Pack of Lies

by Edwards, Hailey

  A weight lifted from his shoulders as he resumed his walk. He was free Saturday night. He didn’t have to dress up, didn’t have to go out, didn’t have to pretend interest. Best of all, he didn’t have to hurt anyone to earn the guilt-free reprieve.

  He just wished the thought right behind thank God wasn’t I wonder if Hadley has weekend plans.

  * * *

  Sweat rolled into Midas’s eyes, and he mopped his face dry with the hem of his shirt. The run had done him good, but others had scented him and come to investigate. Females. Two of them in heat. He couldn’t shift fast enough to escape their interest. It meant a longer walk back to the den, but he would rather walk it as a man than risk a female cornering him. Most let him be, except when their number got called for date night, but a few pursued him with the hunger of a wolf stalking a deer.

  Thanks to the magic particular to his species, he found his phone in his pocket when he reached for it.

  Ford had left him two text messages.

  >>Linus arrived ten minutes ago.

  >>It sounds like a hive of bees is swarming Hadley’s apartment.

  Hadley feared and respected Linus in the same way the pack feared and respected his mother.

  Wait for me in the lobby.

  >>Are you sure? They’re just getting to the good stuff.

  Leave before you get caught.

  Linus wore many hats, all shapes and sizes, and one of them was tattoo artist. The buzzing noise might be his tattoo gun, though Midas couldn’t puzzle out why Linus would drive three hours to give Hadley a new tattoo.

  After grabbing a shower and pulling on fresh clothes at the den, he caught a lift back to the Faraday.

  Hank greeted him, but whatever he read on Midas’s face kept him from attempting conversation.

  A new hire for the position of nightshift doorman, he had worked security at the den for years, and he was good at reading people.

  Ford was not in the lobby, and if he wouldn’t come down to Midas, Midas had to go up to him.

  The ride to Hadley’s floor was quick, and spotting Ford was easy, but he couldn’t shake a sense of wrongness.

  “I told you to wait in the lobby.” Midas crossed to him, clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Ford?”

  Ford didn’t budge, and he didn’t blink. He remained in a half crouch, his eye level with the keyhole.

  “I warned you.” Midas rapped his knuckles on the door. “Hadley, I need to speak to Linus.”

  When she didn’t answer and Linus failed to materialize, Midas settled in to wait. There was no breaking the seal on a warded room from the hall. Even if he possessed that kind of magic, he would be no match for Linus. Any help he offered Ford was guaranteed to make his situation worse.

  Unwilling to leave his friend vulnerable, Midas positioned himself across from the door and waited.

  Three

  The endless droning of the tattoo gun forced me to switch to closed captioning on the TV. The sting of the needles puncturing my skin was familiar, but I sat best when distracted by the big screen, and Linus worked best when his subject wasn’t squirming to escape.

  The constant buzz, buzz, buzzing had annoyed me for so long, I didn’t notice when it quit at first.

  “That ought to do the trick.” Bent over my foot, his cold fingers giving me chills, Linus examined his work for a moment longer, leaning in so close I could count the freckles on his nose. “I’ve reinforced the binding on Ambrose.”

  “Do you ever get the feeling we’re slapping a Band-Aid over a gunshot wound?”

  “I found no evidence Ambrose has snapped his tether.” Navy eyes met mine, darkness lurking in their corners. “This is only a precautionary measure since I’m here.”

  “How did I end up on the street then?”

  “I’m not sure.” He began cleaning his improvised station. “Bishop is reviewing the security footage.” He rose and carried his mess to the trash. A hank of dark-auburn hair had escaped the elastic at his nape while he worked, so he scooped the errant strands back and secured them again before washing his hands and putting on fresh gloves. “He has orders to send his notes to both of us.” He glanced up, met my gaze. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Twisting my foot side to side, I had to admit, “The new design is beautiful.”

  “Thank you.”

  What had begun as a simple triquetra on my ankle, the first tether between Ambrose and me, was rapidly expanding across my foot. Getting tattooed there hurt like a mother, but it allowed me to hide my ink without draining the charm I commissioned to smudge my appearance from Amelie to Hadley.

  “What’s the verdict?” I grimaced when he knelt to clean the tender skin and smooth a Saniderm patch over the newest link in the ever-increasing chain designed to hold Ambrose captive.

  “Bishop will keep an eye out whenever you leave the building and report any unusual daytime activities. He’ll intercept you and restrain you if he has reason to believe you’re under Ambrose’s influence.”

  “I don’t…” I leaned into the physical pain, the lesser of two evils. “I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

  Linus rose and carried the last of his trash to the can. “We won’t let it come to that.”

  Promise and threat rolled into one chilling vow that made me glad he wouldn’t have to touch me again.

  Wards etched into the foundation of the Faraday prevented his wraith, Cletus, from manifesting, but the way he cocked his head told me he would have dispatched him to investigate the hall had he been able.

  Twisting on the couch, I scanned for what put him on edge. “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s a shadow beneath the door.” He prowled across the room and yanked it open to reveal Ford frozen like a statue while Midas lounged in the hall behind him. Linus glanced over his shoulder at me. “You have guests.”

  Teeth gritted, I hobbled toward them to find out what they wanted this time. “Oh, no.”

  “The ward trapped him.” Linus touched two fingers to the side of Ford’s throat but turned his attention to Midas. “Care to explain?”

  “He came to check on Hadley.” He rose to his feet. “I came looking for him, and this is what I found.”

  “He’ll thaw in a few minutes now that the seal is broken.” Linus shoved his hands into his pockets. “Hadley, call if you have any other questions or concerns.”

  Relief and panic melded and zinged through me. “You’re leaving?”

  “For now,” he said, and I heard the regret, the warning, in his voice.

  “Have a safe trip home.” I bit my tongue until I tasted blood, but Midas must have thought I was talking about Linus going to his new home in Savannah, not admitting I used to live there too, because he didn’t appear to have caught the slip. “I’ll check in with Bishop if there are any further developments.”

  “Trust yourself.” Linus rested a hand lightly on my shoulder. “I do.”

  His endorsement, given in front of a powerful ally, meant the world to me. It also made me want to dig a hole to climb in then fill the dirt over my head.

  No one had expected great things from me. I was Low Society, destined for a human life with a human job and maybe a human spouse. Ordinary, that was my fate. Or it had been, until Ambrose. I was the one who pushed myself to excel in school, who obsessed over my performances via reviews based on my ghost tours, who kept the spotlight shining where I wanted so it didn’t catch the shadows. And when that wasn’t enough for me, I pushed further. I tapped into forbidden magic and damned myself to harness power beyond my control.

  None of it mattered. My parents hadn’t noticed. Dad was too busy not noticing anything that happened at home, and Mom flat-out did not care what I did so long as I did it well.

  But, as easy as it was to blame my mother for my predicament, I made the choices that landed me here. I had no one to blame except myself. Plenty of other kids grew up in houses just like mine or worse and turned out fine. Or they got that way, over time, no thanks to their u
pbringing.

  Cold slithered through my midsection. “You’re sure you have to go?”

  “I can stay,” Linus offered, “if you need me.”

  Between the lines, I read what he meant: If I needed him to take over for me.

  I might as well strip naked and streak through the city yelling, I quit.

  “It’s late is all,” I bluffed to save face in front of Midas. “I didn’t want you to get tired driving back.”

  A faint crease at the corner of his mouth told me he wasn’t buying my excuse, but he played along to spare my pride. “Thank you for thinking of me, but I’ll manage.”

  “Bye,” I said in a scared-little-girl voice that made Linus hesitate and Midas bristle.

  Genuine concern pinched Linus’s expression. “Hadley—”

  “Sorry about that.” I coughed into my fist. “Allergies.” I cleared my throat loudly. “What can you do?”

  “Take a pill.” Midas glanced between us. “Linus, can I have a minute?”

  The weight of Linus’s stare pushed my head down until my chin hit my chest, and relief eluded me even after I shut the door behind them. I leaned my forehead against the smooth wood, telling myself I wasn’t listening in hoping to catch whatever had brought Midas running, but that was a lie.

  A minute or two later, a heavy thump jarred me, and I jerked the door open to find Ford in a sprawl across my threshold with Linus and Midas nowhere in sight. They must have left him behind in the hopes he would learn his lesson.

  “So.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Eavesdrop much?”

  The weak curl of his fingers beckoned me onto my knees beside him, and he smoothed his thumb across my forehead, where I must have earned a red mark for the same crime.

  “Oh, shut up.” It didn’t matter that he hadn’t said anything, he didn’t have to. “Come on. Sugar helps. I’ll pour you a glass of tea.” His eyes swiveled to search the hall, his head too heavy to lift. “Midas will come looking for you eventually.”

  Borrowing strength from Ambrose, which was never a great idea, especially now, I managed to heft Ford to his feet. After kicking the door shut, I helped him wobble the four or five steps to my futon, where I dropped him like a ton of bricks before my shadow started pouting about his magic being depleted and whined to go on a hunt that wasn’t happening.

  When Linus checked me, I was full to the brim with magic. Too bad that didn’t prove guilt or innocence on Ambrose’s part, since I fed him two days ago and had done nothing to deplete those stores.

  Blergh.

  It was almost like you shouldn’t sell your soul for power or something.

  The trip to the kitchen was so short I could almost lean forward and reach the cabinets and the fridge without leaving Ford’s side. “Extra ice?”

  He grunted confirmation.

  “Why do you bother drinking tea if you’re really just sucking on ice cubes?”

  He grunted again, and he had a point. I was the one forcing it down him this time.

  Once I splashed a few drops of tea onto his ice cubes, I rooted around in a drawer until I found a takeout straw from my stash then carried it back to him. “Drink.”

  The petulance in his third grunt, as if my tea was inferior, made me question the amount of time I spent with him that I understood him in the first place.

  “I don’t add too much sugar.” I stabbed the glass with the plastic and bent it to his lips. “Now suck it.”

  That earned me a chuckle and a pesky twinkle in his lively blue eyes, but he did as I ordered for once.

  We didn’t have to wait long for Midas to return. We didn’t even have to wait for him to knock. He let himself into my apartment, zeroed in on Ford, and went to stand over him.

  “Come on in,” I said cheerfully. “Mi casa es su casa.” I pursed my lips. “I think.” I shrugged. “It’s been a long time since I flunked Spanish I.”

  “The door wasn’t closed,” he said, keeping his distance, “so I let myself in.”

  Pretty sure the door had been shut, if not latched, I didn’t split hairs. He was here, he could take his nosy bestie with him, and I could finally shower.

  “On the topic of locked doors, I need to hit the bathroom.” I gestured down at my grungy attire. “I need to wash off my day before I go to work.”

  Midas studied me until the force of his attention rocked me back on my heels, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Take your buddy and go.” I flicked my wrists at them. “Shoo, shoo.”

  Head cocked, he took one step closer. “Why did Linus drive all the way up here to see you?”

  “It’s only like three hours.” I caught my mistake too late. “Who said he came here just for me?”

  “He did.”

  Well, frak.

  Hard to contradict a firsthand account from the boss.

  That didn’t mean I would give in so easily. “I am his apprentice. He has a right to check up on me.”

  “You called him.” He took another step. “Why?”

  “Why is it any of your business?” I snapped my fingers. “Oh, that’s right. It’s not.”

  “You’re living in—”

  “The pack doesn’t own the Faraday.” The building was a Society holding. “You’re contracted as security, that’s all.”

  “You’re living with—”

  “Vampires, necromancers, gwyllgi, and goddess only knows what else.”

  “Will you let me finish a thought?”

  All cooperation and courtesy, I mimed zipping my lips.

  “How is it you always do this to me?”

  Mouth shut, I shrugged hugely to drive home the whole mute thing.

  “You wind me up so tight I forget my own name.”

  I raised my hand like a kid in school.

  “Go on.” His lips twitched until he flattened them. “Tell me what I was going to say.”

  “You were going to threaten me, maybe hint at kicking me to the curb, and attempt to shove Ford further up my butt than he’s already wedged thanks to you.” I dropped my gaze to him. “Sorry, Ford, but we all know it’s true.”

  Midas rubbed his face. “I can’t help it that Ford likes spending time with you.”

  “You could order him to stop.” The same way I was certain he’d ordered him to start.

  Expression hidden behind his hands, he asked softly, “Do you want me to?”

  “No.” I remembered how Midas felt about using his coercive magic on his packmates. Besides, Ford was stuck like a burr now. A direct order was the only way to unstick him. “I don’t mind him hanging around.”

  Arms lowering slowly, Midas stared down at Ford with a mixture of emotion I couldn’t parse without knowing Midas better, and he was ensuring that didn’t happen. “You would tell me if there was an immediate threat to my people.”

  “The first sign of danger, when it’s relevant to you or the pack, I’ll let you know.”

  From this point on, I promised. Linus had given me two thumbs-up, and I had to trust he knew best.

  “Are you in trouble?” Midas closed the gap between us. “How did you end up wearing my shirt?”

  “I waited until you set out your laundry, and then I stole it.” Tired of being stalked, I prowled into his personal space, what little remained anyway. “See, I have a flaming crush on you, and I wanted to know how it felt to sleep with your scent against my skin.”

  Crimson flickered in his eyes, banked coals catching fire, and it occurred to me too late that I shouldn’t keep playing chicken with a beta who held the power to ruin me.

  “She’s lying,” Ford mumbled, thawing by degrees. “I’m the one with a flaming man-crush on you. I dared her to steal the shirt so I could add it to the Midas shrine I built in my closet.”

  A snort escaped me, and I almost laughed. “Take him away. He’s clearly delusional.”

  “You’re trying to move in on my man.” Ford cracked his eyes open. “I thought we were friends.”

  Midas swung h
is head between us. “This is what you two get up to when you’re alone?”

  Even though I knew better, I couldn’t stop myself. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  A predator gazed out at me from behind Midas’s eyes, and I all but heard it smacking its lips.

  “Midas,” Ford said, warning heavy in his tone.

  Still locked on me, Midas didn’t advance, but he didn’t retreat either. “I’m leaving.”

  “Let me show you to the door.” I rested a hand on his shoulder, and he jumped back. An actual, physical hop to get away from me. “I didn’t realize cooties were real or that I had them. Sorry about that.” I held the door open as wide as it would go. “I’ll be sure to have the apartment fumigated before the next time you invite yourself in.”

  “We’ll get out of your hair.” Ford grunted when he stood. “Thanks for reviving me.”

  “You’re welcome.” I patted his shoulder to see if cooties were a universal gwyllgi fear. “I have a few prime movies coming in the mail this week. I’m talking black-and-white, VHS, the whole shebang.”

  “Lee, darlin’.” He had to walk past me to exit. “Are you asking me out?”

  “No.” I wasn’t much on leaving my nest these days. “I’m asking you in.”

  “Consider it a date. Let me know when and what to bring.”

  “Will do.”

  Busy making plans with Ford, I didn’t notice when Midas left, just heard the ding of the elevator and knew better than to check the hall.

  “He doesn’t mean any harm.” Ford braced a hand on the wall to keep steady, but the more he moved, the quicker he shrugged off the magic. “He’s going through a rough patch right now.”

  “I don’t get it,” I admitted. “He’s like a coin with two sides, and they never stop flipping.”

  “I want to make a joke along the lines of head over tails, but I’m coming up empty.”

  “Can you make it down alone?” I wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him to the elevator. “I can’t believe Midas ditched you.”

  “Rough patch, remember?”

  Most of my life was one big rough patch, but I still used my manners. When I remembered them.