The Greystone Bundle (Books 1-4)

by Taylor Longford

  Acting all casual and disinterested, I slid into the seat beside her. And for the next few minutes, I watched the court. A dozen girls were out on the floor, warming up, but none of them were Whitney and that was good because it meant I wouldn't be distracted. "Damn," I murmured and pretended to search my pockets. "I've left my phone at home. Can I borrow yours?"

  Without answering, Torrie leaned over and pulled her cell from her bag. She gave me a curious look as she handed it to me, but I was used to getting that from girls. Her companion's blunt stare was a little more suspicious but I shrugged it off and got to work. I'd played around with Valor's phone plenty of times in the past, and knew how it worked. So after I faked a call, I entered his number into Torrie's contact list. Then I looked up her number under settings, and memorized it before I handed back the cell.

  Without turning my head toward Torrie, I returned my attention to the floor below where the game had begun. I watched Whitney race across the court, and started talking in a low voice. "My family and I are looking for our cousin," I murmured, and rubbed my hand over my mouth. "His name's Chaos."

  The girl beside me stiffened in her seat.

  I slanted a look down at her. "Can you help us?"

  "Just leave me alone," she whispered, her eyes darting around the gym as if she was afraid a winged monster was going to drop from the rafters.

  We didn't know what had happened to her, exactly, but we assumed she'd been through a lot, captured by a harpy and held prisoner for the weeks she was missing. I felt for her but we needed her help if we were ever going to find Chaos. "Our girls will meet you in the ladies' room if you can tell us anything."

  But she didn't answer, and her friend who looked so much like her was now glaring at me like I was a carrier for the bubonic plague.

  "Call us," I told her beneath my breath. "Please. If you care about Chaos, call us. Our number is on your cell." Then I got to my feet, moving up and across the stands to where the rest of the pack was sitting.

  "What happened?" Elaina immediately demanded.

  I opened my mouth to answer and got distracted by Whitney's legs down on the floor below.

  "What happened?" Elaina repeated.

  I dragged my gaze back to Elaina and told the pack everything I'd learned in quiet tones.

  "I don't think she cares," Elaina grumbled while MacKenzie entered the number I'd memorized into her phone.

  I watched Whitney jump and tip a ball into the basket. "I don't think so, either," I muttered before I realized she was talking about Torrie.

  But Elaina thought I was agreeing with her and shot a dark look in Torrie's direction. "So, she's not gonna talk to us?"

  "I don't think so. Not tonight. But if she leaves the gym during the game, you girls should probably follow her just in case she wants to meet you in the ladies' room."

  But Torrie never left her seat. And after Whitney's team had racked up another victory for Pine Grove, we entered the crush of human traffic pouring from the stands onto the gym floor. Victor maneuvered the pack to join the crowd just ahead of Torrie, probably hoping she'd say something to us before we left.

  As we made our way slowly toward the exit, I kept my eyes on Whitney who was still out on the court with the rest of her team. Several guys from Pine Grove were out there celebrating with the girls and one of them was talking to a very flushed and radiant-looking Whitney.

  I was close enough to pick up his vibe and didn't like what I sensed, although I probably wouldn't have liked him if he was a frickin' saint who risked his life every day to save puppies. And it bugged me the way Whitney was all smiles for him but couldn't spare one for me. I've already described what I wanted to do to Havoc when he'd given Whitney a friendly kiss after a Parcheesi game. And what I wanted to do to this guy was worse. Way worse. Yeah, my bloodthirsty tendencies were still firmly intact. I stopped at the edge of the moving crowd and glared across the floor at the happy couple.

  While I was thus occupied—staring back across the gymnasium like a jealous loser—I heard a slight gasp behind me, followed by Chaos's whispered name. And spinning toward the sound, I found Torrie's gaze fixed on Dare's back. A wealth of emotion swirled in her big brown eyes. A flash of hope followed by disappointment, then pain and longing. It was pretty obvious that she'd momentarily mistaken Dare for Chaos. I caught her gaze and gave her an accusatory stare as she passed by.

  "What's going on?" Elaina whispered as she and Reason stopped and waited for me to catch up.

  "She cares," I muttered. "Torrie cares." Which was a lot more than I could say for a certain young basketball star with long blond hair. I sent a last backward glance over my shoulder to center court. But if Whitney noticed me, she did a damn good job of hiding it.

  Chapter Eight

  I walked to work the next morning feeling frustrated about the whole Whitney situation. So I focused instead on what had gone down with Torrie at the basketball game. After what I'd seen in her eyes at the Boulder gym, I had a feeling we'd hear from her, eventually. I just hoped she didn't wait too long because Chaos had promised Reason that he wouldn't let us find him. And that might mean he was planning to leave the Boulder area. We had to catch up to him before that happened.

  Down at the stables, the morning seemed to drag on forever. I kept looking around every time the door opened to see if it was Whitney walking in, even though I told myself I didn't care if I never saw her again. Yeah, too bad it didn't work.

  When the slender blond finally showed up, she brushed right past me without a word. Which really pissed me off. But I wanted to be close to her if she was gonna be on Romeo's back. So while she saddled him up, I took one of the other horses out for a walk in the arena. Of course, the mare kept turning her head, trying to find that apple she was sure I had hidden in my hand, so I set a fast pace. As Whitney came up beside me, I matched my horse's gait to that of her big palomino.

  "Who was that guy you were talking to last night?" I asked her.

  She slanted a cool look down on me. "Why do you ask?"

  "Just curious. He seemed a lot older than you."

  "He's eighteen," she countered. "How old are you?"

  "About the same," I admitted grudgingly. "So who was he?"

  "Just some senior looking for a prom date," she replied and kicked her horse into a canter, pulling away from me.

  I wasn't sure what prom was, although the word rang a bell. I must have heard it somewhere along the way, in a movie or something. But I knew what date meant. I hurried the sorrel along and caught up with her again.

  "You're not going out with him, are you?"

  "Not yet," she answered tightly.

  I grabbed Romeo's halter and pulled him to a stop. "You're not going out with him."

  "Why shouldn't I?" she tossed back at me.

  I long list of reasons flashed into my head. Like he wasn't a nice guy. I didn't want him touching her. I didn't want anyone touching her who wasn't me. "He…didn't seem like a very nice guy," I told her.

  "And you can tell this, how?"

  "I can just tell," I growled.

  "A sophomore like me would be crazy to turn down an invitation to prom," she declared from her high perch.

  "Then tell him you're crazy. You could probably get a doctor's note from your father," I added tactlessly.

  Yeah, I might have crossed the line with that one.

  She glared down at me. "And what are you going to do if I don't take your invaluable advice? What if I decide to go to prom with him? Are you going to track him down and threaten him?"

  She must have read my mind.

  "You can't tell me what to do," she huffed and spurred her horse into a gallop, leaving me behind in the dust.

  Annoyed with her attitude, I narrowed my gaze on her back as she rode away. But I stayed in the arena to keep my eye on Romeo. And he didn't get too outta hand, which was a relief. But that didn't mean I was ready to start trusting him.

  Back home at the end of the day, I slammed throug
h the front door, anxious to find out if Torrie had called. But there was no good news. I glanced at Valor's phone sitting in the middle of the small kitchen table. Even though everyone was busy—Havoc making dinner, the girls doing homework, the guys cutting out some new bows—everyone's attention was fixed on the small cell phone.

  I hadn't forgiven Havoc for the Pinocchio thing, but I was hungry so I stirred the brown sauce for him while he cut off thick slabs of pink roast beef. I know a lot of girls are vegetarian these days, so that might not sound appealing to them. But gargoyles are carnivores, plain and simple, and I won't apologize for it. Together, Havoc and I set the dishes out on the counter while the pack filled their plates and crowded around the kitchen table.

  It was a quiet meal, which was unusual for our pack. Way unusual. But all of us were watching the phone and waiting for the damn thing to ring, everyone waiting and hoping for a call from Torrie.

  "What's a prom?" I asked MacKenzie, breaking the heavy silence.

  Her brown eyes latched onto mine but she didn't ask why I wanted to know. "It's a big dance near the end of the school year. Kids rent limos and go out to dinner. Girls wear long gowns. Everyone stays up all night. It's a big deal."

  "When is it?"

  "Next month," she answered.

  "Are you going?" I asked her.

  She shook her head. "Sophomores can't go unless they're invited by a junior or senior."

  "So…I can't invite someone to this prom?" I checked, wanting to be clear on the issue.

  "No," she answered. "But someone can invite you, if they're old enough."

  I mulled this over for a while before asking, "Did you get invited?"

  Her cheeks turned pink. "Um…" she hedged.

  Valor narrowed his gaze on her face, looking suddenly interested in the conversation. "Did you get invited?" he asked sharply.

  "Um. Yes. But I'm not going," she said quickly.

  "Who asked you?" Valor demanded.

  "Josh," she mumbled. "Josh Saxon."

  "He's still asking you out?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

  "I keep telling him I have a boyfriend," she insisted, looking pained.

  "What about you?" I asked Mim.

  "I don't know any of the older guys," she said in her timid way, and glanced at Dare sitting beside her.

  "So I don't have to worry about it this year?" Dare questioned her with an affectionate smile.

  "Not this year," she confirmed shyly.

  I frowned across the table and studied the two girls. "I got the impression that a sophomore would be crazy to turn down an invitation to prom."

  "Maybe if she was single," Mac said. "But not if she had a boyfriend."

  I forked a piece of meat into my mouth and thought about this. There was no doubt in my mind that Whitney would get several invitations to prom. "When is prom again?" I asked.

  "End of April."

  Okay. So I had about two months to get this sorted and make sure Whitney didn't go to prom. Maybe it was mean of me to think that way. And maybe she was going to look crazy to all of her friends at school. But that's just the way it was going to have to be.

  We were clearing the dishes from the table a little later on when Valor's cell phone finally started to ring. We all made a grab for it, but MacKenzie reached it first. When she saw who it was, she put the call on speaker and handed the phone to Victor.

  "Hello," a young voice whispered. "This is Torrie. Torrie Evans."

  "Torrie! Yes," Victor crooned enthusiastically. "Thanks! Thanks for calling."

  "I can't stay on the phone for long. My parents don't trust me."

  "We understand," Victor answered with a nod. "Thanks for your help. Can you tell us anything about my brother?"

  "Chaos?" she questioned tentatively. "You're his brother? Is this Reason? Or Victor?"

  "This is Victor," he answered. "Did Chaos tell you about us?"

  There was a short silence. "He kept hoping you'd find us."

  "I'm sorry," Victor said in a low voice. "It wasn't for lack of trying."

  "Are you…one of them?"

  "I'm not sure what you mean by one of them," Victor hedged cautiously. "But, yes, I'm like my brother."

  "Can you help him?" she asked, her tone pleading.

  "We hope so," he answered softly. "But we need your help. Do you know where he is?"

  "Not exactly," she answered. "I just know that he's in the mountains outside Boulder. That monster's keeping him in a mine."

  "A mine?" Victor exclaimed, and sat down heavily in a chair. "What? What does it look like? Where is it? Do you think we could find it?"

  "I don't know. When that harpy thing carried me there, the entrance was hidden from the air. I didn't see it until she dropped me in front of it. I think it would be hard to find."

  "What else can you tell us?"

  "Not much," she answered morosely. "That harpy captured me and took me to the mine. She had this statue and she talked to it all the time. Told it that she'd hurt me if it didn't wake up."

  "Then what happened?"

  "Eventually, it woke up. And helped me." Her voice broke off.

  Victor gave the phone an anxious look. "Torrie? Torrie? Are you still there?"

  "Listen, I gotta go."

  "Could we meet with you somewhere?" Victor asked, sounding a little desperate. "And talk to you a little longer? There might be something you don't consider important that would be vital to our search."

  "I don't think so," she told Victor. "My family's ready to have me committed. They think I'm insane."

  "You're not insane," he insisted gently.

  "That's why I'm talking to you!" she exclaimed. "You're the only people who don't think I've lost my mind. But my family's watching me like a hawk and I can't get away from them."

  "Couldn't you…go shopping," MacKenzie suggested "At a mall or something? And couldn't we could just…run into you?"

  "I don't think my parents will go for that," she answered, then hesitated. "But…they might let me go bowling."

  "Bowling?" Victor echoed and questioned MacKenzie with a look.

  "Yeah," Torrie muttered. "My folks do a lot of bowling and consider it…wholesome."

  After MacKenzie gave Victor a quick nod, he said, "Bowling it is, then."

  "I'll contact you with a location as soon as I have something set up," Torrie said. "But someone will be with me. Probably my older sister. So that means we won't be able to talk privately."

  "Your sister?" Victor questioned. "Was she at the basketball game with you?"

  "That's right."

  "Don't worry," Victor soothed, and his mouth twitched with a smile. "We'll make sure your sister is distracted, m'dear."

  "Okay, but leave your leather jackets at home," she cautioned. "And try to look wholesome for my sister. Otherwise, she might freak."

  "Okay," Victor answered, disconnecting the call and gazing off into the distance. "Wholesome," he said flatly.

  "Bowling," Havoc added with a snicker and gave MacKenzie a stern look. "You've neglected your duty as our modern-era liaison. We've been here four months and you've failed to do bowling with us."

  MacKenzie rubbed a hand across her eyes then peeked out between her fingers. "Sorry, guys. I went bowling once or twice when I was in middle school. But it's not something I normally do."

  "I've bowled a little," Mim chirped helpfully while Dare pulled her into his arms and gazed proudly down into her violet eyes.

  Havoc lifted a bronze eyebrow. "Then we're counting on you, Mim. You're gonna have to bring us up to speed."

  "What are we going to do about the wholesome part of the equation?" Valor cut in seriously.

  MacKenzie shook her head. "I don't know. You guys are kinda on the other end of the wholesome scale. You've over there along with wicked and hot and mouthwatering and droolworthy."

  "And that's just me," Havoc drawled.

  "Yeah, that's just him," Mim agreed with a soft burst of laughter. S
he smiled at Dare sitting beside her and gave his knee a squeeze. "After that, it starts to warm up."

  "Yeah, I know, right?" MacKenzie agreed as her gaze rested warmly on Valor.

  "MacKenzie?" Victor queried, bringing her focus back to the current situation.

  "I think we'll have to go shopping," MacKenzie said, after a thoughtful pause. "Can you say polo shirts and beige chinos?"

  Havoc groaned. "I'm gonna look like a golf caddy." But he brightened suddenly. "Can I wear a tie?"

  Yeah, a tie on a polo shirt didn't sound like the height of fashion to me. But I was fairly certain Havoc was going to stand out like a sore thumb no matter what he ended up wearing.

  Chapter Nine

  "How do I look?" Victor asked, looking a little nervous which was unusual for him. But our upcoming meeting with Torrie was a high-stakes issue and we were all hoping the petite blond could tell us something that would lead us to Chaos.

  It was a statewide teachers in-service day so MacKenzie and Mim had the day off. Like the rest of us, Victor was wearing a loose pair of beige chinos and a short-sleeved polo, the sleeves stretching tightly around his powerful biceps. His was light blue. The pack had gone shopping in Denver while I was at work on Sunday. MacKenzie had planned to put all of us in pastels but I'd held out for black, brown or white. I'd warned her she'd better not come home with anything else. I was wearing white as I sat on a barstool in Mac's kitchen. Her mom had left for work a few hours ago so we were on our own.

  MacKenzie was studying Victor like the situation was hopeless—which it was. Trying to dress down Victor and make him look less attractive was a hard thing to pull off. I think we were all a little jealous of Victor, and always had been. He's the ultimate girl magnet. Hurrying away, Mac climbed the stairs and came back a few minutes later with a baggy gray hoodie, which she made him pull on over his shirt, but it didn't help much. "It's no good," MacKenzie complained. "You still look like total eye candy."