Authors: Naomi Clark
Except for times like now, when it was
falling apart around me.
I realized Vince had fallen silent, waiting
for me to respond. I couldn’t remember what he’d said though, so I
just said, “yeah. What time are you coming over?”
“
Give me an hour. I need to
stop and pick up some stuff and then I’ll be straight
there.”
We hung up and I slid out of bed without
waking Shannon. Three nights in a row of fighting, both physically
and verbally, had left me tender and stiff and I yearned for a good
run in wolf shape. Maybe Vince would be up for it later. I paused
to examine myself in the mirror and was surprised to see I didn’t
look as bad as I felt. My mouth was a mess, scabbed and bruised,
but the rest of me looked pretty normal. It didn’t seem right
somehow.
I called Inked to tell Cal I wouldn’t be in
today. He bitched and fussed and then gave up, telling me I’d lost
a day’s pay. Feeling even lower, I dressed and slunk down to the
kitchen to retrieve the bucket and sponge Shannon had used to clean
up yesterday’s graffiti. The street outside was empty as I began
scrubbing the door clean; the kids at school and the parents at
work. The silence grated on me.
An hour later, Vince showed up with a bag
overflowing with meat, vegetables, herbs and oils, which he
immediately dumped all over the pavement when he saw me.
“
This is it then?” he asked
unnecessarily, taking in the graffiti.
I stopped scrubbing and wiped my forehead,
spilling warm, soapy water over myself in the process. “Yeah, this
is it.” My arms ached from scrubbing and I wasn’t really making any
headway. It would be quicker to paint the door blood-red and be
done with it.
“
Maybe Joel has a point
about this neighborhood.” Vince retrieved his shopping. “Come on,
leave it. I’m making you citrus beef salad.”
Shannon was pacing the kitchen when we went
in, talking on her phone and gesturing wildly with her free hand.
“Eddie, after what happened— No, no, it’s not—” She caught my eye
and made a despairing motion. “It’s not okay, Eddie— Fine, come
round. I won’t change my mind.” She slammed the phone down with a
vicious curse. “You wolves and your bloody alphas.”
“
What’s wrong with him?”
Vince asked, spreading ingredients out across the
sideboard.
She shrugged, running her
hands through her tangled hair. “I told him I wasn’t prepared to
help anymore after last night and he told me I had an obligation to
see the case through. An obligation! After Ayla gets mutilated by
some psycho wolf! He’s coming over here so we can
talk sensibly
.”
“
Well I’m not cooking for
him,” Vince said.
I moved to Shannon’s side and squeezed her
hand. “He can’t make us do anything,” I said. “We’ve done more than
enough—let the alphas take care of it from here.”
She nodded. “You do mean that, don’t you?
You’re not going to roll over if Eddie shows his teeth or
anything?”
“
I mean it.” I touched my
lip and smiled ruefully at her. “I’ll tell Eddie what we know about
the feral and that’s that.”
Vince snorted as he rummaged through our
cupboards. “You’ve been gone a long time, girlfriend.”
FOURTEEN
Vince was dishing up his
hot beef
salad when Eddie arrived and despite his words, he was obliged to
give a share to the alpha. Not that Eddie asked for it, exactly. He
didn’t have to. For a few awkward moments we all sat round the
table in silence, eating and avoiding each other’s eyes.
“
Good food,” Eddie said
around a mouthful of noodles. “Really nice, Vince.”
Vince grunted his thanks.
“
And how are you this
morning, Ayla?” Eddie asked me. “Moira told me about Happy Jack’s.
Nasty.”
“
Yeah,” I said darkly,
stabbing at a chunk of beef. “Nasty.”
“
Which is why we’re not
helping anymore,” Shannon cut in. “I assume Moira told you that
Ayla met the dealer and Oscar confirmed he’s the only one dealing
Silver Kiss. So now you know, you can go after him and we don’t
need to be involved any further.”
“
Or,” I chipped in, “you
can report it to the police and let them deal with Sly.”
“
The police aren’t going to
do anything,” Eddie said. “Even the wolves on the force are
reluctant to get involved, because Silver Kiss isn’t illegal.” He
stressed the last few words carefully, as if we were small children
who didn’t quite get it.
“
I don’t get it,” Vince
said. “Why’s a feral selling drugs anyway?”
I’d asked myself the same question last
night and despite my resentment of Eddie right now, I looked to him
for answers.
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I
don’t know. I can’t imagine money’s a factor—why would a feral need
cash?” He waved his fork at Vince. “And it’s not just round here,
is it? That young wolf in Yorkshire who went missing a few weeks
ago was using Silver Kiss too, it turns out.”
“
Any idea where he was
getting it?” Shannon asked. I nudged her ankle with my foot, trying
to remind her that we were backing out, not getting dragged further
in.
“
I have a theory,” Eddie
replied. “That’s why we need to pin down this Sly, see what he
knows, see where he’s getting his supplies.”
“
Not
we
,” I said. “Shannon and I aren’t
helping anymore.”
Eddie didn’t answer immediately, just toyed
with his food and eyed me speculatively. I squirmed in my seat,
waiting for the hammer to fall. “Saw the graffiti on the door,” he
said finally. “Alpha Humans?”
“
Obviously.”
“
Wonder why they’re
targeting you two now. You’ve been back a while and had no trouble,
haven’t you?”
Shannon and I exchanged glances, a flush of
worry creeping over me. “What are you getting at?” Shannon
asked.
He winked at her. “You’re not the only one
capable of detecting, Ms Ryan. I’ve done my own share of poking
around since this whole mess started.” He tapped the edge of his
plate with his knife. “My theory. That kid in Yorkshire was getting
his drugs from an Alpha Humans member.”
“
What? Why?” I asked, my
worry mutating into anger. I would like to have known that before
Shannon and I agreed to get involved in this crappy farce of an
investigation.
He nodded. “Bad werewolf
publicity, you see? The aconite makes the wolves crazy, they start
acting up in public and Alpha Humans can say
see? Animals. Dangerous
. And it’s
working—you’ve seen how these kids are acting when they’ve been
taking this stuff. And your little punch-up at Jack’s will attract
plenty of negative publicity for us, Ayla.”
Well excuse
me
. I bit my lip, winced and glowered at
him. “Alright, I get that. It makes sense. It doesn’t explain
Sly.”
“
Unless he’s working on
Alpha Humans’ behalf here,” Shannon said. “It must be easier for a
wolf to sell to a wolf.”
“
Possibly,” Eddie agreed.
“The sooner we get hold of this feral, the sooner we’ll
know.”
“
So what does this have to
do with our front door?” I demanded.
“
If Alpha Humans are
involved here like they are in Yorkshire, they might be trying to
scare you off,” Eddie said, more to Shannon than me.
She smiled sweetly. “It’s working.”
“
The Pack will protect you,
Shannon,” he said. “You’re not in any danger.”
“
No, because I’m the one
taking all the beatings,” I snapped. “Is the Pack protecting me, or
am I getting the shit kicked out of me in the line of
duty?”
He leveled me with a steely gaze that shut
me up as fast as a slap in the face. “If you work with the Pack,
Ayla, then yes, you will be protected. If you insist on running off
alone, then we can’t help you, can we?”
Was that a reprimand or a
threat?
Probably both
. I sighed and shoved a forkful of cooling meat into my mouth
to stop myself swearing at him.
“
Anyway,” Eddie continued.
“Myself and a couple of other alphas will be setting off to find
the feral this evening, and I’d like you come, Ayla.”
“
I don’t think so,” Shannon
said before I could. “You obviously haven’t paid attention, Eddie.
We’ve done our part and we’re not doing anymore. Ayla got really
hurt last night—”
“
Ayla knows where the
feral’s den is,” Eddie interrupted. “And Ayla has an obligation to
her Pack to help weed out this predator.”
“
Take Glory,” Shannon said.
“She was there too.”
Eddie curled his lip at the suggestion. “I
don’t think Glenn is the best wolf for the job, do you?”
“
What’s in it for Ayla?”
Vince asked. I glanced at him in surprise; I’d almost forgotten he
was there.
Eddie stared at him incredulously. “This is
Pack business!” he boomed. “It’s not a matter for bargaining and
dealing!”
“
Yeah, but there’s got to
be some benefit for Ayla, right?” Vince argued. “She’s already put
herself on the line for the Pack against this feral, twice. And if
the Pack gets drawn into any…I don’t know, dubious dealings, it’ll
affect her chances of getting into the police, won’t
it?”
“
What are you suggesting,
young man?” Eddie pushed his chair back slowly and paced around the
table, hovering behind Vince in a display of dominance. Vince
twisted in his seat to face Eddie calmly.
“
You don’t want the police
involved because you think they can’t do anything. So it’s Pack
justice, right? Like with Hesketh and Kinsey. A quick, quiet
resolution.”
I felt sick suddenly. I’d known, in
abstract, what had happened to the two corrupt policemen. I’d tried
not to think about it in any real detail. Hearing Vince talk about
it now turned my stomach.
Eddie didn’t look any more comfortable. His
eyes slid to Shannon. “Can we wolves have a moment of privacy, Ms
Ryan?” he asked.
She looked at me and I nodded, heart sinking
like a stone. If Alpha Humans really wanted to prove we were
nothing but animals, all they had to do was uncover the truth
behind Kinsey and Hesketh’s sudden extended career breaks. For all
the Pack’s desire to live alongside humans, we’d never fully shaken
off our wild side. Never would.
Shannon left the kitchen and Eddie pushed
the door shut behind her. Then he slammed his palms down on the
table and glared at me and Vince.
“
We do not talk about
Kinsey and Hesketh,” he said bluntly. “They were dealt with.
They’re irrelevant.”
“
But I am right, aren’t I?”
Vince insisted. “You’re going to kill this feral when you find
him.”
Eddie said nothing. He didn’t need to. I
dropped my head in my hands, emotions helter-skeltering inside
me.
When I’d first come home for Adam’s funeral,
I’d wanted revenge for what had been done to him. And when I found
out how two coppers were involved, I’d wanted justice meting out to
them. Swift, brutal justice. I’d known, of course, what Pack
justice was, but I’d never dwelt on it. Adam was a child. Hesketh
and Kinsey might not have actually killed him, but they’d
desecrated his body and for that, they’d got what they deserved. I
believed that. I just didn’t think about it.
In asking me to take him to Sly, Eddie was
asking me to participate in his death. Bile rose in my throat.
“
Don’t be soft, Ayla,”
Eddie said impatiently. “You’re a wolf, a hunter.”
“
A hunter of rabbits and
deer,” I snapped. “Not other wolves.”
“
A hunter,” he repeated
firmly. “A hunter protecting her Pack from its enemies.”
“
No, no.” I thumped the
table. “I’m not doing this. I won’t. Vince is right—I’d never make
it onto the police force with this hanging over me.”
“
Nobody would know. Who’s
going to miss a feral?” Eddie asked.
“
It’s not the answer. Sly
may be the dealer but he’s not the main supplier, is he? If we get
rid of him, whoever supplies him will find someone else to deal for
them.” I shook my head. “And we can’t—you can’t take out every
bloody Alpha Humans member on the basis that they might be
involved.”
“
Of course not,” Eddie
agreed. “We’d be found out. But one feral…” He shrugged.
I felt dizzy. We could not be sitting in my
kitchen discussing murder. I couldn’t believe Eddie was even
thinking it. “I won’t do it,” I said again.
He bared his teeth at me, his wolf rising
inside him. “Won’t?” he echoed, voice rough with the power of a
dominant wolf. He didn’t speak loudly but he might as well have
been shouting. Vince and I both flinched and stared at the table.
“Alright, Ayla. Fine.”
I looked up, heart skipping. “Fine?”
“
We can find the feral
without you. He won’t be that hard to track and Glenn can give us a
rough idea of where he is.” Eddie smiled at me, but the wolf still
shone in his eyes. “I will remember that you refused to help the
Pack though, Ayla.”
“
That’s not fair!” Vince
exploded, leaping up.
Eddie waved him away. “I’m not a cruel wolf,
Ayla. I’m not unreasonable. You’ve got a lot to lose. And of course
you don’t see things the same way an alpha does. I’ve got a duty to
my Pack, a duty to protect them. Anything I see as a threat, I act
against. I have to, you understand?”