A cold nose shoved into my hand. “Alex’s job?”
“You keep Pamela safe. That’s your job. Protect her.”
Alex sat back on his haunches and saluted me, albeit a bit sloppily. “Gots it.”
All but bouncing, Pamela stood in front of me, eyes bright, ready to face another challenge. There was no regret in her over killing the red caps, as there shouldn’t be. A part of me was pleased, she would suffer a lot less in our world doing what had to be done and not getting her panties twisted up with guilt. Yet, another part of me was sad. To be so young, and hardening up so quickly—I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. I’d been two years older than she was when Giselle had found me. And even then I’d hardened plenty fast enough.
“You have Terese’s phone number?” I handed Pamela the bowie knife I’d started with, the one she’d carried in London. She tucked the knife in the sheath that would hold the blade in place over her lower back.
“Yes, I’ll call her as soon as I get there. Are you sure she’ll help?” Pamela had reason to be wary. The only other witch she’d met had been Milly, and both times Milly had not treated Pamela well. If one can say that having a death spell thrown at you was just poor treatment.
I nodded. As soon as I’d gotten off the phone with Charlie, I’d called Terese. Told her that I was sending Pamela to my place and that it might be prudent for Terese to go and spend some time with her. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I was sending Terese a young witch that would rival Milly’s abilities one day.
Pamela’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Are you just sending her to check up on me? I’m not a child. I’m almost fifteen, you know.”
“No.” I bit back a smile; the kid was too damn smart sometimes. “She has to check on every witch that comes into her territory. Not to mention you’ll be training with her once things settle down.”
Liam snorted. “Like that’s ever going to happen in your life.”
A big, pale green Cadillac pulled into the parking lot of the Landing Pad. In order to get Pamela and Alex back to North Dakota as fast as possible, I’d had two choices. Try to cross the Veil by going back into the castle and hoping like hell that there was no one waiting for us in ambush.
Or cash in one of my favors with another of the Shamans. I went with option number two. No need to see who was waiting for us back at the castle.
Crystal leaned out the door of the Cadillac. I handed her a cell phone. “If something goes sideways, I’ll call and you bring them back here to Dox, got it?”
The young Shaman’s eyes were somber. “You think there might be problems?”
Liam snorted softly, but I ignored him and leaned in close so Pamela couldn’t hear me. “You are taking them out of the firing range here. I don’t want them to be around this psycho parent that’s going to show up. If I call, it’s because I think it’s a trap on the other end. If it’s safe, you won’t hear from me, and you can take them all the way to Eve and drop them there. Got it?”
She gave me a tight smile. “I can’t stay with them. Louisa needs me back here.” I said nothing else, just stepped back. She understood what I was trying to do. Keep Pamela and Alex safe, while not showing them my hand. Keeping Eve safe was important too, but if this parent was the psycho I was counting on … I Tracked Eve, felt a current of fear, but no pain, and no terror. More worried than anything. That was a good sign. Maybe this salvage wouldn’t be the mess I had already assumed it would come to.
Crystal waved out the window to Alex and Pamela. “You two ready?” Even though she’d helped saved my life, I managed to talk her into throwing in a ride for Pamela and Alex too since she’d been helping Louisa, and I hadn’t directly asked her for help. Bonus. Didn’t hurt that she was young, and new to her profession as Shaman, making her easier to persuade.
Pamela gave me a hug, Alex followed suit, and then they were running toward the long, slightly anemic-looking car.
“Like kids off to summer camp,” I said, crossing my arms to block the snap of cold wind. Crystal backed the caddie out, and Pamela and Alex waved to us. Shit, it felt like we were sending babies off into danger to save another baby. I had to force myself not to run out and stop the car, to call them back. In my head, I knew Eve needed them, and that I needed to be here to deal with the psycho father Charlie sent our way. Motherfucker was going to get a piece of my mind, and maybe even a piece of my sword before this was all said and done. Splitting my team up was not something I wanted to do. It just felt wrong. Yet there was really no other choice for me at this point. Liam was right; we had to do things this way, at least this time.
Liam moved up beside me, his chest so close to my back I could feel the heat radiate off him, but he didn’t touch me. “Summer camp in the dead of winter, with werewolves, witches and Harpies. Sounds like fun to me.”
I didn’t fire anything back, just watched the caddie disappear into the frosty cold night. With no one around, Liam slipped his arm over my shoulders, and I turned and slid mine around his waist.
“They’ll be fine,” he said, squeezing me gently to his side. I pushed away from him, the moment of solidarity gone in an instant.
“Don’t say shit like that, you don’t know they’ll be fine. That’s not how it works in our world. People die all the time. This isn’t a movie where the good guys always miraculously pull through.”
He growled, low and under his breath. “What, do you want me to say that they’re going to get themselves killed?”
My feet stilled, the loose gravel underfoot shifting even though I’d stopped moving. “You know what, just don’t say anything. Can you manage that?”
The main door to the bar slammed, and Dox took a single step toward us, then froze. “I thought you two were getting along now.”
“We are,” we said at the same time. I drew in a sharp lungful of cold air, the bite of it along the back of my throat cooling my anger a little.
“I’m just being a bitch,” I grumbled.
Dox laughed. “You worry like a mother hen. It’s kinda cute.”
I punched him on the arm as I passed and headed into the bar. “I’m not fucking cute.”
Liam followed me in, and as he passed Dox, said, “Mother hen?”
Dox shrugged. “Well, I didn’t want to go with the more obvious mother bear. No need to encourage her bad behavior.”
The two men laughed together and I kept my back to them so they couldn’t see the smile that crept across my lips. No need to encourage them ganging up on me.
I stepped up to the bar and slumped onto one of the stools.
Doran emerged from the shadows and slid into the seat beside me. “Good to see you’ve kept your humor intact.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Dox, I thought you said you cleared this place out?”
The ogre grunted as he stepped behind the bar. “Daywalkers, they’re like every other species of vermin. You think you got them all, but you always miss one.”
Doran pressed a hand to his heart, batting his eyes. “You wound me. But even if you had tried, I would have stayed. I have a message for you, Rylee.” His green eyes darted away from mine, unable to make contact. Crap, we’d done this dance before. Everything in me tensed. It seemed that lately, Doran was my messenger boy, and none of the news he had for me was good. I didn’t like it.
“She sent you something for me?” She being my little sister-turned-psycho-vampire, Berget. I was just guessing that she was the one with the message for me. Who else would Doran have contact with? Louisa and the other shamans would just contact me through Dox. They wouldn’t use Doran. I really didn’t want any messages from Berget. Like as in pretty please leave me the hell alone.
“I did not see her, but yes, she sent one of her messengers to me. She wants to make peace between you and her.” He did make eye contact with me then, and in them I could see the fear that I would take her up on her offer. Not likely after everything he’d told me.
I snorted, let the interior tumbling of my em
otions continue while I did my best to keep my face smooth. “You mean after she tried to have us killed, and didn’t succeed, she wants to make nice? Play in the sandbox together like one big happy messed up family?”
Doran shrugged and slid closer. I put a hand on his chest, keeping him at arm’s-length, my eyes flicking to Liam. Doran was a touchy feely kind of guy. Though I didn’t actually care, Liam would. “That’s close enough, thanks.”
“She wants to hire you to Track for her. The money is considerable; you probably would never have to work again. Could go pro bono for every other salvage for the rest of your life.”
I drummed my fingers along the wooden bar, not really contemplating. I already knew my answer. “Would you do it for her, if you could?”
His eyes were as serious as I’d ever seen them. “Not even for the redemption of my soul would I do this for her. It will solidify her as the Empress if you do what she wants, and that is something the world cannot have.” He paused and gave me a wink. “In my humble opinion.”
“Humble. Yeah.” I took the glass of orange juice Dox slid across to me and took a sip before saying anything else. “What is it that she wants me to Track, do you know?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t know. I was to give you the message that she wishes peace and wants to hire you. That’s it.”
Dox snorted. “Like always, not much help, are you?”
Doran turned to him. “Tell me, how is it that you came to be here, in this ogre-less place, anyway? Did you leave to see the world? No, wait, that’s right, you were kicked out, banished by your own kind because of how weak you are—”
Dox smacked the flat of his hand on the bar, startling the hell out of me and stopping Doran mid-sentence. His eyes narrowed and a faint purple flush ran up his neck and over face. “Shut your mouth before I remind you why even Daywalkers don’t piss off ogres.”
Well, well. This was a side of Dox I’d never seen. Not in all the years I’d known him had he been anything but pleasant. I’d never seem him pull any of the ‘ogre-ish’ tantrums I’d heard about his kind.
His eyes flicked to mine and he let out a big breath, the additional color fading from his blue skin. “Sorry.”
Fatigue washed through me, and as much as I wanted to wait up for the assholes that had a missing kid and thought blackmailing me was a good idea, I also knew I needed to sleep if my body was going to be even close to healed for this salvage.
“Doran, tell the messenger no. I won’t do it. I won’t help her.”
He nodded and let out a sigh of relief. “She won’t give up. She will try to force your hand.”
“I know.”
Berget was a spoiled child and she wanted what she wanted. No doubt her next message would be less polite. Seriously, even knowing that all families are messed up to some degree, this—having a psycho, power hungry vampire for a sister—was going a bit far. Even for me.
“Dox, you’ll let us know if anyone shows up?” I knew his schedule was wonky, awake all night, and then sleeping through the better part of the day, so I could trust that he would be awake to receive this parent when they showed up.
He rapped his big knuckles on the bar twice. “You bet, Rylee.”
I slid off the stool, but Doran stopped me, his hand shooting out to grab my elbow. “Do you have your obsidian blade, the one I sent for you?”
Frowning, it took me a second to remember that he had indeed sent me an obsidian blade via Eve on her last trip home from New Mexico. “No. Why? Is it something special?”
His eyebrows quirked up to his hairline. “You just need to keep it with you.”
Warmth circled around me as Liam moved to stand behind me. “Why does she need it?”
Doran let out an exasperated sigh. “Listen, getting a read on Rylee is impossible, you know that, right?”
Neither of us moved, and Doran seemed to take that for encouragement.
“So when I have a niggling suspicion that you need something, Tracker, I follow through. I don’t know why you need the damn blade with all the other ones you have. Just that you need it. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point, you will need it.”
I shook my head; there was nothing I could do about it. The blade was at home in North Dakota. “I’ll get it when we’re home next. For right now, I’m going to bed.”
As we walked across the parking lot, Liam took my hand. “We still need to talk about Alex.”
I stopped walking. “Seriously, now?”
He glared at me, his jaw working for a moment before he answered. “No, that discussion can wait until after the salvage. But this can’t be ignored.”
“Fine, after the salvage, once we’re home, we can talk about Alex.” Yeah, not like I was going to for one second let Liam pull the alpha card. Just because he was an alpha, it didn’t mean he had to act like one all the time. Okay, shit, I knew that was naïve on my part. Maybe I’d just dealt with too many asshole alphas and there was a large part of me that was worried Liam would take that route.
Our room was cool and the sheets downright frosty, but with Liam wrapped around me, I warmed up fast. And that was the beautiful part of him and me. Only moments before we’d been glaring at each other, and he wasn’t happy with me. But there was no way we’d let that get between us. Not after everything we’d fought through.
Again, Liam passed out before me, but I wasn’t far behind.
This time there was no Berget, no Giselle. Nothing but a blissful, deep sleep that was interrupted by a loud banging on our door.
“Rylee, you’d better get your ass out here,” Dox called, his voice only slightly muffled by the thick door.
I groaned and rolled over in bed, reaching for a pillow to cover my head before I remembered the night before.
Eve. The missing kid. The psycho father showing up.
As I flipped off the covers, my skin danced with goose bumps, the cold air waking me faster than anything else could have. I slid into my clothes, my ribs feeling like they were about ninety-eight percent. Good, I wanted to be able to run this ass hat through if he gave me even a tiny bit of grief.
Liam was dressed, and he handed me my swords as I slid the straps of my shoulder holsters on. I took the swords from him and slid them home, then strapped on my whip so that it hung low on my hip.
“Ready?” He asked.
“Yeah, let’s get this over with and get this psycho’s kid home.”
Liam led the way, and I slammed the door behind me. Dox waited for us, his eyes wide.
“The father is in the courtyard, behind the bar.”
“Is it that bad?”
He just shook his head. “Not what I was expecting, that’s all. And don’t ask me to tell you, you wouldn’t believe me if I did.”
“Well, that’s just awesome,” I muttered. This was one of those times that I wanted to remind people how much I hated surprises. They never turned out well in my world.
Never.
Liam put his hand out, blocking me. “A plan would be good here.” Damn, he was like a broken record lately.
My fist clenched involuntarily and I forced myself to relax. “I’m just going to talk to them. No fighting today.”
“Unless they piss you off.”
“Yeah, I thought that was obvious.”
Of course, if I’d known what was waiting for me in the courtyard, I wouldn’t have been worried about getting pissed off. I would have been more worried about me being run through.
Is that what I think it is?” Liam breathed out beside me.
There was no way to answer that without sounding like a condescending bitch. It’s a freaking unicorn, what do you think it is? Just doesn’t have a polite ring to it. And there it was, a gods-be-damned unicorn, standing in the middle of Dox’s courtyard. Silent and motionless, if I hadn’t known better I would have thought I was looking at a statue. Except that when the wind blew hard, the stallion’s jet-black mane and tail flew out around him. How did I know it was a
stallion? Because I’d met him once before, on the first salvage Liam had ever done with me.
Like a waking dream, staring at him reminded me again that there were beautiful and good creatures on this side of the supernatural, they were just few and far between.
A single, golden horn jut from the middle of his forehead, but otherwise, he was a solid, glistening black from his hooves to the tips of his ears. Leader of the Tamoskin Crush, he had struck me as fair and wise. Not the psycho I was waiting on. Unless he was here for something else? Only one way to find out.
“Wait here for me.” I slid out of my weapons, laying them one at a time on the bar.
Liam put a hand over mind. “What are you doing? You don’t know that he won’t attack you.”
“If I can’t even trust a unicorn, then this world has a hell of a lot more problems than a few missing kids.”
Liam slid his hand from mine slowly, reluctance in his every move. “Be sure about this, Rylee.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded. “I am.”
He stepped back and I opened the door to the courtyard. If the stallion was here because of a missing child, all I could wonder was how the hell the kid had been stolen. A unicorn crush was harmless until threatened, and then you’d better hope that they didn’t mistake you for an enemy. There were not many supernatural creatures that could stand and survive the single-horned equines when they worked together.
I closed the distance between us, leaving about ten feet of space.
Just in case.
Tracker, there is no time for pleasantries. A foal has been stolen, the first born to us in fifty years. His words rang through my mind, not unlike Blaz’s voice, but with a distinctly different feel. Like a bell being rung as opposed to the distant rumble of thunder that was Blaz’s voice.
“I can vouch for Eve, you need to let her go.” I put my hands on my hips and spread my feet slightly apart. “She hasn’t even been on this continent for the last few weeks, and even flying straight across she would have just arrived home. No time to go foal-napping.”
He shook his head, mane flicking in the frosty air. I smelled lavender and springtime, even though neither was possible.
Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel (Book 5) Page 7