Garth growled. “I’d like to see any of those arselickers try to oust you.”
Trevor’s grin showed a hint of steel. “I doubt I’m in any immediate danger. But the point is, this is not a good time to be drawing attention to ourselves. If Leandra was standing right here, my answer might be different, but I’m not risking the pack for half-truths and maybes.”
I could feel Garth’s eyes burning into me but I refused to look at him. We’d already agreed it was too dangerous to tell Trevor the truth about Leandra. Brother or no brother, that would be handing the man a bargaining chip that could prove too tempting.
Besides, what difference did it make? I wasn’t planning on keeping her around long. Once I had Lachie back I was done with all this supernatural crap.
“I’m sorry about your son,” said Trevor, “but I have to think of my family.”
I glanced at Garth.
“Not him. The pack. Officially, Garth’s not family any more.” He strode to the door and held it open for us. Clearly the interview was over.
I stopped in the doorway and looked up at him. “And unofficially?”
“Unofficially, keeping his sorry arse alive was the best I could do. Try and keep it that way, would you?”
***
We sat in the car, weighed down by a heavy silence. I balled my hands into fists until the nails dug into my palms. There had to be something we could do.
“We could go to the police—report the kidnapping.”
He shook his head. “First thing they’d do would be check with King’s.”
Who’d say Lachie was spending time with his father, no doubt. Nada would have thought of that.
The urge to scream coiled like a tightness in my chest. I had to get Lachie back. Had to. But how?
Garth started the engine and pulled away from the kerb. I didn’t ask where we were going. If I couldn’t come up with a plan one direction was as good as another.
A dark mood descended on me. Lachie might be alive, but I was no closer to recovering him. And meanwhile I was depending on Jason to keep him safe. “Depending” and “Jason” were two words that didn’t belong in the same sentence.
Plus I had no idea how to find Ben.
Garth’s phone rang, making me jump. He fished it out of his back pocket and tossed it to me. Such a law-abiding werewolf. No talking on mobiles while driving.
I checked the caller ID and my heart leapt.
“Tanya!”
“Hi, darl!” Her familiar voice lifted my spirits immediately. “How are you? How’s your poor Mum?”
Mum? It took me a minute. So much had happened in the last few days, I’d forgotten I was supposed to be visiting my sick mother in Brisbane.
“Yeah, she’s much better now.” My God, wait till I told Mum Lachie was alive! “She’ll probably be going home in a couple of days.”
“That’s great! Does that mean you’ll be back soon? I cleaned up your kitchen for you. You lost quite a few dishes but the place is looking much better.”
“Thanks. You didn’t need to do that.” I shot a look at Garth out of the corner of my eye. Probably should have made him clean it up, seeing he caused the mess in the first place.
“Oh, it was no trouble, hon. You don’t want to be coming home to something like that. It didn’t take long anyway. Ben gave me a hand.”
“Ben?” Thank God! I let out a shaky breath.
“Yeah, you know. Six foot two, dark and gorgeous? He came round looking for you. Said he couldn’t get you on the phone and thought you might be home. Did something happen to your mobile? Whose number is this?”
“Oh. It’s, ah, Mum’s. Left home in such a rush I forgot to pack my charger, and now the battery’s dead. Did he leave a message for me?”
“No, not really.”
“Not really? What did he say?”
“Something about Elizabethan England. You guys got some kinky sex game going on?”
“What? No!”
She laughed. “A girl can hope, can’t she?”
“Tanya.”
“Okay, okay. All he said was he wanted to take you for a moonlit stroll through Elizabethan England when you came home. God knows what he’s on, but he seemed kind of eager. I’d say you’re in with a chance there, sweetie. Don’t stay away too long!”
“Thanks.” I could feel the heat in my cheeks. Knowing Garth could hear every word didn’t help. “Well, I’d better go, Mum wants me.”
“Wait! Your message said you needed me to do something.”
“It doesn’t matter now. I’ll be home soon.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. See you then.”
“See you, Tanya.”
“Well?” Garth said when I’d hung up.
“Ben’s safe. We’re meeting him tonight at The Dress-up Box.”
“Too dangerous. Valeria will have it watched.”
“Do you think she cares so much about one lowly herald?”
We stopped for a red light. He turned and gave me an incredulous look.
“No. I think she cares about finding Leandra. Micah will have told her by now what you did, even if Jason didn’t, and she’ll put two and two together. She’s not the type to leave loose ends.”
Great. Now I was a loose end to be snipped. I folded my arms and glared at the car in front of us.
“We have to hook up with Ben. Do you have any better ideas?”
He said nothing, his mouth a mulish line while he waited for the lights to change.
“No? Then we’ll have to take our chances. If we find any watchers maybe you can eat their hearts.”
His lips twitched. “You’re never going to forgive me for that, are you?”
“Never.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
We waited till full dark. Garth wanted to leave it longer, but impatience had its claws in me and I couldn’t sit still. Dark was dark. Garth could turn wolf if we needed him to—it wasn’t as if waiting longer made him any meaner.
We left the main road and turned into the industrial area where The Dress-up Box was located. During the day the smash repair joints, auto-electricians and kitchen showrooms bustled with cars and utes, trucks and work vans, but at night the place was a ghost town. Hectares of empty concrete and silent machinery sat behind locked gates.
We drove down streets containing nothing bigger than a discarded Coke can and cruised past the shop. The emptiness was reassuring. No one was parked out here waiting for us. Of course it also meant our lone white car, cruising down a dead-end street at nine o’clock at night, stood out like dogs’ balls.
Garth turned at the top of the cul de sac and headed back to the shop. A streetlight lit the forecourt and driveway. No lights showed inside.
“Park round the back,” I said.
“Just because we don’t see anyone doesn’t mean there’s no one here,” he grumbled, but he swung into the driveway and parked in the lot behind the shop. When he cut the engine the silence was unnerving. I shut the car door as quietly as I could, feeling conspicuous, and headed for the back door.
Garth followed, gaze darting this way and that, trying to see everything at once.
“Relax, would you? You’re like a kid on speed.”
“Last time I relaxed Leandra got herself killed.”
Guess he had a point. But I suspected the real source of his nerves was something more basic. Wolves were pack animals. Though he’d been exiled from his natural pack, he’d formed a new one in Leandra’s service. Now he was the only one left, without even Luce to guard his back. No wonder the poor bastard felt twitchy.
I unlocked the door and let us in. The click as it latched behind us sounded loud as a gunshot to my nervous ears. Garth’s jumpiness was catching.
Only a faint glimmer from the streetlight out front penetrated the darkness. The racks of clothes formed strange hulking outlines. A hat rack by the counter loomed like some many-headed alien out of the gloom. The familiar smell of mothballs and old fabrics greeted me as
I threaded my way through the racks toward the back corner where the Elizabethan selection hung. Garth ghosted along in my wake, his sneakers making no noise on the concrete floor.
I sensed his presence before I saw him but even so I squeaked as a shadow detached itself from the racks and stepped forward.
“Ben!”
I threw myself into his arms. He kissed me hungrily, and I lost myself in the fresh outdoor scent of him, the feel of his lips on mine. He was hard and warm and alive, and I never wanted to let him go.
Garth cleared his throat, and I loosened my grip, coming up for air at last. The faint light coming in the high back windows was enough for my dragon-enhanced vision to make out his beloved face.
“I missed you.”
A smile warmed the dark pools of his eyes. “I missed you, too. Thank God you’re okay—I’ve been so worried.”
“Me too.” I reared back and punched his chest. “What the hell were you thinking, jumping into the fight like that? What happened to ‘self-defence only’?”
He caught my fist and kissed each finger in turn. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“I’m sorry we left you.”
“I’m glad you did. Making a run for it was the smart option.”
Only then did it occur to me that he knew nothing about the Leandra situation. He hadn’t seen me compel Micah or been there for the confrontation with Jason. He was glad I’d escaped for my own sake.
“What happened after we left?”
The fond look on his face turned grim. “Valeria had a bunch of guys with guns stationed around the house to blast anyone who survived the fire.”
I nodded. Micah had shot one of them during our escape.
“Once she was sure no one was coming out, they took off and left Jason to mop up. The leshies made that more of a challenge than he’d expected. It didn’t take him long to decide it wasn’t worth the effort, for a handful of leshies and a couple of strays. Probably figured there was no point taking a bullet and missing all the fun. The leshies were all for going after them—they’re pretty fierce when their blood’s up—but Luce managed to talk them out of it.”
From the corner of my eye I saw Garth grin, and felt my own lips twitch in response. I knew her persuasion skills. Knock a few heads together first, talk later—that was Luce’s style.
“I left then, and got as far as the roadblock. When I saw the car was gone I felt better—I knew you’d gotten away.”
“Why didn’t Luce go too?” Garth asked. “If Alicia’s dead there’s no reason for her to stay.”
“Turns out Alicia’s not dead. Adam was right—she made it to the bunker in time. She waited in there till Valeria had gone. I should have realised when the leshies didn’t go to pieces. By the time I got back she’d appeared and started directing the clean-up operation.”
Poor Adam. He would have been so happy to know she’d survived. I wondered if she even cared he was dead. Ungrateful cow.
“So where did you two get to?”
“We chased Nada to King’s.”
He stiffened in my arms. I peered through the dark, but his expression was unreadable. “King’s?”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I could feel a goofy smile nearly splitting my face in half. “You’ll never guess what we discovered!”
His body was tense as a coiled spring. “What?”
“Lachie.” My eyes stung with happy tears. “He’s alive, Ben! Can you believe that? All this time, he’s been alive!”
He looked down at me. No answering smile, no oh-my-God-I-can’t-believe-it.
I searched his face, the moment stretching into eternity.
“You knew?”
I stepped back. Wire hangers squeaked on their racks as I brushed against the clothes. They shifted and rustled like a crowd of ghosts looking over my shoulder. Only Garth at my side felt solid in the dark.
“I’m so sorry, Kate.”
“You’re sorry?” My voice climbed an octave. “You’re sorry? All this time—!” My mind couldn’t encompass it. “You bastard.”
I hauled off and slapped him as hard as I could.
No reaction.
I clenched my fists, trembling with rage. My eyes were dry; this fury ran too deep for tears. Leandra stirred inside. Another betrayal. She knew how that felt.
“I am sorry.” He took a step toward me, anguish on his face. “Jason came to me that day and said he needed a favour. He said Lachie’s life was in danger. Something terrible had happened and Leandra thought Jason had done it. She was going to kill Lachie to punish him.”
“That’s a lie.” Leandra had never had any such intention.
“I know that now, but I didn’t realise it till too late. He was my friend, or so I thought, and I knew how deadly dragon feuds could be. He told me he was going to fake Lachie’s death so Leandra would have no reason to hunt for him, and he asked me to hide Lachie temporarily till he could take him to board at King’s.
“When I found out he wasn’t going to tell you the truth, I refused. You have to believe me, Kate. You don’t know what this has been like for me.”
What it had been like for him? As if I cared.
“That was when I discovered our friendship was only a pretence. He said if I didn’t cooperate he would kill my sister’s little girls. I had no choice.”
“You could have told me.” Garth’s hands closed on my arms, holding me back. “How could you do that to me? And what about Lachie, shoved into a boarding school all alone?” He’d never spent a night away from home. My heart broke all over again to think what he must have suffered. “What did he think was going on?”
He looked away, unable to meet my eyes. “Jason told him you’d died.”
I lunged at him, but Garth had me in an iron grip. My body flushed with a rage so great my skin could barely hold it in. My veins ran with pure fire.
“You bastard. All that time you pretended to be my friend, always there for me like some frigging guardian angel.” And hadn’t I fallen for it! Ben, my rock, my saviour. To think only moments ago I’d been all over him like a rash. He’d slept with me, knowing our whole relationship was a lie. I spat words as if each one were a drop of poison. I wished they were. “You hypocrite. You couldn’t even give me one little hint?”
He spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “We’re talking about Gemma and Ashlyn’s lives here. He sent a wolf around to rip Gemma’s pet rabbit apart. Left pieces scattered across their backyard. He said Gemma was next if you got suspicious. I couldn’t risk it.
“All I could do was help you in any way I could. I know it’s not enough, but I tried. I sent Lachie presents, and visited him every month, till Jason found out and ordered me to stay away.”
He stepped closer, eyes pleading. “This has been a nightmare. Trust me, you can’t hate me any more than I’ve hated myself. I’m glad you know. I’m so sorry, Kate.”
I stared into his beautiful dark eyes, so sad and guilty, and I felt … nothing.
“It’s not enough.” I shook Garth’s hands off. “I will never forgive you. I don’t care if I never see you again.”
I headed for the door, shoving clothes out of my way. My elbow knocked a wig from its stand and I kicked it under a clothes rack without breaking stride. Garth followed, his face carefully expressionless.
The shrill of his phone made us both jump. He dug it out and answered, then stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“It’s for you.” He held it out, face grim. “It’s Nada.”
Nada! I took the phone as if it might bite me, Ben forgotten.
“What do you want?”
I could hear her smirk down the telephone. “It’s not what I want, sweetheart, it’s what you want. I have something that belongs to you. What would you do to get it back?”
Leandra surged inside me, but I knew she didn’t mean the channel stone.
“Is he there? Let me speak to him!”
“Uh-uh, not so fast. You can chat all yo
u want in person, after you turn yourself in.”
“Turn myself in to you?” I forced a contemptuous tone, though my heart began to pound and the shadows crowded in on me. “Why would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t, your little boy is dead.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“I still think I should come with you.”
Garth didn’t have to add that he thought I was mad; I knew him well enough by now. A muscle jumped in his jaw; his big hands clenched the cracked steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white.
He was probably right too, but I was out of options. I watched the crowds thronging the streets, some dressed to the nines, others sporting crazy hats or face paint. A light drizzle did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm. It was New Year’s Eve, and they’d come to party.
The car inched along George Street. It was eleven-thirty, and the drunks were already out, staggering and swearing their way along the footpaths and sometimes weaving erratically among the traffic. Many of them had probably been drinking all day. Alcohol was banned in the areas around the Opera House and the Domain but everywhere else was a free-for-all, and even in the patrolled areas there were ways to get around the ban if you were determined enough.
My destination was the Toaster, a steel-and-glass blot on the landscape that hulked behind the beautiful sails of the Opera House. A very expensive blot. Still, position is everything in real estate. It was the place to be for a ringside seat to the fireworks on the harbour. Valeria, of course, had a penthouse suite. And tonight, it was the place I had to be to stop Nada carrying out her threat.
“Don’t these people have somewhere else to go?”
Werewolves generally didn’t do well with crowds. I didn’t care much for them myself when they made our progress so slow. I checked my watch again. 11:35.
“It’d be faster to walk.” I got out at the next set of lights. Garth gave me a hopeful look, twitchy as a dog told to stay.
“Are you sure—?”
“She said to come alone. I’m not doing anything to upset her.” At least not yet.
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