by Laura Taylor
“Right here,” came a voice from right beside him, making Baron leap half out of his skin as he spun around.
“Can you go escort this piece of dog’s bollocks up to the house? He’ll want to see the kitchen and speak to George. You know the drill.”
“On it, boss,” Tank said, disappearing out the front door. The door had barely closed behind him when the large clock on the top of the manor began to chime, and Baron breathed a silent ‘thank you’ that someone had had the sense to sound the alarm. Everyone in the foyer scattered, the clock being the universal signal for when a non-shifter was coming onto the estate, and the entire Den began effecting an extremely rapid lockdown. They had only three or four minutes until Andrew was at the front door, and by that time, they needed to have every shifter in human form, every private door shut, and every single hint of canines in the kitchen thoroughly removed. Right now, that was the biggest issue, so Baron headed there, to lend a hand to the rapid clearing away of dog dishes and half-chewed bones, and to see that not a single canine footprint was left anywhere near the food prep areas.
Tank walked quickly down to the front gate, praying that the man who waited for him was, in fact, a health inspector. That by itself was no small issue, as there was a multitude of items around the house that would need to be hidden or moved before the man set foot inside the door, but it was a far better option than the next most likely scenario – that the Noturatii had finally found them. Under normal circumstances, unannounced visitors were a cause for concern. With the chaos that had been going down in the last few days, the slightest hint of something amiss was going to cause all sorts of people to lose their shit.
As the gate came into view, Tank let his wolf senses come to the fore. The man standing beside it was dressed in a neat suit, he was middle-aged and had a relaxed air about him. There was nothing nervous or suspicious in his body language, and while that was a point in his favour, it came with no guarantees.
“Afternoon,” Tank greeted the man. “I’m Tom.” Everyone in the Den had fake names they used for these situations, just in case any report by a well meaning public servant ever fell into the wrong hands. “Andrew, was it?”
“Andrew Flanagan,” the man said. “I’m here for a health inspection of your food preparation areas.”
“Of course,” Tank said, as politely as possible. “Would you mind showing me your ID?”
The man reached into his pocket, and Tank waited, tense and alert, for the few seconds it took him to find the required document, only relaxing when his hand appeared again holding an ID card. Tank took it through the bars of the gate and read the details, before handing it back. The card looked authentic, and the man’s timing was spot on. It had been a year since their last inspection – the usual time that their ‘business’ was routinely inspected – and that in itself was reassuring.
“Come on in,” Tank invited him, entering the code to open the gate. “If you don’t mind, I’ll catch a ride up in your car with you.”
“Of course,” Andrew replied amicably. He got into his car and drove it through the gates, and Tank made sure the electronic lock was closed firmly again behind him, after first glancing up and down the road to ensure there were no other vehicles or suspicious characters lurking about.
Moments later, they were pulling up in front of the manor, Tank directing Andrew to park in the visitors’ parking to the right of the entrance.
“You’re not the same guy who was here last year, are you?” Tank said conversationally as they got out of the car. It was partly to dig for information and partly a stalling tactic. He wanted to give everyone as much time as possible to get things sorted inside the manor.
“No, that would have been Clarence,” Andrew told him. “He’s away on holiday at the moment. In the Caribbean.” Then he added “Lucky bastard,” under his breath. “But wow, I mean… this place is extraordinary. Absolutely beautiful architecture. And the gardens!”
“Would you like to take a look?” Tank offered, sure there would be nothing outside the manor to cause any trouble. Everyone would have reverted to human form the instant the clock chimed. And if it gave them another five minutes to clean up inside, then all the better.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Andrew said with enthusiasm.
Tank led him around the side of the manor, showing him the formal gardens, the rose beds, the fruit trees that were losing their leaves and turning dormant in preparation for winter. And while they were at it, he gave a running monologue on the history of the house, who had built it, when the extra wing on the west side had been added, the fact that it had been used as a sheep farm for many years – all stuff that was public knowledge and so provided a convenient distraction away from any discussions on the more recent history of the property.
Finally they headed inside, and Tank took Andrew straight to the kitchen. George was waiting there, no doubt having come straight down when he’d heard that a health inspector had arrived. Despite the constant presence of wolves in the kitchen, the Den was still conscious of the need for decent hygiene practices and had all the usual components of a commercial kitchen – hand washing facilities, different chopping boards for various foods, thermometers in their fridges to ensure the food was stored at the correct temperature. But even so, with twenty different people using the facilities every day, things tended to wander, or small details got overlooked, and it was for that reason that he’d taken the extra time in the gardens. The rubber mat by the back door and the dog dishes had been removed and the floor swept, and Tank also knew without looking that any leftover food in the fridge from last night’s dinner would have been disposed of. Just in case.
“This is Gary,” Tank introduced George, who was waiting nervously by the sink. In his case, the nervousness was more due to the fear that the inspector would actually find something wrong with his standards in the kitchen, rather than that he would detect any suspicious goings on of the canine variety. George had worked as a chef, back before he’d joined the shifters, and he took pride in running the kitchen to professional standards. “He’s the head caterer. Buys in all the food, runs the kitchen in the evenings. If you have any questions, he’ll be happy to help you out.”
Andrew smiled widely – an expression that Tank was beginning to suspect he wore a large proportion of the time – and shook George’s hand. “How are you? I shouldn’t take too long. Shall we start with the records? Receipt of food, fridge temperatures, cleaning schedules?”
“Of course,” George replied, pulling out a series of notebooks. No doubt he was used to these sorts of inspections from his days working in a restaurant and knew exactly what Andrew would be looking for. Tank waited while Andrew perused the records, then started examining the kitchen itself, checking for any sign of vermin in the cupboards, testing that the dishwasher was functioning, then he took out a laser thermometer to check the temperature of the fridges. There were three in all, two for human foods, but by pure chance, Andrew went to the third one first, opened the door… and stopped.
The whole fridge was stocked full of meat, and Tank stood quietly as the man peered at the shelves, a frown wrinkling his face, as he waited for the inevitable question.
“How many guests do you currently have on the estate?” Andrew asked.
Tank pretended to play dumb. “Currently there’s only the live-in staff. But we have a large group arriving today. Twenty guests for a week-long stay. Why? Is there a problem?”
But Andrew relaxed at the news. “Ah, I see,” he said, stepping back and closing the fridge. “That makes sense, then. It just seemed a large supply of meat, and some of it is quite close to its used-by date. But if you’ve got a group coming in… I’m sorry, the grounds had seemed rather deserted when I arrived.”
Tank smiled genially, an easy feat, given his naturally outgoing nature. “Wait until six o’clock comes around, and it’ll get a whole lot noisier.” As with the best lies, it was based on truth. By the time evening rolled around, Sempre
would have arrived and started screeching about her rights, and the Council would have flown in and be trying to create strategies to control the shit-storm that Genna had created.
At the reminder of Genna’s actions, Tank felt his almost-jovial mood vanish. He still couldn’t believe she’d betrayed them, whether under Sempre’s coercive influence or not. Even if she hadn’t known about the Treaty, how could she have been so blind as to-
He forcefully put the idea from his mind. He had far more urgent things to think about right now, and he didn’t need to give the health inspector any reason to stay any longer than-
“Oh dear.”
“What’s wrong?” Tank and George asked at the same time, Tank pulling his wandering attention back to Andrew to see him peering at the second fridge, this one full of the usual human supplies.
“This fridge is too warm,” he said, staring at his laser thermometer. “It’s supposed to be kept below four degrees at all times, and currently it’s five point six.”
“That can’t be,” George protested, flicking through his notebooks. “I check the temperature every morning and evening. It’s always been…” He trailed off as he looked at the thermometer on the top of the fridge – 3.9 degrees – and then at the reading on Andrew’s laser thermometer, which clearly read 5.6. “Oh dear,” he said forlornly.
“This is going to need to be urgently rectified,” Andrew told them, scribbling something in his notebook. “You’ll need to get your thermometers recalibrated. Or replaced, if necessary. And we’ll need to come back and recheck them in a week or two.”
“Of course, of course,” George agreed. “I’ll have it seen to straight away.”
Tank waited while Andrew checked the third fridge – no further dramas there – and then checked the rest of the kitchen. The clean-up crew had done a thorough job in the few minutes they’d had, the bins emptied, the soap dispenser refilled, everything looking clean and presentable, as would be expected in a commercial kitchen, and by the time he left, Andrew was once again smiling broadly. “Just the one minor issue,” he said to George, handing him a report. “On the whole, I’m very impressed. I only wish more businesses kept things in shape as well as you do.”
“I’ll show you back to the gate,” Tank offered, leaving a beaming George in the kitchen and leading Andrew back out to the foyer. “Sorry for the inconvenience, but some of our guests prefer to maintain their privacy, so we keep a fairly tight eye on security.”
“No problem,” Andrew said genially. “I’m not here to be intrusive. Just to make sure you’re ticking all the boxes.”
Tank opened the front door… and froze as he saw the large, white van parked outside. And then his heart rate doubled as he caught sight of Sempre standing beside the driver’s side door.
CHAPTER NINE
Five minutes earlier, Caroline had been pacing the foyer, torn between boredom and anxiousness as she waited for Sempre to arrive. She didn’t want her to show up before that blasted health inspector left, of course, but until then there was nothing else to do, and idleness was not something Caroline had ever dealt with well. What she really wanted to be doing was pounding her fists into a punching bag, letting out all the frustration at the two lots of bad news they’d had to deal with in the last twenty-four hours. But that would have to wait. Until Sempre had been dealt with, any other-
The intercom alarm chimed just then, and an instant later Caroline was wishing her boredom back again. Flaming hell, the last thing they needed to be dealing with was Sempre running into a regular human.
Pushing her fears aside, she answered the intercom in the standard manner, making an effort to sound welcoming. There was the slim possibility it wasn’t Sempre, after all… “Welcome to Misty Hills. How can I help you?”
“We have an appointment,” Sempre’s voice came through the line, and though the response was thoroughly predictable, Caroline nonetheless felt a weight settle in her gut. “I’ll be right down,” she said, then set out for the gate at a fast jog. The health inspector was still holed up in the kitchen, and if she was quick, she might be able to get Sempre out the way before he emerged.
Sempre was waiting beside her van when Caroline arrived, arms folded, a scowl fixed on her face. But she brightened a fraction when she saw who had come to greet her, and the look on her face might even have passed for a smile, in dim light and if one wasn’t looking too closely. That Caroline should be the one to meet her had been a firm part of their plan. Sempre still held a lingering respect for her, left over from the time Caroline had lived among the Watch, and despite their differing views on the world and the role of the shifters in it, they still managed to find some common ground on the odd occasions they met.
“It’s good to see you again,” Caroline said as she approached the gate. “I only wish it could have been under better circumstances.”
“Wolves of your skill and integrity are hard to find,” Sempre replied, a compliment that nonetheless managed to deride many of the other shifters on the estate. “I’m glad to see you still run.”
“Before I let you in, I should tell you there’s been a small complication,” Caroline said hastily, glancing at the van. She could see at least two other women inside, and there might be more sitting out of view. “We currently have a human visitor on the premises.”
There was a telling pause as Sempre took in that news. “A human? You knew we were coming and you let a human onto your estate?”
“A health inspector showed up about half an hour ago to examine our kitchen,” she explained quickly, cutting off the inevitable tirade from Sempre. “Legally, we couldn’t refuse him entry without damaging our cover-story business.” Please don’t start a rant about the risks of living in human society, Caroline pleaded silently, hoping Sirius would hear her prayer and knock some sense into Sempre. “He should be leaving soon, but until he does, I have to insist that none of you shift, or make any reference at all to what we really are.”
“Well, of course,” Sempre said, seeming affronted that Caroline would even think there was a need to ask. “We’re not blind pups, you know.” She drew herself up, peering up the driveway towards the manor. “Shall we get on with it, then?”
Well, that was easier than she’d expected, Caroline thought with relief. She entered the code and the gate swung open. “Park in the visitors area beside the garage and I’ll meet you up there,” she said. Sempre climbed back into her van and proceeded up the drive. Caroline closed the gate and followed along behind on foot.
At the top of the hill, Sempre parked beside the manor, next to the little sedan that Andrew had brought, and the women quickly climbed out. There were four in total, including Sempre; Caroline recognised Skye, Meili and Lucia, all of them high ranking wolves, and while she held a certain respect for both Skye and Lucia from her brief dealings with the pack, Meili was a cause for concern. The woman had a malicious streak, and with both Lita and Feriur dead, she would have her eye set on the role of 2IC. Caroline had little doubt she would be both willing and able to manipulate herself into the position.
“How about we head into the library,” Caroline said, “and I can explain what’s been going on.”
But before anyone could reply, the front door opened suddenly, and Caroline’s heart rate increased as the health inspector stepped out, Tank following close behind.
“Ah, it seems your visitors have arrived,” the man said to Tank, beaming cheerfully, but Caroline could tell from the sudden tension in his stance that Tank was as startled by the meeting as she was.
Andrew looked the women over as he headed for his car, trying not to be obvious about it, but clearly surprised by their appearance. Caroline understood his curiosity. Four women dressed in identical grey robes was an unusual sight, and she felt some sort of explanation was warranted. “These ladies are from a nunnery up north,” she said, latching onto the first idea that came into her head. “They’ve arranged a retreat on the estate.” The moment the words were out of her
mouth, she regretted them. From Andrew’s first comment, it seemed that Tank had mentioned something about extra visitors arriving, but she had no idea what he might have told him about them. Perhaps she should have just kept her mouth shut.
“I see,” Andrew said, then his eyes narrowed a fraction. “This is not the usual habit of nuns, though, is it?”
“We’re not Catholics,” Sempre told him, toning down her usual sharpness to a more pleasant timbre. “Our religion is more linked to druidism and nature worship.”
“How charming,” Andrew said, looking genuinely interested. “We all seem to have lost a lot of our connections to the natural world. It’s marvellous that groups like yours still exist.”
“If you’ll excuse us, the ladies have had a long drive, and I’m sure they’d like to freshen up,” Caroline said quickly, wanting to cut the conversation short before Andrew started asking too many questions. She turned back to Sempre. “Shall I show you to your rooms?”
“Please,” Sempre said, still all smiles and politeness, but rather than reassuring her, Caroline found the effect rather disconcerting. A degree of skill in deception was necessary for any shifter, but Sempre’s ability to turn the charm on and off so suddenly was now only an indication of the fact that she was not to be trusted. If she was capable of such pleasantness, then Caroline had to wonder why she would persistently choose to be so caustic and mean-spirited the rest of the time.
She led the group of women into the library, while Tank distracted Andrew and led him to his car. Inside, Sempre went to the window and peered out. The instant Andrew’s car pulled away, she was back to business, all traces of pleasantness gone.
“Genna is accused of murdering Feriur, my second-in-command,” she announced. “According to the Treaty, you’re required to hand her back to us for judgement.”
