Chapter 7
AN UNLIKELY UNDERCOVER AGENT
LEVI
I folded myself into Parker’s cramped passenger seat and wondered what in the Magic I was doing.
If Parker’s grandmother was snooping around, Van should be the one to deal with it.
Of course, that would be a lot easier to justify if Van hadn’t made Parker’s family my problem when he had essentially deputized me before I’d left the pub earlier tonight.
“You’re closer to Parker than the rest of us,” he’d said.
“ He’s connected to these people somehow.
It’ll make more sense if you stay close to them and report back.
Find out what Parker knows. Find out what put us on their radar.
We can’t figure out a way to prevent them from ever coming back without more information. ”
So, I didn’t have a choice about getting involved, did I?
Hell, the sneaky bastard had gone so far as to include me in a group text with several others so we could update each other about the hunters’ activities. As if triggered by my thoughts, my phone pinged, announcing a new text. At this time of night, it could only be from that group.
I shot a glance in Parker’s direction to see if he was watching me. He wasn’t. He was too busy looking in his mirrors as he backed his car out of the parking stall. So, I unlocked my phone and glanced at the message.
Teague: T and K left their rooms about half an hour ago. Followed them. They went toward the lake. Lost them five minutes ago. Have called Isaac to assist.
Teague was a professional, so how had he lost them? Willow Lake wasn’t that big. That could only mean the hunters were highly organized and capable of hiding their movements from a seasoned SC operative.
Had they played us for fools back at the pub? Had they been biding their time before they went on their killing spree?
I scanned the barren streets as Parker drove through town. I didn’t see anyone. Not Parker’s grandmother. Not Tammy and Kyle.
My dread, which had been with me like a bloated parasite, clinging to me as it sucked away hope and filled me with anxiety, dug in a little deeper. If the hunters were stalking supes already, were we too late?
The handful of antacids I’d popped earlier, when the only idea I could come up with for getting closer to the hunters was to fake date Parker, wasn’t doing anything to calm my churning stomach now. I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand.
I’d hoped going to the motel and having a change of scenery would jumpstart my brain and generate more—and better—ideas, but I was wishing I’d stayed in bed now.
At least I was safe there instead of out on the same streets as the hunters, who were probably hunting right now.
I clutched at the door handle, scared I’d need to wrench it open any minute, so I didn’t vomit in Parker’s car.
I should have brought the bottle of antacids with me.
It didn’t help that I was out here with Parker. Was he in danger now too because he was with me? Should I insist he return home? He’d be safer there. And I needed Parker to be safe.
When I’d first bumped into him at the motel, I’d wondered for a moment if my mind had conjured him to torment me about how it’d be to fake date him. But now we were hurtling down the road toward Magic only knew what kind of trouble.
I was not prepared to face off against hunters tonight. Not at all.
“You’re awfully quiet. Are you sleeping over there?” Parker asked. “I can drop you off at your place or back at the motel… You don’t have to come with me.”
“Uh, no. I’m okay.” I did not sound convincing at all. I rubbed my sweaty palms against my pants.
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, my daydreams 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 was already spying. 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 or people I barely knew.
These people were my people. 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 was out 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.”
Our destination was on the outskirts of the town.
The inn sat on the north side of the road and the lake was on the south.
If Parker’s grandmother was heading out there, she could be on the trail that encircled the lake.
At this time of year, most of the leaves had fallen off the various deciduous trees and shrubs that crowded the shoreline, but it’d still be tricky to see her through the tree trunks and bare branches.
The full moon would help a little, but we could easily miss her.
“Okay. I’ll watch out for her over there. Just in case.”
It wasn’t ideal. It meant I had to look toward his side of the car.
I tried to keep my eyes on the shadows and the trees, but it was difficult.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his profile as he kept his gaze on the road.
He was frowning, and he kept biting his bottom lip. He looked more angry than worried.
If it was anyone but Parker, I’d have suspected he was the reason the hunters were here.
It was too much of a coincidence that he knew these people.
Some locals thought Parker would have to be unbelievably unobservant to live this closely with this many supes for so long and not suspect anything.
People had been speculating for years whether he was just pretending not to notice, which is what Jake had done.
I had never thought that was the case. I was sure he didn’t know about supes. Was I wrong about that?
Parker appeared upset tonight. Was it because the hunters were moving in on his hunt?
No. I couldn’t see it. Parker was… Well, Parker. He was the friendly face I saw every morning when I picked up my coffee. He was the pool shark who loved to whip my ass at the pub. He was the guy I dreamed about kissing every damn night.
My instincts would have to be fubar to have missed the signs that Parker was a hunter. No. No way. It wasn’t possible. I trusted him. He wouldn’t hurt me.
I dragged my attention back toward the lake trail and considered what would happen if—when—we found his grandmother.
She hadn’t acted overly friendly with the young hunters at the pub, but I got the sense Parker’s Nana lived by her own set of rules.
I bet she lied when it suited her. She could very well be another hunter. An experienced one .
I tried to suppress my shudder at the thought of three hunters wandering through town, but I must have moved enough to draw Parker’s gaze my way.
“You’re frowning,” Parker said.
“I always frown.”