Chapter Nine
Oakley
That fight had been far too short. Calling it a fight to begin with was laughable. All I really did was shift and growl at people, although I’d really, really wanted to eat that bear shifter for daring to come at Roman like that.
Now, I felt kind of amped up and ready to fight someone for real. Chasing and catching that runaway vamp hadn’t been enough.
But I did my best to push that feeling aside as I walked into the barn where the kidnapped victims were. I didn’t want to add any stress or upset to an already stressful and horrible situation.
With a deep breath, I put on my neutral mask and walked over to Tan since he was already handling things.
“How can I help?”
Tan sent me a sad smile and patted my shoulder, and despite the situation, the gesture and his body language made me feel loved.
That was something I truly appreciated about Tan.
He had no problem offering comfort and affection to me even though I’d been a grown adult when I came into his life.
Besides my dad, he was the best fatherly figure I could ask for.
He said, “Right now, we’re handing out some supplies—food, water, clothes to those who need it—and supplying medical attention where needed.
We’re also getting information from everyone.
Their name, species, age, gender, address, where they were taken from, who took them, and how long ago.
Make sure they know it’s okay if they don’t know some of the information.
If they don’t want to answer, don’t press.
We want them to feel safe right now. We’ll ask for more details later.
Oh, and if they’ll let you, take a picture with the Polaroid and clip the picture to their document. Again, no pressure.”
“Got it. I can take information.”
He smiled gently again and handed over a clipboard with a pen. There was a stack of papers on the clipboard already—a form with a list of questions and a spot for the picture.
As I walked over to a woman who was curled up in a ball, I saw Roman walk into the barn. He headed toward me, then paused when he saw what I was doing and walked over to Tan instead.
Kneeling beside the woman, I gently said, “Hey, my name’s Oakley. We’re here to help and get you back home. What’s your name?”
“J-Jessica.”
I jotted that down. “It’s nice to meet you, Jessica. Do you need a blanket or anything?”
She nodded. “I… I’m freezing.”
“Alright, let me grab you a blanket.” I got up and walked over to the supplies Beshiro and a few others had brought in. He helped me gather everything up, and I carried a blanket, a water bottle, and a bag filled with a sandwich and snacks back over to the woman.
After I helped her warm up, I moved on to the next person.
I went through three people before I met a very young witch—a teenager—who couldn’t seem to stop crying. I helped wrap her in a blanket and offered her some food and water, but she still didn’t stop, and I wasn’t really sure how else to help.
“You’re safe now,” I said quietly. “We just need a little information from you before we find a way to get you home.”
She whimpered. “No.”
My brow furrowed. “No? No, what? You don’t want to give me your information? That’s okay. We can—”
“No, I don’t want to go home.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out for a few seconds, so I cleared my throat. “Uh, okay. That’s… fine. Can I ask why?”
She met my gaze for a few seconds, then looked away and mumbled, “M-my family… they… they’re the ones who… sent me here.”
Shock and anger on her behalf warred within me for a few seconds, but I knew that wasn’t what this woman needed right now, so I gathered myself—closed my eyes and took a breath—and met her eyes. “We won’t send you back home. We’ll help you. We’ll find a safe place for you.”
She shook her head. “Nowhere’s safe from them. They… they’ll hunt me down and send me back.” Tears started rolling faster down her cheeks. “I just know it. They’ll send me back. Nowhere’s safe. Nowhere.”
I didn’t know what to say for a few seconds. I didn’t know how to help. I glanced over at Tan, who was taking charge and directing everyone, telling people where to go, who to take with them, and what to do. He would know what to do here. He would…
I turned back to the woman. “What about the tower in the capital? We can bring you there. My dad has plenty of apartments, so I’m sure we could find you a place to…” I trailed off when I caught the look on her face.
“Oh my Mother, you’re… you’re royalty.”
I shrugged because technically she was right, but I didn’t really feel like royalty. “Uh, yeah… my dad’s the king.”
“Holy shit,” she said under her breath before her wide eyes met mine. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t bow or—”
“Please don’t. You did nothing wrong. I’m here to help you, okay? Don’t worry about any of that.”
She searched my eyes for a long moment. “You’ll really take me to the tower?”
“Absolutely.”
After taking a deep breath, she nodded. “Okay. I… well, my name’s Lilura Periculum, and my family’s been helping these… these criminals for a very long time, and I want to stop them.”
Huh. That sounded promising. “Okay, Lilura, I’m Oakley.”
She sent me a small smile. “I know. I, um… I think I might be able to help…”
Hopefully, I wasn’t totally off base here, but I felt like she was telling the truth. Maybe… maybe this was the break we needed.
Fingers—and toes—crossed.
“Lilura Periculum and a handful of others are being driven back to the capital now,” Tan said as we got back into our vehicle, finally ready to head back to the safe house.
“Good,” I said, climbing into the back with Jed. This SUV had three rows, and somehow, the two of us got the short straw and were ordered to get in the very last row. So annoying. “I’m glad she’s going back there already. Hopefully she’ll feel safe there.”
“Gar will make sure of it,” Tan said as he sat in the passenger seat.
“I know he will.”
“She seems like she wants to help.”
“Yeah, I think she does.”
Roman, from the driver’s seat, asked, “Do you think she’s telling the truth?”
“From what I could tell, yes,” I said.
Tan added, “Same here. She seems legit.”
Roman hummed. “I just… I’m wondering if she’s a plant.”
“How the hell could she be a plant? It’s not like they knew we were coming tonight.”
Jed said, “If she’s a plant, then we have a leak because the only ones who knew about our plans were the soldiers here tonight and Garrick. No one else had details or anything, not even my father.”
Roman nodded. “Fair enough. She just seemed suspicious to me, but I suppose I’m being paranoid.”
Jed grunted. “We can always compel her and ask if she’s telling the truth. There’s no way for anyone to lie to me when they’re under my compulsion.”
“That’s a great idea. You should do that when we get back.”
I didn’t like the thought of compelling a person like that, but I also didn’t want someone leading us or anyone else into a trap with false information. So needs must, I supposed, but I didn’t really feel good about it.
Phaeron sighed from the middle row beside Beshiro. “But that’s a worry for later. Right now, we need to go back to the safe house and get some rest.”
“That’s definitely an order. Everyone needs to sleep,” Tan said before yawning and making us all chuckle.
That sounded like a fine plan to me.