Chapter 14
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
SAMANTHA
Convincing Mom—and Frank via speakerphone—that I was going to be okay sucked up the most time I had for packing. They both wanted me to let Eli know that I was leaving, but he was watching me. I knew that much. If he was going to object, he would’ve shown up already. Wouldn’t he?
I wasn’t totally sure about that. It was possible that he was busy and not paying that close attention to me, but I decided if I needed him, I’d call for him as always.
But no matter what Mom or Frank thought, I wasn’t going to let a little exhaustion stand in the way of fighting evil. I was too stubborn for that. So, I went upstairs to get everything I needed for the trip.
I had a special travel kit of my toiletries packed at all times. I gathered up some clothes in my carry-on roller bag, then loaded my backpack with essentials for fighting a spiritual battle, plus my belt bag with everything I needed on hand.
It took me a few minutes to gather everything, and then I changed out of my around-the-house leggings and baggy sweater into jeans, high tops, a black V-neck and a leather jacket with a hood attached for travel. The jacket made me feel a little badass and ready to fight, even if I might not feel ready on the inside.
When I got downstairs, Mom had boxed up the food she’d made for us and finished her chat with the Wayfarer pack’s doc to make sure he had everything he needed to take care of me.
Tessa and Dastien were back, and Phoenix was waiting with them, wearing jeans, an army green hoodie, some killer kicks, and his backpack. A small roller bag was by his feet. He’d packed light. Which—as a light packer—I appreciated.
It didn’t take long to get to the small, private airstrip the pack liked to use. It gave them more freedom than any of the other airports in the area.
The airport only had a few hangars, which were open with small planes inside. The jet that was on the runway was much nicer than this airport usually saw. A group of techs was giving the plane its final look-over. If the runway had been any shorter, the pack would’ve had to go land the plane somewhere else, but thankfully, this one was just long enough.
A couple of guys stood on the tarmac by the plane. They definitely had to be werewolves. I couldn’t see their faces, but I felt like I could pick a werewolf out of a crowd now. They had this way of carrying themselves, plus their size—tall, lean, always massive males—made them easy to spot.
Dastien took my bag, leaving me with just my backpack and belt bag trailing behind him and Tessa.
Phoenix kept pace beside me. “So, you travel private a lot?” He looked down at me with a half-smile that made his dimple pop. From his tone, he was teasing me, but I couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed.
“It’s weird, right?”
He’d grown up with five people in a small, run-down, two-bedroom apartment. Across the breezeway from the apartment where Mom and I scrounged to make rent every month. And now I owned my own house, had a lucrative job doing my life’s work, and flew around in private planes.
Okay, so the last bit was because the pack was loaded, not so much because of anything I did. A lot of the wolves were old—as in older than dirt—and had a lot of years to build up wealth. Wealth as in the massive, generational kind. But even with that, if someone had told me ten years ago that I’d be flying around private with a bunch of werewolves, I would’ve laughed and asked how many mushrooms they’d ingested. Because what?
I’d never even flown before I met the pack. Mom and I didn’t have enough money for a weekend road trip, let alone to fly somewhere for vacation.
Except, this was my life. But this trip wasn’t a vacation.
He nudged my shoulder with his. “It’s not weird. I’m just giving you shit.”
“I know it’s a little excessive. But honestly, I only travel private when I’m with the pack.” Wait. I should clarify. “I don’t travel much at all unless it’s for work, so I guess I mostly travel private. But only by default.”
“That’s not true. We took you to St. John,” Tessa said. “That wasn’t work.”
Dang werewolf hearing. “Okay. She’s right. I sometimes travel with them on vacation, but only when they’re not going to cities.”
“Except you did come to Paris…” Tessa’s voice took on a sing-song, know-it-all tone that made me want to hit her. Or at least roll my eyes at her.
I liked that Tessa was perking up a little bit. This was a good distraction, so I was willing to go with it. “Fair.” It wasn’t that I’d meant to omit that trip, but it was a one-time deal. Never to be repeated or spoken of again. Except today, apparently, we were speaking of it. But for Tessa, I’d talk about whatever she wanted.
“What happened in Paris?” Phoenix asked, taking the bait.
I looked up at him and saw the stupid, dimpled half-smile that always got to me still there. Dang it. I guessed I was spilling my guts. Again. “Paris was…an adventure .” I didn’t even know where to start.
“Don’t remind me.” Dastien’s words were more groan than anything else. “She was tossing demons through portals constantly, causing scenes everywhere we went. The damage control was next level. And getting her settled in a hotel…” He trailed off. “I think we visited five or six before we found a room she was okay with.”
“Wait. You’re not saying the rest of it.” He was making me sound like a prima donna. “They were all haunted . There was so much spiritual garbage in those hotels there was no way I was going to be able to sleep.”
“That’s true,” Tessa said. “But then the club incident…”
I hung my head. I was going to murder her. “Do we have to go there again?”
“Yes,” Phoenix said, with his dimpled grin. “We are definitely going there.” He looked ahead to Tessa and Dastien. “What happened at the club?”
Tessa spun to walk backward so that she could see Phoenix. “So, we were there dancing. It was a fabulous place.” Tessa motioned with her hands wide. “Really crowded. DJ was epic , lasers, fog machine, visuals on point—” She started half-dancing as she walked. “—and then all of a sudden, poof.” She made an exploding gesture with her hands. “Sam is gone. Like gone- gone . We couldn’t find her anywhere.”
“I nearly had a heart attack,” Dastien said. “Sam is tough, but she gets hurt like normal mortals. I’ve seen her in the hospital more than a few times and?—”
Great. This was getting worse. “Can we not talk about that ?”
Tessa covered her mouth with her hand, smothering a laugh, and then cleared her throat. “Back to the club thing.” Tessa shot me a look like she thought she was saving my butt, when no. She was spilling about Paris. So, I wasn’t going to thank her for this.
My thoughts must’ve shown on my face because she stifled another laugh. “So, we catch her trail and finally find her in a run-down masonic temple. Turns out there were some satanic rituals that happened in there. Demons lingering in the area. All kinds of haunts. We got there just as she closed the portal.”
“I barely had time to catch her before her head slammed into the pavement,” Dastien said, sounding as exasperated about it as the day it happened. “She passed out cold.”
Phoenix raised a brow at me.
I winced. “Probably not my best move to leave without any warning.”
“You think?” Tessa rolled her eyes. “Turns out she spotted a demon attached to some girl and followed them out the back exit of the club without telling us. Ended up in a battle with her father,” she said to Phoenix. Then she looked at me. “We won’t even get into the New Orleans trip.”
Oh for the love … “ Please . Let’s not go there.”
Tessa narrowed her gaze at me. “Fine. As long as you don’t disappear on us again.”
There was no way I’d make a promise that I knew I’d likely break. “I’ll try .” I looked at Phoenix. “I often get distracted by what I see in the spiritual realm. Sometimes, it’s so subtle that if I look away, I’ll lose the thread. But if I see something, I know it’s because God wants me to take care of it. So, I can’t look away. I have to go . If that makes sense?”
He nodded. “It does.”
“So, while I’d love to give you a promise that it won’t happen this trip—or ever—I can’t. I try not to make promises if I think there’s a chance I might break them.” I looked at Tessa, who was still walking backward. “So, no promises.”
“I take it I should keep a close eye on you?” Phoenix asked softly.
I gave him a small smile. “Might be a good idea.”
“Good to know.”
I let out a laugh, and Tessa gave me a little eyebrow wiggle before turning to walk forward again.
As we approached the plane, I realized I was right. The two guys waiting by the plane were werewolves. One of them was a friend—Max Molloney.
Max was the nicest of the Wayfarer Pack.
Wait. Maybe that wasn’t fair. I didn’t know all of the Wayfarers. Just some. And usually, if I was there, things were going very, very poorly for the pack. Which didn’t leave a ton of time for chitchat.
The Wayfarers were the problem-solver werewolves, traveling wherever supernatural help was needed. Max was usually there whenever I went on missions with the Wayfarers. He was tall—well over six feet—and the kind of ripped only werewolves could be. He kept his white-blond hair cut short, and his eyes were a clear, glass blue.
“Hey, Max,” I said. “How’ve you been?”
His gaze homeed in on Phoenix for a second before he looked at me. “Could be better, but I’m really thankful that you agreed to come along. I have a team on the ground, and I won’t let you out of my sight. Whatever is getting my wolves won’t have a chance to get near you. Okay?”
That was a nice sentiment, but he might not be able to control that. “Thanks.”
“It’ll be my pleasure.”
Phoenix cleared his throat. “Hi. I’m Phoenix.”
“Max Molloney. Second in the Wayfarer Pack.”
I made a mental note to make sure Phoenix knew what a second in the pack was.
“Nice to meet you.”
Max grunted, which wasn’t his usual thing. He was always super friendly. Maybe he was just being grumpy. From what I knew so far, he’d had a no good, very bad week. But something about the way he was acting made me think it was something else.
“I’m Garret,” the other werewolf said, drawing my attention away from Max. His skin was a deep, rich brown, his hair buzzed tightly to his head, and he had a clean-shaven face. A few tattoos ran down his arms—one of them made me think he might’ve been in the military at some point. I couldn’t tell how old Garrett was, but I never could tell how old a werewolf was. They didn’t really age much, if at all.
Garrett’s smile was bright and white, and he had a little sparkle in his eye as he watched Max bristle. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Samantha. Usually, I travel with another group of Wayfarers, but I’m with Max this time because I’m from Charleston originally. So, I’ll be driving you around and am here for whatever you need.”
A local was a great resource to have. “Awesome. Thanks, Garrett.”
“It’s my pleasure. Honestly, we just hope you’ll be able to point us to whatever needs killing.”
“I hope I can help.” I wouldn’t know until we got there, but I’d see what I could do.
Tessa started up the stairs to the jet. “Come on, Sam.”
Max gestured to the stairs, keeping an eye on me.
I looked back at Phoenix, and he put his hand on the small of my back. “You go first. I’m right behind you.”
Max’s eyes flashed bright blue as his gaze lowered to the hand on my back.
Wait. What?
Was Max jealous? Because his eyes hadn’t brightened until Phoenix put his hand on my back.
That was interesting and new. How had I missed that?
The inside of the jet sat fourteen people, and I usually liked to sit alone. But there were four seats—two on each side of a table—that I decided to take. That way Phoenix could sit next to me on the aisle. Tessa slid into the seat across the table from us.
“Sorry to bail, but I’m going to catch some more sleep,” Garrett said. “I’ve been on night patrols all week. I’m wiped.”
“We’ll be quiet,” I said. “Thanks, Garrett.”
“No. Thank you. Really glad you’re helping us out.” He yawned as he moved past us.
Max followed Garrett to the back of the plane, where there were two more seats and a sofa.
Dastien snagged Phoenix’s bag and stowed it wherever he’d stuck mine, then took the seat next to Tessa.
As we took off, I read a book on my Kindle, while Phoenix talked quietly with Dastien. He had about a million questions about werewolves, the pack structure—specifically what a second was, Wayfarers, and how things worked in the supernatural world. I’d heard it all before, so I let their chat act as background noise to my book.
The enemies in my book were becoming friendly when Max showed up, leaning along the banquette along the other wall of the plane from our table. “So, Phoenix, you’re just a normal human, right?”
Oh, boy. I didn’t love the tone Max was using.
Phoenix turned a little to face Max. “Yeah.” Phoenix reached over and gripped my hand as if he knew that I was about to tell Max to back off.
Max tracked the movement, and his eyes grew werewolf bright again. I’d never seen him lose control of his wolf, and now, I felt incredibly dense for not having seen that Max was interested in me. How had I completely missed that?
Not that I would’ve been interested in dating him. Max’s life was too hectic. His job was literally traveling, and I wouldn’t be happy with that. I traveled when I had to, but otherwise, I liked being at home and sleeping in my own bed.
“And how do you know Samantha exactly?”
I gave Tessa a look, and she widened her eyes, as if to say— this is going to go great .
Right. Great.
I motioned with my head to Max, and she shrugged. But I wanted her to step in. I didn’t want this to get awkward, but it kind of already was. Dastien might’ve said something, but he’d left to get some food.
“Sam and I were neighbors a long time ago, and we just recently reconnected.” Phoenix looked at me and gave me a wink.
“And what do you do for a living?”
Phoenix’s eyes widened as he stared at me, then he looked at Tessa before he gave a little shake of his head. I took that to mean he didn’t want us saying what he really did. Fine. That was fine, but I didn’t know why. Was he worried that Max would take that as a threat? I couldn’t see how, but I also hadn’t seen this coming. So, what the heck did I know?
Phoenix focused on Max again.“Right now, I mostly manage my investments, which means I have time to hang with Sam as much as she’ll let me.”
“Got it.” His tone was sharp, and I didn’t like that at all. “You have a lot of tattoos.”
One side of Phoenix’s mouth tilted up in a smirk. “Yep. I do.”
Wow. I’d never seen Max like this. It was none of his business what Phoenix did, how many tattoos he had, or anything else. “Are you okay?” I asked Max before he could ask any other questions.
He rubbed a hand on the side of his face. “Yeah. Tired. It’s been a long, bad couple weeks, especially the last few days.”
Right. Of course. It didn’t excuse the rudeness, but I got it. “I’m so sorry.”
Max gave me a soft smile. “Just thankful you’re able to come. I heard you had a bad night last week. Tessa was worried you wouldn’t be available.”
Dastien came back with two plates of food and set them down. The bond between him and Tessa lit up for a minute, then quieted.
Max cleared his throat, and I remembered what he’d said.
Right. About me recovering from my trip to Hell. “I’m fine.” I hated that I had to keep saying that, but I didn’t want to talk about it. Not with anyone really, but definitely not with Max. Not right now.
“Hey, Max. Can I ask you something over here?” Dastien waved for Max to follow him and moved toward the front of the plane.
I leaned close to Phoenix. “Sorry.”
He twisted in his seat to face me. “It’s okay. If I were him, I’d be bummed if I suddenly found out you were dating someone else.”
I looked up at him. “Same.”
He touched his forehead to mine. “Good thing that’s not happening.”
“No,” I whispered. “I mean—if you change your mind, I’m going to be crushed.” I’d already told him that, but it was worth repeating.
“Not happening, babe. You’re stuck with me.”
Dastien came back, and Max mumbled something about finding food, striding past us to the galley kitchen behind our seats.
Tessa typed a bunch on her phone, then slid it across the table to me. The WiFi on the plane had been spotty, which meant we couldn’t text, but she wanted to talk to me without being overheard. Which I appreciated.
The Notes app was, and Tessa had typed a question: Did you know that Max liked you?
I looked at her and shook my head, then I started typing. No. He never said anything about it. Never asked me out. Never even flirted, at least not that I noticed. I know he’s a lot older than me, so maybe he was waiting for me to grow up a little more? I slid the phone back to her.
A moment later, she passed it back to me. Yeah. He is older. I think he’s twenty years older than Meredith, who is our age. Maybe he didn’t want to push? Or maybe he wanted to get to know you when we weren’t in crisis mode?
I looked up to see Phoenix reading over my shoulder. “ Twenty years? ” he mouthed to me.
I nodded, and then typed on the screen. Werewolf hearing is legit, so we’re using this. But yeah, they age super slow once they reach adulthood. It’s almost imperceptible. Lucas is so old that he refuses to tell anyone his age. But think hundreds of years old.
“Holy shit. For real?” he asked.
I laughed and deleted that part before handing Tessa her phone.
She gave me a look, but I just shrugged.
This whole Max thing felt really weird to me, but that wasn’t why we were here. I couldn’t worry about Max’s feelings when I had bigger things to worry about. “Do you have a file with you? Anything with more information on what we’re up against?”
Tessa nodded. “Do you want to see it?”
“Yep.”
“Are you sure?” Dastien asked. “There are pictures in there. It’s a little gruesome.”
“I’m sure. Knowledge is good. I know you don’t have a ton, but I’m hoping I’ll see something you won’t.”
“If you’re sure…” Tessa rummaged in a bag at her feet and then passed back a folder.
I opened the folder on the table, letting Phoenix see. If he was coming along, I might as well give him all the info.
What I saw inside was worse than I’d imagined.
Reports. Pictures of dead, dismembered bodies—people and werewolves.
This was more than a distraction from my problems. This was going to be dangerous and deadly before I managed to fix whatever was going on. They had literally nothing. Just theories and dead bodies.
This was potentially one of the worst cases I’d ever worked.
Phoenix was going to get to see us on a very bad day.
I hoped he was as ready as he thought he was because this was going to be rough.
I flipped through the pictures and kept reading. When I was done, I flipped to the front again, and reached down into my backpack, pulling out a pen. “Is it okay if I write on this?”
“Yep. That’s your copy,” Tessa said.
“Cool.” And then started looking at it again.
But as I read, I was sure of one thing—they should’ve called me days ago.