Twenty-Two

 

Alasdair slowly relaxed into me, our fingers caressing each other’s palms and wrists with gentle strokes while I came to be ok with the situation. It wasn’t much different from going to bed each night, but that had become a known quantity. This was different. There wasn’t the excuse of keeping my nightmares at bay here. This was pure affection.

I was getting tired when movement came from outside. My wolf pricked its ears, hoping for some small game to chase around. The footsteps were too heavy for a fox or rabbit. It was a person. We sat up a little taller, and I tugged the shadow tight around us. In theory, we blended into the gloom of the room, but I didn’t know how it would look to someone with good night sight. Hopefully, by the time they spotted us, they’d be close enough for us to leap on and get answers from.

A small woman with the typical fae bone structure and short spikey hair walked into the room with her head bobbing along to music playing in her earbuds. She didn’t so much as glance in our direction as she strode over to the box and opened it. A large envelope full of cash sat inside, which she opened and carefully counted. I was ready to leap on her, but Alasdair gripped my thigh, telling me to remain still. Finally satisfied with the amount of money that had been left, she pulled out a package of what had to be Tempo. Alasdair released me, and I shot across the room and tackled her to the floor.

She let out a cry of alarm before I wrenched her hands behind her back and held her down with my knee in the middle of her back. Alasdair crouched down next to her.

“Where do you get the Tempo from?” he growled.

“What the fuck are you!?” she shouted in alarm.

I realised that I hadn’t removed the shadow and quickly yanked it away and tried to drive it down within myself again while Alasdair gave the part-bred fae a predator smile. She thrashed beneath me and almost got loose as I was trying to get the shadow buried within myself at the same time. She twisted and sank her teeth into my thigh.

“Fucking fae, why do they bite everything!?” I snarled.

She grinned at me, her lips and teeth bright red with my blood.

“I like the taste of you, maybe I should take another bite,” she said.

Alasdair grabbed a handful of her hair and wrenched her head back to look up at him. His silver eyes shone in the darkness, making him look like the stuff of nightmares as he bared his sharp lupine teeth. I was torn between wanting to back away from him and wanting to jump him. Stupid libido.

“Where do you get the Tempo from?” he asked in a slow icy tone.

The part-bred at once stilled and kept looking between his eyes and his teeth.

“I don’t know. I get a shipment of it each week with instructions on who to send these weird letters to. I have no idea who’s behind it.”

“Try again,” he snarled.

She began shaking.

“I don’t know! I swear to the gods I don’t know.”

“The fae give no fucks about the gods,” Alasdair growled.

She swallowed hard.

“Fine, I swear to the magic of my ancestors, then, I don’t know.”

“What do you know about the magic killing powder?” I demanded.

“The what?”

I rolled my eyes, she was useless.

“Part-bred fae have been taking witchlings, what do you know about that?”

“Do you think we’re all the same? That we hang out in some part-bred fae club?” she asked, her voice getting higher pitched.

“Who and what are you?”

I looked to Alasdair. She hadn’t given us anything of use.

“Wait, you had shadow magic… you’re the abomination the queen wants as a pet!”

“Kill her,” Alasdair said coldly.

“No, come on, I won’t tell a soul, I swear!”

“You’re of no use to us,” I said.

“It’s an alchemist, someone outside of the country. The shipments come from the Continent somewhere, in Europe. They have a bunch of customs stickers on them.”

I shrugged.

“Doesn’t sound very useful to me.”

She whimpered. “Don’t kill me, not over this.”

“Stop selling Tempo.”

“I will, I swear, I won’t go near it again.”

“If we hear so much as a whisper that you’ve been near it, we’ll hunt you down,” I growled.

She nodded enthusiastically.

I hit her in the head hard enough to knock her out. There was a chance she’d have brain damage when she came to, but she was a drug dealing wretch and brain damage was better than dead.

Alasdair took the package of Tempo.

“We’ll get this to Greyson’s uncles so they can examine it. Every alchemist has a signature they put into everything they make. Hopefully, they can track the maker down.”

We walked back out to the car. My leg kept throbbing where she’d bitten me. My jeans were soaked with blood. I should buy shares in a jeans company, the number of them I went through.

“We know the Tempo’s coming from outside the country, so it wasn’t a complete waste,” Alasdair said, resignation filling his voice.

I squeezed his hand.

“Grayson could have something, yet.”

“Each hour they’re missing, the chances of us getting them back in one piece dwindles,” he said softly.

“We’re doing all we can. They could have run away, that was what me and Brodie planned on doing.”

He gave me a sad smile and started the car.

“Thank you for giving me some hope, Niko.”