by Star, Amy
Blake’s eye widened just a little.
“Sorry, guys, not following.” Lily shifted her posture.
“Mm, well another thing that bugged me was that even if Damian fell into the water, even if he was injured, he was still more than strong enough to swim to the shore and pull himself out. Even in his human form.” Blake’s hand shook on the SIG. “So I made the assumption that maybe he died before he went into the water—someone dumped him into the creek to get rid of the evidence, but he washed up. So they planted his bike, made up a story about drowning. If he had died before going into the creek, he wouldn’t have bruises on his hands from struggling against river rocks.”
“You think the bruises were caused before he took a swim?” Lily nodded. “We should get a look at those pictures then. Maybe…”
“Beaver Creek is more or less militarized,” Gavin interjected. “The cops are about to head out—but their presence has more than been made up by the influx of the Blue Devils and the Eaters of the Dead. It’s no wonder the police want to check out. You wouldn’t make it within a kilometer before someone recognized you, Blake.”
The Beta turned away again and nodded. Part of him didn’t really believe that it would be that easy, after all. If Connor was the sole agent of this conspiracy, then it was one he’d been working out for a long time now—Blake was still a dozen moves behind. He looked back at Gavin. The kid had renewed his loyalty to him, but he’d already suffered enough. So had Lily, for that matter. But what had she said, he recalled, that we’re in this together?
He couldn’t reconcile his conscience with the growing plan that was unfolding in his brain. He tested the heft of the SIG. Again, Lily detected something very wrong and took a step forward but he held out his hand.
“Listen, the two of you are not going to like this plan one bit, I absolutely guarantee, but at this point, we’re out of options. Lily, you still have some safety of anonymity. I want you to go to Jimmy’s, see if you can figure out anything more from the evidence that Gavin, uh, stole,” he kept talking quickly so that she couldn’t interrupt him, “Gavin will show you where he lives—as for you old friend, I think it’s time you finally got back into Connor’s good graces.”
Lily shook her head. “Blake, why are you talking like that?”
But it was Gavin that seemed to anticipate what Blake would do next. The Beta smiled and pulled back on the SIG, cocking a bullet into the chamber. “Melissa and Connor wanted an audience with me that badly? Well, you’re going to bring me to them .” He exhaled and puffed his cheeks with a wince. “They know you’re loyal to me, so we’d better make it convincing, eh?”
The sound of SIG going off broke Lily’s heart and she rushed forward as Blake pushed the gun against his ribs and fired it off. He let out a sharp groan of pain as he fell on his side and the gun scattered on the gravel uselessly. A spray of blood swept up his side and his face contorted in pain.
“BLAKE!” she screamed, rushing forward and holding him.
“What the fuck?!” Gavin screamed.
Blake sighed and touched his side, hissed. “Just… a graze. Nothing to worry about, I’ll be right as rain in a day or two,” he said. “Pick that up. You found me here and got off a shot. Connor will believe that, if he sees the evidence anyway.”
“That was your bloody plan?” Lily said seething, and for a moment both men wondered if she might slap him. Certainly, Gavin had his own hands tightly balled into fists. “You stupid motherfucker!”
“There, there,” Blake smiled, as he was helped up. He tore off his T-shirt with a single rip and wrapped it around his lower ribs. The skin was white and peeled back from the impact, and a dark purple bruising pattern was already extending from where the bullet had streaked against the bone. Lily remembered that he was a shifter, that his healing was far more rapid than humans, but that made little difference. The bastard had shot himself!
“This is the only way,” Blake said. “I need to know what Connor’s up to. He won’t kill me right away, he’ll want to make an example of me. Hell, he might even try to torture a confession out of me, just to cement his position as Alpha in the Ursas.”
“That makes this a bad plan!” Lily said, tears streaming from her eyes. She knew that he hadn’t just done this out of some misguided or reckless impetus. No, that was something up her alley. For all his bad ass and seemingly irresponsible demeanor, Blake had proven himself an elegant tactician and strategist, and the look on Gavin’s face was a mixture of pride and nervousness. He trusts him, even now, Lily realized.
“I’m okay,” he assured her, touching her cheek, and leaned down to kiss her. She kissed him back, warping her lips around his, and tried to fight back another urge to cry. His tongue slid calmly against hers, almost as if reassuring her. “Now, if we’re going to make this work, let’s do it before I pass out—Gavin, take her on your bike to Jimmy’s. Then come back to the edge of Beaver Creek. I’ll be waiting for you there. Got it?”
Gavin nodded but Lily held Blake in her arms and didn’t make any effort to move away from his embrace. “I don’t want to go, let me come with you,” she begged. It went against her programming—she had always been looking out for herself, never compromising her independence. I’m not alone anymore; the thought was a flux of nails pinned against her heart, straining every time she moved or breathed. It wasn’t just the growing child inside of her, still a pocket of cells.
It was the fact that Blake hadn’t abandoned her.
She had come expecting to tell him about the pregnancy, and then to have left again, knowing full well that he wouldn’t want anything to do with her. But that hadn’t happened at all. It was something she knew they still had to talk about, and that there were many obstacles in the way. But she had never doubted, since this morning, that it was beyond their abilities—even when they’d been ambushed by the shifters, even now as her tattooed lover held his side where he’d shot himself, all in order to make it convincing for his best friend to bring him into custody. He’s always thinking about everyone else but himself.
She steeled herself. So be it. She would do what she could—she had some experience covering murders, and she knew the process of law and evidence better than most because of some of her beats. If there was anything linking Connor to the murder of his father, she’d find it.
“Goddammit, you stupid idiot,” she murmured, hoisting him up with help from Gavin. “This is a suicide plan, you realize.”
“Nah,” he said confidently and groaned. “You and I have too much to live for. Isn’t that right?”
He winked at her, and she took his meaning, and her hand went to her lower stomach again. If Gavin caught the gesture, he didn’t say anything, and she was grateful—but also fearful—as Blake shooed her away and she reluctantly got on the back of Gavin’s bike.
“Meet you at the sign,” the bandana-wearing shifter remarked. “Don’t bleed out on me before then, or I will be royally pissed.”
Blake gave a coy two finger salute as they pulled out, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. Blake groaned again and checked his side. It wasn’t bleeding a lot, but the bullet had strayed in farther than he’d planned. A small exit wound was seeping against his makeshift tourniquet. He grunted and pulled his arms through the sleeves of his leather jacket, leaving it open down the middle. His fingers were ruddy with dried blood as he popped the clutch and took off as well.
I hope I didn’t lie to you, Lily, he thought.
If Connor wanted his head, there was little now to stop the Alpha from finishing him off. It was a matter of wits now, between whether or not Connor still needed him and whether or not Blake had underestimated the young leader’s sense of superciliousness.
CHAPTER SEVEN
True to his word, Gavin returned to the Beaver Creek sign on the south side where the town limits began. Blake had already parked his bike over the edge, and much like Lily’s Camry, had covered it with foliage. He was holding his side and panting when he climbed ba
ck up onto the road and Gavin screeched to a halt.
“God, dude, you look awful.” Gavin wrinkled his nose. “Are you sure that bullet when all the way through? I feel like I’m going to arrive with a corpse—if you’re still set on this plan?”
Blake groaned and exhaled slowly. “It’s the only way,” Blake said after a pause. “Did you get Lily to Jimmy’s all right?”
Gavin nodded. “She didn’t want to, but she’s like iron, dude. It took me a little bit to recognize her. She’s the chick from the wake, I remember now, even though I was sloshed. You two are an item now?” He held up his hand. “Maybe don’t tell me. Safer that way.”
Blake lugged himself onto the back of Gavin’s bike and leaned heavily into his protégé. “Let’s get this over with,” he said, and Gavin nodded.
“Can I ask you something though?” Blake made an mm sound—he closed his eyes against the sweet wind that plowed over his face and ran up the sleeves of his jacket. His side had gone numb in a bad way, but it only hurt when he twisted the wrong way or took in too deep a breath. “What’s the deal with you two… really?”
There was an unspoken level in Gavin’s voice, like he already suspected something and was simply offering his support, whatever it ended up needing to be. Blake let out a half-cough half-laugh and patted him on the shoulder. “She’s very special to me, Gav, that’s all,” he said. “If this thing goes south on me, I need you to promise me something.”
“Oh, c’mon, man.”
“No, listen,” he asserted. “If something happens, you need to get her out of here. No questions, and don’t look back. Just do that for me, Gavin. One last favor.”
“You ain’t dead yet,” he said. “One step at a time.”
As they entered into Beaver Creek, Blake leaned more heavily against Gavin, trying to make himself look even more injured than he already was, which wasn’t a difficult thing to do. There were lots of bikes, just as he’d said—he recognized many of the blue tinged bikes as belong to the Devils. The Eaters of the Dead had a variety of bikes modded from the ground up, but all of them wore the same fire emblazoned handkerchiefs around their necks. A veritable gang gathering, he thought—all of the main shops, even the hotel, had “CLOSED” signs in their windows. All except Jack’s.
“More of them have arrived,” Gavin whispered, and put on a grim face.
All the faces on the street, some on their bikes, some smoking, others lounging near the bar, cast their eyes toward the pair as Gavin came to a slow stop. One of the Ursas—the punk chick with the Mohawk, Sarah—saw them and came forward. There was a small pin on the lapel of her leather jacket; she’d been promoted. But as she approached Gavin and his “prisoner,” she didn’t look at all happy about it.
“Gavin! What… Blake,” she gasped, and realized that many of the others from the gang were watching her. A look passed between her and Gavin. “Y-you want to see Melissa. She’s at the hall right now, Connor’s there too.” She stopped herself. “…You… you could still run.” Her voice had become a whisper.
“We’ll be okay,” Blake assured her through a pained look. “Take care of yourself, Sarah.”
Gavin revved the engine again and headed down a side street that led to the town hall. Sure enough, Connor’s iconic bike was parked in the center, and was larger than the others. Blake couldn’t help but notice the giant metal skull emblazoned on the front, stuck in a perpetual silence scream. Here we go, he thought, allowing Gavin to help him off the bike. His protégé took out the shotgun from its leather sheath on the bike and took a position behind Blake.
“We could still run, like Sarah said,” he said, his courage faltering.
“Don’t you piss out on me, now,” Blake said, struggling forward on his own. His hand was permanently pressed against his side, and the tourniquet had soaked all the way through, and stained his hand with a red mark.
At the door to the hall there were two more guards—one was a Blue Devil and the other an Ursa, who recognized Blake and Gavin immediately.
“I found ‘im,” Gavin said, clearing his throat. “Let me in.”
The guards looked over the prisoner who fumbled forward and ducked his head.
“So you came around at last, eh, Gavin? Connor will be pleased… Go in, Connor and the others are finishing up on talks,” the Ursa said, making his own allegiance quite clear, and pushed open the doors. Blake had to wince against the strange light that was coming from inside—most of it was illuminated by candles, and it gave an almost medieval feel to the whole congregation.
There were indeed a huge number of all three gangs in attendance, nearly three dozen in total crowded into the room. Tables had been arranged in a U-shape, but at the far end, Connor and Melissa had set themselves up like royalty. Blake lifted his chin as Gavin pushed him into the room with the point of the shotgun. He groaned and staggered, trying to act the part of a wounded prisoner. There was an immediate silence followed by a lingering shush that floated over everyone in attendance. Everyone knew Blake, if not personally, then at least by reputation.
He was Damian’s second in command. The Beta of the Ursa Majors. And, if Connor would have them believe it, a traitor to my own tribe, Blake thought, trying to take stock of all the characters around him. He saw a mixture of emotions in many of them, especially the lower tier shifters—they feared him and they respected him, and no one knew exactly what to make of his sudden appearance.
That included Connor and Melissa who stood up with grim, tight-lipped looks. Melissa cast a scornful look at him that was clean and pure in its hatred, and didn’t seem to hide any sort of deception. Blake shook his head and raised his head at them. Connor, on the other hand, was nearly fuming.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Connor boomed at last, bringing the audience to attention.
“I found him,” Gavin repeated, this time trying to make his voice louder and more authoritative. “On the edge of town. He was trying to escape. Had to wing him a bit. I knew you’d want me to bring him here right away. Was I wrong?”
Connor narrowed his eyes at Gavin; in truth, the Alpha probably would have preferred to have Blake delivered to him in private, where he could mete out his own punishment on the former Beta. To have brought Blake into the middle of the town hall with not only Ursas present, but members from the two other gangs, had thrown a wrench into his plans.
Good, Blake thought, now let’s turn up the heat.
“Well played, Connor,” Blake said, standing up straight. Behind him, Gavin kept the shotgun at his back. It wasn’t like he had any other choice—the two of them were completely out numbered. “I heard you’ve been gossiping mightily about me behind my back.”
Melissa jumped over the table and sped toward him, moving swiftly. Of all the shifters, she was by far the fastest—even when Damian had been alive, he’d always sent her on the missions that required fleetness of foot, and she lived up to that reputation now. Blake barely had time to turn his head to the side before he felt her fist slamming into the side of his face and landed hard on the floor.
“Silence, you beast!” Melissa spat, anger fueling her voice. She had on a tight pair of jeans and a short leather jacket that rode up just above her waist, and it creaked as she stood above him. “My husband protected you—believed in you—brought you up through the ranks, because he trusted you. And you’ve dishonored his memory. Worse than that, you turned your back on your own tribe and your vows,” she hissed and moved her boot out and brought it down slowly on his hand. Blake grunted as his hands unfolded under the weight. The tattoos on the back of his knuckles showed plainly.
“I never betrayed anyone,” he said, snarling through the pain. “Not Damian—not even you, Melissa. Someone has set me up. But instead of questioning me, someone jumped to conclusions, a conclusion that had been carefully scripted, and suddenly I’m the enemy? Think, Melissa!”
Melissa put more weight on his hand and Blake snarled but remained on the ground and bore it bravely. Many
of the other shifters made disgusted faces, but whether they were disgusted at the idea of betrayal or the demonstration of Melissa’s ruthlessness, it was hard to tell. A mixture of both, Blake guessed.
“We found Tanis’ body,” she said, “torn apart by a grizzly. Care to explain?”
Blake felt overwhelmed by sadness. “He attacked me first,” he said, trying to defend himself. “I didn’t mean to kill him—he forced my hand.”
“So you admit it?!” Connor snarled.
“I admit he died in my arms,” Blake said, raising his eyes at his nemesis. “Whispering your name—he said you ordered him to kill Ogre. All in order to incriminate me. Everyone knew about my fight with Ogre at Damian’s wake. Getting rid of Ogre was the perfect excuse to pin it on me!”
That outburst took the whole room by surprise, and all but Connor seemed to recoil from the accusation. Even Melissa stopped for a moment, confronted with such a wild story—but she was no fool, and something glimmered in her eye.
“Madness,” she whispered, “and lies. All of it.”
Connor slammed his fist on the table. “If you’re so innocent, Blake, then explain why you attacked two of my scouts who found you this morning,” he turned to the others in the room, “with the help of a human, he attacked both scouts, and nearly killed them. One is in the hospital right now, and might have to have his foot amputated! You’re not fooling anyone, Blake!”
Blake scowled and opened his mouth to protest, but Melissa beat him to the punch.
“Take him away, we’ll deal with him later,” Melissa spat.
“What’s going on here, Melissa?!” Blake shouted as two other shifters came forward and picked him up roughly by the shoulders. “What are you planning, Connor?”
“I have nothing to say to the likes of you,” Connor replied. He hadn’t moved from behind the table, but he fidgeted as he looked around the room. “My mother has already made your fate clear. We’ll take care of you later. You will be punished for murdering your own. And you know the penalty.”
