Page 30 of Wolves Always Bite

"AndI'mnot passing judgment, so if you all like sleeping real cozy-like in that motorhome, it's none of my business.Butif you want more space, there are a couple of inns in town too."

Jeremyraised his hand. “Ivote yes for staying at an inn, but… would that be inWillowLake?Becausewhat about the guys who gave those boxes toBabette?"Jeremy'svoice only had the slightest quaver in it.Hisfingers, where they still rested on my shoulders, tightened.

"Thereare wolves in town, andI'msure you'll meet some,"Vanlooked at me when he said that. "Butthat pack in the hills, if that’s who you’re worried about, they don't do business inWillowLake.Youshould be safe in town."

Mygaze slid toGage's, and the rest of the crew did the same.Bythe way the police officer talked, it sounded likeGagehad already told him aboutJeremy’sboss picking the boxes up that morning.Gagesquinted into the sunlight as he considered our options.Heoccasionally asked our opinions, but he didn’t today.

“It’sbest if we split up again,”Gagesaid eventually. “Istill need to check onDavina.”

“Don’tworry about me,”Jeremysaid. “Ihave a friendIcan stay with inWillowLake.Youcan drop me off with him andI’llfigure out things from there.”Hisscent suggested he was conflicted about his offer.Ihoped part of that conflict was because he didn’t want to separate from me, but that was probably wishful thinking.

“Youcan’t stay with a human,”Isaid, turning to face him. “It’stoo risky for both of you.”

Jeremyfrowned. “Ihadn’t thought about that.”

“I’llgo withJeremyto town.Ihave to get my truck worked on anyway,”Isaid. “We’llget those bastards—”Ipointed to the back of my truck with my thumb “—settled withVanhere.”

“Thatworks,”Gageagreed. “Van, we’ll talk to the rest of the team and touch base with you soon.Nowthat we’ve found the boxes and theJahaller,Idon’t know if there is anything more you need from us.”

Vanrubbed the back of his neck. “Idon’t think this is the end of it.Fromwhat we’ve figured out so far, there are still some missing artifacts.”

Teague’sfingers curled at that bit of news, as if he wished he could turn them into claws to punish the clueless supe who was so lackadaisical about securing the magic in his care, but he managed to keep quiet.Fornow.WhenGageand the others got toWillowLakethough,IfiguredTeaguewould have all his arguments categorized with bullet points, itemizing why the magical artifacts needed to be seized and placed in his care.Vanwouldn’t know what hit him.

“Okay,”Gagesaid. “Let’sgo.”

Wedumped our four attackers into the back ofVan’sSUVand gave him the spell that’d break the zip ties.Thenwe were on our way intoWillowLake.Thistime we didn’t haveNelsonwith us, andIcouldn’t believe how excited my wolf was about having the human alone again.

ChapterNine

JEREMY

Iheld my phone so tightly my fingers ached.Iwas itching to callAsh.Hewas here, in this little town, and after everything that had happened today,Iwas dying to talk to my best friend.Ihadn’t seen him in person in ages andIwas sooo close to him right now.

Imean, was it against the rules to tellmundanes—yeah,Istill didn’t like that word—about supernaturals?Ashwas myBFF.Icouldn’t keep this from him, even thoughIdoubted he’d believe me.Because, honestly, who would?Thewhole idea of our world being filled with creatures that should only exist in fairy tales was crazy.Nuts.Bonkers.Andyet, evidently, it was also absolutely true.

Theonly reasonIhadn’t snuck in a quick call yet was becauseIdidn’t want to putAshin harm’s way.It’dbe better to wait to tell himallthe things until afterBabettewas found.Thenhe wouldn’t worry.Ijust wasn’t sureIhad that much self-control.Andwhat if it took a long time?

And, whileIwas thinking about goblins, were they all green?Ordid they come in a variety of colors?

Ihad so many damn questions.Mylists kept making baby lists, which grew into ginormous lists that had more babies.Itwas a little crazy in my head right now.

WefollowedVanto town.Assoon as we passed theTownofWillowLakewelcome sign,Adrianjolted.

“Whatthe hell?” he muttered.Herubbed his chest and his face partially shifted into his wolf form.

“What?Whathappened?”Ilooked around for snarling wolves and angry harpies.

“Theenergy here…It’spretty wild.”

“Sowe aren’t about to be attacked by more crazy people?”

“No.Sorry.Ididn’t mean to scare you.Ijust didn’t expect it.”

“Expectwhat?”

“Idon’t know exactly.It’slike a bunch of different kinds of magic have all been mashed together.Imight not have noticed it as much if the windows were all still intact, but the air is full of magic.”

“Ifit isn’t safe here, there is another town down the road.Wecould go there instead.”AndIwould have to callAshand get him the hell out of here.Ididn’t know whatIcould say to convince him to listen to me, butI’ddo whatIhad to.