by Tally Adams
"Well, of course I did," Paoli said defensively, pacing the length of the room and back. "I tried to explain how it was necessary for her protection."
Emily gave him a disgusted look. "Keep it up, and Sekhmet's prey won't be the ones you need to worry about staking you."
Paoli gave an exasperated huff. "Our enemies are surrounding us," he said animatedly. "She's been attacked not once, but twice by werewolves, and has now arrived at the top of Lycaon's list of vengeance. Do you think she's safe, running around on her own?" He turned his attention to William. "Would you let Emily run around loose under those circumstances?"
William's eyes cut to Emily and back to Paoli. "I'm not so stupid as to answer that," he said carefully.
"You see?" Paoli said, as if he'd proven an important point.
"I'm not saying she's safe. What I'm saying is you can't imprison her at your side," Emily said reasonably.
"If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it," Paoli said.
"Any idea is better than that!" Emily returned. "And stop with the pacing before you make me seasick."
Paoli did stop, but with complete ill-grace. He needed to move, to be doing something to relieve the nervous tension. For the first time, he was almost afraid to rest, for fear what he might find when he rose again. What if something happened to her while he slept? What if Lycaon managed to find her? They still didn't even know how Lycaon's people had gotten her phone number. Or why they'd called her.
Why had they called her?
That was very strange. Normally, the element of surprise was the goal in battle. A person can't prepare for what they don't see coming and all. Why would they have tipped her off? It made no sense.
"Do you think it was Amber who called Lyric today?" he asked no one in particular.
The change in Emily was immediate. She got quiet and took a drink from the cup in her hand, looking away while William caught his eye and glared at him pointedly. He groaned inwardly. Yes, he was aware it was a painful subject for Emily, but it was still something they needed to discuss.
"I think so," Emily finally said. "But I can't figure out why."
Paoli fell silent, trying to piece it together. There had to be a reason.
"Do you think they might have been baiting a trap?" William wondered.
It was a thought. "To what end?" Paoli asked.
Emily gasped as a thought occurred to her. "What if they were trying to spook her so she'd run from the flock?"
Paoli froze, considering the implications of that. "That would mean they were close enough to see her," he said. "To know if she was alone." Which also meant they could have followed them to the vampire nest and here; to their new location.
Which got William on his feet. "Where's Empusa?" he demanded, already heading toward the door.
"I'm not sure," Emily said, leaping up from the table to follow.
Paoli was on her heels, following on high-alert. He focused his attention on Lyric's door to assure himself she was safe. Nothing seemed amiss, but his relief was short-lived. Sunrise was less than an hour away. If their enemies had followed them here, that meant they had all day before he and Sekhmet rose.
"We need to search the area for any sign," William announced, pushing himself into wolf form.
Paoli watched as Emily did the same and the two of them headed off in one direction. As soon as he lost sight of them, he slid into fog and streaked off the opposite way, searching for any sign of an unknown werewolf.
There were too many unanswerable questions for his comfort. At the top of the list, however, was how had they gotten Lyric's phone information? Was it possible they had a hacker who could track down that type of thing? And if so, could they use her phone's GPS to track the pack? He considered it while he traveled high through the treetops to better see the land below and give himself a bird's eye view.
Was that how they'd known the pack was with Jonathon; by tracking Lyric's GPS? It was something to consider. They needed to get her a new phone, just to be on the safe side. And ditch her car. With the broken windshield, it didn't blend as well as it needed to. A broken windshield made the car memorable, even if nothing else on it was.
Little by little, he searched the land around the motel; on alert for any sign someone had been there. He found evidence of humans in the small patch of woods that separated the motel from a patch of open land, but it was old and of no consequence. Likely, a drifter had stayed there a day or two before moving on. Other than that, he found nothing out of the ordinary. No one lurking in the shadows; no scent of werewolves anywhere to be found. Which didn't mean they hadn't followed them here by car. It just meant they hadn't parked and started surveillance yet.
Once he was satisfied there was nothing more to see, he joined William and Emily back in their room. All three of them were now full with the need for action; Paoli, at least, convinced they were sitting ducks where they were. William was more sanguine.
"Calm down," he said, watching as Paoli went back to pacing.
"Easy for you to say," Paoli returned. "Do you realize how fragile humans are? How lucky she's been up to this point?"
"Have you thought about," Emily paused, glancing between the two men, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "You know...converting her?"
"No," Paoli said vehemently. "She's an immortal human, and that's what she'll stay."
"But humans aren't immortal," Emily pointed out.
Paoli stopped pacing and looked at her, surprised she didn't understand until he reminded himself how new Emily was to the immortal world, herself. "Lyric is. That's the whole idea behind our bond. She's connected to me, which means as long as nothing external gets her, she lives while I do. Time and disease have no effect on her."
"What?" Emily gasped. "Have you told her that?"
"I was planning to discuss it with her tonight, but she threw me out of her room," he said disgustedly, resuming pacing.
"Is that after you mentioned you wanted to basically put her on pause until you rose in the evenings?" Emily asked delicately.
Paoli scowled at her. Then, considering her words, he finally understood why Lyric had gotten so upset. In his quest to keep her safe, he'd basically decided to steal her free will and the very essence of who she was.
He started toward the door. He needed to talk to her; to apologize for being an ignorant ass. William's voice stopped him just before he reached the doorknob. "You don't have time for that conversation right now," he said. "Sunrise is almost upon us. Go rest today and grovel tomorrow. We'll keep her safe until you rise. Then we can all work together to figure this out."
Chapter Thirty Five
Lyric was in a bad mood. She'd been in a bad mood since kicking Paoli out of her bed, and a night of poor sleep didn't help. It was his audacity that enraged her. As if he thought she should only exist when he did. Like she didn't have the right to a life outside of him. Even reminding herself he came from a very different time didn't help her mood because, by her reasoning, he'd actually been there for the women's liberation movement. He knew how hard women had fought for the right to tell a man to take a flying leap.
She grabbed her gun and a pocketful of bullets with the intention of finding a new practice location. After yesterday, she was more determined than ever to get good enough to be confident with her weapon. Whether she intended to shoot her enemies or Paoli, she'd decide when the time came. When she opened the door, however, Emily nearly fell backward through it, having apparently been using it as a lean post.
After a mixture of shrieking and embarrassed laughter, Emily caught herself on the doorjamb and kept from taking them both to the floor. "Sorry about that," she said when their laughter subsided. "I thought I'd hear you when you got up, but I must not have been paying attention."
Lyric eyed her suspiciously. After the argument last night, it seemed awfully convenient to have Emily just hanging out at her door. "Did Paoli send you to babysit me?" she demanded.
Emily's smile faded. She glanced ov
er her shoulder a little apprehensively, then gave a bob of her head that could have meant anything. "Can we talk?" she asked tensely, gesturing toward the table.
Lyric was intrigued. Emily's demeanor seemed almost conspiratorial, which sparked her interest. "All right," she agreed slowly, moving aside to let Emily pass so she could close the door.
Emily seemed a bit jumpy, which became almost infectious. They sat down in the two flimsy chairs at the table and Emily gave her what was unmistakably an appraising look. "I have an idea," she said. "If you're willing to try something a little out of the box. I haven't mentioned it to the guys yet because I wanted to see what you thought first. And also, I don't think they're going to like my plan."
Lyric smiled slowly. She liked the sound of that. "I'm all ears."
"I thought you might be," Emily beamed. "To answer your earlier question, yes, Paoli did ask us to stay close and keep you safe today. But that's not why I'm here." Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. "I was thinking last night. We need an actual plan to capture Lycaon. We can't just keep stumbling around, hoping something will change. Since we know he's in the area, what we need to do is set a trap."
"What kind of trap?" Lyric wanted to know.
"That's the part I'm not sure about yet," Emily admitted, worrying at her lower lip with her teeth. "But, I thought we might get him to reveal himself if we...ah...use you."
Lyric looked at her uneasily. "Use me, how?"
"You know. Use you as...well...bait."
Lyric's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You want to use me as bait?"
"Hear me out," Emily went on. "Lycaon has decided he wants to kill you personally. To redeem himself from the injury you caused. He's an old-time king, which means he'll want to make a show of it; to prove his power to his followers. So, what if we use your phone's GPS to keep track of your location and lead us to Lycaon's hideout?"
"You want them to kidnap me?" Lyric asked, aghast.
"It sounds bad when you say it like that. But, essentially, yes," Emily said.
"No way!" Lyric cried. "Are you crazy? I don't have a death wish."
"Wait, now listen. If we load you up with silver; hidden in inconspicuous places, you'd be in a position to defend yourself, if the need arose."
"Okay. Let's just say for one second I'd agree to this lunacy. Once I arrive at Lycaon's feet, then what? Granted, you guys might be tracking my phone, but what's the plan once you know where he is? We saw him in battle once already and the only thing we managed to do was shoot him from afar. Which, if you'll recall, did nothing more than ruin his shirt and piss him off," Lyric pointed out. "How does it help us to capture or kill him?"
"If you could manage to shoot him at close range, that would be great," Emily said. "But-"
"That's your plan? I just arrive at his feet and shoot him?" Lyric actually laughed aloud. "You don't think they'd search me before dumping me in front of their leader?"
"I didn't say the plan was fool-proof," Emily said defensively.
"This plan is fool-hardy!" Lyric threw out. "I sound more like a sacrifice in this than anything. Besides, how would we even go about using me as bait?"
Emily frowned, then gave a sigh. "We suspect they must have someone watching you, since the only thing that phone call could have accomplished is trying to scare you into separating yourself. If there was no one watching, what good would it do to get you away from the flock?"
At those words, a memory flickered through Lyric's mind. "On the first night we met with the wolves, I could have sworn I saw a shadow hiding at the corner of the building," she said, remembering how she'd dismissed it at the time, thinking she was imagining things. But, what if there really had been someone there?
Emily's eyes went round. "And you just thought to mention this now?" she gasped.
"I wasn't positive at the time," Lyric explained. "When I took a second look, I didn't see anything. So, I thought it was just too much stress, you know?"
Emily stood and began pacing. "Was it a man or woman?"
"I don't know. It was just a shadowy shape," Lyric said, racking her brain to remember any detail, anything at all that might prove helpful. But the shadow was all there had been.
Emily continued to pace around for a while. She did a bit of huffing, lip chewing and scowling, clearly thinking hard. Finally, she sat back down and said, "you left your phone in the car that night, right?"
"Right."
"If someone was watching, it would have been easy for them to search the car and find it," Emily decided aloud.
"Which is how they got my number," Lyric surmised.
Emily's smile was still thoughtful. "And they might have marked the GPS, so they could track you."
Lyric once again felt like the weak link. They were all in danger because of her. In a way, it seemed strangely ironic that she wasn't in danger because she was among a pack—or flock—of movie-worthy monsters. Instead, it was the monsters in danger because of her. Leave it to her to pick the biggest, baddest one there was to make a personal enemy of. Well, she figured sardonically, if you're going to pick an enemy, might as well pick a worthy one.
"If it's the phone they're tracking, we might be able to revise the plan," Emily was saying.
"Even if we use the phone to draw Lycaon out, then what?" Lyric asked. "What's the plan to kill him? Other than my magical power to stay armed in enemy hands."
"If we use the phone to draw him out, we could have William hidden somewhere. Then, when Lycaon's attention is on you, he could take his head from behind. If anyone can do it, William can."
And they were back to not only the phone, but her, as bait.
She was still unconvinced of that part of the plan when sunset fell and the entire flock joined them. Emily was nearly vibrating with excitement as she shared her genius plan, while Lyric was still reserved and uncertain. Until Paoli opened his mouth.
Chapter Thirty Six
"Absolutely not," he said vehemently, his face set.
Which was just the reaction Lyric needed to get on board all the way. "The plan is perfect and I'm doing it," she said stubbornly before she even considered the words.
Paoli fixed her with a level stare. "No, you're not," he said, and his voice was all the more menacing for its being whisper-soft.
She glowered at him, still nursing anger from last night. This new show of ownership just pushed it over the top. It was past time for him to see her as a whole person with a will of her own. If this is what it would take to finally get it through his thick skull once and for all, she was determined to see it through. Even if it meant she'd be quaking in her shoes the whole time. Score one for anger overriding good judgement.
"It's not up to you," she snapped.
"What plan are you even referring to?" Empusa cut in, drawing all eyes onto him. "I mean, let me get this straight. You plan to, what, just walk around with your phone in your pocket, waiting for a random attack? And we're supposed to be hiding in the bushes to ambush your attackers?"
Emily gave him a dirty look, clearly affronted. "If they're tracking Lyric's phone, it's just a matter of time before they come here in hordes. We can't keep running defense all the time. We have a decent guess at what they're up to. It's time to use it to our advantage."
"And we're back to them likely watching us to see if Lyric breaks from the pack," William said, his posturing going more and more tense as the conversation continued.
"Flock," Emily mumbled automatically, earning her an exasperated look from Empusa.
"If they're waiting for Lyric to be scared away before they act, it means they either think they can do it by phone, or they have plans to continue these smaller attacks by day until they either succeed in her capture or get her to separate," Sekhmet added with a speculative look at Lyric.
"Then, what's the plan?" Lyric asked, feeling nervous at the idea yesterday's attack could be just the beginning. She didn't want to go through that again.
"If we want to try a capture, ou
r best bet is the element of surprise," William said, looking meaningfully at Paoli, who shook his head to the unasked question of whether or not he would allow Lyric to be involved.
Unfortunately for them, Lyric noticed the exchange and bolted to her feet, nearly knocking over the chair at the little table where she and Emily were sitting. "I saw that," she accused, pointing back and forth between them. "This isn't up to him," she told William, and for the first time, she found herself completely unafraid when his gray eyes landed on her. "This is my choice. Mine. It's not his decision, so stop with the silent communication."
"You're not going to be involved in this," Paoli said obstinately.
"If it's me they're after, I'm already involved in it," she said angrily. "Now I'm just trying to find a solution before they kill me."
Paoli saw the determination in her face and was forced to recognize she had a point. He didn't like it, but she did have a point. If Lycaon had marked her as a primary target and they knew where she was, it was just a matter of time before the wolves put together a plan to get to her, if they hadn't already. With two of them trapped by daylight, that left only Emily and William to keep her safe. Emily was still learning the art of battle. While William was unmatched in skill, even he had limitations if they brought a large group of wolves to take her by force. Sitting around waiting wasn't an option. But the idea of using her to lure their enemies sent every one of his protective instincts into raging denial. His original plan seemed far more prudent; to put her into a trance by daybreak and keep her in his cabinet with him. Why wouldn't she just listen to reason? "I gave you a solution last night," he pointed out, only to regret his choice of words when her warm brown eyes narrowed on him.
"That was not a solution," she said angrily.
His response was a glower.
"Why not put on a show for whoever might be watching?" Emily piped up reasonably, dragging everyone's curious attention back to her.
