Chapter 22
Luther
Worry was an old companion of mine, but this, this tight, clawing sensation beneath my ribs, was something sharper.
Galamut. The name clung to me as I crossed back into town from Mr. Peters’s farm, boots striking the dirt road harder than necessary.
So Thorne had been right all along, not that he’d begun to make a point of this until yesterday.
We needed to find out what a Galamut was—and fast—because if Chardum’s ancient memory stirred at that name…
it had to be a threat too dangerous and real to be ignored.
I should have gone straight to the library, that had been the plan, and it was a desire pulsing through my veins.
Jade would be there, because I knew there was no way she’d have stayed safely in my home.
Not when I hadn’t actually gotten around to telling her there might be danger, like I had planned to last night.
My hand went to my ribs, where the mating mark now sat on my skin like living ink.
I should have been there when she woke, to remind her of the passion between us, to stake my claim, and to make it clear she was everything in the world I’d ever desired—the one thing I had never been able to find: a soulmate all my own.
Jade would most likely be elbow-deep in dust and full of determination to do the job Liz had hired her to do.
She had a chip on her shoulder about it, and I had not made it easier for her, not at first. When I turned toward Main Street, I could see the shiny, clean windows of the general store I ran and the golden letters I always kept neatly polished.
Beside it, brighter but still a little worn, the library stood, and I could see Jade moving around inside.
For a moment, I stood on the edge of the old, cracked sidewalk and looked my fill.
From this distance, I could not see if she’d put on the jade silk lingerie I’d bought her, or the bracelet with its protection spell.
I imagined she had, though, Belfry would have been there to insist she put them on.
He knew why. When Jade moved out of sight, I forced myself to turn toward one of the many derelict houses that lined the street.
Much of the town was like that, following a twenty-six-year-long exodus of supernaturals and humans who had once made the Hollow their home.
Most of the buildings had been bought up by Sunworld last year.
The house I sought was not quite neighbors with my store and was directly across the street from the B moth eaten and tattered.
There were no soft rugs, the floorboards were warped though not rotten, and bare bulbs flickered weakly overhead.
“Even the library was in better condition than this,” I grimaced.
Kiran ignored the comment as if I had not spoken, turning to stand in place at the center of what was supposed to be the living room.
This place didn’t rate the word “living”—it was that bad—but this was where the weretiger had made his home.
Temporarily, I hoped, but nobody had figured out why he was here yet.
He’d kept to himself and made no trouble; that was the only reason we hadn’t sent him running after what he’d done on Rosemary’s land.
“I need answers, Tiger. Now.” I didn’t think he’d give them—I expected the usual song and dance before he denied everything and sent me packing.
Then I’d have to come back and take more serious measures to make him talk, and I might end up with blood on my suit.
It would be very tedious—and very pointless.
The weretiger surprised me though. He exhaled slowly, and then began speaking in a low intense voice. He spoke in a way that commanded my attention and made me lean in closer to catch every word.
“I was following orders last summer, working as security for Sunworld. I was never part of the plan, not then. I was just meant to do as Miss Elie demanded,” he explained.
I hissed in displeasure, and when I shook my head to indicate I did not believe him, he rushed on.
“I swear, I believed they wanted to buy up all the properties for a huge fracking operation. There’s good money in that; it was the party line.
I only became suspicious that it was something else when Miss Elie appeared to fixate on that derelict farm on the outskirts of town.
” He pointed in the direction of Rosemary’s farm with eerie precision.
I remembered Miss Elie all too well. As a vampire, she’d tried to approach me several times, appealing to my senses and my ambitions.
She’d even flirted a little while trying to destroy all that Hillcrest Hollow stood for, abandoned and sad as it had become.
She was slick, and she was cold, and I was very glad we’d gotten rid of her.
“After the fight,” Kiran continued. He didn’t have to explain which fight he was talking about; it was instantly clear he meant the battle Chardum now feared had set his prisoner free after all—the fight during which both the dragon and his nymph mate had nearly died, only their soulmate bond pulling them through.
“The survivors returned to Sunworld headquarters.” He completed that sentence with such a dark look that I knew what came next wasn’t good.
“I watched Sunworld’s upper management execute Miss Elie for her failure.
No hesitation. No mercy. I was promoted on the spot and sent back here to finish the job.
” He hesitated, because I leaned in, fangs on display.
The way he spoke made me think he wasn’t the loyal Sunworld employee he used to be, but if he was a threat, I would not hesitate to take him out.
His half-smile was a little cocky, like he thought he might enjoy seeing which one of us was the strongest. For a breath of a moment, we stood there, facing off on the edge of a fight.
Then his golden tiger eyes became shadowed as he continued: “That was when I learned the name of the creature they are after. A Galamut. Whatever it is… it was sealed for a reason.”
My fingers curled at my sides. Damn it, there was that name again, but what the hell was it? It still wasn’t more than a vague sense of danger and an even vaguer recollection of having read it somewhere. “What is a Galamut?” I asked, but I had a feeling Kiran knew about as much as I did.