“Cam wanted to be the one who broke the news, but she’s not here.”
The oxygen in my lungs sputtered until pain radiated through my chest.
“That means I get to play hero.” He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a debit card. “This is for you.”
The air gusted over my lips after I accepted the card and read my name off the embossed front. “What is it?” For a terrible moment, I worried he might be offering me the funds. The thought of him hacking my personal bank account and seeing the cobwebs strung through the code made me cringe. “I can’t accept it, whatever it is.”
“Are you sure?” He withdrew a piece of paper and handed that over too. “You don’t know how much money that grants you access to.”
Smoke. I smelled smoke the second I saw all those zeros. I think it was pouring out of my ears. “W-w-what?”
“That’s Earth’s defense fund. Well, your portion of it. Cam petitioned the conclave for support. Her argument highlighted the pack relocating, how they sacrificed their homes and jobs in the process. Not to mention you’re the only force actively patrolling the area of a known breach between worlds.”
“We chose to leave.” A thready whisper was all I could manage. “We left Villanow by choice to form the pack—”
“Shh.” He placed a finger in front of his lips. “Magistrate Vause is well aware of the circumstances. She threw her weight in behind the vote, which is part of the reason why it passed. If anyone asks you, you’re a hero. You left your home and family behind to come serve in the rebel warg army amassing on the edge of the first interrealm fissure reported in centuries.”
The paper weighed more than it should have. “I have to think about this.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. Here’s some more reading for you.” He passed me a stack of papers folded into thirds. “It’s the Gaian Treaty the leaders signed before the Gathering began. She figured you might want a copy.”
“Yeah.” I tucked the treaty under my arm for later study. One thing at a time. That was all I could handle, and he had hit me with the card first. “Sure.”
“You should call Cam.” He crossed to me and rested his palms on my shoulders. “This is what she wanted, to take care of all of you. Lorimar jumped in to fill a need. You weren’t trained, you weren’t prepared, you were shoved to the front line.”
A chill whispered up my spine. “You make it sound like the fae view us as disposable.”
“Not all fae see this as a bad thing. Some see it as inevitable. Others were banished from Faerie and figure this is the closest they will ever be to home again.” His lips flattened into a tight line. “Most know better. Most remember to be afraid of the motherland. Most know if she breaks down the wall between worlds, it’s not just the children of man who will suffer. Faerie has always preyed on the weak, be they fae or human or somewhere in between.”
“So this is a payoff, to Cam, since she’s fae.” I tasted the words and found them true. “This is a check cut for her inevitable losses.”
Isaac dipped his chin. “You’re looking at this the wrong way.”
“How am I wrong? We’re the cork stopping up a bottle of champagne that’s been shaken within an inch of its life.” The card felt slimy in my hand. “What’s the point of this if they see us as expendable?”
“We are fighting for humanity, because they have no idea what’s coming. We are fighting for the wargs and the vamps and every other flavor of native supernatural, because this is your home world.” He slid his hands down my arms before I got the chance to shrug him off me. “We’re fighting for the fae born here, who have as much to fear from Faerie as the rest of you. And for those who have felt her hot breath on their nape and lived to tell about it.”
I shook my head, not disagreeing with him, but disappointed with a system so willing to sacrifice innocents en masse.
“Smile and nod, just like Cam’s doing now. That costs you nothing and gives them peace of mind that all is right in their fucked-up world.” A grin cut his mouth. “What the conclave thinks the money’s for and how it’s actually used are two different things.”
“There’s no way they’re going to cut us a check and never pop in to see how it’s spent.”
“You’re right, which is why they’ve assigned a liaison between the conclave and the pack whose duty it will be to report on how the fight is progressing, so there’s no danger of splashing blood on their ivory towers.”
I didn’t have to ask. “Thierry.”
“If it makes you feel any better, she got the job because she’s a half-blood. Most of the magistrates felt the task was beneath a pureblood, and others argued that her muddled human heritage would help the wargs accept her.”
“Ouch.” As much as the conclave distrusted native supernats, it sounded like Thierry didn’t have it much better than us. “I didn’t realize the conclave was a stickler about bloodlines. The way she gets around, she must have friends in high places if her own organization is prejudiced against her.”
“Something like that,” he said vaguely. “Use the card. Deposits will be made on the fifteenth of every month until this situation is resolved, and at the rate the conclave is moving, we could all be in nursing homes by then.”
His earlier glee caused me to ask, “Are you asking me to hire you?”
“I can’t work for free.” He shrugged. “Okay, I can work for free, but I still need supplies.”
“Hmm.” I tapped the card against my palm. “So I would be your boss.”
“Yes,” he said after a moment’s pause.
“That means I can fire you if you annoy me.” I rubbed the plastic between my fingers. “And if you’re no longer employed here, then you would probably go back to the caravan, am I right?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“I got rid of you last time without even trying.” Shoving the card in my pocket, I started toward my RV. “This won’t take but a minute.”
“I’ll be here.”
But for how long?
Chapter 13
The murmuring radio kept the ride into town from turning awkward. We both gave the news channel our full attention, as if sports and political updates were chocolates to be savored by hungry ears. When Isaac turned into the Cantina’s parking lot, I climbed over him to get out. Not my smoothest move ever, but a necessary one. The fear of being trapped in the cab with him thanks to the busted passenger-side door was real. He might want to talk. Or something.
The green Jetta sat where we had left it, the scene undisturbed. Crimson stained the pale gravel where Enzo had bled for his spell, and that scent punched me in the nose when I stepped closer to the vehicle. I tested the driver-side handle, but the car was so old I could tell the push-style locks had all been depressed.
I peered through the window, gaze sliding over the spotless interior. The car could have rolled off an assembly line this morning, so perfect was its condition. “I don’t suppose you know how to pick a lock?”
“As a matter of fact…” Isaac stepped up next to me, cocked his elbow and shattered the window. “No. I don’t.”
“Why did you…?” I gaped at him. “I could have done that myself.”
“You don’t have much time.” He pointed up at the sky. “I’ll pay for the repairs myself, out of my own pocket. Or I’ll cover the insurance deductible if that’s the way Mrs. O’Malley prefers to handle it.”
“Rain will pour in and ruin the upholstery,” I complained while reaching inside and unlocking the door. The car was in pristine condition, and I didn’t want to be responsible for ruining a thing so well loved.
Isaac backed toward his truck. “I brought a tarp and bungee cords.”
I shook my head. It was that or bounce it off the hood of the car. “You planned ahead.”
“It’s the best way to not be surprised.”
Bracing my palm on the frame, I had a better idea. “Zed?”
No response.
/> I tried again, three more times. Still no reply.
“Moore?” I tested the mental bond in a different direction. “Have you seen Zed?”
“Not since yesterday.” Moore came through loud and clear despite his being at the park. “He left early to meet a guy about buying a used tow truck.”
Had he completed the purchase, he would have hauled me into the parking lot to show it off. “Did you hunt last night?”
“Yes.” He hesitated. “Nathalie led the group.”
“Think very hard,” I said slowly. “Was Zed there?”
“I don’t remember seeing him.” A few seconds passed. “Why do you ask? Is everything okay?”
“I was going to ask him for a favor, but he’s not responding.” Delegate, delegate, delegate, I reminded myself. I had to do this now. I didn’t know for certain that Zed was in any danger. He might have had to leave town to pick up parts for his new project. “Can you stop what you’re doing and do a quick search for him?”
“Sure. I’m babysitting the Stoners. They can pitch in. It’s about time they earned their keep.”
“That works.” Approaching footsteps brought me back to the task at hand. “I’ve got to run. I’m in town with Isaac, following up on a lead on the O’Malley disappearance. Let me know when you find him or if you don’t.”
“All right.”
“You haven’t started yet.” Isaac held a folded tarp under one arm, and long blue cords with black hooks on the end clacked when he walked. “Were you waiting for me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” I snorted. “I was checking on Zed. He’s not answering me.” I raked a hand through my hair, wishing I had brought an elastic band. “He met a local guy about buying a tow truck yesterday. I was hoping we could ask him to haul the car to whatever shop the O’Malleys use for repair work.”
He waited until I regained control of myself. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
“Moore is searching for him at the park.” I turned back to the car. “We might as well do this while we can. It will take time for him to organize the Stoners and for them to search the park.”
“All right.” He held his ground and gave me room to work. “Do you smell anything?”
“Other than Mr. O’Malley and traces of his family, no.” I stuck my head inside the car and filled my lungs with stale air. “Tobacco. Faint enough I doubt he smoked. Most likely his clothes picked it up from his patrons. The rest is spice from the restaurant and laundry detergent.”
I checked under the seats, between the seats, the console and the dash, but the tidy vehicle provided me with no clues. We had broken a perfectly good window for nothing, endangered Enzo for nothing. I was ready to admit defeat when I stepped back and noticed a glint underneath the car. I knelt and reached behind the front wheel and pulled out a set of keys.
“That makes no sense.” Isaac set his supplies aside and began a careful search of the surrounding area. “Why would he toss his keys under there?”
“Maybe he didn’t.” I nudged loose rocks aside with my toe. “Maybe the blast from the spell discharging knocked them under there. Did you notice the keys before Enzo got to work?”
“No.” His lips flattened. “I was focused on the car and not the ground. I like to think I would have seen them or stepped on them if Mr. O’Malley dropped them in plain sight.” He glanced aside. “The truth is I was…distracted. So it’s a stronger possibility than I want to admit.”
The impulse to ask what had distracted him flickered through my mind, here and gone, banished by more pressing concerns. It was too much to ask that I had been the source of his preoccupation. God knows the shock of his sudden reappearance had left me unable to focus except on him.
“Let’s assume the keys were dropped here.” I scuffed my foot about six inches away from the driver-side door. “That would mean that Mr. O’Malley ended his workday, headed out to his car, ready to go home and…what?” I leaned against the side of the vehicle. “Did someone call out? Distract him? He could have dropped the keys if he was startled to find himself sharing the parking lot with someone else so late at night.”
“Or there could have been a struggle.” Isaac pointed to the spot where I stood. “That could explain how the keys ended up beneath the car. They might have been flung there during the fight.”
“O’Malley being attacked outside would explain why the Cantina was pristine but not how the—” I grasped for the word.
“Perpetrator? Perp for short?” Isaac suggested, smiling when I glanced his way. “I’ve lived with Cam for a long time. Cop lingo seeps into your brain when you’re not paying attention.”
“How did the perp get back in the restaurant? Why did he go back at all? Why the note?” I angled myself to study the distance between the car and the door. “He could have used the keys, tossed them under the car and then slapped glamour over the top to mask his crime.”
“This was a sloppy cover-up.” His gaze skated over the lot. “Either the person wasn’t concerned with being caught after the fact or they’re not very bright.”
The feeling I was missing something niggled the back of my mind. “Or they’re not used to local customs.”
The loose curve of his shoulders stiffened. “Are you thinking a deserter did this?”
“Maybe. It’s a possibility.” I picked up a hunk of gravel and hurled it so hard it embedded into a nearby tree. “I don’t want to believe it’s happened, but we’re eight wolves against the first wave.”
“You’re doing the best you can.” He crossed to his pile of supplies and removed a balled-up flannel shirt from within the tarp. Scooting me to the side, he started dusting all the glass off the driver seat. “You’re about to do even better.”
“What are you doing?” I had a good idea, but Isaac and I so rarely seemed to be on the same page.
“I’m going to drive this to Moore’s new shop, and he’s going to give you the security code so we can park the car in the garage. It’s about time you checked in with him anyway.” He slid behind the wheel and passed me a set of keys. “You’re going to follow me there.”
“I am?” I stood back and let him shut the door. “Why do I get the honor of driving your truck?”
“This seat was covered in glass.” He held out his hand until I dropped the found keys on his palm. “I created the problem, now I’m creating the solution.”
A warm tingle threatened to spread through my chest. “You realize I heal like a hundred times faster than you, right?”
“Would sitting on a sliver of glass hurt?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Exactly.”
“Since when do you care about not hurting me?” The question came out softer than I meant it to.
“I never wanted to hurt you.” He stared at the steering wheel as if it were the circle of life itself. “That doesn’t mean we both didn’t know I would in the end.”
“You’re right.” That subtle casting of blame was enough to nip that spark of heat in the bud. “I thought you were better than you were. That’s on me. You warned me. Cam warned me. Even my own heart shot up red flags.”
His knuckles whitened where they gripped the wheel. “Why didn’t you listen?”
“I thought you were worth it.”
There was nothing left to say to that, so I got in his truck, cranked it and waited to see if he wanted to lead or follow. That he knew about Moore and Zed’s business venture told me he had been talking to the pack or keeping tabs on us through other means. I was leaning toward other means. He wasn’t the social butterfly his twin was, and I could picture Isaac helping himself to public tax records easier than I could imagine him with his feet kicked up at Cord’s desk while shooting the breeze with the guys.
About the time I decided to go ahead, he rolled past me onto the street. Halfway to the garage, I spotted a familiar vintage truck pulled off the road. The driver-side door stood open, and had I edged too close to the road, I would have ripped it from its hinges or lost a si
de mirror in the process.
No phone meant no way to call Isaac. I didn’t dwell on how quick his number popped into my head. Instead I laid on the horn, confident he would hear through his open window and come to investigate.
The scent of motor oil and oranges overlaid the area. Zed’s scent. Beneath that, faintly, I made out my own cut pine and night-blooming jasmine fragrance. I recognized the area, I had driven past it often enough, but I had never…
Murky impressions of a night hunt that ended with chipmunk blood in my teeth whispered through my memory. I tried to grab hold of the thought, but it vanished half-formed. I couldn’t call it back.
The mystery of the open door was solved when I saw someone had gotten into Zed’s ten-dollar emergency fund in the glove box. The vehicle’s registration and copies of his insurance cards were scattered across the seat and in the floorboard. Wires stuck out from the ignition, and I got the sinking feeling we may have run off someone as they attempted to hot-wire Tallulah. The looting was violation enough. Zed would be heartbroken to lose the truck too.
“What’s wrong?” Isaac had looped around and stopped in the opposite lane. “Whose truck is that?”
“It’s Zed’s.” I didn’t ask him to stay or to help. I let him decide on his own. “I’m going to shift and follow his trail.”
Too bad Enzo’s magic-sniffing abilities were nulled for the time being. Backup would have been nice.
“Hold on.” He checked both ways before pulling in behind me. “Give me a minute.”
“I’ll do better than that.” I climbed into the bed of Zed’s truck. “I’ll give you fifteen.”
“Damn it.” He jumped out of the car and helped spread the faded tarp over me. “I don’t like this.”
“That makes two of us.” I shucked my clothes, uncaring if he watched or not. I didn’t have the heart to check. I wasn’t sure which would hurt worse, interest or disinterest. “Keep an eye out. One vehicle might go unnoticed. Three won’t.”
The change swept over me in an exalted rush as the wolf scratched her way clear of my human skin in record time. Even knowing what she was going to do, I couldn’t stop her. As soon as her paws scrabbled on the slick metal of the bare truck bed, she launched herself at Isaac. Her joy at seeing him with her own eyes was untainted by my hurt. To her, he was here, and that was all that mattered.
Dog Eat Dog World: Limited Edition Bundle (Black Dog) Page 183