Chapter 87 Nico #2
Sebastian and Felipe dealt with explaining the loss of the wetsuits to the rental guy and paid him the extra to cover the cost. I sat in the car with Maddy and Tiago while they talked.
The guy looked both confused and pissed, but once Felipe waved a stack of American twenties in his face, his scowl turned into a begrudging smile.
All I could do was sit and stew over what had happened.
Maddy sat silently beside me, staring out the window.
By the time we got home, her face had gone red again, almost like her fury was ebbing and increasing like the tides.
She paced back and forth around the villa, muttering under her breath.
The others stayed away from her, settling around the kitchen table.
The mood was somber and dejected. None of us were happy with what had happened.
We’d traveled halfway across the damned world only to be given another freaking riddle.
It was almost like some fucked-up game of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.
I was staring out the back window at the ocean when the crackle and bang of breaking glass exploded behind me.
Spinning around, I found the guys had leaped to their feet, and Maddy had grabbed a tile coaster off the coffee table and thrown it across the room, where it slammed into a mirror behind the couch. Broken glass rained on the floor.
“Well, there goes the security,” Sebastian muttered.
Ignoring him, Maddy said, “Why the hell is it like this?” She seemed to be asking the world itself rather than any of us in particular.
“I’ve been attacked, almost murdered, chased, shot at, kidnapped, and damn-near bled dry.
All because a bunch of power-hungry shitheads want to end all shifters.
Now, just when we think we’ve found the fucking thing, we get sent on another trail to chase our damned tails. ”
“Maddy,” I said, taking a step toward her, hands up, pleading with her to calm down. “Take a breath. We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
“You can’t know that!” she screamed. “No one can. Hell, maybe they were right. Maybe Edemas was insane. How else can you explain this horse shit? How can a sane person come up with this crap?” Her face was so red that I was worried she would pass out.
She bent over and grabbed a second tile coaster and slung it at the other side of the room, where it buried itself in the drywall.
She spun and walked toward the stairs. “I need a shower.” A few moments later, a door slammed.
Sebastian walked over to the new hole in the wall, touching the ragged sheetrock with a finger. “Never gonna let us rent from here again.”
I flopped down onto a seat at the table. I was also frustrated and couldn’t blame Maddy for lashing out and letting off some steam. She had more on the line than anyone else. Her family, her life, and her entire future were all at stake here.
Tiago sat next to me. “What’s the next step? Where do we go from here?”
I mulled it over, then gave a despondent shrug.
“Not really anywhere we can go right now. We don’t have any more leads on this vial.
We have no idea who or where this witch is or if she even exists at all.
All we can do is wait for the witch to contact us.
Maybe the collapse of the cave will trigger some…
shit… I don’t know, magical call button.
It collapsed once Maddy took the vial out of that vase.
We wait. Nothing else to do but wait.” The idea didn’t appeal to me, but I had no clue what else we could do.
Tiago nodded. “Then we wait. If there’s one thing bears have, it’s patience.”
“Must be nice,” I said. “Wolves are… a bit more impulsive by nature.” Before I could say anything else, my phone rang. It was Luis. I frowned at the others. “Luis is calling.”
“Why does that not fill me with the warm and fuzzies?” Felipe asked.
Something did feel ominous about the call. “Luis? It’s Nico. What’s up?”
“Hey,” Luis’s voice sounded strained. “Have you guys seen the news?”
I tried not to roll my eyes. “Been a little busy, bro. What’s going on?” I clicked the speaker button so the others could hear what he had to say.
“Multiple reports are coming in of so-called feral shifters.
Reports say the shifters attacked innocent bystanders.
First was in Austin, Texas. A wolf shifter ransacked a Christmas parade.
Three adults and one kid were injured. A bystander ran her down with a truck and killed her.
Second report came in less than ten minutes ago from San Diego.
A dragon shifter went bat-shit crazy. Plowed through a grocery store.
The SWAT team got called and pumped god-knows how many rounds into him before they brought him down.
“Shit’s getting intense. The royals must have guys all over, randomly injecting shifters with this poison of theirs.
Already heard rumors of protests starting across the whole country.
People are demanding that the government move up their deadline for shifters to turn themselves in or go ahead and start rounding us up.
A small protest is happening right now at the Clearidge town hall.
Nico, it’s getting bad. What do you want me to do? ”
A chill descended upon me. Things were escalating, and here we were on the other side of the globe.
Sebastian and Felipe looked worried, Tiago appeared to be calm as he leaned back in his chair, but his eyes betrayed his own fears.
I sighed. “Okay. We need to get a message out. Put all our members on lockdown. They’ve got a day to get into the pack lands before we shut the doors.
No one gets out—no one gets in. Check in with all the other alphas who came to the meeting and make sure they’re on the same page.
We have to be smart. We can’t give Viola or any of her goons a chance to inject one of our members.
Increase the guard patrols. I know we have extended fences and cameras, but I want guys patrolling the forests as well. No chances.”
“Okay, will do. How’s it going over there? Do you have the vial yet?”
Sebastian groaned and shook his head. I grimaced. “I’ll fill you in when we get home. All I’ll say is it isn’t good news.”
Luis cursed under his breath. “Okay. Are you leaving soon? When will you be back?”
“As soon as possible. Work with my family to keep things together until we return.”
I ended the call and shoved the phone into my pocket. Felipe motioned toward the stairs. “You’ll probably want to check on her. We’ll start packing up.”
“Right.” I headed toward the stairs.
When I opened the door, I could see the fire inside Maddy had died. Instead of the raging, red-eyed alpha shifter who had been downstairs, she was sitting on the bed with a look of defeat. Her head hung down, her hair hiding the sides of her face, hands limp between her knees.
I sat beside her and stroked her back. “You know this isn’t your fault, right? I feel like you’re trying to hang all this on yourself when you shouldn’t. There’s no way any of us could have known Edemas would play this extravagant game.”
Maddy breathed out a dejected sigh and turned her weary eyes up to meet mine. “What if there is no vial, Nico? What if it never existed? This could all just be one big mindfuck to screw with the royals, but we’re falling for it too.”
That thought had occurred to me. The moment I read that vial on the boat, the idea had started worming its way into my mind.
Could Edemas have planted all these clues and legends as one last middle finger to the royals before they cast him down off his throne?
I refrained from mentioning it to Maddy.
She didn’t need me feeding her with more negative thoughts.
I put a hand on her thigh and squeezed. “We’ll figure this out. Either way, we’ll find out what’s going on. But first, we need to get back home. Luis called. It’s getting worse.”
Her face softened. “More feral shifters?”
“A few. We need to get back and hunker down as best we can. We can’t risk one of the royal agents finding us and injecting us with this poison Viola’s developed.”
Maddy stood. The depressed expression she’d had when I came in was suddenly gone. She seemed ready to do anything as long as it wasn’t thinking about what had happened. “Okay, I’ll pack all our stuff. You go try to get us tickets home.”
“Will do,” I said, giving her my best attempt at a smile.