Chapter 12 #2
Her posture relaxed in seconds, and I waited for her to give the signal.
“Mindy.” She broke into a smile but made no move to enter. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”
“I heard you guys were cleaning, so I thought I would pitch in.” She exhaled dramatically, like she was beyond exhausted. “I’ve only got a few hours to spare today, so I decided to come early then leave it as a surprise.”
“That’s kind of you.” Sloane kept her tone light. “Ana will appreciate it.”
For her to conceal my presence from Mindy, she must have detected cause for concern.
“She’s not with you?” Her footsteps edged closer. “Did she send you ahead for something?”
“I forgot a notebook.” Sloane smacked her forehead with her palm.
“I need to update the website to reflect our new temporary hours, and the salon upgrades we discussed are in there too. We’ve only got a day or so until the wards come down, right?
I need to hop to it if I want to hit publish on the changes the second we get internet. ”
“Can I grab it for you?” Mindy stopped close enough to Sloane for me to see the toe of one shoe. “I just mopped, so I wouldn’t want you to slip on the wet floors.”
“Oh sure.” She reached in her pocket. “My locker is the top one on the end. Here’s the key. The notebook has sunflowers on the front. You can’t miss it.”
“Got it.” Her hand flashed out as she gripped the key. “Be right back.”
As soon as her steps faded, Sloane allowed the door to shut but not latch.
“I smell blood,” she whispered, barely an exhale. “Not a lot, but enough it’s making me twitchy.”
“I’ll get help.” Though it went against my every instinct, I backed away slowly. “Be safe.”
On silent feet, I edged around the side of the old Victorian, giving myself a shield to conceal my movements.
I could climb the neighbor’s fence and exit through the front of their yard onto the sidewalk.
I might bump into Jess there, which would be ideal, but it was a gamble.
Otherwise, I would be out in the open, easy for Mindy to spot through a window.
As close as I had been, even with Sloane carrying traces of my scent on her person from our frequent close proximity, there was still a chance Mindy had known I was nearby.
But it was hard for people not used to the chemical smells that came with sterilizing grooming supplies and stations to parse out more than the overwhelming stink of cleaners. So, I might still be in the clear.
The best-case scenario was Mindy not finding the made-up notebook, Sloane laughing off her forgetfulness, and walking away.
The worst case involved Mindy realizing she hadn’t duped Sloane and inviting her inside, where the blood originated.
Or glimpsing me and understanding we hadn’t bought her story.
No time for second-guessing. Sloane was my friend. I wasn’t going to risk losing her.
Maybe Mindy had a perfectly good explanation for what was going on, but I wasn’t giving her an opportunity to explain herself without Rían or Liam present. We had to be more cautious now than ever, with Carmichael and his followers MIA.
No sooner had I skidded around the corner of the post office than I slammed into Jess, who hit the pavement on her butt with a grunt.
“Thank God.” I yanked her to her feet. “Did you know Mindy was at GSG?”
“No.” She tapped the side of her face. “I had my earbuds in all morning, and I didn’t go inside.”
That confirmed Mindy, who shouldn’t have had a key, let herself into the building.
But, I had to admit, that wasn’t saying much.
Everyone and their momma seemed to have one courtesy of Liam.
She could have borrowed one, stolen one, or had her own cut.
As often as she helped out, no one would have thought twice about it.
“Walk and talk.” I gripped her by the wrist and dragged her after me. “She’s there now and claims she’s been cleaning all morning. Sloane smelled blood when she opened the door, so she’s distracting Mindy. I came to find help, and it looks like that’s you. Are you okay with playing backup?”
“Yes,” she growled softly, startling me with her ferocity. “No one hurts my friends.”
Cold violet light filled her eyes, canines popped down, and her complexion paled to powder white.
Holy hell. Jess had gone bye-bye. I was talking to her bear.
Sloane would be so jelly.
That was the panic talking. Now was not the time for frivolous thoughts. I couldn’t afford the distraction. Eager to get back to Sloane, I was sick we might have misjudged someone else. We had been wrong about Jess. What if this was yet another mistake? Up to this point, Mindy and Rochele…
Rochele.
Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t sure I had ever seen one without the other.
They did everything together as near as I could tell.
Yet Rochele hadn’t been there today. Mindy hadn’t mentioned her, but that was hardly damning.
They might work together and be in the same clan, but that didn’t make them physically joined at the hip.
But the more I thought about the scent of blood and how eager Mindy had been to bar Sloane from GSG, the more my stomach cramped with ugly possibilities.
“It will be okay,” Jess rumbled, black claws piercing through her fingertips. “I will protect you.”
With any luck, if we were wrong about this, then Mindy would be as forgiving as Jess. “Thank you.”
Locked on reaching GSG, we ran to the front entrance to avoid the area where Mindy had been when I left.
We kept low, listening for movement, but I heard none.
The front door was locked, and it sounded like a bomb detonating when I slotted the key and twisted it.
The tumblers banged like war drums, and I gritted my teeth when I nudged the door open, scanning for signs of where Mindy and Sloane had gone.
A dull thump led me deeper into the building, and we crept past reception to find Sloane twitching on the floor with five—no, seven—feather-tipped syringes sticking from her neck and chest where Mindy must have been firing them from a tranquilizer gun as fast as her finger could pull the trigger in order to beat Sloane’s charmed instantaneous shift into her wolf.
Tingles burst into prickles that coasted down my arms, and I spun to find Jess exploding from her clothes as power spilled into the air.
She hit the floor on her hands and knees, and I had no choice but to skitter back to give her room as she grew and grew and grew.
I had never seen someone shift so fast without a charm to help them.
No. That was a lie, wasn’t it? Rían embraced his dragon in a blink.
This was more of a slow blink, but still.
The entire clan couldn’t have this much power.
No matter. I had no time to ponder the mechanics. I had to act, or I was going to be squished by a polar bear with a shoulder already forming higher than I stood tall.
The commotion brought Mindy running, and Jess bared her teeth as she finished her transformation.
“Who the hell are you?” She stared the beast up and down. “Who sent you?”
A roar that forced me to slap my hands over my ears was Jess’s only answer.
That was when I realized I had scooted so far over that Mindy couldn’t see me. She didn’t know I was here too. That could work in our favor. I just needed a second to decide how to use my advantage.
“Idiot.” She lifted a weapon halfway between a handgun and a rifle that must be the tranquilizer gun and fired once, hitting Jess in her foreleg before she could lumber aside. “You’re too big to maneuver in such a tight space.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Mindy was right. Jess was a whole lot of bear trying hard not to wreck my home away from home. But I had insurance for a reason. Things could be replaced, but people were one and done.
Quicker than I credited her for, Jess swatted at Mindy, connecting with her left arm and shredding it from shoulder to elbow. Too bad she was right arm dominant, and it didn’t stop her from firing off two more shots, one of which landed.
Anger boiled in my gut, fear for my friends causing it to bubble over into something hotter, brighter.
A familiar tugging sensation whirled through my chest, flowing through me in time with my breathing.
Magic.
My magic.
That wellspring within me was rising, just as it had the day I connected with Rían, and I began sweating. The lake—and Rían’s quick thinking—had saved me then, but there was no going back as raw power ignited in my chest, and my palms glowed with red and gold light.
“Are you trying to smoke me out, bear?”
The bear in question twitched her nose, checking the scent, but she didn’t dare cut her eyes toward me.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Another puff of forced air, another grunt from Jess, and I lost it.
No.
I erupted.
A seismic shift shuddered through me as my palms ignited into flamethrowers, which, yes, looked cool, but ohmygodIwasgoingtokillusall.
The twin gouts of flames had Mindy swearing and backing toward the employee exit.
I ought to be hustling in that direction too, toward the yard and the hosepipes, but fear I would burn GSG down around us consumed me.
Until Sloane’s whimper hit me, then that same fear galvanized me. “What did you dose Sloane with?”
Rising slowly, I held my palms up in front of me, hoping I gave off menacing vibes instead of panicky ones.
“Ana.” Mindy’s lips parted like she couldn’t decide on how to play it. “I didn’t see you there.”
Indecision flickered across her features, a million answers parting her lips before she locked her jaw. That she hadn’t shot me too left me queasy with cold certainty that what she had in those vials was stronger than a sedative.
Cursing myself for not bonding into the Walsh clan, for not giving myself a tether to yank to draw Rían’s attention, I could only keep her talking while I figured out a new game plan. “You’re the mole.”
“I’m here to keep you safe.” She placed the gun on the counter. “That’s all.”