“You said I could trust you!” she snapped, her eyes blazing in anger.
“Yeah, but…” Geoffrey looked worriedly at the door and then back at her. “Yeah, okay. I know I’m going to regret this, but what do you need?”
She closed her eyes briefly and forced herself to calm down. The anger at Geoffrey’s almost betrayal had just flared up from nowhere. Her emotions were always close to the surface these days, especially violent emotions. No matter how many times she told herself to be careful, her volatility always caught her by surprise.
She released Geoffrey’s arm. “Marty Preston and his girlfriend are hiding out at Sanctuary, and Ryder knows it. Where is it?”
“Wyoming. We have to tell David. He can have the entire area locked down. Ryder won’t get a sniff of the place.”
Wyoming. She hadn’t expected that, but now that she thought about it, it raised the odds in her favour. Ryder was one of the FBI’s most wanted. He couldn’t just hop on a plane or a train to get there. He would have to drive. Her smile turned feral. She would get there ahead of him and be waiting.
“I don’t want that, Geoffrey. Listen, now you know he’s at Sanctuary, can you find out exactly where Marty is?”
“Easily, but you shouldn’t go in alone. I’ll go with you and take care of Ryder.”
“No! He’s mine. It’s my right, Geoffrey, mine!”
He nodded reluctantly.
“I’ll need a few things.”
“Like what?”
She told him.
Smoke wasn’t happy with the plan, but they had tried everything else. They had both failed miserably to take Ryder down and they weren’t eager for a repeat performance. It was time they stopped pussyfooting around with this guy, and her plan at least had the merit of being new. Ryder wouldn’t expect it of her; she was almost sure.
Almost?
Would you expect it?
No, but he’s a tricky one. If he sniffs us out, he’ll be gone before we can do it.
Yeah, well, I have you in reserve, don’t I?
Always.
“Can you meet me there with the info and the things I’ll need?”
Geoffrey nodded enthusiastically. “Can do.”
She squeezed his arm. His acceptance was a great weight lifted from her shoulders. “Thanks. I won’t forget this.”
“You better not. I’m expecting at least dinner out of it.”
“You got it.”
Lephmann came into the office, still talking to Elaine. He refused a drink when Geoffrey offered one, and sat at the desk to consult his schedule on the computer.
“Hmmm, cancel it,” Lephmann said, and Elaine made notes as he continued down the list of appointments. “Cancel, cancel, cancel, Jerry can do that one, cancel, reschedule. Ask Alex to take care of these two for me, would you? Cancel, reschedule, reschedule… damn! Reschedule, but tell them this doesn’t let them off the hook. I still want answers. They’ve had more than enough time already. The extra week will give them time to polish it until it gleams. The package had better be damn good.”
“Got it,” Elaine said. “What about the governor’s little junket?”
“Cancel.”
“You can’t cancel someone else’s party, David!”
“Reschedule?” Lephmann asked hopefully, but Elaine just shook her head. “Oh, all right! I’ll make myself available.”
Elaine turned to Geoffrey. “You make sure he doesn’t forget. Put him on the flight and sit on him if you have to.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Geoffrey said.
Elaine sniffed in satisfaction and marched back out to her desk.
Lephmann watched her go then clapped his hands together. “I’m free for the week!”
Geoffrey grinned, but then sobered after a glance at Chris. “I have to leave.”
Lephmann frowned. “Oh?”
“I have this thing. Shouldn’t take long, but I don’t want to hold you up. I’ll meet you at Sanctuary.”
“You’re leaving now?”
Geoffrey nodded.
“Is there anything I can do?”
Geoffrey shook his head. “Pack business.”
“I see. Well, I’ll still have Chris and Lawrence for company. I’ll see you there.”
Geoffrey nodded and hurried away.
Lephmann indicated Chris should precede him up the spiral stairs. “I had the elevators blocked from this floor. This is the only way up.”
Chris stepped off the last stair and looked around the room. It was someone’s living room. She removed her coat and draped it over the back of a chair.
“Do you live here?”
“Sometimes, but it isn’t home. We get together here in the evenings occasionally. My apartment’s through there,” he said, nodding at the door. “Ronnie has one down at the end of the hall and Lawrence is opposite me. A few of the others stop in from time to time. There’s plenty of room.”
“Why?” Chris asked.
“Why what?”
“Why bring me here, why tell me all this?”
“I brought you here because we need to talk. There’s nowhere more private outside of Sanctuary itself.”
“Sanctuary,” she mused, wandering the room. “You said that before.”
Lephmann took a seat. “That’s right. Sanctuary is just what it sounds like, a place of safety. I’ll take you there and teach you a few things.”
Everyone seemed to think she needed to learn a few things, and maybe she did, but it was starting to irritate her the way they kept rubbing her nose in it. She wasn’t a child. She didn’t need people telling her what to do or how little she knew all the time.
“How far away is this place, and what kind of things?”
“It’s in Wyoming, and all kinds of things.”
The odour of roses and freshly showered man wafted to her as Lawrence entered through the door Lephmann had earlier pointed out. He had changed clothes and his hair was still wet from the shower. He must have used a rose scented soap. Farris, Lawrence’s beast, normally lent him a scent that reminded her of roasting chestnuts. She remembered Farris in the desert outside George AFB, and Smoke growled appreciatively.
A fine mate he would make, for both of us.
I do like him, but I’m not looking for a mate.
I am.
Her eyes followed Lawrence as he left the room via another door. He really did have a great butt. The rest of him wasn’t bad either. He probably hit the gym a lot. Smoke was right, he was hot. She caught sight of copper pots and pans hanging on hooks before the door closed behind him. That was interesting too. Most people simply programmed an autochef and left real cooking to the professionals. She shook herself and turned her attention back to Lephmann. He was still waiting for a response.
“Sorry, I got distracted.” Lephmann smiled in amusement, and Chris felt her cheeks heating. “What do you want to teach me?”
“There’s controlling the Change, and…”
She let him ramble on about Sanctuary and the lessons he intended to teach her, but the photographs hanging on one of the walls caught her eye. She crossed the room to investigate them. All of them featured Lephmann doing something in strange places. Sometimes Lawrence and Geoffrey were with him, but mostly it was Lephmann and Ronnie. She wondered if they were an item. Amongst all the photographs, there was a single painting. She recognised a younger-looking Lephmann standing with a tall man with intense eyes. It was Stephen. The pale woman seated in front of them was Marie Stirling; she looked sad.
The picture had a very disturbing quality about it, especially as it was the only painting amidst so many photographs. It drew the eye strongly. Chris stared into Marie’s eyes and shivered. Had Marie just been informed of her father’s death, had she just been murdered? The thought of dying and awakening as a vampire sent chills down her spine. It must have been a terrible shock for the girl, surely worse than her own transformation into a shifter.
“Chris?”
“Hmmm?”
“Love ’em,” she said, and forced herself to look away from the painting. “I really should get in touch with Jonas and find out what he wants.”
Lephmann stood. “Do that first then. Join us in the kitchen when you’re ready.”
He left her alone to make the call.
Chris delved into the pocket of her coat and retrieved her link. She dropped into a chair, before trying to contact Jonas. He picked up on the first ring.
“Chris?”
“Yeah, it’s me, what’s up?”
“Where the hell you been, girl? I’ve been trying to get you for ages.”
She sighed. “In the slam.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” she said sourly. “What have you got for me? Good news, I hope.”
Jonas snorted. “Depends on where you’re standing, but the bounty on your head has been withdrawn. I talked to Raymond for you. The sonofabitch didn’t want to know at first, but I talked him around.”
“To death, more like. Get on with it.”
“I’m getting to it! I talked him into letting you take your place as his mate.”
She frowned in consternation. That didn’t sound like a good thing, not at all. “I thought you were trying to help me get out of this.”
“I am and this will. Look, Raymond hated Janine’s guts, but she was the strongest bitch in his pack. He was stuck with her as his mate. He doesn’t care that you killed her. That isn’t the reason he put a price on your head.”
“It’s not?”
“No. I think if it was all up to him he would thank you and let you walk, but it’s not. The pack—especially the bitches—wanted him to do something because you dissed the Alley Dogs. You showed contempt for them when you killed their alpha and just walked away. If you had taken her place in a formal challenge that night, none of this would be happening. Understand?”
She raised an eyebrow at Jonas’ strange logic. “No.”
Jonas sighed. “It’s like the difference between self-defence and murder. Challenging someone for his position is normal among us. It’s not something we get upset about.”
“I’ll take your word for it. What do we do?”
“You take your place by Raymond’s side, and he’ll make sure you get challenged by the right bitch. All you have to do is lose. The winner becomes Raymond’s new mate, and you walk away free and clear. Simple.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Simple, huh? Are you out of your tiny little mind? I could get killed!”
“Don’t worry, the fix is in. All you have to do is make it look good before you go down. When can you be here?”
“I dunno, Jonas. This sounds iffy to me.”
“It’s this way or no way, girl. The bounty will only get bigger the longer this goes on.”
“You said you fixed that!”
“Temporarily, yeah.”
“Temporarily, you never said anything about it being a temporary fix.”
Jonas sighed. “The impossible I can do, but miracles I leave to the Lady. Raymond will put the bounty back if you don’t do this. He’ll have to.”
She rubbed her temples. She didn’t know what to do for the best. She didn’t like this plan, but she didn’t have a better one. As sure as up was up, another shifter would try to take her before long. How many more could she fight before making a fatal mistake?
As many as it takes. I will protect us.
I know you’ll try.
She sighed. “What would you do, Jonas?”
“I’d go with it, or run… maybe change your name and face.”
“I told you before. I don’t run.”
“I figured. That’s why I pushed for this solution.”
Sanctuary would be chock-full of shifters, any one of whom could try for the bounty. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to get this out of the way before she went after Ryder.
What do you think?
I think Jonas has done his best. I don’t like the thought of losing a fight on purpose, but I will if you want me to.
She felt Smoke’s sincerity, and was touched by it. It wasn’t the first time Smoke had said she wanted to help, but it was the first time Chris believed her without reservation. She frowned, not sure what that said about her. Was she a sucker for putting herself in a position where only Smoke could get her out? She didn’t think so, and that definitely said something had changed in her thinking.
You are beginning to trust me, Smoke said in satisfaction. It’s about time.
Don’t spoil it.
“Okay, Jonas. When do I have to do this?”
“Good, girl. There’s a meeting at George tonight. We’ll do it then, but I need you here as soon as you can. I have a few tricks I want to show you before the challenge starts.”
“Tricks,” she mused. “I have a feeling I might need some.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“I’ll see you in about an hour.”
“Good,” Jonas said and broke the connection.
She switched off her link and went to tell Lephmann that she had to leave.
* * *
22 ~ Lessons
Chris allowed Lawrence to accompany her to McNally’s after he bribed her with the keys to his car. She had been halfway convinced already, but the thought of driving a 1997 GTS clinched it. Back when the Viper was built, there had been no such thing as AI traffic controllers, but more importantly, speed limiters had yet to be widely accepted in road vehicles. As a result, Chris opened the Viper up as soon as they hit open roads secure in her freedom from an automatic speeding fine. It was a noisy and jarring ride, but it handled so much better than her old official police vehicle. She loved every minute of it. So did Smoke. The wolf was a speed freak too; a lucky thing considering how fast they reached Victorville.
Lawrence pointed. “There it is.”
She nodded and checked her rear-view before pulling into the oncoming lane to park outside McNally’s. A guy blew his horn, annoyed that she had stolen the space before he could get to it. She ignored him and revved the Viper one last time just for the pleasure of it before shutting off the motor.
“Fun?”
“Fun,” she agreed. “I want one.”
“It’ll cost. They’re not cheap or easy to come by nowadays. The conversion to hydrox cost me almost a year’s salary on top of the asking price.”
She winced. She didn’t have a salary. Oh well, maybe a fast bike would satisfy Smoke. “I was wondering about that. Where is it?”
“In the tank. It reduced the capacity, but I didn’t want it on show under the hood.”
“Good choice.”
The elves had forced the switch from gasoline to hydrox after proving pollution really did cause holes in the ozone layer. They said they were fed up with cleaning up after humans with their magic, and that they would stop doing it, letting the holes grow out of control, unless all the nations of the world adopted hydrox and other non-polluting manufacturing techniques. After all, they didn’t need the ozone layer; their magic would protect them and they had Underhill. When the world’s governments realised the elves were serious, they quickly adopted hydrox and the new industrial working practice. Such things had been around for a while, but had been considered too expensive to adopt. That thinking changed almost overnight when the elves stopped spelling the holes closed and cases of skin cancer skyrocketed.
Chris handed Lawrence his keys after locking up, and together they entered McNally’s Doughnut Shop. Bright and cheery colours greeted them. Pastels were the in thing in Victorville it seemed, though Jonas hardly seemed the type to go for so much pink. His boss obviously disagreed, because the entire place was very light pink. Even the tiling on the floor followed the theme with its checker-board pattern of alternating pink and w
hite tiles. Customers sat at the tables nibbling on frosted doughnuts, chocolate doughnuts, doughnuts with sprinkles on them. The smell was indescribably good, and her stomach grumbled. She could eat a dozen or so about now. Androids supplied coffee and soft drinks, but there were a couple of living breathing waitresses too. Chris wondered if Jonas baked, or served tables. She snickered at the image of a coyote-man serving customers with coffee.
Lawrence looked askance at her. “What’s the matter?”
She composed herself. “Nothing. Where’s Jonas?”
“Behind the register.”
She followed Lawrence deeper into the shop and noticed all the customers were Human. She wondered what they would say if they ever learned that Jonas wasn’t—nothing good that was for damn sure. His boss must be an exceptional person to allow him to work here; the authorities would close him down in a hot second if they found out. The Food Safety Commission didn’t have a sense of humour. Lycanthropes were forbidden to serve or prepare food for Human consumption, and neither were they allowed to frequent establishments where humans consumed food and drink—not even bars and clubs officially, though most proprietors of such places were lax in keeping their wards and spellcheckers up to date. Magic was damned expensive, and new solutions for bypassing wards were coming on the market all the time.
She turned and noted the faded runes around the door. Typical… and lucky. If they had been working, they would have lit up like a fourth of July celebration when Lawrence and she passed them.
Jonas wore a white and pink striped uniform including a paper hat displaying the McNally’s logo. Stitched in blue thread over the pocket on his chest was his name. He was chatting with a customer, an elderly man. Chris couldn’t help imagining Jonas’ other form wearing the uniform. She laughed quietly at the absurd image that popped into her head. The customer turned to look at her worriedly, perhaps wondering from which asylum she’d escaped. She grinned at him, and he turned back to Jonas for his change.
“Have a nice day now,” Jonas called, as the old guy hastily left, and then scowled at Chris. “Nice going.”
She cleared her throat, forcing the giggles down. It was quite hard to do when Jonas stood there in his pink outfit looking all affronted.
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