Wolf Howl (Wolf Ridge Book 2)

by Jayne Hawke

  “I’ll be calling in my favour now, Rosalyn.”

  “Not a good time.”

  Eira narrowed her eyes.

  “You do understand that you have no choice, correct?”

  I sighed. I did now.

  “Fine. Make it quick. I have places to be.”

  The blood witches were gathering whatever they needed and time was ticking by. I couldn’t afford to be side-tracked by ridiculous fae stuff.

  “You’re going to be going down to Savannah. And you’re going to retrieve this for me.” Eira handed me a photo and a notecard.

  “And you can’t do it, why?”

  “Don’t ask questions. Just get in your car and do as you’re told.”

  I looked over the note card. It looked as though we had to go to some fancy party.

  “I don’t have anything to wear. Sorry.”

  The temperature dropped.

  “Clothing will be supplied. A hotel room has been booked. Now go,” Eira snarled.

  Damn the fae.

  I pulled out my phone and tried to think how to explain this to Cole. The timing couldn’t have been much worse, but I’d gotten myself into this.

  EIRA CALLED IN THE FAVOUR. HAVE TO GO TO SAVANNAH. BACK ASAP

  He was going to kill me, but if I told him via text I could avoid the shouting for a few minutes.

  “I’ll drop you home,” I told Briar.

  “No way. You’re not a thief; you have no idea what you’re doing. You need me.”

  She had a point.

  “You should be safely at home.”

  “You won’t return home without my help,” she said stubbornly.

  I sighed. This was a battle I wasn’t going to win.

  We turned and headed back to the car. My phone vibrated aggressively in my pocket and I ignored it, knowing that it would just be Cole cursing me out for making promises to fae. That was an argument I was going to deal with when I got back.

  54

  It was dark when we finally got to the hotel Eira had arranged for us. Nestled in the heart of the historic district, the building was a mix of red brick and pale cream plasterwork. Briar was tense and walked slightly behind me. I was too tired to care about the looks we got as we strolled through the expanse of lobby. Marble filled the space, chandeliers hung from the arched ceiling, and all I cared about was room service and a good hot bath.

  The grand piano sitting in the corner really made the entire thing for me. It brought home the level of hotel I was strolling through in cut-offs and a scruffy Firefly t-shirt. The looks from the far better dressed guests bored into my back and I ignored all of them. Handing the details over to the receptionist, I tried not to tap my foot in impatience.

  The older woman took her time triple-checking the booking before she finally handed two key cards over.

  “Suite 402.”

  Suite? That was a pleasant surprise.

  Briar remained behind me. Her tension and nervousness grated against me as we made our way to the broad copper elevator. Once we were safely inside, with no other guests to overhear, she relaxed a little.

  “I’ve never been anywhere as nice as this! I’m pretty sure they think I’m worse than the dirt on their shoes.”

  “Likely,” I agreed.

  She ran her fingertips over the elevator buttons and inspected every corner in awe.

  “This is what I want my life to come to.”

  I smiled.

  “Best plan on setting up a string of mechanics, then.”

  “I will. I’m going to make sure that Adam has a huge bookstore all of his own. Somewhere he can fill with all of the books he loves, and hide away between their pages all day. He deserves that.”

  My heart began to melt towards Briar. She was a good sister at heart. I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t have done everything she had in her situation.

  We walked along the plush corridor with deep rich golden carpet towards our door. I nodded to Briar to open the door and take the first look inside. I’d never had a suite before, but I was expecting opulence.

  Briar gasped as the warm golden light bathed the room before us. A comfortable white couch spread out before us sitting in front of a large dark wooden coffee table and a huge flat-screen TV hanging on the wall. I watched as Briar walked around, her mouth agape. The small kitchen was big enough to cook some basics, and the beds were glorious. I was most interested in the bathroom and wandered over to look in there.

  A claw-foot tub big enough for two people called to me. The generously sized shower looked nice, but I was ready to sink into a luxurious bubble bath. Golden tiles covered the floors and adorned the walls. The sinks were large enough to sit in, and they’d somehow found lights that were flattering. A selection of expensive toiletries sat waiting for us. I sniffed them and found jasmine to be the primary scent. I’d have rather had something fresher, but I wasn’t going to turn down something nice. Especially if the ice fae was paying for me to be dragged away from my pack at the worst possible time.

  “Rosalyn!” Briar called.

  I headed to the bedroom with the plush white carpets deep enough to dig your toes into and found her holding up a stunning silver dress that barely made it to her knee.

  “There’s one for you too!”

  I turned and saw the ice blue satin box with matching ribbon sitting on the bed next to me. The box looked entirely at home upon the silver silk blanket that covered the bottom half of the otherwise snow-white bed. The dress inside was a floor length gown that would wrap my curves in soft ephemeral silvers and pale blues. The neckline was conservative with a plunging back, exactly how I preferred. The fact the fae had made something so exquisitely beautiful, and entirely to my tastes, sent a shiver through me. It felt as though she’d reached within and saw some part of me I’d rather keep hidden.

  The instructions about where exactly to find the item we were there for appeared before me on thick white card stock.

  The photo we’d been given showed a palm-sized black stone that glittered gold under the light of the camera. We were instructed to scope out the house it was hidden in via a fancy party that Eira had forged invitations for. The stone was located upstairs. I groaned, this sounded awful. I wasn’t a thief.

  Briar looked over the instructions and crossed her arms.

  “No. Not going to happen. We’ll go in once the party has wound down when everyone is drunk and really relaxed. They’ll be too occupied elsewhere. We’ll need dark clothing and to scope the place out before the party. We need to know what their security looks like. I’m betting there’s anti-fae magic, which means we’re dealing with witches. That’ll make life more complicated, but I’ve done worse.”

  She spoke with such confidence. I wondered what a life she’d led. To be so experienced with theft of that level at just sixteen.

  Briar beamed at me.

  “I know I was awful to you, but I’m really glad to be in your pack. I wouldn’t be able to do things like this in a normal pack.”

  I wasn’t quite sure what to think about that.

  55

  We had made the most of the room service and luxurious bathroom before we took a nap. It was three AM when we got back up. It was more than a little creepy that boxes of black clothes and boots which fit us perfectly had shown up at the bottom of our beds while we slept. The more I learned about fae the more I didn’t want anything to do with them.

  Briar was gleeful to be a part of this. I couldn’t say that I shared her enthusiasm but it was rubbing off on me a little. There was a thrill to breaking into a rich witch’s home to steal something. Even if we didn’t know what that something did and had to hand it off to a powerful and likely malicious fae ice queen.

  My old Mustang really stood out in the rich neighbourhood. The rest of the cars parked in the area were high end Mercedes, Cadillacs, Corvettes, Porches, and Jaguars. I didn’t think I’d seen quite so much money packed into one street before. The houses had large wrap-around yards giving the hou
ses plenty of privacy. I admit I was a touch jealous, but I reminded myself of the home I had back in Vermont and it faded.

  We parked ten minutes away and tried to look perfectly normal as we prowled the well-lit streets wearing all black. We might as well have had neon signs floating above our heads screaming ‘robbers’. Briar took my hand and led me down a small path leading out around the back of the street we were supposed to be casing. By some miracle, that street backed onto a small wooded area with a creek running through it. We shifted into our wolf forms and began really looking at what we were dealing with.

  Briar led the way as she had more experience. I followed her past the perfectly manicured bushes that formed the edge of the property and grabbed onto her tail when I felt the tingle of magic nearby. She flattened herself to the ground and we paused while I tried to figure out what we were dealing with. There was definite magic there, but I had no idea what type or where.

  Pricking my ears, I tried to listen out for other forms of security. There appeared to be no guards, and only two people inside. One of them was in what I thought was a study given the bookshelves.

  “The magic seems like it sweeps,” I mentally said to Briar.

  “We need to time it.”

  We remained flattened to the cool earth as we waited for the tingle to grow once more. There was a regular pattern which gave us ten seconds to cross the yard with the neat flowerbeds and swimming pool, to the porch with the large windows showing everyone we were coming.

  “We’d be best scaling the wall up to the top floor. Easier than trying to get through the house,” Briar said.

  My wolf side didn’t approve of that plan, my ears flattened against my will. It’d live with it.

  We slunk around the edge of the yard and looked for a suitable climbing area. There was a mature tree near the eastern corner that could get us most of the way.

  “How do we handle the magic inside?” I asked Briar.

  “I think they’ll be arrogant and it’ll only ping if witch or fae are detected.”

  “That’s a big risk.”

  “Then we’ll run really fast.”

  I had to laugh. I was expecting a far more polished plan. Still, it was all we had.

  We spent the day eating far too much room service and checking out online photos and maps of the house. The modern age was a wonderful thing. We pinned down an exact route across the yard that I was confident we could do in 10 seconds. The highly manicured gardens gave plenty of open space to move quickly across the lawns. Of course, that didn’t leave anything to hide behind, the small shrubs and delicate flowers certainly wouldn’t keep us from view. We would need to move fast and make sure no one was watching.

  The large tree near the house was old and mature with sturdy limbs at nice even spaces. It looked like an easy climb, which, given our wolf sides were going to be upset about being off the ground, was a blessing.

  The jump over to the small roof near the window was going to be a little difficult, but we’d figure it out. It was a small space to land on, with slippery tiles, but our natural wolf balance should help us out. Briar was sure she could crack any lock they might have on the window. I trusted her. If she could steal from the Morrigan witches, she clearly had skills. So we just had to get inside, sneak past the study and master bedroom, get into the display room, and grab the stone. Easy.

  My stomach was twisting and doing flipflops later that day when we were analysing the photos one last time. Everything looked good to go, but there was no way this would be as simple as all of that. Briar was confident, which made me feel a little more comfortable, but the nerves remained.

  Parking was far more difficult that evening. Cars had been abandoned by the side of the road for the party, leaving us to walk some fifteen minutes to the house. We got a few strange looks as we wandered casually down the road in our all-black outfits. No one seemed to pay us too much attention but I didn’t want to be memorable. I was glad to slip down the small path and into my wolf form. We crept down to the backyard of the house in question and the truly difficult part started - the waiting.

  56

  I wasn’t cut out for stakeouts. We must have been there for twenty minutes by the time I was itching to move. The ground felt too cool and damp beneath my stomach. The scents of the party were tickling my nose, and there was a rabbit I could have been chasing nearby. Judging from the number of people drinking heavily and milling around, I was going to have to endure the agony of remaining still for a good bit longer yet.

  Time crawled by. I think we’d been there for two hours when everything had quietened down and started looking hopeful. I might have dozed for a short period, I wasn’t entirely sure. The time was a blur of people laughing obnoxiously, drinking from delicate glasses, and awful music.

  The music was gone. The lights were out in the house. It looked as though we were good to go. We waited another ten minutes to try and be sure while we counted the time between the ebb and flow of the magical waves. Slowing my breathing, I braced and went into a crouch rather than flat on my stomach. Briar was right at my side when we shot forward and raced across the manicured yard towards the house. We shifted into our human forms the moment we got near the tree and scrambled upwards.

  As much as my wolf side protested, the tree was easy to climb. The limbs were strong and evenly spaced giving us plenty of routes up. When we were reaching the window we needed, Briar paused, her eyes wide. I could feel her wolf protesting and wanting to get back down on the ground. I reached my hand out and helped pull her up.

  “I need you,” I whispered.

  She steadied herself and made the jump onto the small roof near the window. I followed her, pressing myself against the wall and waiting as she leaned in close to the window. Briar’s hands moved in a quick and simple rhythm as she ran her fingers over the edge of the window. Her face twisted into one of deep concentration as she began to tug at the lock. Something audibly clicked and we both froze, waiting.

  Nothing happened so Briar opened the window. We peered inside. No tingling, no people. Time to get in and get out.

  The interior of the house was simple and classy with rich red-toned wooden floors, pale walls, and watercolour paintings of local landscapes dotted across the walls. We walked across the spare bedroom we’d entered into on our tiptoes with our ears pricked to catch any movement. Everything was eerily quiet. I took that to mean the house owners were fast asleep and this was going to be a nice smooth thing.

  We paused in the doorway and made sure there was no tingling of magic and no movement before we scurried down to the room in question. It was like a small museum. We stopped dead just inside the room with glass cases and elegant tables arranged around the large space. Still no tingle of magic. It looked like Briar was right; they didn’t worry about lowly garou.

  The stone was in the very centre case sitting beneath a small white light. I nodded to Briar to head over and retrieve that, as something else was calling to me. I allowed my instincts to lead me across the room to a shadowy corner where a long curved knife sat. The handle was made of silver with swirling wolf’s heads adorning it. My hand reflexively went out to it. It felt like an extension of myself.

  I hovered my hand over the knife trying to feel for any sign of magic. There was nothing. It wasn’t even hidden in a case. We were already taking the stone, what harm would taking the knife, too, do?

  The knife was in my hand before I could doubt the morality of my actions. It fit my hand perfectly, the balance was exquisite. It was as though it had been made for me. I tucked it away and turned to see how Briar was getting on. She had just picked up the stone when a shock of neon green light cut through the room. Tingling filled the air making it difficult to breathe.

  Briar grabbed the stone and we ran like our tails were on fire. There was no grace or elegance as we threw ourselves out of the window and leapt down the tree before we shot across the yard. Balls of something painful were hot on our heels. If I’d have been in m
y wolf form, I was pretty sure I’d have lumps of missing fur. Something about the stone made me think that Briar wouldn’t be able to carry it in wolf form. I knew my shiny new knife would shift with me, but the stone was made of a completely different type of magic.

  We ran as fast as our legs could carry us. Every inch of me wished I was in my wolf form instead of being stuck on two legs, but we were there for one thing and I wasn’t going to give it up. Footsteps were closing in behind us. Flashes of light cut through the periphery of my vision and I cursed out Eira with everything I had.

  57

  How the entire neighbourhood wasn’t up and calling the cops, I didn’t know. I hadn’t stopped to look at who was chasing us, but I heard the crashes and whines of explosives and magic being thrown around. The taste of lead and something heavily bitter coated my tongue from all of the magic.

  Briar was beginning to flag. I made a note to drag her out on my daily runs to improve her fitness. Grabbing her wrist, I pulled her along towards the Mustang. If they dared damage my baby, they’d wish they’d never been born. We were getting close now. The magic was fading, the explosions were quieter, and the Mustang was within sight.

  Unfortunately, so were the three men dressed in slate grey with fireballs in their hands. It looked like I was about to find out just how good that anti-magic shield I had was.

  We slowed our pace and I looked them up and down, weighing up their weaknesses. None of them stood like experienced fighters, I expected they leaned on that fire magic. If I could get in close and slice them open then we’d be home and free. The problem was avoiding those fire balls, and I should probably dispose of the bodies too. Fae bodies went up in a puff of glitter, witch bodies weren’t quite so convenient.