27. Hadriel
Chapter 27
“Ihope she’s laying low.” Burt said as he led a sturdy horse with a cart attached. We were making our way into town a little before midday.
Our trek had two functions: to get supplies, and to drink and pretend we were looking for a woman we did not want to find. Six of us had been dispatched for these tasks, with everyone in our group sympathetic to Aurelia. Tanix said I shouldn’t go at all, he didn’t trust me to do the right thing.
That guy was ass-backward and his grief wouldn’t let him see it. I felt for him, I really did, but he was being a serious cumgoblin about the whole situation. Do the right thing, as though marching a naive woman who’d been shit on all her life into the clutches of the dragons for a crime she didn’t even know existed, was the right thing. Fucking ridiculous.
I also felt for the alpha. His grief at letting her go was showing. He could usually hide his feelings, but he couldn’t hide the ragged remorse at letting her walk away. He craved her, it was obvious. He liked her, too. He’d found companionship and budding feelings, I could tell. Now he was fucked. Karma—it always got you in the end.
“She’s used to avoiding people, I’m sure she’s being a wallflower,” I said as I took in the houses and scanned the edges of the cobblestone streets. A familiar wrapper was entwined with a bit of litter. “We got Granny’s drugs in this town.”
“What town in this disgusting kingdom doesn’t,” Nova growled. She was our baby-sitter for this foray. She was the dependable, trustworthy one who’d probably be dragging me out of the pub later and asking if I wanted to try girls. She thought pushing vagina was hilarious. Very strange sense of humor.
“We’ve seen a couple, but, yeah.” I tsked. It was a damn shame. “Well, okay. It’s been fun walking with you all. If you need me, I’ll be in a tavern down the way. Hopefully they have a juggler or singer or someone I can incite into a bar fight.”
“Don’t draw attention to yourself,” Nova warned.
I put out my hands, indicating my drab attire. “I’m wearing the equivalent of a brown sack, aren’t I? I know what I’m about.”
“You disprove that statement every time you open that mouth,” Burt mumbled.
“I know you love me, Burt, but tone it down a little, will ya? The others will get jealous.”
He frowned at me.
“I’ll go with you,” Nova told me, her hand on my arm to steer me right.
“Don’t water down my fun.”
“Do I ever?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” I groused.
“Sylvester, you’re on supplies. Have Arcadia help. Dina, Marc, you guys stick together and wander the town. Make sure no one is talking about Aurelia. We’ll meet back in the square in three hours.”
“Is that enough time?” Burt asked. “We’re supposed to be looking for Aurelia thoroughly.”
“It’s a needle in a haystack in this place.” Nova shrugged. “We can’t search inn rooms and we don’t want to raise suspicion, right? If we go back with that explanation, the alpha will have no choice but to move on. Not even Tanix will be able to scrutinize us.”
“Someone just needs to sit that wolf down and explain this situation clearly to him,” muttered Dina, a small, spry wolf who was good in a pinch. She’d been chosen over Dante for that reason. She didn’t talk to me much. I was pretty sure she thought I’d get her into trouble. Given trouble was my idea of a good time, she was probably right.
“Someone just needs to give that wolf a hug,” I said, linking my arm in Nova’s. “Time’s wasting. Where to?”
The inns were all located in one section of town, not far from one of Granny’s stalls. They positioned it in plain view, not even down a back alley or in a seedy corner. This town had no qualms about the drug trade.
We settled on an inn with a large tavern and a bad carving of a roaring lion on the sign. A few people dotted the space, filled with worn furniture on a scraped wooden floor. The little stage area in the corner was sadly bare, though it was probably too early for any sort of spectacle. At least the ale was absurdly cheap.
“Why is this place so cheap?” I asked the barman, eyeing my drink. “What’s in it?”
The barman, a grizzled old fucker with a nick taken out of his ear and more whiskers than hair on his head leaned a fat palm against the bar. “This ain’t that kind of establishment, and if you go on accusin’ me of anything more, you can see your way out of it.”
“Great, fine, awesome, good chat. But why is this place so cheap?”
The barman grabbed a cup from below the bar and spit in it before rubbing it clean. “The mayor gives the inns a stipend to make staying in town cheaper.”
I took a sip of my drink and winced a little at the bitter taste. They didn’t put much love into their craft here. “And why is that?”
“This a game of twenty questions? Drink your ale and mind your business.”
“You get a lot of repeat customers, don’t you? You have a real old-world charm.”
His eyes narrowed and I winked at him before following Nova to a table in the center of the room. The other drinkers were spread out around us, all within easy hearing distance if we were so inclined.
We were halfway into our pint when the guy behind Nova, a man with a mangy, slightly reddish beard and a gross looking glass eye, leaned back a little, getting closer to her.
“They made the beds cheap so people will come to the town,” he said in a low voice, talking to us but not facing our way.
I perked up. I loved people eager to chat. They usually had a lot of stories, knowledge, and gossip, and hardly ever a clue when to shut up about it all.
“What’s the attraction?” I asked, taking a gulp. I didn’t have much time. I needed to get happy fast.
“What else? Granny’s Delight. The mayor gives the inns a stipend so they can lower the prices. Then, in turn, they jack up the price of the snacks.”
“Why is the mayor—ah.” I nodded. I’d heard of this before. “The mayor is getting a cut.”
Granny had an uncanny ability to suss out who she could bribe. Get the cities and towns in on it—hell, get the royalty in on it—and work together to unload the product. She was good at her job.
The man leaned forward again, over his beer. I let him be for a moment, talking a little nonsense to Nova, weaving fake stories about traveling that painted us as friendly, uneventful people. Non-threatening, basically. People never worried when talking to non-threatening travelers, especially lonely sods with glass eyes who never banged anything he didn’t pay for.
We were on our third pint and I hadn’t yet been able to create another bridge of communication. I sensed things were about to get interesting when a portly guy with a stained shirt and dirty hands joined Glass Eye at his table.
“How’d you do?” Dirty Hands asked before draining half his pint in a series of gulps.
“Unloaded the whole lot. This town sure has a need.”
Dirty Hands grunted. “The few villages around us won’t sell it. Everyone comes here.”
“Don’t I know it. They go through it fast, too. Best stuff on the market if you can stomach it.”
“If you got a hookup for the dragon elixir, you mean. Did you bring any?”
Glass Eye lowered his voice and leaned forward. “Yeah. In my room. Only got a case. People are buying it up to cut out that mean hook.”
Dirty Hands leaned back. “It’ll have to do. I’ll get you your gold tomorrow. Hold it for me. I have to unload a couple things later.”
“You knew I was coming. Why didn’t you get it all done earlier?”
Dirty Hands leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table. He lowered his voice, but we were close enough I could still hear it when he said, “They found Granny’s little worker.”
“No shit,” Glass Eye said, shaking his head, then taking a swill from his pint. “The one that got snatched from the operation?”
Every hair on my head stood on end. Nova’s gaze slid my way, her posture still loose, not giving anything away.
“Yeah. My gods, she’s a pretty little thing, too. You get a hard on just looking at her. She gave the seller hell—something about whatever they are putting on the snacks—and then popped one of them things right into her mouth. Bought up a whole bunch of it, too, before storming off. That seller thought something was off about the whole thing so he let the watch know. Turns out, they’d been given a likeness of her by the organization. There’s a nice reward for bringing her in. They recognized her immediately.”
“Get the alpha,” I mouthed to Nova, adrenaline pumping through my body.
Her brow pinched together for a moment before her expression cleared. She nodded minutely, having figured out what I wanted, before leaning back and running her fingers through her hair.
“I’m starting to feel it,” she told me.
“You’re a lightweight, that’s why. I’m going to have a couple more before I help get supplies. We’re not leaving until tomorrow, we have time.”
“I hate when you shop drunk. It slows everything down.
“Well then you go get a head start and there won’t be much to slow down.”
She gave an annoyed sound and sipped her drink, allowing me to keep listening in to the others.
“Who’s going to take her in?” Glass Eye asked.
“Nah, they were told to keep her. Someone from the organization is going to come and collect her. That’s what I was doing—sending word. They don’t want her falling into the wrong hands again. They’ll take her to the packing village and make her work there. The production village has been compromised, I guess. The raiding party took all the product.”
“Fuck,” Glass Eye breathed out, just as Nova finished her ale and excused herself.
“Don’t be too long,” she told me, pointing.
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied, waving her away.
“That’s going to delay getting in new product, right?” Glass Eye asked.
Dirty Hands fell back against his seat, making it rock backward. “You got it. They’re already planning to jack up the prices to compensate. You’re going to have a lot of angry stall owners.”
“Not my fault. I just distribute it.”
“Yeah.”
“I think I saw her.” I leaned forward over the table, swaying a little to emphasize I’d been drinking. “That hot little number walking around late last night? I was thinking to myself, I was thinking—what is a sexy little lady doing walking around this late? Is she looking for fun? She turned a corner before I could catch up to her, though. She looked strangely familiar but I couldn’t place her. I think I may have seen a poster with her likeness, like you said. Just in passing.” I sat back in my seat, feigning indifference. “I don’t work for anyone relevant. I’m in a different trade. We can’t sell for shit. I don’t even know why I’m doing the damn thing?—“
“Do you ever shut up?” Dirty Hands snarled.
Glass Eye had turned to look at me, his eyes distant. “A lady late at night you say?” He leaned sideways on the table. “I’ll be damned—I saw that woman. She was trying to get into town. Stopped at the gate. She must’ve run in after me. Fuck.” He slapped the table. “I wish I’d fucking known. I could’ve grabbed her myself. She was saucy. I did think it was strange that she’d show up in the middle of the night, on foot, no less. She said her horse was lame or something.” He scratched his chin and sighed. “A huge payday was right in front of me and I fucking missed it.”
“Yeah, well.” Dirty Hands gave me a sour look before re-focusing on Glass Eye. “You’re probably better off. You don’t need to deal with the organization any more than you already do.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “They’re cutthroat. It’s all great if things are going well, but when they go wrong?” His eyebrow arched and he drew his finger across this throat. “Believe me. Be happy the town watch is handling this.”
“I coulda used that payday,” Glass Eye mumbled. “You’re probably right, though.”
“I coulda used someone to play with my pecker,” I muttered, slouching over my ale. “Think they’re letting in visitors?”
“Weren’t you just sitting with a lady?” Glass Eye asked, turning his chair a little so that he could better see me.
I shrugged. “She’s into girls.”
Dirty Hands huffed out a laugh. “She’s probably just telling you that because she don’t want what you got.” He drained his pint.
I smirked and dipped my head in agreement. “Quite possible. She’s prickly, too. But that woman last night sure seemed nice.”
“She just looked nice. She was saucy, I’ll tell you what,” Glass Eye said, his grin exposing some gaps in his teeth.
“I might be up for a little sass . . .” I waggled my eyebrows at him.
He laughed and grabbed Dirty Hands’ empty pint, standing up and heading to the bar.
“What do you think, are they loaning her out?” I gave Dirty Hands a comical grin, letting him know I was mostly joking.
“Fat fucking chance.”
I laughed. “Yeah.” I took a sip of my ale, it was running out fast. I couldn’t break the conversation, though. Dirty Hands was looking to shove me out. If I left to refill, I might return to a stone wall. “Fucking in a prison would probably be a dick shriveler, anyway.”
“I could handle a prison if everyone cleared out.” Dirty Hands leaned forward onto his elbows, watching his friend buy more ale. He was chatting to pass the time. Suited me just fine. We were getting somewhere fast. “No fucking way would they keep that woman there, though. Are you kidding? They wouldn’t be able to keep the addicts off her.”
“What’d they do, shove her in a basement?” I scratched my chest and then my head, like I had fleas, before looking off toward the right in feigned boredom.
“Nicer than that. She gets to stay in the mayor’s guest room. Only the best for Granny’s prized snack box creator, right? And since it was his watch that found her, he’s going to cash in that reward.”
“No,” I said, my heart beating faster. I had the location. Time to go. I just had to get out without raising suspicion. “He’s not going to give the guy who spotted her, or the ones who brought her in, a little something for their trouble?”
He snickered. “Not fucking likely. Mayor Brightwater is a tight-fisted bastard.”
I tsked, staying otherwise quiet as Glass Eye sat down with the refreshed pints.
“What’s that fucking barman’s problem?” Glass Eye asked Dirty Hands. “He’s surlier and surlier every time I come into this damn place.”
“You’re telling me.” Dirty Hands scooted his chair closer to the table and leaned in, effectively cutting me out of the conversation.
He kept talking about the barman and I drummed the table a little, trying my best to look bored. With a loud sigh, like I was hoping someone would talk to me, I finished my drink and returned my tankard.
“Another?” the barman asked.
“Nah. Maybe later. I gotta actually do a little work. You gonna have a live show or anything tonight?”
“Not tonight. Tomorrow. The regular guy went missing. Probably junked up in an alleyway somewhere. He was always fond of the drink and whatever else he could get his hands on. I got a new guy starting tomorrow.”
“Pity.” I knocked on the bar and turned to exit the tavern via the street exit, every single movement calculated. The most important thing was to avoid any sort of suspicion. Once on the street again, I ambled for a while, just in case someone had followed me out. There was no sign of Nova.
In the market, I headed to the dry fountain, scanning the area, doing my best to look unhurried. My heart was beating so fast I worried it would wear itself out and stop. Nova would meet me back here with the alpha. Together we’d storm the mayor’s house for Aurelia. Hopefully whoever was coming for her had a good distance to travel.
Hopefully they hadn’t harmed Aurelia.
“What’s going on?” Burt paused the horse near me, his cart filled.
“We got trouble,” I said quietly, looking around as though it were just an idle day. I did my best to ensure the panic rising in me didn’t play out across my face. “Nova went to get the alpha. Head back. We’ll need to get out of here in a hurry once we get Aurelia.”
“We’re getting?—“
“Just head back,” I hissed.
The others found me next. Them, I told to wait here.
I felt the ripple of fear before I saw the crowd shiver collectively. It was how I knew he was coming. There was no more awesome sight than an alpha of Weston’s caliber in action.
A throng of people burst from around the corner of the buildings in the direction of the gate, screaming and running. They poured into the square and spread out, a couple staggering, falling. Everyone in the market gasped or shrieked, turning to see the source of the commotion.
The great wolf ran at the head of his pack, power and grace and vengeance incarnate. He’d come for his mate.
What must’ve been the watch ran out from the right in shifter form, their leader thin and agile but obviously lacking. Judging by their sloppy formation, he had only a loose hold on his people. They ran at Weston as I pushed off the fountain. He could’ve bonded them and stopped them easily but he didn’t. He crashed into their leader, ripping out lumps of flesh before tearing out his throat.
I sprinted at them in human form as our pack joined the melee, tightly structured and working as a perfect, cohesive unit.
Pride welled up through me. I watched as my pack made short work of the watch before catching up with the alpha.
“In the mayor’s house,” I said, out of breath. “They’re keeping her in a guest room in the mayor’s house.”
It occurred to me that I didn’t know where the fuck that was.
“This way. We found it when we were looking around. It’s huge. This way!” Dina shed her clothes and shifted into her wolf form. I did the same to keep from being left behind. Thankfully Marc stayed in human form, grabbing our clothes. I doubted we had anything that could identify us in those clothes, but it was better to be safe, just in case.
Weston followed Dina and my wolf fell in line. People ran away from us shrieking or shouting as we traveled through the large town. No one dared to get in Weston’s way.
The house was indeed huge, with a grand porch and white columns. Dina peeled away and Weston stopped, the message through the bond instructing us all to stay in our wolf form as he alone shifted into his human form. Someone had to speak and open doors. He marched up the few stairs like a man on fire, his muscles glistening in the sun and his shoulders swaying with purpose. He reached the door and kicked, knocking it from its hinges and sending it sailing into the room beyond.
I shifted into my human form and hurried to catch up. I rarely did as I was told.
Servants ran into the room with wide eyes and terrified expressions.
“Where is my mate?” Weston growled, the sound as scary as a nightmare you couldn’t wake up from. He roared, “Where is she?”
“He means Granny’s worker,” I clarified, just in case they had a few people stashed in this big place.
“Up in the—” A maid pointed at the stairs in the far corner. “Up in the East Wing. The guest?—“
“Show me!”
She hurried forward and he followed. A few of the pack members broke off, covering the door so that we weren’t attacked from behind.
We climbed the stairs quickly, following the woman, to the left and down a long hall with plush carpeting and windows adorned with heavy drapery. This guy clearly did well for himself. I doubted it was just politics that bought all these riches. Granny’s business was thriving.
“What is the meaning of this—” A man in his fifties with slicked back salt-and-pepper hair and wearing fancy attire paused in the center of the hall. His eyes went wide in shock.
“Are you the mayor?” the alpha demanded as he stalked closer, a predator at the top of the food chain.
“Y-yes . . .”
Weston’s voice dropped low as he growled out, “You dare imprison my true mate?”
The mayor’s eyes widened further in sheer terror. “Wh-what? Who are you?”
“Your executioner.” Weston reached the mayor and in one fluid movement, shot his hand forward to grip the mayor by his neck and ripped out his throat. Blood sprayed from the wound, coating the alpha’s flexed body. The mayor jolted once before going limp, slumping to the floor in a heap as blood continued to pump out of his ruined jugular.
It was so extreme that I got a semi hard-on just from watching. This wolf was unbalanced when it came to his mate.
The maid screamed, cowering.
“Where is she?” The alpha’s growl rumbled out of his chest. “Speak or die.”
“He-here. Here.” She staggered forward, half-running and crying as she did so. She reached a room near the end and grabbed for a key hanging on the wall with shaking hands.
“Hadriel,” the alpha barked.
I relieved her of the key. “I’ll take it from here. Go find a washroom to throw up in. We’ll be gone by the time you’re feeling better.”
The key turned easily, clicking over. I pushed open the door and meant to step out of the way, but a glimpse of Aurelia had me running at her instead.
She lay on the ground beside a porcelain bowl akin to a chamber pot, vomit both in and beside it. Her eyes were closed and her cheek rested on the wood floor, her face deathly pale.
“Gods fucking goats, Aurelia!” I cried, sliding in beside her and bracing my hand on her forehead. “She’s burning up.”
“Get her things,” the alpha barked, the fear in his voice not showing in his movements. He knelt beside her quickly, scooping her up into his arms and cradling her delicately.
Her pack was by the bed and an empty wrapper lay on the nightstand.
“She tried some of the product,” I spat, my fear amping up. “She wouldn’t have known any better. She never believed us when we said how dangerous it was. Fuck!”
“It’s okay,” the alpha said, walking quickly now.
I snatched up the pack and barely remembered to check for her lantern. She loved that thing. She wouldn’t want to leave it behind. Locating and grabbing it, I ran after them.
“It’s going to be okay.” The fear in the alpha’s voice had grown into full-blown terror. “We’re going to get through this, baby. Stay with me.”
“Get a horse,” I told him, jogging by their side. He wasn’t running but his long stride quickly ate up the distance. His training forbade him to show obvious signs of panic. “She needs the phoenix’s healing elixir.”
He nodded, looking straight ahead, tall and broad and scared out of his mind. Or maybe that was just me.
“Horse, I need a horse,” I said, pausing to look around. “Dina, did you see the stables? Wait, the inn had stables?—“
She shifted, breathing fast. “Give me all that. The stables are just over there.” She took Aurelia’s stuff and pointed. “Hurry!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I sprinted through the town nude, spotting the stables quickly and wasting no time getting to them. A stable hand was just pulling in a horse, readying to remove the saddle. I punched him to get him away. In a moment I was crushing my bare fucking balls as I rode the mediocre-looking horse across the square and toward the procession of wolves.
After I jumped off, the alpha handed me Aurelia while he mounted the animal. She was scorching hot, burning up with fever. Even her limbs were on fire, completely limp. I had to fight back tears of worry.
He swung up into the saddle and reached for her, cradling her close after I’d handed her up. He grabbed the reins, dug his heels into the horse’s flanks, and yelled, “Hyah!”
The horse took off like a shot, its looks deceiving. All I could think was Aurelia had to be okay, and as I watched the horse disappear into the distance I couldn’t help but whisper, “You can’t die just when you’ve finally started to live.”