by H. D. Gordon
But the way he had glanced at my little sisters… The way he was looking at Delia right now, who was sitting so still, so silently in the corner…
Again, my trigger finger itched.
Then, the moment passed, and Lukas said, “In fact, I do have somewhere I need to be.” He adjusted the cuffs of his fine shirt, rearranging the scarlet handkerchief that poked out of his suit pocket. When he wandered over to where Delia sat by the fire, smiling down at her the way a fox might grin at a rabbit, I swear that my heart skipped three whole beats in my chest.
Lukas bent slightly at the waist, bringing a hand up to stroke the back of his fingers down the smooth brown skin of Delia’s face. My little sister held utterly still while he did this, and the defiance in her big brown eyes would have made my heart swell with pride if not for the fact that my blood was currently on fire.
Time slowed again as Lukas did this, and I watched with burning rage as his fingers caressed my sister’s face, as his smooth voice crooned, “So, so beautiful. Such a beautiful family you have, Miss Silvers.”
I could not have stopped my body from moving had there been a brick wall between Lukas and me. One moment, I was standing by the twins, and the other I was standing in front of Lukas, having slipped smoothly between him and Delia.
I met the Wolf’s dark eyes, the beast in me rising up to meet the beast in him. In a voice that surprised me with its cool flatness, I said, “Thank you, Mr. Borden.” I waved a hand toward the door. “And thank you for the visit.”
Lukas only smiled, teeth gleaming behind his lips, scar stretching. “Of course,” he said, and retreated from his spot near my sister, moving toward the door.
I knew better than to breathe a sigh of relief just yet. With carefully controlled ease, I opened the door for him, and followed him out. I felt a tiny bit better even with that thin barrier between him and the people inside.
As if he were unaware of the murderous maternal thoughts running through me, Lukas tipped his head toward the sunlight, his breath hanging in the cold air.
From around the side of the house, Lucian, the Mad Wolf, slipped into view, his brindled coat catching the golden rays as his beastly gaze fixed on me.
“My mother used to have a saying,” Lukas said sidling a little closer to me, coming near enough once more to kiss. “She used to say, be careful of loose threads, Luke, they have a nasty habit of causing things to unravel…” He paused, dark eyes fixed on my face, leaning closer.
“Your mother sounds like a smart lady,” I replied.
Lukas smiled, and if not for the fact that I was certain he was going to try to have me murdered, the expression might have been charming. He closed the distance separating us, placing the softest of kisses to my cheek. I brought my hand up between us, resting my fingers over the silk handkerchief folded neatly in his breast pocket, but not pushing him away.
Lips still near to my skin, he said, “Indeed she was, Miss Silvers. Indeed she was.”
Then he strolled off the stoop that led into my house, his shiny shoes catching the dust of the dirt as he did so.
With one sharp whistle, Lucian fell into line behind him, his enormous body moving with an almost feline grace.
Before the two of them slipped out of sight, I could have sworn that the Mad Wolf grinned back at me.
Chapter 24
For obvious reasons, I wasted no time in moving my siblings to the cavern in the Murdock Mountains.
I realized with a jolt now that I should have done so immediately following the Winter Harvest Ball, when Lukas had first questioned me about my relationship with Erek.
Our encounter at the ball had surely been when he’d decided that the dangers of working with a Wolf who was sleeping with a Hound were greater than the rewards. I’d made him good moonshine, faster and at a price that was surely a fraction of what he could get it for when shipping it in from overseas. But I’d broken the cardinal rule of people who routinely broke the law. I’d invited the enemy into my bed, and the fact that it had been unwittingly mattered to people like Lukas Borden not in the slightest.
As soon as I stepped back into the house, I could tell that Devon was upset enough to want to bite my head off, but was going to appear calm until the girls were out of hearing distance. For this, I was grateful, because I didn’t need his chastising to understand that I had screwed up. Royally.
And now the only option was to run. I’d always wanted to leave this place, but I had not planned on going like this.
“Take the girls to the mountain,” I told my older brother, whose blue eyes were angry enough to burn. “Just do it now,” I added. “We’re leaving tonight.”
Devon stared at me a long moment, and I thought for a second that he was going to have it out with me right then and there despite the presence of our little sisters. Instead, the muscles in his jaw clenched, and he began gathering up the children, snapping at Delia when she tried to inquire about Lukas, who he was and what he had been doing here.
As Devon was not usually prone to taking that kind of tone, Delia only snapped her jaw shut and followed his short commands about packing up.
He had them cleared out of the house within five minutes, taking the bags I’d stuffed in the mattress and hauling them over his wide shoulders.
Demarco showed up just as they were leaving. The look of concern on his face revealed that he had likely spotted Lukas and Lucian on their way out of The Mound. The pair were hard to miss.
Once the girls and Devon had cleared out, I placed my hand on Demarco’s shoulder, making sure that he saw in my expression the seriousness of the situation.
“What’s happened?” my little brother asked.
“We’re leaving tonight. But, first, I need you to find father, and tell him that returning to the house won’t be safe for a while.”
Demarco’s brow furrowed, but he nodded. “Okay, what do I tell him when he asks why?”
“Tell him we got into it with some of the other Wolfsbane dealers. Tell him that I’m personally taking care of it, and the threat will pass, but not to return to this location until I tell him it’s safe… Can you do that?”
Despite the tension that I could feel stringing through his shoulders, my little brother grinned at me, the mischievous expression as at home on his face as a snail in its shell. “Who do you know that’s a better liar than me?” he asked.
For all the worry and thoughts racing through me, I couldn’t manage to summon a smile in return, so I just gave his shoulder another squeeze, and placed a kiss on his forehead.
This brought up the recent memory of Lukas’s death-kiss that he’d just given me only minutes before, and I fought against the shudder that tried to race up my spine.
“Good,” I said. “Then, go.”
Demarco nodded again, heading toward the door to follow my directions. I called out to him before he could shut the door behind him, speaking in his head, because I was afraid vocalizing it out loud would reveal the fear in my tone.
“Be careful,” I said. “Warn father not to return here, and then get to the mountain. Don’t make any stops, and don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Understand?”
There was no playful smirk on his face now. “Yes, Dita,” he said. “I understand.”
After Demarco left, I allowed myself all of thirty seconds to stand in the center of the shack that had been my home for as long as I could remember, shut my eyes, and breathe.
Then I exited the despicable structure and headed off toward my final task before I left this place and everything in it behind forever.
Shifting into my Wolf was always a faster form of travel than walking on two feet, so I did this now. It also allowed me to cut through the lavender fields separating the town of Borden and the various slums dotting the lands around it. So it was in my Wolf form that I reached The Row, heading toward the docks, where I knew a certain Leprechaun would be.
Sure enough, I found Leon in the same spot I’d last seen him, when he’d be
trayed me to Erek. I could feel my eyes light up Wolf-gold as I crouched behind one of the nearby buildings, watching the little bastard hobble around from ship to ship. Instead of releasing the growl that itched at my vocals, I shifted back into my mortal form.
Adjusting my jacket and the irons that reappeared around my hips, I strode out of the shadows and into the daylight.
Leon saw me coming, but I was careful to ensure that my gait was easy and not threatening in the least. After all, he didn’t know that I knew he had given me up to Erek. And that was just fine with me.
Still, I could see the wariness that came into his light green eyes as he saw me casually strolling toward him, could tell that he was trying to read me, to determine if this was the same kind of visit as the countless ones we’d had in the past, or if instead, I was here to kill him.
Which I should have done in the first place. That would have at least prevented Erek from learning of my implication in Ezra’s disappearance, which was sadly lower on my list of problems than it normally would have been.
“Hey there, Miss Dita,” the Leprechaun said as I approached, apparently deciding that I was unaware of his treachery. “I was wonderin’ when you’d come back ‘round.”
I offered the little bastard an easy smile, knowing that he had not expected to see me again, unless it was in chains.
“You know me, Leon,” I said. “I can’t stay away for long.”
I watched as his shoulders relaxed a fraction. “What can I do ye fer this mornin’?”
Leaning against the railing of the dock we were now standing on, I gazed off into the distance, the rushing waters of the Zouri heading off into the horizon. “I need a boat out of town,” I told him. “I was hoping you could help me.”
Leon eyed me with a renewed bit of wariness. “Well, sure I could… But why the urgent escape?”
It took great effort not to pick his little ass up and toss him into the river. I sighed, still staring off as if the distance were calling me. “I’ve got one too many disagreements with folks in these parts, and I think it’s time to move on…” I looked over at him, watching as the suspicion slowly faded from his face, as he finally decided that I did not know that he’d set Erek on my trail.
Erek, who was likely finding his way to my house right about now, and finding it empty.
The Leprechaun smacked his thick lips. “Sure, I can do that,” he said at last. “How far do ye wanna go, and how many trav’lers?”
“Just me,” I said. “And as far as the river will take me.”
Leon smiled, revealing several teeth capped in gold. “Okay, then,” he said. “I got a boat that’s leaving at sundown. Will that work?”
I smiled at him, slipping my hands into my pockets. “That’s perfect, my friend.”
Leon grinned again, and I could just hear the sound of gold coins clanking together in his head. “Be here at sundown, then,” he said. “And I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thank you,” I said.
The Leprechaun flashed more of those gold teeth. “Don’t mention it,” he replied.
I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away, watching me from where he stood on the docks. Once I rounded the corner, I slipped down a few side streets, cut through some alleys, and waited.
It took a couple hours, but eventually, the little bastard came into sight again. He glanced all around, as if checking to make sure I had indeed left, and then he grabbed his hat from the deck of one of the small boats docked there, buttoned up his jacket, and strolled deeper into Borden.
I had a feeling I knew exactly where he was going.
Chapter 25
Sure enough, the little bastard cut toward the part of town where most of the inns were housed—including the inn that had rented a room to a certain Hound.
Leon kept glancing over his shoulder while I watched him from the shadows, having shifted back into my Wolf form for various reasons.
One of those reasons was that I was faster in this form, but another was that my senses—particularly my sense of smell and hearing—were even more powerful in this form.
I couldn’t pinpoint why, exactly, but I wanted to hear Leon snitch on me as he did so. Though I wouldn’t quite admit it to myself, part of me wanted to see Erek’s face as Leon told him where he’d be able to catch me. I wanted to see what emotion passed there. Would he be relieved? Disappointed? Excited?
It shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter, I told myself.
Leon headed toward Erek’s inn, and I slinked through the streets of Borden, my brown fur dark enough to blend into the shadows, following the Leprechaun all the way to Erek’s doorstep. I held my breath as the little bastard glanced around one final time, and then rapped his knuckles on Erek’s door.
After a few moments of silence, the door opened, and there stood Erek. His handsome face was drawn and tired, and I knew that he’d likely spent the last couple of hours wringing information out of the people in The Mound, only to finally locate my residence and find it abandoned. The slight twist of his lips when he saw that it was Leon who had knocked told me that he was just as fond of the little bastard as I was.
“What do you want?” Erek asked.
“I have more information fer ye,” Leon said. “I’m guessin’ ye went to The Mound and didn’t find what ye were looking fer.”
“You sent me on a wild goose chase,” Erek replied, looking down his nose at the smaller male. “She wasn’t there, and from the looks of it, she had just cleared out.”
Leon glanced around again, and from where I watched in the distance, I suppressed another growl.
“That’s because she’s leavin’,” Leon said. “Tonight.”
Erek’s green eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”
Leon shrugged. “I just do. I know when and where, and I thought ye might wanna know.”
Erek folded his muscular arms over his chest. “Tell me.”
The Leprechaun clicked his tongue.
Erek cursed and disappeared into the room for a moment, when he came back, he tossed a small velvet bag at Leon. Leon caught it and shook it beside his little pointed ear. Even from the distance, I could hear the clinking of several gold coins inside.
“Tell me,” Erek repeated.
“The docks,” Leon said, tucking the bag into his shirt pocket and patting it with a hand. “Sundown at the docks. Ye wanna catch the little Wolf, that’s where you’ll find her.”
“Great,” Erek said, and shut the door in the Leprechaun’s face.
I remained where I was, crouched in the shadows on the roof of the store across from the inn, contemplating murderous thoughts as I watched Leon pat that bag of gold in his shirt pocket and stick a toothpick into the corner of his mouth, his thick lips pulled up in a self-satisfied manner.
Checking the position of the sun, I decided it was time to go. I’d accomplished what I’d come here to do. I’d gotten Leon to believe he was setting up a ship for me to sail out of town on, and Erek to believe that he knew where to catch me before I skipped town. I’d also managed to get my family back to the mountain, and I could only hope that Demarco had accomplished the task of warning our father, and that my little brother was already at the mountain along with the others, preparing to leave, as I’d ordered.
I reached into my pocket and removed my timepiece. I’d accomplished all of this with a couple hours to spare. Not bad for the sort of pressure I was currently under.
I was just getting ready to leave when a flash of dark fur in an alley below caught my attention. Despite the fact that the shadow had moved too quickly for me to distinguish, my gut twisted as instinctual alarms sounded within me. I crouched further down on the rooftop, leaning over just a bit so that I could better glimpse the area below.
And this time I spotted the unmistakable brindle fur, the massive form, and the golden glowing eyes that were fixated on the door to Erek’s room.
Lucian.
Before I could even process this arrival, a car
riage rolled around the corner. Drawn by two horses and led by a driver wearing all black, the carriage pulled up outside the inn, and two more Wolves in their mortal forms hopped out, also wearing the all black suits that marked them as Lukas’s goons. Lucian hung back in the shadows while the two goons glanced around before walking right up to Erek’s door.
I watched in shocked silence from the rooftop, my heart thundering so loudly in my chest that I was afraid the Mad Wolf crouched below would hear it. But I could not tear my eyes away. I couldn’t seem to move, or even draw air.
Before I could decide on a course of action, the two goons knocked on Erek’s door. A couple thunderous heartbeats passed before the door opened, despite my silent pleas to any Gods that might be listening that Erek would look through the peephole and escape out the window in the bathroom.
As per usual, the Gods gave no two shits about my pleadings and me. Perhaps that was my own making, but it didn’t stop my heart from sinking as Erek opened the door.
From the expression on his handsome face, I could tell that he’d been expecting it to be Leon, having returned with more information and wanting more gold. His dark brows drew down, as instead of seeing the little Leprechaun, he was now looking eye-to-eye with two enormous, heavily armed alpha males.
Maybe they just want to chat, I thought. If not, maybe he can fight them off…
I watched as Erek’s shoulders tensed, as he recognized the threat immediately, his green eyes going instantly alert. I could hardly hear his words over the pounding of my heart in my chest.
“How can I help you?” he asked casually, though his right leg moved, sliding back into a stronger stance, a position that anticipates a fight.
His instincts were not wrong.
I could not see their faces, but because I was more familiar with Lukas’s goons than I would like to be, it was not hard to imagine the ugly grins that were pulling up their lips.