Page 21 of Moody as a Minotaur

Until I’d slammed into Parker a few minutes ago, my plan was to go to the motel so I’d hopefully stop daydreaming about what it would be like to fake date him. Because, when I’d been in bed thinking about it, mydaydreams had morphed into fantasies. Very erotic and dangerous fantasies. Relocating to the motel was supposed to stop those.

But now, I was doing stuff I didn’t know how to do because my brain had short-circuited the minute I’d seen Parker standing under the glow of the full moon. His gorgeous ginger hair was all messy, like he’d rolled out of bed a minute ago, and that’d been it for me. My brain cells had just rolled over and offered up their belly.

Fuck. I definitely needed more antacids to get through this.

It was too late to have someone teach me how to spy because I wasalreadyspying. How had this happened?

Jeremy and Ryley were always talking about how apps could teach you anything. Was there an app that could show me how to be a spy before we arrived at the inn? Yeah. Probably not.

“You can slide the seat back,” Parker said, as he guided his car through the streets. “Give yourself more leg room.”

I grunted and did as he suggested. It wasn’t perfect, but it helped.

He glanced at me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.” It sounded more abrupt than I’d intended. Shit.

I’d only been at this for a few minutes, but I could tell I was a terrible undercover agent.

But, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t ignore the hunters. Ignoring them wouldn’t make them go away. And, more importantly, I couldn’t let anything happen to the people in Willow Lake—whether they were my friends orpeople I barely knew. These people weremypeople. And if I waited for someone else to act, it might be too late. At least if I went along with Parker, I could maybe, possibly, intervene somehow if the situation swung too close to the truth.

Because if his grandmother and the younger hunters had trekked out to the pub, the situation could get hairy—literally and figuratively—very quickly.

I sent a quick text to the group chat.

Me: Parker’s grandmother is out too. I am with Parker. We are looking for her. We are going to Willow Lake Pub. He thinks she might be going there. I have not seen the other two.

“Who are you texting?” He glanced at my phone.

I stared at it, trying to think up some excuse.

“Oh God,” he said. “Are you seeing someone? Is that why…? You know what, nope. Don’t answer that. If you wanted me to know, you would have told me.”

“No.” I couldn’t let him think that, not even to make my life moderately easier. I just couldn’t. I shook my head to emphasize the word.

“No?”

I turned to look out the side window instead of looking at him. “I’m, uh, not seeing anyone.”

“Then who are you texting?”

“Van and Gage,” I admitted. “I thought it wouldn’t hurt to tell a few more people that your grandmother wasout walking around. You said you were worried about her.”

“Right. I guess I did say that.” Parker grimaced as he drove through town. We went west towards the inn. “But you didn’t need to wake anyone up. I’m sure she hasn’t gone far… Maybe text them back and say we have it under control.”

“But we don’t,” I said. “Have it under control, I mean.”

“I can’t believe she’s done this,” he muttered.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Parker groaned, like he was in pain.

“I don’t know.” He heaved out a sigh and his foot got a little heavier on the gas.

“We’ll find her,” I assured him. “How familiar is she with Willow Lake? Do you think she knows about the trail that goes around the lake?”

“I have no idea,” Parker said. “She said she’d gone online to look up some stuff about Willow Lake, so it’s possible.”