“You guys want a s’more?” Tobias asked cheerfully. Then he shot an apologetic look at Quinn. “Sorry, dude. Forgot about the vampire thing for a second. Lex? S’more?”
“No thank you.” If I was being honest, a s’more sounded great, but I wasn’t certain we were out of danger, and I didn’t want to be covered in sticky marshmallow goo if there was a fight.
“Hey, how’s Sashi?” he asked. “Is she good? Can you say hi for me?”
“Sure. She’s—”
At that moment the emergency exit opened—they must have taped it so it could be opened from either side—and Mary prowled into the room in a long-sleeved black dress made of some kind of sweatshirt material. Her hair was disheveled and her feet were bare, but she moved toward us like she was stalking across a dance floor on stilettos. “Lex,” she said with a small frown. “How did you find us?”
“Locating spell,” I said, crossing my arms. “What the hell, Mary? I tried to protect you, and you stole my fucking car.”
Quinn gave me a sideways glance—you sure you want to do this?—but I didn’t back down. I was pissed, and apparently unable to hide it. Might as well clear the air. “Tell me again about that run-and-hide protocol?”
She abruptly stopped walking, opened her mouth. Closed it again. Then, to my surprise, her shoulders drooped slightly and her eyes went to the floor in front of me. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t lying—there is a protocol—but it involves regrouping at one of our safe locations.” She looked around the room. “This is the one our pack used to have in Colorado, years and years ago.”
“You could have just told me.”
She straightened up. “I wasn’t sure who to trust.”
“Have I done something to make you think you couldn’t trust me?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You mean besides swear loyalty to Maven?”
Walked right into that one. Her voice was sharp, and beside me, Quinn shifted his weight. I could feel Alex’s gaze from the corner of the room, but they hadn’t risen from the bench.
Tobias, meanwhile, was looking back and forth between Mary and me like a crestfallen puppy. “You guys . . . Lex is here to help.” He gave me a hopeful look. “Right?” Before I could answer, he added to Mary, “That’s what she does. She helps.”
I blinked at Tobias for a second. His dedication to Sashi wasn’t surprising, but I hadn’t realized he thought so highly of me.
“Why don’t we all sit?” Quinn suggested. “It’s been a long day.”
It wasn’t like he got tired from standing, but I understood the gesture and allowed Mary to lead us to the empty benches at the opposite side of the room from Alex and Keith. She probably wanted to let them rest, but it came off as a small gesture of trust. Or maybe just a sign that she didn’t find me physically threatening in the least.
“Why are you here?” Mary said once we were settled. “To kick us out of the state?”
I glanced at Quinn, who gave a tiny nod, his cue that I should do the talking. I was less affiliated with Maven than he was, and he could always step in and be the bad cop if I was too permissive. “Believe it or not,” I said to Mary, “we don’t currently give a shit about you guys hiding out here. Bigger fish and all that.”
Mary glanced at Quinn, then back to me as if she couldn’t quite believe it. “What do you mean?”
“Do you know a werewolf named Heather?” I asked. “White, about my height, short black hair, unnecessarily violent?”
Mary shook her head, but Tobias spoke up. “Heather Macrone,” he said, shrinking into himself a little. “She was one of Trask’s favorites.”
Which meant she’d probably participated in tormenting Tobias. Mary immediately wrapped an arm around the taller man, which should have looked clumsy, but he leaned into her. “Tobias,” I said quietly, “I killed her. She’s very, very dead.” I didn’t feel the need to bring up Katia. I didn’t think any of these werewolves knew about her, and I preferred to keep her off their radar just in case.
Tobias straightened up a little, his eyebrows lifting. “Really?”
“I promise,” I assured him.
“Where was this?” Mary asked.
“In Wyoming.”
“Yellowstone?” she asked, searching my face. “There are a bunch of asshole wolves at Yellowstone. We steer clear of them.”
“No, this was just outside Tie Siding.”
Mary’s face twisted into a snarl. “Shit. That’s supposed to be our territory.”
“Tobias,” I said, focusing on him, “do you have any idea what Heather has been doing since the war?”
He shook his head. “I was . . . away.”
At the wolf preserve. I’d figured as much.
“What’s all this about?” Mary asked me.
“Morgan Pellar is trying to use werewolves to start another war, this time between the witches and Maven.”
Mary stood up so fast that Tobias had to put his hand on the bench to keep from being knocked over. “What?”
Chapter 29
I told them about the witch meeting, leaving out only Katia’s involvement. This wasn’t her fight, and I didn’t want my aunt to get any blowback if Finn or one of the others really was involved somehow. During my explanation Alex came over to our side of the room and took a spot on the bench next to Mary.
When I was finished, Mary gave me a hard look. “What is it you want from us?” she demanded.
I glanced at Quinn. His expression was impassive to anyone but me. “We want your help,” I told Mary. “Again.”
She scowled at me. “Because the other side has werewolves, so you figure you need some too?”
“No.” Well, kind of. “Look, we could use some help, period, and it wouldn’t hurt to show the witches that not all werewolves are . . . um . . .”
I searched for a diplomatic word, but Tobias broke in with a grin. “Psycho killers,” he said cheerfully, sending an impish grin toward Mary. Her scowl lightened a little but didn’t go away.
“Well, yeah,” I admitted. “Besides, the bad guys killed three of your people. Helping us comes with the great side benefit of revenge.”
She looked dubious. “But there’s no guarantee that you’ll figure out who actually did this. You really want us to risk our lives for a PR campaign and the possibility of some payback?”
“And territory in Colorado,” Quinn said softly.
Immediately, every conscious werewolf in the room turned their complete attention to him. Both Alex and Tobias had longing expressions. “What makes you think we’d even want that?” Mary demanded. At least she had a poker face.
“Because that’s what Dunn was working on with Maven,” Quinn said. “That was his long-term plan.”
Alex, who had been quiet through my entire explanation, now snorted loudly. “I can assure you that being subservient to a vampire was not one of Ryan Dunn’s plans.”
“No one said anything about being subservient,” I told them. Before Alex could answer, I turned back to Mary. “Colorado is a big state. When the treaty is up in three years, werewolves are going to come back in—”
“Unless Maven just kills everyone who tries,” Alex snapped.
I blinked, looking back and forth between Mary and Alex. “She wouldn’t—”
Alex interrupted with a harsh laugh. “Of course she would. Do you know how many wolves she killed during the war? Do you think all of them were loyal to Trask?”
The question was rhetorical, of course, but I still didn’t know how to respond. I’d spent only a few minutes with Alex’s file: they weren’t a particularly strong werewolf, and had turned down all opportunities for leadership. They didn’t seem to have any motive for killing Dunn or the Ventimiglias.
“We all lost friends,” Alex said through clenched teeth. “Good people who were too powerless to stand up to Trask.”
My eyes slid to Tobias, who was making himself as small as possible on the bench. He and Alex had both lived in Colorado b
efore the war, although only Tobias had been part of Trask’s pack. “Is that true?” I asked softly.
Tobias cringed even more, as if to hide from my words. “Yes. When Trask began to absorb the other Colorado packs, I wasn’t the only one who opposed it. I was too weak to resist him, but there were lots of Colorado wolves who ran away to avoid being recruited. They hid out in the mountains . . .” He trailed off, looking miserable.
Alex lifted their chin. “Some of us ran north or west, leaving behind everything and everyone we knew. And we were lucky. The ones who stayed in hiding were . . .” They waved a hand, struggling to think of a word.
“Caught in the cross fire,” Mary finished gently. She put her arm around Tobias again, letting him lean into her again.
Quinn and I looked at each other, and I caught his tiny headshake. He hadn’t known about this either. Quinn had moved to Colorado after the war was over.
Now came the part I didn’t want to do, but Maven needed to know if this pack was involved. I looked straight at Alex. “It sounds like you have a pretty good motive to stir up shit in Colorado.”
Alex’s eyes bulged with outrage. “You think I . . . you think I could hurt Dunn?”
Mary put a hand on their shoulder, and Alex seemed to calm under her touch. To me, she said in a surprisingly controlled voice, “We’ve been through this. My pack would not hurt our own. Certainly not out of revenge for a twenty-year-old crime.”
I realized, watching Alex calming down from their anger, that Mary was right: the werewolves ran hot, and struggled to control their impulses. If Alex had wanted to attack Maven, they wouldn’t do it after all this time, and probably not in such a roundabout way.
“I believe you,” I said to them. “But Colorado was your home once. You could come back. Things could be different.”
Alex glared at me. “Until they’re not. Until Maven decides we’re an inconvenience after all.”
“And do you speak for the whole pack?” I asked.
It was like I’d flipped a switch. Alex flinched back, and their eyes and shoulders immediately turned toward Mary. Interesting. “Do you?” I asked her.
Mary nibbled on her lower lip. “We haven’t really figured that out yet.”
There was the tiniest sound from the back of Tobias’s throat. If I could hear it, with my lousy human hearing, everyone else in the room certainly could too. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Was that . . . a snort?”
His eyes darted to Mary, then back to me. “No,” he squeaked.
I couldn’t help but smile at him. “Tobias? You snorted, buddy. What’s up?”
“It’s just . . .” Another desperate look at Mary. “Can’t you feel it?” he said to her, his voice pleading.
She turned her head to frown at him. “Feel what?”
Tobias squirmed, and I understood he couldn’t challenge her, even in this. “Mary,” I said gently. “You’re the alpha.”
“What? No, I’m not.” But she didn’t sound convincing, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Then who is? Alex? Barlow?”
Now she looked at me, her eyes narrowing. “No.”
I pushed her. “Keith, then? Maybe one of those new college kids?”
“Shut up,” she snapped at me.
If only I could. “Mary . . . ordinarily, I would be happy to let the pack mourn and make adjustments in your own time. But Colorado is under attack. Morgan Pellar is using werewolves to kill witches in Wyoming.”
“Leave us alone,” she snarled, standing up. On either side of her, Alex and Tobias visibly flinched. “We haven’t even been able to bury our dead. Dunn—”
“Is gone.” I knew I was probably pushing too hard, but I was so tired, and sick of Old World politics. I stood up, putting myself toe to toe with Mary. “And you’re going to have to step up and pick a side.”
“Fuck you!” Mary’s hands were clenched into fists, and her face was twisted up with grief and rage. Tears began coursing down her cheeks, and I took an involuntary step back. She wasn’t acting like someone who was avoiding responsibility, or a lieutenant struggling with a decision.
My confusion must have been obvious, because she began, “Ryan . . . he . . .” But Mary choked on the words.
“Oh,” I said, finally understanding. “Oh, Mary, I’m so sorry.”
Alex tilted their head in confusion, eyes flashing between us. “What?”
I pressed my lips together, but I saw Mary decide to answer. “I loved him,” she said, her eyes still on me. “Ryan. I was in love with him.”
Alex’s eyes widened, but Tobias looked like he wanted to disappear into the bench. He had known, or at least suspected, Mary’s feelings.
Alex, with all the tact of blunt people everywhere, blurted, “Did he love you back?”
Mary sank down onto the very edge of the bench, folding her arms across her stomach. “I don’t know. I think . . . we were . . . we were talking.”
I studied her for a moment, and even I could see she was on the verge of a breakdown in front of the pack.
This was my fault. I had cornered a werewolf when she was already vulnerable. The fact that I hadn’t known how she felt about Dunn wasn’t really an excuse. If anything, it made my actions worse, because I’d just forced her to reveal her deepest feelings.
“I’m sorry, Mary,” I said quietly, standing up and heading toward the door. “Come on, Quinn.”
“We’re not finished here,” he said, a question on his face. If we couldn’t recruit the werewolves, our orders were to run them out of town.
“Yes, we are,” I told him.
He got up and followed me. At the door, I paused and turned around. “Our plate is pretty full tonight,” I said to Mary. “We probably won’t get around to telling Maven your location until tomorrow.”
I felt Quinn’s eyes on me. That was a direct violation of what she’d told us to do with the werewolves, and he knew it—but, God love him, he didn’t correct me. He nodded to show me he was willing to back my play.
Mary brushed at her cheeks and squared her shoulders. “Sorry I stole your car,” she said in a subdued voice.
“Sorry I pushed you.” I hesitated for three heartbeats, trying to decide if I should take one last shot at persuading her to help—but I’d burned that bridge, at least for tonight. “You’ve got my number,” I said at last. “Feel free to use it.”
Quinn drove back to the parking lot and pulled up to my car. The temperature had dropped down into the teens, and knowing the slow response time of the Subaru’s heater, I wished I’d brought my gloves and hat.
I started to climb out of the Jeep, but he laid a hand gently on my forearm. “We might not be able to find them again,” he said, looking troubled.
“I know. And I know I put you in a bad spot. But I don’t have it in me to rub Mary’s face in her grief.”
He looked over his shoulder, in the direction of Mike’s Mountain Lodge, debating. Quinn had sworn an oath to Maven; it was practically fighting his nature to go against her wishes.
“Mary is not working for Morgan,” I said, certain now. “And they’re hurting. If Maven wants us to come back tomorrow night and throw them out of the state, I’m game. But . . . please.”
My voice cracked at the end, and he reached over to touch my face, drawing me closer for a kiss. Afterward, he rested his forehead against mine. It hurt a little—we’d both forgotten about the bump from my ill-advised head-butt—but I didn’t care.
“I think we can probably consider them off the board,” Quinn said softly.
I smiled, and in that moment I realized that in all the ways that really mattered, I trusted him.
We had to drive back separately but agreed to meet up at Magic Beans. Back in my Subaru, finally, I turned the radio off and drove home slowly, doing my best to keep my eyes on the road just in front of my headlights, ignoring the remnants that occasionally appeared in my line of vision. My cheek and forehead still ached, and I was exhausted, but there was no
chance of my falling asleep at the wheel. I was too busy berating myself for how I’d handled things with Mary.
I’d tried to manipulate her, like the vampires and many of the witches did, and it had backfired. And now I’d defied Maven’s order. “What a spectacular fuckup,” I said out loud. Part of me sort of hoped Sam’s voice would chime in, even just to agree with me, but she stayed out of it. She probably didn’t want to kick me while I was down.
When I reached the outskirts of Boulder, I tried to rehearse what I was going to say to Maven. I really had nothing. We hadn’t learned anything about Morgan’s contingency plans, and I’d failed to recruit more help.
As I pulled into a parking spot on the street near Magic Beans, I tried Katia’s cell, just to check on her and Lily, but the call went straight to voice mail. That felt off to me—Katia was too security-conscious to let her battery die, and I knew she got reception at Simon’s place.
I got out of the Subaru and met Quinn at the back of the building. “I can’t reach—” I began, but then my phone buzzed in my hand. “Oh, hang on.” I checked the screen, expecting to see Katia’s name—but it was an incoming video call from Charlie. She probably thought I was home and wanted to see the new foster dog. It was past 11:30, but this wouldn’t be the first time she’d woken up in the night and decided she’d rather chat with me than be put back to bed by John. Served him right for teaching her how to use FaceTime. I smiled to myself, then glanced up at Quinn. “Let me just say goodnight to her, okay?”
“Of course. I’ll meet you inside.”
He turned and began walking to the coffee shop’s back entrance—he had a key—while I answered the phone. “Hi, Charlie-bug . . .” My voice faltered, and I squinted down at the screen. The call had connected, but the video feed was nearly black, much darker than Charlie’s room with its twin night-lights should be. There was just enough illumination for me to make out the outline of her face, but not her expression. “Charlie, where are you?”
In my peripheral vision I saw that Quinn had paused, turning back around, but my eyes were fixed on the screen. “Aunt Lex,” came her voice in a trembling whisper. “There’s someone bad here.”
Boundary Broken (Boundary Magic Book 4) Page 19
