Chapter 9 #2
“When I saw you standing out here, I thought…” Muscles clenched in his jaw, his lips thinning. “I’m sorry I didn’t look for you sooner. I should have asked about her when I first saw you.”
“I haven’t been here long.” He must have misread my appearance outside Liam’s room to mean I hadn’t found Sloane. That if I had, I would have been haunting her instead. “They’re working on her now, and my dragon has opinions about it.” I took his hand. “I left to make the staff more comfortable.”
“Do you feel like updating me?” He glanced down the hall behind me. “I had to turn off my phone during one of the tests. I was stepping out to turn it back on and check to see if I had missed any news.”
Glad for the distraction, I broke down everything that happened from the moment I left him to when he found me in the hall as if drawn by some instinct I was there.
“Will you close Brentwood again? The poisonings shouldn’t draw human attention, but those bombs…”
“We’re doing our best to stifle news coverage on human media stations, but you’re right. News will get out as soon as a human films one to share on their socials.” He ground his teeth. “These attacks feel like they’re designed to prove I can’t keep Brentwood, or my clan, safe.”
“No one feels like that.” I slid my arms around his waist. “Everyone supports you, one hundred percent.”
“No leader has a one hundred percent approval rating.” He hugged me back.
“But I hope everyone will extend me the grace to handle the situation. It will take time, but we can’t afford to be careless with our accusations.
Not with so many of our neighbors loyal to the Sartoris or in limbo as they decide whether to support Mercer. ”
“Have you contacted any of the other alphas? I know the plan was to wait until Carmichael had been detained to speak with Mercer, but circumstances have changed.”
“Until we can interrogate Sartori himself and determine his role in all this, we’re better off keeping our troubles to ourselves. A show of weakness on the heels of a prominent alpha being dethroned might put ideas into the heads of his former allies or anyone else eager to expand their territory.”
“Then we need to move ahead with our plan to locate him.”
“Pete is out, so we’ll need to replace him.
” An idea struck me, and I made my sales pitch.
“I met Dane today. I was impressed with him. I wouldn’t mind bringing him into the fold if we need a replacement for Pete.
With him and Seamus watching my back, I feel certain I can handle recon without issue. ”
“Dane is a good man. He’s been helping at the border where the wards were, ensuring humans’ safety. That’s why you haven’t met yet. I’m not surprised he found a way to bump into you his first day in town. He’s been curious about you.”
“I would have been curious about him too, if I had known he existed.” I slid my gaze to the door behind him. “Now I’ve got something to hold over Liam’s head the next time he bothers me.”
“He’s going to sleep over tonight. I wanted to give you a heads-up, so you wouldn’t be caught off-guard, but if the rest of the team is still up for pursuing Sartori, then it shouldn’t make a difference.
” He pursed his lips. “Goldie will be his nurse, so it might be smarter to schedule your last meeting with the others at Fayne’s house.
That way neither of them will be the wiser. ”
“Until I hear from Burdock, I can’t say either way.
I don’t want to leave Sloane, but this escalation has to stop.
Our next poison victim might be the one who dies.
” I furrowed my brow. “I was talking to Burdock earlier, and it got me thinking. The symptoms of dragonsbane poisoning are easily identifiable. Do you think it’s possible the person behind this is using it as a sort of test to identify dragons in the Walsh clan? ”
There were so few dragons, no clan of this size could be comprised solely of them. With dragons hunted for so many reasons and by so many factions, our enemies—and any other greed-stricken fools—might believe they had found a treasure trove and plunder Brentwood.
“As a means of gauging our threat level or the potential payout,” he murmured, gaze distant. “You might be onto something.”
Too bad the list of interested parties, if that was the case, was longer than my arm.
“Obviously, I don’t want anyone to die, but it’s odd that no one has yet. I can’t shake that thought out of my head. I keep circling back to it, but that’s all I can figure. I don’t have anything to back it up, it’s just a theory.”
“I’ll run it past Fayne, and Liam when he’s better.
We can reach out to the dragons in the clan and let them know not to eat or drink anything they don’t bring from home and to never leave their belongings unattended.
” He mulled it over. “I’ll issue a clan-wide announcement too as a general guideline, in case those are being monitored by other plants like Mindy for updates.
That will conceal the dragons’ behavior even more, and it’s good sense for everyone to be careful going forward. ”
“Ana.”
I whipped my head toward the voice and spotted one of the nurses I recognized from Sloane’s room.
“On my way.” I released his fingers after a quick squeeze. “I’ll text you an update once I have it.”
“I’ll be here if you need me.” His expression tightened. “Give her my best.”
“I will.” I pivoted on my heel and jogged toward the nurse. “You have news?”
“I’ll let Burdock—”
A growl poured over my lips, and I slapped a hand across my mouth. “Sorry about that.”
“Oh, no. I understand.” She cleared her throat. “I, um. Well. She’s stable.”
“I heard you growling from over here.” Jess cut around the nurse and embraced me. “I know you’re worried about Sloane, I am too, but you can’t take it out on those who are helping her.”
“I’m so glad you’re here.” I hadn’t seen her since I left her floating in ice water at GSG. “I’m trying to rein myself in, but it’s harder than I thought it would be to calm a dragon-sized temper.”
“Just wait until she fully manifests.” She released me, and we hurried after the nurse.
“I got hit with all kinds of PMS jokes from the other kids after my bear got a taste of freedom. She’s moody, hangry, and can be downright mean.
” She gestured for me to follow the nurse into Sloane’s room first. “We’re polar opposites. ”
“That pun deserves a solid belly laugh, but I’m scared I might vomit if I try. Raincheck?”
“You got it.”
“Sloane will have to stay overnight for observation.” Burdock tugged on his ear. “The dragonsbane doesn’t seem to have harmed her beyond a stomachache, but it did cause a sedative-like reaction. We’re pumping her full of fluids to flush out the toxins, and I’ve given her something for cramps.”
“But she’s okay?”
“Yes.” He set his wide palms on my shoulders. “She’s going to be fine.”
“Thank God.” My knees turned to jelly. “What about the others?”
“I can’t prove it yet, but I suspect they were hit with an aerosol version of what Sloane ingested. I sent my nurse practitioner to tend them while I stayed with Sloane. She reported the others have milder symptoms than Sloane’s, and they’ll be discharged within the next hour.”
“Oh good.” I exhaled slowly. “I’m glad we scraped through again.”
Another memory popped into my head, seeming to confirm what I had already been thinking.
When we confronted the Nelson pride after they kidnapped the Pampered Pooches staff, they had been shocked to discover the Walshes were dragons. They had heard the rumors, of course, but Carmichael had used his charisma to convince them it was all a lie.
But it was hard to stare into the face of a titanic beast like Rían’s dragon and not become a believer. The fact Liam had joined in the fun, squishing a member of the pride under his foot, made it even harder to rationalize away what they were seeing.
Did that mean I was right about the purpose behind these poisonings? Had they been meant to suss out the number of true dragons in the clan? To what end? To prove their numbers? For what reason? To sell out the valuable ones and paint targets on the back of the dangerous ones?
The more we learned, the less the situation made sense. Mix in the bombs, and I was stumped as to how it all fit together. The first explosion served a grisly purpose in eliminating Mindy and tying up that loose end. The rest? They were all flash and bang with minor payoff.
“I’ll stay with her,” Jess offered in a small voice. “You’re going out, right?”
“I appreciate the offer, but I can’t leave her like this.”
“I—I understand.” She swallowed. “She’s your best friend, and I…” She folded in on herself. “I overstepped.”
“It’s not that,” I rushed to reassure her. “I just know I wouldn’t be able to focus on the job if I knew she was still unconscious and I didn’t wait around to make sure she came out the other side okay.”
Especially not when, more than once, she had crawled to me on her belly when our roles were reversed. I couldn’t repay that loyalty by ditching her when she needed me the most.
“Oh.” Jess nodded. “That makes sense.”
Any mission plans I had for tonight evaporated in the face of her relief.
“Liam is going home today. Rían will probably be babysitting him all night.” Not exactly true, but not exactly false either. “Do you want to hang out with me while we wait on this bum to wake up?”
“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind.”
“I invited you, right? We can ask someone to drop off snacks and a tablet so we can binge a show together. I haven’t been watching much TV lately, so I have no clue what’s out there. How about you?”
“I watch a lot of TV,” she said softly. “I like the company.” She flushed. “The voices, I mean.”
Heart breaking for her, I launched myself at her, for once not second-guessing myself.
“You’re an amazing friend, Jess. You know that, right?
” I held her tight enough I hoped I could make her believe it.
“Without Sloane, I wouldn’t have broken out of my shell.
I want to help you do that too.” I worried I was pushing things, but I had come this far.
“Since Sloane and I started rooming together, we’re closer than ever.
Have you considered posting for a roommate? You might enjoy living with someone.”
“I don’t know…”
“I was so happy when I moved to Brentwood and got my own space. It was fun for a while, but I started to miss the background noise of the pack. They didn’t interact with me much, so it was easy to ignore it for a while, but having Sloane in my life made it clear how isolated I had been and how lonely I still was. ”
“Do you think…?” She swallowed. “Would someone be willing to live with me?” She linked her fingers and flexed until her knuckles turned white. “I would be embarrassed if I asked around and everyone turned me down.” Her cheeks pinkened. “That’s probably what would happen anyway, but—”
“I’m starting to see what Sloane was up against,” I mumbled to myself.
Neither Jess nor I had much in the way of self-esteem.
That had changed for me, but only because of the support and friendship I had found with the Walshes.
I wanted to gift the acceptance to Jess that I had been given, but she had to be willing to accept it.
She had to believe she was worthy of it.
I definitely had my work cut out for me.