Fucksparagus
Rowan
Turning in a tight circle on the corner of Jefferson and Campbell, my wolf scans every darkened recess, but Milo is nowhere to be seen. I rake my clawed fingers through my hair for the hundredth time.
The tracker on the screen of my phone shows that he’s exactly here. He’s been exactly here for the last fifteen minutes. Except that he isn’t. There’s no one here.
Frustrated, I look up, but all the high-rise buildings here limit my view of the dark-violet sky. Without a claiming bite or a fated bond to follow, being in full wolf form is the only way to narrow down Milo’s exact whereabouts.
Despite the downtown location, I risk letting my wolf come further forward; canines extend over my lower lip and the vista around me changes as I look at it through lupine eyes.
Milo’s apple scent is thick in the night air, as if he’s standing just metres away.
It’s coated in a layer of my own spiced scent, and the combination produces a shiver that rolls up my spine.
But there’s also the potent aroma of fresh sweat and… fear that punches through from underneath. My wolf growls. I search the intersection again, noting the time on the ornate two-faced clock that hangs from the corner of the bank… 00:37.
A two-faced clock. I smile. Found you, Magpie.
The imposing column-like bank wouldn’t be out of place in Edinburgh, and I focus my wolf’s eyes on the security truck parked outside, then on the apparently empty lobby encased behind a full-glass window that stretches two floors high.
There’s not a security team in the world that would leave the lobby of a bank exposed like that…
unless they were already dealing with an intruder.
Retracting my wolf form, I stride across the road and retrieve the universal tech key that Tuesday invented from one of the pockets in my combat trousers.
Even banks use standardised security software, and between our military-grade access, Delilah’s mind for numbers, and Tuesday’s penchant for tinkering, there isn’t a system we can’t usually bypass.
The automatic doors slide open with a whoosh, and as if the noise summoned him, a Jackal Security team member pops his head up from where he’d been hunched closer to the monitors arranged within the front desk. He looks frazzled.
I clap my hands once, and stride toward him.
“Approximately twenty minutes ago, the silent alarm on this bank’s location was triggered.
Unauthorised personnel have gained entry to this unit, and ye failed to follow protocol and notify the chain of command immediately.
I’ll need yer name and badge number. But first, lock down this building. ”
The man scrambles to comply. Flustered, he knocks over a bottle of water, and curses when it floods the keyboard. Not the team leader, then. I scan the various rooms on this floor, but they’re all open-facing customer check points. My gaze lands on the heavy fire doors that lead to the stairwell.
“What do you know?” I command, backing it with my alpha tone.
“The kid said he was sent for work experience,” the guy fumbles. “Matt was just gonna park him here for the night, but he asked to use the restroom. That’s how he gave us the slip. He was really convincing.”
Magpie’s a fucking natural, and pride at his ability to get past a whole team of bank security guards puffs up my chest.
I nod. “This kid… white-blond hair? Young? Carrying a bag?”
“I don’t know about his hair, he had a ball cap that covered it and looked like he was wearing his dad’s jacket.”
My brow lowers at the insinuation that I’m old enough to be my mate’s father. “Call yer team and withdraw them from the top floors. Concentrate yer search on floors one to eight. Sweep down. I’ll take floors nine to twelve.”
He stares at me, mouth hanging open.
“Do it now.”
Patting his utility belt, he searches for his two-way.
“And for fuck’s sake, fasten yer top button, yer on duty.”
I don’t wait to make sure he does as I’ve asked; there’s no time. At almost a jog, I cross the marble floor, push through the doors to the stairwell, and charge headlong up the concrete staircase.
The higher I climb, the stronger the scent of spiced apples becomes, until I burst out onto the roof. It has to be the roof because of how clearly his scent was in the air. The wind catches the door. I tighten my hold on the handle to stop it blowing back.
Milo was here, there are footprints in the pea gravel. Two sets.
Janus’s strange scent is here also. I recognise it from when my wolf bit him. The growl that claws up my throat brings my wolf with it.
I trace one set of steps over to the wooden hutch that surrounds the generator, but there’s no apple fragrance here. Where are you, Pup?
The unmistakable sound of two gunshots firing in rapid succession thunders through the building’s fabric and rends my soul. Whirling on my heel, I race to the centre of the roof space.
Heart pumping, claws twitching, I try to think through my rising panic. Those gunshots were muffled—inside. But Milo is outside.
The buzzing alert of an incoming call vibrates my pocket. The caller ID displays Magpie’s codename, and I answer instantly.
“Fucksparagus,” he whisper-sobs.
My heart lurches, but my wolf can hear him through my other ear. “Fuck am I glad to hear yer voice.”
“I’m so sorry, Ranger,” he sniffs. “I fucked up.”
“Aye, Pup. Ye did,” I tell him, but it’s to get him talking.
I hold the phone away from me so my wolf can track the sound of his voice.
He sniffs again, but also chuckles a little, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better sound. “Can you rub my face in it later? I have a small problem.”
My wolf guides me to the very edge of the building, where the updraft tosses me about dangerously. “Small problems are easy to solve, Magpie. Ye don’t use yer safe word for small problems.”
“Fine. I don’t have a small problem—I really, really fucked up.”
At the fear in Milo’s voice my wolf fights me for control. Dropping to my knees, I try my best to reassure him while I work out where the fuck he is. “I know, Magpie. But this is when we need to keep our heads. Assess the situation—”
He tries again to clarify. “No, you don’t understand, I absolutely fucked up. I thought I could fix it, and well…”
“I know.”
Annoyed, he growls at me. “Grrrr. Stop saying that you know. How can you possibly know how badly I fucked up?”
“Ye didn’t think yer were alone, did ye? That I’d let ye sneak away, and not know where ye went? And don’t growl at me, Pup.”
Milo gives another sob. “Wait, you’re here?”
“Aye”
“Whe—”
“Look up.”
He scoots forward a little on the tiny balcony he’s perched on, and tilts his face skyward.
Grey eyes, set within a red and blotchy face from where he’s been crying, blink owlishly up at me, and the wind tosses his hair in every direction, but he’s still the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. Then Milo smiles.
“I knew you were there,” he sniffs, and wipes his nose on his jacket—my jacket, I realise.
My wolf preens at the sight of our mate in my clothes. Even if it is two sizes too big.
“Did ye now? What happened to fucksparagus?”
“Still very much fucksparagus. Janus is on the other side of that door…” Milo thumbs over his shoulder, but I can’t see it from this angle. I lie down on the roof to get a better look.
“He has wolfsbane-laced silver bullets… You need to leave!”
My wolf growls at that instruction. The thought that we’d ever leave him, let alone in a situation like this, heats my blood.
“So hot.” Milo clamps a hand over his mouth. “Sorry.”
I stretch my arm over the roof for him to grab hold of. “Let me get ye off that balcony.”
He scrabbles to stand, and stretches up with his fingertips. But despite being tall, he isn’t tall enough. I end our phone call and discard the gadget beside me. Milo tucks his in his pocket.
“Climb up, Magpie. I’ve got ye.” I point to the fancy stone balustrade. His eyes widen. “Eyes on me, Milo.”
He smiles, takes a fortifying breath, and then nods. The relief that I haven’t destroyed his trust in me, even after the way I handled—or rather, didn’t handle—our first kiss, helps combat the perilous nature of our current situation.
Carefully, Milo grips the carved masonry and reaches higher. My truck on the street far below is the size of a toy, and a sudden wave of fear that my mate might lose his footing in the updraft and plummet to his death threatens to steal my breath.
Ensuring my grip around his wrist is strong and sure, I grab hold.
“Hi.” Milo smiles up at me.
Yeah, alright wolf, we get this troublesome witch safely off this balcony and there’ll be no more fighting this from me.
“Hi.” I smile back at my mate.
Flexing my forearm, I haul him up, and that’s when the balcony door he must have been sitting against flies open.
Janus stalks into my line of sight, arm held out stiffly in front of him, and with a gun pointed right at Milo’s face.
I growl in warning, and pull as hard as I can.
Janus fires.
The shot echoes from the building and out across the silent downtown landscape.
Milo scrunches his eyes shut, braced for the impact.
My heart stops beating.