arm looped around my waist.
Ruby scowled. "What, so you can owe them a favor, too? Damn it, girl, Todd Evershaw is still calling me, trying to figure out if you're spoken for."
"She is," Edgar said, real casual.
I blinked as she slapped the back of his head, and fully expected the lion to jump up and roar about the disrespectful wolf. Except Edgar only smiled and kept fussing with his phone. Ruby pointed at me, or maybe Benedict. "Look, chickie. I like you a lot but I'm not going to war with SilverLine for you. I can't. So you've got to figure out how you want to play it. Todd Evershaw, despite being Miles' brother, is a good guy. Benedict is a lawyer, so make of that what you will. And if you want to stay a free agent, fine, but give me a head's up so I don't end up with a bar full of men, moping around and crying in their beer."
I had to take my sunglasses off to squint at her. "Wait, what?"
It was Ruby's turn to rub her temples. "Babe, Benedict likes you. Todd, apparently, likes you. Is there one you prefer?"
My heart sank and heat flushed my cheeks. Words wouldn't form.
Rafe started to smile and ducked his head, and Edgar looked on the verge of laughing out loud. I tried to sit up and collect my dignity. "That can wait, and it doesn't involve any of you. Can you please tell me how to get to the bears' house?"
"Why yes, Goldilocks," Edgar said, and the laugh escaped. Even Ruby couldn't keep a straight face. The Chase security chief fixed me with a stern look, though. "They are not the kind of guys that you just walk up to and start demanding things from, Eloise."
I collapsed forward and covered my face with my hands. "Jesus Christ. I just need to find Lacey. By tomorrow. Before Val kills me."
"She won't kill you," Benedict said, gathering me once again to his side and straightening the blankets to cover me up completely. "I'll go with you to meet with Kaiser. He's the alpha for the bears. He might be able to help you."
"But what if he can't?" I looked at him, then his brother, then Ruby and Rafe. Fear surged in my throat before I remembered not to meet their eyes. "What if he won't help me and I can't find Lacey and she's dead? What then? I can't pay Val her ten grand back and I can't pay back another loan to Bridger, she — her price is too high, I can't do it. How am I —"
Benedict hushed me, smoothing my hair out of the way so he could massage up the back of my neck. "Deep breaths. We'll fix it. We'll find your friend, and if we don't, the money is easy."
"Easy for you to say," I shot back, bitterness making me unkind even as his magic hands melted the ache out of my brain. "You've got money, you don't have to go to some damn loan shark if —"
"Yes," Benedict said, slow and patient. "I do have a lot of money. I will give you some of that money, and then you can pay Szdoka back."
"But —" I cut off, cheeks burning as I straightened and faced him, and noticed that Rafe and Ruby had disappeared. "But why would —"
"Because I like you," he said, and leaned forward to kiss the tip of my nose. "And you're worried about a lot of stuff. So we pay Szdoka back so you can have more time to find your friend. Okay? We'll go talk to the bears tomorrow. Kaiser owes me a favor."
I frowned, trying to concentrate as I looked at him and then Edgar. Edgar shoved to his feet. "I'm calling it a night, and I'm taking the car. So you're both stuck here. Ben, I'll have Carter drop a car off for you tomorrow morning."
Benedict didn't seem to mind, playing with my hair. "One of the SUVs. Just in case. And some cash."
I looked between them, trying to keep up when it felt like half the conversation remained unspoken. Edgar looked at me, a hint of a smile softening his expression. "How much money does Val expect you to turn over?"
"Ten thousand," I whispered.
"Interest?"
"Not that I know of?"
Edgar straightened, smacked Benedict's shoulder, and clattered down the stairs, whistling. I stared after them, then looked at Benedict. "What the hell is going on?"
He yawned and stretched, arm across my shoulders. "First, let's talk about why you took all my clothes when you left this morning."
I sank a little lower and let one of the blankets creep over my nose. Right.