Quarter Square
Page 16
“You will want to talk to me. Unless I’m very mistaken, you’re starting to realise you’re way out of your depth with whatever’s going on around here. Then there’s the murder investigation. I’ve steered DCI Dawson away from you for the time being, because I think you’re a good investment, and I know you didn’t do it. But my patience isn’t endless, and it would only take a phone call from me to point him back in your direction. Think about it, Joe. We need each other.” He flipped a business card between his fingers and offered it.
I ignored it.
He clicked the card down next to my coffee as he walked past the bench. “You’ll be in touch.”
I watched him walk up through the arena and listened as he left the building.
“You were right to let him leave.” Min stepped from the wings. Her voice was croaky. “He isn’t Tyac.”
I breathed a sigh of relief tinged with frustration. “Tyac is still out there, though.”
“He always is, love.”
“Not for long. I’ve had enough of running. I’m going to kill him.”
“Joe.” She was horrified. “I understand how you feel, but we have to run. It’s the only way.”
“We’ll run for now, but only because I don’t want to bring any more shit down on Quarter Square. We’ll find somewhere safe to rest and recover. Then I’m going to hunt that bastard down and kill him.” I looked around the theatre. “And then I’ll come back here and keep my promise to the insiders.”
She ran across the stage into my arms. “Please. You’ve been aggressive like this before, and it always ends badly. Always. He loves it when you go for him.”
“He won’t love it this time.”
She leaned her forehead against my chest. “When you get like this, you scare me nearly as much as Tyac does.”
“I’m sick of people dying to protect me. It isn’t right, but you won’t change anything about it. So I will.”
Her shoulders shook, and her tears dampened my shirt. “When you consider the horrific deaths I’ve had to watch you suffer at Tyac’s hands, is it any wonder that I’ll do whatever is necessary to keep you with me?”
I stroked her hair. “If we keep on doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep on getting what we’ve always got.”
Footsteps clumped down through the arena towards us. Shad, Vua and Tae had each appropriated a pair of boots, and they weren’t yet used to walking in them. They thumped up the stairs and stood before us in their newly acquired biker clothing.
“The people of Quarter Square have offered our tribe a place to live here in gratitude for what we did last night,” Shad announced.
“That’s good.”
“Not for me and my girls. We are coming with you.”
“With us?”
“I expect you will leave immediately, to get a head start on the monster?”
Min wiped her eyes, and we both nodded.
“Wherever you go, we go too. We will protect you. This is our pledge.”
Min tried to clear her throat. It sounded painful. “What about the tribe?”
“Karn and Keira are the new alphas, and a beta will emerge if one is needed. Our place is with you, Min. You are our goddess. We owe you our lifelong allegiance.”
He turned to me. “I owe you my life. I will not forget.”
“Come with us,” I decided. “We’ll leave now, but we’re not running forever. I’m going to find Tyac and kill him.”
Shad glowered. “We are going to find Tyac and kill him. Together.”
Vua and Tae growled their agreement.
Min moaned in distress.
I held my arm out towards Shad at shoulder level, palm facing down and parallel to the stage floor.
He lifted his eyebrows.
I jerked my hand and jutted my chin.
He thought about it. Then, slowly, he bowed his head and stepped towards me.
I placed my hand on his head and held it there. When I lifted it, he stepped back.
“We’ll hunt him down and kill him together.” My fierce war grin was back in place. “Now, that sounds like a plan.”
About the Author
David Bridger settled with his family and their two monstrous hounds in England’s West Country after twenty years of ocean-based fun, during which he worked as a lifeguard, a sailor, an intelligence gatherer and an investigator. He writes urban fantasy and paranormal novels, and his favorite way of doing nothing is a quiet afternoon sailing on the River Tamar while stormy characters stomp through his mind.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9182-3
Copyright © 2011 by David Bridger
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