Wolf trap, p.10
Wolf Trap, page 10
“Unless they lured her in,” she countered. “Had someone she knew act as bait.”
In the ensuing silence, the teenager glared at me as if she wished she had a poison dart to shoot in my direction. Drake raised both eyebrows. “You saw Tru doing that?”
Saw me? Had this teenager been watching Rosa’s house the same way Drake had?
No. His gaze was focused on her hands, still bare without the gloves she’d swaddled them with when we first drove up. She stuffed her fingers into her trouser pockets, as far as they’d go in such skintight clothing. Only then did she answer. “I don’t want to talk about that in front of her.”
“I wouldn’t put you at risk.” Drake didn’t touch the girl, but he did angle his body until it became a shield between her and the rest of the world. “You can speak plainly around Tru.”
“Because you trust her,” the teenager shot back. “The same way you trusted her all those other times then crawled away heartbroken.”
“Lynette.” This was the wetsuited man. “He’s introducing Tru to us now. He wouldn’t do that lightly.”
Lynette’s face averted as she muttered yet another complaint. “He let me meet her yesterday. Fat lot of good that did any of us.”
And now she reeked of fear so strong that I couldn’t help but empathize. Whatever was going on with Lynette’s hands must have been a heavy burden. And she really was little more than a child.
Plus, if Rosa hadn’t drowned then this argument amounted to unnecessary delay. The sooner Lynette got over her snit, the sooner we could work together to save someone who thoroughly deserved being saved.
So I met the girl’s glare with gentleness. “I swear to you, Lynette, that any secret you have, I will protect as if it were my own. I will protect you as if you were my own.”
Something twisted inside me. Words had power and these words, I suspected, were especially powerful.
And maybe Lynette felt the oath bite into me. Whatever the reason, she finally answered Drake’s question.
“No, I didn’t see Tru when I touched the van. I didn’t see much, really. The water muddied everything. Mostly I just got the feelings embedded deep, the way Rosa loved the van and named it Querida. It…it almost has a mind of its own. Loves her back. Wants her to be safe. If there was something it could share, Querida would have shared it.”
I raised my eyebrows. So that’s what those hands did when they weren’t busy burning people. Nice trick.
Unfortunately, the puzzle piece presented by that trick wasn’t precisely helpful. Hurry, hurry, hurry, a tricky tendril of thought bade me. Blood only lasts so long…
The memory, if it was a memory, tried hard to yank my feet into motion. But if I’d understood the previous conversation correctly, then Rosa was stuck in the middle of a werewolf power struggle. I neither knew where she was nor who might be using her, so I couldn’t go after her alone.
Instead, I forced myself not to tap my feet and demand answers. I forced myself to trust Drake to draw anything useful out of Lynette.
His interrogation method involved watching the much smaller teenager with brotherly interest. And she finally continued speaking after a pause that felt like it had lasted for eons.
“I do know Rosa drove the van today. I know she went wherever she went willingly. And I also know that if someone’s going to get her out of the middle of a pack engaged in a power struggle, it can’t be you, Drake. In fact, it can’t be any werewolf, so that counts Seth out too. You think she’s worth saving so I’m the one going in.”
Chapter 21
“Not alone you aren’t.”
Drake and I spoke the words at the exact same moment, but we meant entirely different things. He was rejecting what might be considered a suicide mission while I was inviting myself along for the ride.
After all, I wasn’t a wolf. A fox, as far as my foggy memory could be trusted, stood outside the lupine power dynamic. If Lynette could walk into this werewolf pack as a human then I could go in as a fox.
It made perfect, logical sense.
Not to Drake. Sparks in his gray eyes ignited into fiery refusal. Before he could voice the sentiment aloud, however, I drew my sword out of its umbrella sheath.
“I have this,” I reminded him, trusting that I knew how to use this weapon that felt so natural between my fingers. I could only hope that Drake’s and my five months of supposed familiarity with each other would back the visual aid up.
Instead of answering in words, a deep, lupine growl emerging from Drake’s human throat. He was huge, overpowering. The knowledge that if he didn’t want me to go I wouldn’t be able to force my way past him elevated my heart rate in a way that should have been fear but was instead a sentiment far more dangerous than that.
And yes, I was supposedly married to someone other than the man in front of me. But if Drake’s timeline was correct, my wedding must have been decades ago, my spouse likely long since expired. Here and now I felt unencumbered. I felt like obeying my phone and my baser instincts. Like pushing myself up onto my tiptoes and kissing this powerful alpha right here and now.
Rosa needs me. Time is of the essence.
While I wrestled with my libido, wetsuit guy—Seth—did the unthinkable and argued with a stronger werewolf. “They’re right,” he said, throwing in his lot with me and Lynette. “You can’t go in there, Drake. Also, you need to tone the protectiveness down at least one notch.”
Rather than answering, Drake sidestepped the other man and grabbed me so fast I couldn’t do anything about it. Hands on my upper arms, face so close to mine that his scent consumed me, I thought for an instant he was going to succumb to the same urge I was wrestling with.
But his lips stayed clenched shut and annoyingly distant. Instead, he swiped his cheek against my cheek. Right, left, ignoring the sword I had to juggle out of the way to prevent it from cutting into his flesh.
Then, still holding me close, he growled an admonition. “If you’re sighted, remind them you’re under my protection.”
“Because that doesn’t defeat the entire purpose of sending in a non-werewolf,” Seth grumbled.
Lynette had her own complaint. “What, I don’t get scent marked?”
“You’re not going,” Drake answered, his gaze never wavering from mine. “And Tru will have human backup. Seth. Do it.”
Drake didn’t bother looking over to make sure the other werewolf obeyed his vague command. Instead, gray eyes cut into me the same way my sword might core an apple…which was to say so over-the-top powerfully that the only thing left was a spray of sweet juices.
Wait, there weren’t any apples here. No juices, sweet or otherwise. Just me and Drake as he rasped out a demand, “I want to hear you say it.”
I swallowed against a suddenly dry throat and did my best to answer. “I’m under your protection?”
“Not a question. A statement.”
This morning, being manhandled by an alpha werewolf would have sent me running in terror. Now…now I was feeling something entirely different that still made it very hard to speak.
Still, every second of this standoff was cutting into Rosa’s likelihood of survival. So I forced myself to be like my blade, not like the apple slivered beneath it. “I’m under your protection. I’ll warn off any pesky werewolves who get in my way.”
Something almost tangible thrummed between us and I’m not sure how long we would have stood there, gazes locked, bodies separated by the thinnest thread of air, if Seth hadn’t interrupted us.
“They’ll be here in two hours.”
They? Oh, right. Human assistance.
“I’m not waiting.” I couldn’t wait. Not for backup I didn’t know and thus wasn’t willing to depend on. Not when Rosa was my responsibility.
“And I’m going with her.” Lynette’s body pushed between me and Drake like an invasion of not only my personal space but of something far more profound than that. Now I was the one biting back a growl while reminding myself that she was just a kid. A teenager besotted with an older man and craving his attention.
“No.” Drake’s refusal was apparently aimed at Lynette, so I kept my mouth shut.
“You promised not to lock me in a cage,” she countered, voice trembling slightly. Not, I suspected, from the alpha-werewolf staredown. From something darker, more personal, something I guessed had happened three years in the past.
“This isn’t a cage,” Drake answered, voice gentle. “I don’t see a lock.”
“No?” The teenager pushed herself up on her toes until she was just as close to his face as I had been. “You’re saying you would have asked me to help today if you thought I’d be doing anything other than touching a dirty old rust bucket? You’re saying that Seth wasn’t sent along as babysitter?”
“Hey, my winch and wetsuit came in handy.”
The other werewolf’s attempt to defuse the situation didn’t work. Lynette had Drake’s full attention now, but not in the manner she’d hoped for. She stood strong for only a few seconds before beginning to wilt beneath a glare that I knew landed like a hot poker to the gut.
Silence yawned. Finally, Lynette scuffed dead grass with one toe. “Whatever. Never mind.”
Every spark of life had gone out of her. She wasn’t just a teenager accepting age-based restrictions. This was something more gut-wrenching. As if the cage she’d mentioned earlier wasn’t just metaphorical but an actual physical barrier between herself and the life she wanted.
No wonder Drake caved. He glanced at me, saw my nod, then closed his eyes and accepted something that clearly went against every one of his instincts. “You’re scouting only. You’ll obey Tru.”
I expected Lynette to glare at me. After all, it was clear to everyone that Drake had asked me without words to be her keeper and I’d accepted the role equally wordlessly.
But, instead, Lynette nodded as if she was a bobble-head doll being shaken by a toddler. “Yes. Absolutely. You won’t regret this.”
I swear, the kid bounced.
Drake took advantage of her excitement to step around her and lean in so close to me that his breath kissed my ear lobes. “Take care of her and of yourself also.”
His trust in my abilities was even more seductive than his alpha growl. Until that is, he added on the chaser. “And wait for backup before you engage.”
I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, and I also didn’t intend to lie to him. But Drake didn’t demand an answer before handing over the keys to his car.
Chapter 22
The local pack’s headquarters was located on the opposite side of town and there was no direct route to get there. So Lynette steered Drake’s car through city traffic while the men we’d left behind tossed tips at us via her phone.
“The most likely location for a prisoner is the cells in the basement of the main house,” Seth continued. “It should be deserted down there and the bars are meant to keep wolves in, not people out. Drake has bolt cutters in his trunk.”
“You won’t need bolt cutters,” Drake rasped, his voice having gone full-on rusty as he debriefed us. “Your job is to scout while waiting for backup. If Rosa isn’t visible or if there’s any activity on that level, fall back immediately. You are not to put yourself at risk.”
“Are you done telling your grandmother how to suck eggs?” Lynette asked with feigned sweetness while rolling to a halt in front of a red light. Upbeat guitar music drifted toward us from a busker on the corner, providing the perfect soundtrack to highlight the teenager’s sass.
“Yes, granny,” Drake rasped.
“Then we’ll call you when it’s over.” Lynette hit the end button and I settled in to weather another round of silent treatment, only to jump when a fist pounded against my side window.
“Unlock the door!” Kami mouthed from the other side of the glass. She was clinging to a guitar case, meaning that perhaps she’d been the busker twining her music around Lynette’s words a moment earlier. The music continued, however, despite her fingers being far from the strings.
Whatever random chance of fate had set this relative into my path, I was glad of it. Someone I trusted to keep an eye on Lynette while I stormed the pack’s territory sounded like a great addition to our attack force.
So I flipped the lock and let Kami slide into the back seat along with the guitar music while Lynette yelled at me or at Kami or at the situation in general. “Hey! I’m not running a taxi service!”
The light had changed however. A horn honked and our car lurched forward. At the same time, Kami reached in her pocket and the music abruptly shut off.
I frowned. “Were you pretending to play recorded music?”
“Air guitar is a time-honored tradition,” Kami countered before rounding her eyes until she looked approximately as irresistible as the kitten I’d last seen asleep in Drake’s pocket. “Anyway, I owe you a huge apology. I woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning and I shouldn’t have taken my headache out on you. I…”
“Apology accepted,” Lynette butted in before I could assure my maybe-daughter that her bad mood was water over the dam. The car lurched to a halt in a loading zone and Lynette used her re-gloved hands to shove the car into park before swiveling to face the back seat. “Now get out.”
For a split second, I considered siding with Lynette. If Kami was my daughter and as afraid of alphas as her distaste for Drake suggested, was it really fair to drag her into the middle of a werewolf succession battle?
On the other hand, Kami appeared to be my exact same age, which made her far less fragile than Lynette was. And since Kami wasn’t a werewolf, the pack presumably wouldn’t erupt in the face of her presence the same way they might at Drake’s or Seth’s. Worst-case scenario, three women against dozens of wolves had to be better than two, right?
Plus, I got the distinct impression it would take a crowbar to pry Kami out of the seat she’d settled into. While a tool of that description might wait in the trunk along with the bolt cutters, I wasn’t about to waste time digging it out.
So—“No worries about this morning,” I told Kami. “I’m glad you’re here now. We can use your help.”
I was even more glad of Kami’s help when I realized how adept she was at changing moods for the better. Somehow, she ended up behind the wheel tossing instructions at Lynette while the latter plucked guitar strings with gloved fingers, leaving me to catch my phone notes up to date in the back seat. And without any getting-to-know-you period at all, Kami drew Lynette straight into heart-to-heart girl talk.
“So you’re saying you can’t touch anybody without scorchy fingers? How did that work when you were a kid?”
I grinned at my phone. As if Lynette wasn’t a kid now. Smart move, Kami.
Sure enough, the implied compliment loosened Lynette’s lips. “The magic stuff didn’t hit until my period started. Bad combination—cramps of death plus I sent my boyfriend to the school nurse when I tried to hold his hand.”
“That sucks. Worst week ever, I bet?”
Lynette’s voice went quieter. “Not quite.”
If anyone else had been guiding the conversation, that would have been the end of it. Mugged in a verbal blind alley—time to retreat and lick wounds all around.
But Kami proved herself a pro at hitting a dead end and taking a hard left turn…both conversationally and in her driving. We came to a sign warning against continuing straight onto a one-way-the-other-way street and Kami only grinned before revving the car engine. Then we were shooting out into traffic so we could loop into a U-turn heading back the way we’d come.
My body slammed into the door while Lynette squealed, “You’re nuts!” But the teenager’s neck muscles were less strained than they’d been a minute earlier. And when Kami hummed a verbal nudge—after straightening up the wheel and merging back into traffic—the teenager spilled her guts.
“I ended that year locked in a cage by assholes who thought they could use me as a weapon.”
“Definitely assholes,” Kami agreed. “Probably also asswipes and asshats.”
“Asshats. Yeah,” Lynette agreed. “I mean, I was thirteen but they treated me like I was some kind of special agent. They kept me in the dark for eighteen months. Wrapped my hands in duct tape so I couldn’t use them against anyone. After Drake rescued me, it took forever before I was willing to set foot inside a building. I still like to sleep in a tent in the summer. Winter is…tough.”
Kami took the admission in stride. “But now you can be a weapon for your own purposes, right?”
“I…guess so?” Lynette sounded like she’d never thought about it that way. “I mean, my hands are useful. They let me see remnants of people’s lives left behind on inanimate objects. And, yeah, they can be weapons too.”
The peep into Lynette’s history had carried us all the way out of the city. Now Drake’s car sped down a windy road lined by lush horse pastures as Kami’s voice turned playful. “So what you’re saying is if we run up against anybody scary, the kid gloves come off?”
I couldn’t quite prevent myself from murmuring, “Pun intended?” And Lynette, predictably snapped back a retort.
“It’s not a pun if it’s literally true.”
“Not quite literally,” Kami answered, turning argument back into banter. “Pretty sure those gloves are made of cotton.” And when Kami reached out and tapped the teenager’s gloved fingers by way of illustration, Lynette didn’t pull away.
Not only did she fail to pull away, she laughed. Like a kid, not like the closed-off wannabe woman she’d appeared during our short acquaintance. Kami had wound Lynette around her finger, or maybe unwound her was a better way of putting it.
Which was good timing since we appeared to have reached our destination. It was time to become a team.
Car tires crunched on gravel as Kami pulled off the road beside a wall and a very unobtrusive, walking-sized gate. Sliding out of the back seat, I was already undoing dress buttons as I laid out my plan.
“I’m going in as a fox. Kami, can you carry my sword?”
