“Care to hear your fortune?” she asked, her voice strangely distant. It beckoned him…it…
“No thanks,” Amber said.
Her voice cut through the haze in Tommy’s mind. He shook his head to clear it and jerked out of the crone’s grip.
“She’s not even a real fortune teller,” Amber muttered, dragging Tommy further down the road.
“Aww, you should have let her read him. I bet he would have freaked out when she predicted death and dismemberment,” Genevieve said, licking a glittery ice cream cone.
“Death and dismemberment?” Tommy asked, looking back at the old woman. She flipped them off, then disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
“She’s a witch,” Amber explained. “They use spells to put on a convincing show, but they have no way of telling the future. And they always predict you’re going to die for some reason.”
“I mean, they’re not wrong,” Genevieve said with a shrug. “We all die eventually.”
Amber rolled her eyes. “Come on, I smell barbecue.”
They wove through the crowd following the smell of meat. The stalls got larger as they went. In the distance, a tower loomed. It was at least fifteen stories high and wrapped in glittering balconies. The golden exterior shone in the sun.
The smell of perfectly cooked steak pulled Tommy’s attention away from the tower. The source of the scent was a massive barbecue pit, with Devil May Grill emblazoned on the side. It was manned by the biggest troll he had ever seen. The pyrotechnic pit erupted with fire, and the flames morphed into a horned demon that cackled loudly.
Genevieve took off for the outdoor restaurant at a jog, followed closely by him and Amber. They got in line, and Tommy’s stomach growled loudly. Even though they were at least ten people back, the line moved quickly.
They reached the front of the line and the troll loomed over them, his bulging muscles glistening with a sheen of sweat from the heat of the grill. His tusks jutted sharply up toward his upper lip. The ivory bones were pierced three times on each side. He had no idea how they managed to pierce something like that.
Most trolls were nerds. Buff nerds, but they liked to read and collect knowledge way more than they liked to fight. This troll looked like he ate nerds for breakfast.
“What’ll you have?” the troll asked in a deep, rough voice. His purple eyes scanned their faces expectantly.
“I’ll take the Fresh Kill Special and whatever they want,” Amber said, gesturing at him and Genevieve.
“Same, that looks amazing,” Genevieve said, standing on her toes to look at the piles of meat to the troll’s right.
“I’ll take the Roadkill Roast,” Tommy said, mouth watering as he eyed the hunk of meat.
“Aye, and you’ll all take it rare, won’t you?” the troll asked with a laugh.
Amber grinned, all teeth. “Aye,” she mocked.
The troll winked and slapped their meat down on the grill. It sizzled, the juices igniting the flames beneath it. Everything cooked in fast motion, sped along by magic. The troll tossed their orders on plates the size of platters, then waved them down the counter to pay.
Amber handed over the money and they hurried to a table. Tommy picked his slab of beef up with his hands and took the biggest bite he could. Juices dripped down his chin as he closed his eyes in pleasure. There was nothing like a good, hot meal when you were starving. He hadn’t had that in longer than he could remember.
They didn’t speak as they ate; their mouths were too busy being stuffed with amazing barbecue. He could feel his body relaxing as the hunger was finally sated.
That scent drifted toward him again and he looked up sharply. The wolf, previously sated by the food, awoke in his mind. Shit, he knew who that scent was. It was the werewolf that slammed him up against the car the day before.
He hunched over his plate and took another bite, scanning the crowds carefully. The wind shifted and the scent grew stronger. A bald head glinted in the sunlight. Tommy looked away, keeping track of the werewolf in his peripheral vision. He was watching them.
“What’s wrong?” Amber asked, plastic fork clenched in her hand like a weapon. Her eyes flicked between him and the people around them.
“One of the werewolves from yesterday is here.” Anger boiled in his gut. He was used to being scared when he was threatened, not angry. He had an urge to confront the guy, which he shoved down. “He’s looking at us right now. I thought I smelled him when we first came in, too.”
“It’s possible one of them is just at The Market today,” Genevieve suggested.
Amber shook her head. “I don’t like coincidences,” she said, anger clear in her voice as she stared at the remnants of food on her plate. She wasn’t going to let this go. He almost regretted saying something, but the idea that they were being followed filled him with dread.
Amber wiped her face off and threw down her napkin. “Let’s keep walking around. If they’re following us, I want to catch them in the act.”
“And then do what, exactly?” Genevieve asked, raising an eyebrow. “Are you going to pick a fight in the middle of The Market? It’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
“I know that,” Amber retorted. “That’s why this is the perfect place. If they try to attack, The Market will kick their asses for us. It’s our best chance.”
Tommy hadn’t been here before, but everyone knew The Market was a neutral zone. It would dump whoever threw the first punch outside and never let them back in. A few idiots still started fights, but they were over in the blink of an eye.
“We should probably split up if we want to catch them following us,” he said. “If I go off on my own, they’ll probably follow me since I’m alone. The two of you can get behind them, then we can corner them.”
Amber cocked her head to the side and gave him an odd look. “That’s…a great idea. Do you get stalked often?”
Tommy shrugged and looked down at his feet. “No, it just seems logical.”
The real answer was that he had been obsessed with Werespy when he’d still had access to a TV. It was a ridiculous show, with loads of action and hot women. The main character had used this technique before. That didn’t make the plan stupid, but he still wasn’t going to admit any of that.
“Alright, let’s walk around for a little bit together. When you smell him again, break off from the group. I’ll give you a few minutes to lead them away, then we’ll corner them under the tower,” Amber said.
He nodded in agreement. Genevieve shook her head and tossed her napkin down on the table, but didn’t object further.
This area of The Market was mostly food stalls and small cafes. It was three solid minutes of walking before they made it to more shopping. The closer they got to the center, the larger and more ornate everything became. Instead of stalls there were buildings, some a couple of stories high. The luminescent cobblestone gave way to large, inky black stones. The smells changed too; everything here was old.
Tommy paused in front of a building, turning just far enough to see that Baldy and some douchebag werewolf in a fedora were still following them. Amber glanced back, and he nodded at her. She looked hesitant for a moment, but kept walking.
Slowing his pace, he fell behind the others, then took a right down one of the narrow paths that led away from the main street. A vendor shoved a sample in his face that smelled like old fish. He dodged the foul snack and hurried through the crush of people. When he glanced back, the werewolves were gone. They hadn’t followed him.
He froze for a moment, then decided it didn’t matter. The plan would still work, just in reverse. He jogged ahead, then cut across another side street, and came back out onto the main street, catching glimpse of Baldy as he turned a corner. Genevieve’s bright pink hair was easy to spot in the crowds. Amber was still with her. The werewolves were keeping a decent distance between them.
He slipped back onto the main street and stalked after them, barely seeing anything around him; he was completely focus
ed on the threat to his pack. Slowly, the distance closed between him and the werewolves. The thrill of the chase pounded in his chest.
The wind shifted again, blowing past Tommy toward the wolves. Baldy stopped and turned his head to the right, his nose twitching. Tommy ducked down and pretended to look in the window to his left. They started walking again, but faster.
Unease filled him as he trailed behind them. They had probably made him. What if there were more of them? He glanced over his shoulder, but he couldn’t make out a threat in the crowd. His muscles tensed with the urge to shift.
The wolf urgently drew his attention back to the men following his pack. Baldy had split off from Fedora and was disappearing down a side street. With only a split second to make a decision, he let the wolf’s instincts guide him. He followed Baldy.
This street was much narrower, and less crowded. The scents were sharper and the shadows seemed longer, like this was a place you went if you needed to hide what you were doing. The wolf urged him forward; it wanted to corner its prey. It wanted a fight.
He had to step around a small group of witches whispering about a hard to find ingredient when he noticed that the other werewolf had followed him. And he was closing in.
Resisting the urge to panic, he tried to think logically. If they were following him, then he just needed to get to the tower. He picked up his pace, but realized he had lost sight of Baldy completely.
A large, burly man with a beard down to his chest bumped his shoulder and scowled down at him. “Watch where yer goin’, puppy,” he grumbled.
Curling his hands into fists, he hurried around the man, or whatever he was. He smelled like magic and blood, which wasn’t exactly a friendly combination. He had to get out of here. The wolf wanted to stay, to fight, but that wasn’t what he did.
With a quick glance behind him, he took off at a run, darting down an alley, then behind a stall and down another street. Every turn he took the tower grew closer. He just needed to get back to Amber. If the werewolves were following him, then they could confront them that way. He wasn’t going to risk getting trapped alone with them.
After two more turns, he paused to catch his breath. He couldn’t see either of them, and this place was eerie. The fake sky dipped down in pillars of greenish water, casting an unearthly glow over the whole area. This must have been the place Amber was talking about where you could trade with the mermaids.
He pressed his back against what he thought was a glass tank, but cold water seeped through his shirt and trickled down his back, and a hand pressed against his shoulder. Jerking away, he bit down on a yelp.
A mermaid hovered directly behind him. Her vibrant, luminescent hair waved around her head in the gentle currents. She wasn’t beautiful exactly, at least not by human standards, but Tommy couldn’t tear his eyes away. She swam closer and pushed her face out of the water. Her green skin was dull in the direct sunlight.
“I’ll offer you a trade,” she whispered. Her silky voice echoed around Tommy, and he wasn’t exactly sure if she was speaking out loud or in his mind.
“I don’t have anything to trade,” he said, taking a step back.
She grinned. “I want what’s in your pocket.”
“My pocket? Look, I’m sorry, but I’m in a rush,” he said, catching sight of Baldy headed toward the tower, he was scanning the crowds looking for either him or Amber. Tommy took another step back.
“I’ll tell you what they’ve been whispering if you trade,” the mermaid said, stretching her webbed fingers toward him eagerly.
Tommy stopped and looked back at her, surprised. How could she hear them? They were getting farther and farther away, but if she knew what they wanted, he had to try to find out.
He pulled out the contents of his pocket. A paperclip, a two inch bit of copper wire he had stripped from a power cord, and a dime. The mermaid wiggled her fingers, eager and demanding. He dropped the items in her hand, confused how she knew he had them, much less why she wanted any of it. She closed her fingers around it and held the payment tightly to her chest.
“Please, I have to hurry,” Tommy begged. The wolf inside of him wanted to chase after the men following his pack.
“They whisper about the red one. She’s the only one they care about,” the mermaid said before she sunk back into the brackish water and vanished.
Tommy ran in the direction Baldy had been heading, but skidded to a halt when the werewolf stepped out from between two stalls, blocking his path.
“You seem like you’re in a hurry,” Baldy commented, stalking forward with even steps.
He didn’t have to turn around to know that the other werewolf was right behind him. “Not really, just stretching my legs.”
Fedora huffed behind him. “I can smell your fear.”
Tommy looked over his shoulder. “Stop sniffing me, weirdo,” he said, narrowing his eyes. Splitting up with Amber had been a bad idea. He made a vow to never volunteer to be bait again. “Why are you following us, anyhow?” he asked, deciding he might as well be blunt.
Baldy chuckled. “Just making sure the dangerous new werewolves don’t cause any trouble. It’s a public service, really.”
He snorted. “I don’t have to be a werewolf to know that’s a lie.”
“You’re not kidding,” Genevieve said, walking up from his left. He had been focusing on the other two wolves so hard that he hadn’t noticed her approach at all.
Amber stalked up behind Baldy, her expression furious. She stopped right behind him and leaned in to whisper in his ear. Baldy stiffened and jerked around to the side so that she wasn’t standing at his back.
Fedora stepped around Tommy and walked toward Amber, a growl rumbling in his chest. Genevieve jumped in front of their alpha and bared her teeth at him. Her eyes glinted yellow as her fingers curled into claws.
“Gen,” Tommy said carefully, “it’s not worth it.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not like she could land a blow on me anyhow,” Fedora taunted.
“Why did Donovan put you up to this?” Amber demanded, walking toward Genevieve, whom she was eyeing warily. Tommy was too. Genevieve was way too close to shifting and losing control.
“Genevieve,” he whispered, trying to draw her attention away from their stalkers. His wolf was restless. It wanted to protect his packmate, it wanted to attack, but he knew that would be a huge mistake.
“Donovan is responsible for the safety of everyone in this city. If a werewolf were to embarrass us by losing control, it would reflect poorly on him,” Baldy said in a condescending tone. “This is for your safety and the safety of everyone around you.”
“Everyone knows bitten bitches can’t be trusted,” Fedora taunted, leaning in close to Genevieve.
Genevieve’s low growl turned into a roar and she took a step toward the asshole werewolf.
“Genevieve, don’t!” Amber shouted as she lunged toward her. Tommy managed to grab her arm, but it was too late. She swung at the werewolf with a growl. A moment before her hand connected with his face, she disappeared in a flash of light.
Tommy stumbled forward, his hand abruptly empty. Amber caught him and shoved him behind her.
Fedora burst into laughter. “The way she lost it was almost poetic,” he taunted, a self-satisfied grin plastered on his face.
“When I find you outside of this place, I’m going to make you pay for that,” Amber said. The power in her voice made Tommy want to drop to his belly.
Even Fedora flinched, though he jutted out his chin like it hadn’t affected him.
“Let’s go.” She pushed Tommy forward and took a few steps backward before turning and walking beside him.
He looked over his shoulder at them. The other werewolves watched them walk away with a hungry expression on their faces. They wanted to chase after them.
“Is Gen okay?” he asked quietly.
“Getting cast out doesn’t hurt anything but your pride. I don’t think she completely lost control, but she’s
probably not happy,” Amber replied, her brows pinched tightly together like she was listening for something really far away.
He was almost sure at this point that she could feel them somehow, but didn’t want to ask about it. “It’s weird,” he said, a sense of foreboding settling in his chest. “They haven’t reported us to the police, but they’re still following us. Why does Donovan want you so badly?”
Amber looked at him, confused. “You think he wants me?”
“Even when I split off from the group, they kept following you at first,” he said. “And you were the one he made the offer to. Even then, it just seemed like…” he let the thought trail off, uncomfortable with speaking so plainly.
“Seemed like what?” Amber asked, nudging him with her elbow.
“It seemed like he was lying. About letting you in the pack. He was almost desperate for it, which doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know, it’s stupid.”
“No, it’s not.” She shook her head firmly. “The way he showed up the next morning and wasn’t surprised to see people had been bitten is odd. Werewolves, bitten or not, don’t lose control every day. Donovan wanted us to be changed, and he knew we would be. They found us, but they acted like they had no idea where or who the omega that attacked was.”
“There’s easier ways to get new pack members,” he said.
“Yeah, but I wonder how many ways there are for someone to become an alpha?” Amber asked, her face tight with anger as she looked over her shoulder to make sure the two werewolves weren’t still sniffing around for them.
“One of the mermaids overheard them talking,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “She said they only cared about you.”
“A mermaid? How’d you manage to get that out of one of them?” Amber asked, raising both eyebrows in surprise.
“I made a trade, just like you suggested,” he said with a sly grin. It was nice to be the one with a secret for once.
Misfit Pack (The Misfit Series) Page 4