Page 74 of Wolves Always Bite

“We’restaying at his motel, soI’vemet him, butIwouldn’t sayIknow him.”

“He’sa nice guy.Kindof shy.Andmy boss,Parker—”Ashnodded toward the red-haired guy running his hand up and downLevi’smuscular forearm with a flirty grin on his face while they waited for their shot “—he’s had his eye onLevifor ages now.”

“IsParkera supe too?”

Ashshook his head. “No.Asfar asIknow, he doesn’t know anything about supes.”

“Poorguy,”Isaid, meaning it.Itwas strange for me to be one of the cool kids with insider knowledge.Asthe weird kid in hand-me-down clothes,I’dnever been particularly popular.AfterI’dbefriendedAsh, it hadn’t really bothered me as much, butIstill felt for the people who were kept at arm’s length for whatever reason.Itsucked always being on the outside.

“Hey, soIwanted to talk to you about the whole supe thing.”

“Yeah?”Theway he phrased that made my anxiety spike. “Whatelse don’tIknow?”

“Youneed to be careful about telling your parents.Oryour brothers.Oranyone else.Knowingabout supes can change people’s lives, and not always for the better.Itdoesn’t mean you can’t tell them, but just think about it.”

Irubbed my hands through my hair. “Ifigured that’d be the case.Itsucks though.Youknow how terribleIam with secrets.”

“Ifyou feel the need to talk about anything supernatural, you have people to do that with.Youcan call me any time.Youknow that.”

Iglanced over toAdrianandDillonwho were bringing over our drinks. “Iknow.Iwouldn’t intentionally tell anyone.Youknow that.Iwould never put you orAdrianor anyone else at risk.AndifIdo say something, everyone will thinkI’mlost in my imagination again.”

“True,”Ashsaid with a snicker.

“Ijust need to remember to stop talking before my parents institutionalize me.”

“You’llbe fine,”Ashsaid, patting my arm asAdrianandDillonsat down. “Itrust you.”

Afew minutes after we’d ordered food, the scary werewolf from the mechanic’s shop charged into the bar.Vanwas right behind him.Theenergy in the room changed immediately.Iwas too tired to question why.

Theycame straight to our table and pulled up chairs.Weirdly, the grumpy werewolf didn’t frighten me as much as he had the first timeI’dmet him.Ofcourse, it didn’t hurt that everyone else at the table seemed to trust the guy.AshandDillonboth tilted their heads to the side when they looked at the werewolf.Asecond later, that weird talking cat joined as at the table too.

“Alpha,”Ashmurmured. “YouknowAdrianandJeremy, right?”

Theguy flinched at being called alpha but nodded. “Yeah.Theirtruck is at my shop.”

“Whathappened?”Vandemanded, not bothering with niceties. “Thelast updateIreceived said the goblin who’d been in possession of the boxes stolen from the inn was in custody and people were being freed.Butthe updates weren’t more than a few short sentences with very little detail.WhenIheard you were back,Icame right over.”Hepointed atHayden. “Thisguy saw me leave the police station and followed me here.”

Theway he skimmed over any mention ofAdrian’steam was curious.Didhe not want to tell people he’d hired the demon and his team to sort out their local problems?

Dillonexplained what we knew in the most boring description in the history of the world.Thehellhound wasnota born storyteller, butIwas too exhausted to take over and do it properly, soIlet him do his thing.

“Whathave they learned from the goblin?”Vanasked.

Itwas weird that he was expecting an update on an active investigation in the middle of the pub, wasn’t it?Itseemed like it to me.Butno one else acted like this was unusual.

“Babetteisn’t talking,”Adriansaid. “Thelocal police have taken her into custody for theSupernaturalCouncil, but the last we heard she hadn’t been interrogated yet.Thefocus was still on getting people out of those cages.”

Hayden’seyes flashed the same wayAdrian’sdid when his wolf was close to the surface. “It’sjust likeDot.Makesme wonder what kind of hold these people have over their minions.”

Ash’seyes widened. “Youthink she was involved with the goblin?”

“Fuck.You’reright.Ihave no fucking clue.”Haydenrubbed his hand over his face. “I’mgetting frustrated by all this shit.Probablyseeing things that aren’t there.”

“Itgets worse,”Vansaid with a grimace.Heturned toAdrian. “TheSupernaturalCouncilcollected those people who ran you off the road to take them to a more secure facility this morning.ByafternoonIheard they’d all died.Thecovens in charge of the prisons are investigating but haven’t come up with any answers yet.”

Itook a deep drink at that bit of news.Mostthings about the supernatural world were wonderful, but the shady side was way darker thanIwas prepared to deal with right now.

“Howis theJahaller?”Adrianasked.