And when they suspected he was behind the murder of three shifter mates, among others.
Callie returned just moments later, appearing out of thin air next to Blackie. She wore an ear-to-ear grin that fired up Elain’s Alpha. Many of the shifters jumped, startled at her sudden reappearance.
That grin meant success and likely meant a chance to get into the trenches and fight.
The fact that Elain felt so eager for a fight both disgusted and exhilarated her.
“I think I can help you out, Ortega.” Callie’s smile faded. “But first, you need to quit jacking us around and tell us the full truth.” Remembering herself, she turned and looked at Blackie. “If that’s what you want, Sir?”
He wearily nodded. “That’s what I want, pet.”
“Good news is, I think I located her,” Callie said. “She’s in the same place I saw her the last time. The bad news is, I can neither confirm nor deny her exact identity. But she’s in Abernathy’s compound, and sure looks like she’s about the right age. It’s probably worth you all checking it out.”
Ortega rounded the table. “Where is she?”
“Whoa, I need a map. She’s in Montana.” She reached for Blackie’s laptop and pulled up Google Maps. Elain stood and walked over, watching as Callie zoomed in and found the compound. “There it is.” The picture, at its highest magnification, showed a compound in the middle of nowhere.
Ortega’s brothers, who’d been sitting along the wall behind him, joined him at the computer.
“How soon do you want to do this?” Blackie asked him. “We’ll round up volunteers.”
“I don’t need help,” Lina insisted. “I can do it.” A small fireball appeared in the palm of her right hand and she bounced it up and down in the air like a tennis ball. “See? Post-pregnancy hormones are all leveled out. Chill out, I got this shit.”
More than half of the shifters not as familiar with her as Elain and the others leaned far back in their chairs, shock and alarm on their faces.
Jan reached over and gently took her hand, the dual elemental ice and water dragon extinguishing the fireball. “Lovely, you’re scaring people.”
She blushed. “Heh. Whoops, sorry.”
“We do not need assistance,” Ortega said.
“Whoa,” Elain said, startling even herself when she spoke. When everyone looked at her, including Lina, she swallowed. “You can’t go there alone. You don’t know exactly how many men there are or how they’re armed. You don’t know if they’ll hurt her or not. I don’t know if we need fireballs, but if she’s a wolf, you really need a wolf going in there with you. A female wolf. Three strange male jaguars she’s never met before might scare the crap out of her.”
“Elain,” Ain quietly rumbled from where he sat on Blackie’s other side. Brodey and Cail were also there, sitting in the back of the meeting hall and watching, but staying out of things.
She glared at her husband and mate but didn’t back down. “You’re asking the three of us as the mega-Clan’s Seers to tell you all things. I’m telling you this right now—if you try doing this alone, without any help, it won’t end well.”
“You see that,” Ortega asked, “or you’re demanding it?”
“Does it really make a difference? Besides, isn’t that what part of this whole mega-Clan stuff is about? Having each other’s backs when you need it?”
The jaguar studied her for a moment, his jaw working. “Fine. We’ll accept help, but I want to be in charge.”
Blackie nodded. “Fine with me. Can we finish the rest of our agenda before we talk about this? If she’s been there for several months, at least, I doubt one more day will make a difference. Racing there after half-assing a plan, however, might be a bad idea.”
“Agreed,” Ortega said before returning to his place at the table.
“Good work, pet,” Blackie softly said to Callie before retaking his laptop.
Elain met Ain’s steady stare with one of her own. “I might be your mate,” she told him silently through their bond, “but you are going to have to back your Prime self down on this one.”
He didn’t answer, but his look told her plenty. Prime was not pleased.
Too fucking bad.
After charging through the rest of the agenda faster than planned and breaking for the night, Lina pulled Elain and Mai aside.
“Okay, why did you nix my idea?” Lina asked Elain.
Because you’re liable to get the wrong people killed. But Elain didn’t say that. What she said was, “Because you aren’t an Immortal, last time I checked, and you have two babies to take care of.”
“You’re not an Immortal, either. But at least I’m a Goddess and can blow shit up. You’re more vulnerable than I am.”
“You didn’t see how she took down Paul Abernathy,” Mai quietly said. “Elain’s right. She should go.”
Lina looked like she wanted to argue the point. She stared from Mai to Elain and back again. “What gives?”
“You’re too close to the issue,” Lacey said from behind them.
The three women turned to look at her. Elain hadn’t realized the old Seer was even at the meeting.
Lina crossed her arms in front of her. “You have a habit of sneaking up on us, you know that?”
Lacey nodded toward Elain. “It should be Elain who goes.”
Lina clenched her fists but kept them at her sides. “I’m not getting my way this time, am I?”
“No,” the other three women answered in unison.
Elain suspected it took her friend enormous amounts of self-control not to stamp her foot in frustration. “Dammit, I just want another chance at Fat Boy.”
“You don’t even know he’ll be there,” Elain said. “The little girl is the priority. If he’s there, trust me, I’ll make sure he gets taken care of.”
“Seriously, you all are just a big, fat, wet blanket on my fire of fun.”
“Callie can’t go either,” Elain said, “if that makes you feel any better.”
Callie had just walked up to them. “Um, and why the hell not?”
At least Elain didn’t have to explain that one. In unison, the other four women all said, “You’re pregnant.”
“I…” Callie’s mouth clamped shut for a moment. “Oh.” Her tiny voice made Elain feel bad for a moment.
Only for a moment.
“I can’t believe Blackie let you go scout things out in the first place,” Elain said. “That was probably only because you thought you knew where she was.”
“You’re right about that,” Blackie said from behind them as he walked up and slipped an arm around Callie’s waist. He looked down at his mate. “They’re also right about you not helping with the operation. You are not going back there. You will stay right here in the Clan compound, where it’s safe. You will not leave the compound without my permission. Do you understand me?”
Elain heard the edict in Blackie’s voice. Callie’s gaze fell. “Yes, Sir.”
Blackie looked at Elain. “I can send Kitty in with them. You don’t have to go.”
Her own Alpha fought the urge to growl at him. “Oh, try and stop me. If there’s the slightest chance of finding Marston or Abernathy, I want to be there when it happens. If my dad hadn’t been so careful about keeping my location a secret when I was a baby, I could have easily been in the same position of Ortega’s daughter-in-law. That asshole is the reason why my mom died. So pardon my ass, but I want that fucker’s blood.”
Blackie nodded. “All right. Then I suggest you and the jaguars get the planning started. I suspect he’ll want to head out on his jet for Montana as soon as possible.”
They actually wanted to leave as soon as their pilot could get them wheels-up off the tarmac. The jaguars waited in their car outside the cabin while Elain packed an overnight bag and kissed her men good-bye. Kael and Doug would join them on this mission, bringing their total up to eight, including two of the jaguars’ men.
Ain rested his hands on Elain’s shoulders. “You’ve g
ot your gun?”
She held up the overnight bag. “Yeah. I’m packing.”
He nodded. “Okay. Do what the jaguars tell you to do. Don’t try to be a hero.”
“I’m shocked you’re not trying to order me to bring you,” she teased.
He smiled, but it looked sad. “I know you have to do some things without us. Doesn’t mean I like it, but I’ll go along with it because it’s your life.”
Elain tried to nap on the flight out there and knew it was impossible. They wouldn’t be able to hit the compound until the next evening anyway. She moved to sit across from Ortega Montalvo.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Kill everyone who isn’t a little girl,” he calmly said, without a hint of humor.
“Well, that does simplify matters. Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, confirm she’s the right little girl first?”
He nodded. “We will.”
“Before the killing?”
“Perhaps. It depends on what happens.”
“Look.” She leaned in. “I’m sympathetic to your problem, but I am not copacetic with us going in and randomly murdering people.”
“You are here because you wanted to be here. Do not get in my way.”
“I’m also here to keep you from ending up on an FBI serial killer profiler’s radar. Dude, listen to me. I’m a Seer, okay?”
“Then tell me what you see.” He held out his hand.
Nut up or shut up, Elain. She reached out and firmly grabbed his wrist.
Instantly, she found herself inside a house. Two men sat up in the living room, watching TV, a show she recognized as coming on right before the eleven o’clock news. In another room, an older woman was asleep. A little girl, also asleep, in still another bedroom.
In the vision she found herself able to turn around and look at her surroundings. She walked into the kitchen and on the fridge found a bunch of kid’s school papers and drawings hanging there, attached by magnets.
Her stomach swayed as she released Ortega’s wrist and sat back.
“What did you see?”
She slowly nodded. “Fiona. Fiona Abernathy.” She glared at him. “Make sure we’re in the right house before we go murdering anyone, okay?”
“And how do we do that?”
She stood. “There’s a window in the kitchen, Einstein. Have one of your guys look at the papers on the fridge.” She stopped and turned by the door to the head. “She’ll be asleep if we do it after ten o’clock. Probably better she doesn’t witness it.”
He nodded and watched her step into the head.
Elain closed the door behind her and held on to the vanity. Her whole body shook, trembling. She stared into the mirror for a moment. Am I really going to do this?
The little girl was an innocent in all of this, and about to have the only life she knew upended. Was this the greater good? Regardless of her parentage, should she have to suffer because of how she was brought into the world?
Too late to turn back now. Montalvo would go forward with his plan with or without her help. Along with what she’d seen was what she’d felt. Montalvo didn’t care the little girl was Rodolfo Abernathy’s child. He’d made an oath and would uphold it. He loved that little girl, sight unseen, regardless of the pain her birth had caused him and his Clan.
Nothing would stop him from fulfilling his oath, except his own death.
She used the head and then washed her hands, splashing water on her face.
It’s going to be a long fucking day.
Chapter Thirty-Six
When they landed at a private airstrip in Montana, there were two SUVs waiting for them.
“I have a lot of contacts,” was the only explanation he’d given her before they loaded up and took off. They stopped at a motel approximately thirty minutes from the compound. Going over detailed maps, Montalvo and the others decided on the best way to go in. Elain and Marco, one of Montalvo’s men, would be waiting in the SUVs on the road outside the compound, awaiting the time to move in and join the others.
Elain found she couldn’t eat anything during the wait. Her nerves had her stomach wound too tightly. She knew it’d come right back up if she tried.
They’d planned the strike for ten forty-five that night. They would set up a diversion, one of them making a noise outside, hopefully drawing one or both of the men out where they could take care of them.
Once night fell and they assumed their positions, she waited in her SUV, lights and engine off, and nervously tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. She sat parked behind the other SUV and would follow Marco in. At eleven, they would drive in to pick up the others.
The other shifters were making their way in overland, on two legs. Kael had shifted and flown in just after dark to confirm there were no guards outside. From what he could tell, there were only the two men, the woman, and the little girl.
Elain tried not to obsessively check the time on her phone, knowing all she was doing was running down her battery. Even so, when the lights on the SUV in front of her came to life at ten fifty-nine, it still startled her. She cranked the engine of her vehicle and followed the rapidly disappearing taillights through the dust cloud as they headed up the driveway.
There was only a chain link fence, Marco easily slamming his SUV through it. Elain winced as she followed and the remnants scraped the hood and sides of her vehicle. Then she remembered that she wasn’t going to be held liable for any damages and Montalvo, no doubt, was more than flush enough to pay for them.
When she slid her vehicle to a stop in the yard, two men lay facedown in the dirt, a dark and rapidly spreading pool soaking into the ground under each of them.
Blood.
She followed Marco inside and found the woman sitting on the sofa, hands on her head and terror on her face. Elain hurried over to stand next to Kael, who wore a stony expression.
Montalvo was quietly questioning her in Spanish, but the little Elain knew wasn’t adequate to keep up with the conversation. After a few minutes, Montalvo nodded and turned to Elain. “She says she doesn’t know where Rodolfo is,” he whispered.
That was when she realized why they were all whispering. “Is the girl still asleep?” Elain asked.
Montalvo nodded. He motioned to two of his men to go outside. It was obvious from his gesture he wanted them to hide the two bodies. The woman looked terrified when Montalvo stepped close again and spoke to her.
She was answering as Elain walked over.
“Wait.”
She reached out, slowly so as not to startle the woman, and wrapped her fingers around her wrist.
The woman was terrified, completely. She loved the little girl even though she wasn’t her own child. She’d helped raise her ever since she was a newborn baby and was the only mother Fiona knew.
The woman also wondered at Rodolfo’s disappearance. Apparently it wasn’t uncommon for him to stay away for extended lengths of time, but he hadn’t called at all in months.
Since just after the time of the hearing in Maine, where he was last seen.
She let go and turned to Montalvo. “She doesn’t know where he is.”
He frowned. “That’s what she keeps saying.”
“That’s because she’s telling the truth. Last time she heard from him is the last time we saw him.”
He slowly nodded. Elain grabbed his arm and pulled him into the kitchen. “You can’t kill her,” she whispered.
“Why not?”
“She isn’t involved. She’s raised your granddaughter. She doesn’t know anything about Fiona’s true origins. Abernathy hired her in Mexico and brought her here. Fiona has been her whole life. I won’t stand by and let you kill her.”
He looked like he wanted to rage, but finally took a deep breath and let it out again. “What do you suggest we do with her, then?”
“We use her to make the transition easier on Fiona, and then you pay her and send her back to Mexico.”
“I’m not taking her to my home.
”
“I meant have her introduce you.”
He scowled. “What?”
“You’re Fiona’s grandfather. Well, sort of. Rodolfo told Fiona that her mother died.” She stepped closer, dropping her voice so only the jaguar could hear. “Tell her Rodolfo lied, that he killed Fiona’s parents, and you’re here to bring her home. That woman in there is clueless. She suspects Rodolfo’s lied to her, but she’s been too afraid of him to say anything. She does what she’s told and takes care of Fiona. She’ll help you.”
He turned away from her for a moment. When he finally turned back, he nodded. Elain led the way into the living room. Montalvo had an extended conversation with the woman, who still kept her hands on her head.
At some point, whatever Montalvo told the woman had her in tears. He let her put her hands down and she dropped to her knees in front of him in a gesture Elain didn’t need translated.
Forgive me. I didn’t know.
She gave the jaguar credit. He helped the woman to her feet and she eagerly motioned him to follow her down the hall, where she opened one of the bedroom doors.
Elain stayed close behind, Kael shadowing her. She suspected Ain had made him promise to watch her back.
The woman flipped on the light switch, turning on two bedside lamps. The girl’s room was decorated in pinks and lavenders, full of toys and books. She’d obviously wanted for nothing. She rolled over in bed and sat up, rubbing her eyes as the woman walked over and sat next to her on the bed.
Now the woman spoke English, albeit heavily accented. “Fiona, I need to talk to you.”
The little girl had spotted Montalvo. He stood at the end of the bed, looking like he was trying not to cry. Elain waited in the doorway, watching and hoping this would end without any more bloodshed.
“Who are they?” the girl asked.
The woman held the little girl’s hands. “This is going to sound very strange, little one, but this is your real grandfather. He’s searched for you your entire life. He’s come to take you home with him.”
“Where’s Poppa?”
Elain’s stomach rolled. She knew the girl meant Rodolfo.
The woman shook her head. “Sweetheart, you and I have been lied to. That man, he wasn’t really your father.”
A Wolf in the Fold Page 29
