Page 49 of A Malicious Menagerie (Fangs & Fables #1)

The Road Trip

I t’s nearly two in the morning when Chase and I park two blocks from Sunny Shores Retirement Village and sneak to the front of the building.

We hide behind some bushes in the front garden and look through the front windows.

There’s a security guard seated at the desk, his gray uniform shirt straining over his round belly.

He’s watching the security camera footage on a desktop, but he also has half an eye on the man seated to his left. A man I recognize.

“That was the scary guy who intimidated me when I tried to take Nan home,” I whisper to Chase.

He growls low in his throat. “Mathis must have left him to make sure you didn’t try again.”

“There’s no way we’re going to get past them both,” I note with a frown. “We need a distraction.”

Chase’s mischievous grin glows a ghostly white in the dim light. “One distraction, coming right up. Get Nan and meet me back here.” Chase gives me a smacking kiss before skulking away toward the corner of the building.

I bite my nails down to the quick while I wait, worry for Chase and Nan threatening to choke me if I let it. Trust him , I tell myself, and I do. So I wait.

Suddenly, there’s a shout of alarm from inside the building.

I peek over the bushes to see the security guard pushing up from his seat.

He dons a baton before scurrying through the door to the back office.

Mathis’s man looks disinterested until his eyes flick to the security camera display.

Suddenly, his gaze hardens. He jumps to his feet, pulls a handgun from a holster at his hip, checks the clip, and hurries after the other guard.

With my heart in my throat— Chase, don’t you dare get yourself shot!

—I force myself to wait sixty seconds before darting to the front door.

Locked. I growl in frustration before peering through the window at the mechanism on the other side.

It’s one of those locks you only have to twist from that side, no key required.

I peer around for something I can use to break the glass.

I spot a wooden cane abandoned against a bench to one side of the door and snatch it up, weighing its heft before eyeing the thick double glass.

It better be a damn good distraction, Chase, I think silently.

I take a deep breath and swing the curved end of the cane at the window.

It bounces off the glass with a reverberating bang .

I grit my teeth against the recoil that shudders up my arms. Committed now, I try again, and again, losing hope with each swing.

Finally, I put every last drop of desperation and fear into one more wild attempt, a cry bursting from my lips with the effort.

The glass doesn’t shatter in an explosive shower of glittering shards like in the movies. Instead, it cracks with a sound like ice breaking under skates on a frozen pond. Two more focused blows knock out enough glass for me to reach through without cutting myself and twist the lock.

Once I’m inside, it’s easy to sneak through the lobby and into the common room where Nan and I have shared so many cups of coffee.

The lights are on but turned low for the night, and Chase must still be keeping the guards occupied because the building is silent.

I follow the familiar path to Nan’s room on the first floor.

Tiptoeing down the back hallway, I avoid the small offshoot that leads to a caretaker’s office.

Finally, I arrive at Nan’s door, and I use the key she gave me to let myself into her room.

I close the door behind me with a barely audible snick before approaching the bed where Nan’s slender form is bundled under a quilt.

Ambient light from the street lamp outside helps me avoid a pair of fluffy slippers and Nan’s wheelchair as I cross the small room.

Once I’m standing over her, I reach down to gently touch her shoulder. “Nan?”

Her bony shoulder jerks briefly under my palm before she turns bleary eyes up to me. “…Anna?”

“Hey, Nan,” I say gently, smoothing her fine white hair from her befuddled face.

“Why are you here?” she asks groggily. “What time is it?” Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she tries to sit up but fails. “Did I have the wrong night? I thought I was supposed to have a heart attack tomorrow!”

On any other night, that might have made me laugh. Now, all I do is perch on the bed to help her sit. “Change of plans. We have to go a day early. I’m here to break you out.”

She looks disoriented, and I don’t blame her. “Oh, but… Did something happen? Are we in trouble?”

“No more than before.” A lie, but I force a calmness I don’t feel as I continue, “But I need you to come with me. Tonight. Now. Can you do that?”

“To Alaska?” she asks in a small voice.

“To Alaska.”

“With your friend Chase?”

“Maybe a bit more than a friend.”

Her world may be falling apart, but Nan’s eyes sharpen, her gaze locking onto me with laser focus. The crisis can wait, but my love life, apparently, cannot. “Oh?”

“You’ll meet him soon,” I promise her. “And I’ll tell you all about it. About everything . But I need you to trust me. Will you come with me?”

Nan blinks slowly before turning to peer around her small bedroom.

Her home for nearly three years, but now, with Mathis’s threats looming over her, a prison in its own right.

“I don’t know, Anna.” Her voice trembles as she turns her worried blue gaze to me.

“Maybe I’m too old for this kind of adventure.

Scratch that. I know I’m too old for this kind of adventure.

I’ll slow you down. Maybe you should go without me. ”

This woman. If loyalty and stubbornness are genetic, then I come by mine honestly. “I’m not going without you,” I answer firmly. “So. Are you coming? Or should I sit here until I get caught?”

Nan’s lips purse disapprovingly. “That’s manipulative, Anna Grace Carmichael.”

“It’s just honest. You always did emphasize honesty as a virtue.”

“Twisting my words,” Nan mutters under her breath. Finally, she sighs, and her shoulders slump. “Fine. Yes, Anna. I will go with you.”

“Thank you,” I sigh, relief loosening my tension by a fraction of a degree.

Throwing Nan’s necessities into the suitcase in her closet and getting her into her housecoat and slippers takes longer than I’d like. Finally, I have her seated comfortably in her wheelchair with her suitcase secured to the back. “Ready?” I ask quietly.

“As I’ll ever be,” Nan replies, her tone grim.

Still, despite her reservations—and my own—I can’t help but feel optimistic. We’re really doing this. We’re moments away from being free.

That feeling dries up quicker than a puddle in the dead heat of summer when I open Nan’s door to find myself staring down the barrel of a gun. Twice in one night. I’m either doing something very right or something very wrong.

“Don’t move,” the scowling bald man barks.

“Where’s Chase?” I demand, fear for him eclipsing my fear of the gun pointed between my eyes.

“The wolf? Giving Leonard a run for his money,” the man replies with a huff that I would almost call a laugh if not for the flinty look in his eyes.

“But I figured you out. A werewolf shows up here just a few weeks after its caretaker tries to take her old granny home? You don’t need to be a rocket scientist.” The man takes one hand off the gun to motion for me to come to him.

“Let’s go. I think Mathis will be interested to hear about your late-night visit. ”

“I doubt Mathis will be interested in much of anything ever again,” I reply venomously.

My response gives him pause, and I can see the wheels turning as he puzzles over my meaning. “What are you—”

Before he can finish the question, he jerks his gaze and gun to his right. It’s too late. A black blur collides with his chest. The gun fires as Chase takes the man to the ground, the shot going wide.

Nan cries out behind me, but I’m too busy lunging for the door to comfort her. “Chase!” I blurt. I swing around the door frame, but he’s already shaking the blood from his muzzle, his second kill of the night sprawled in a heap at his feet.

A couple of doors farther up the hallway creak open before shocked gasps are followed by the sound of those same doors slamming shut. I grimace. How did my life come to this? Leaving a trail of dead bodies in my wake. Refocusing on Chase, I ask, “Are you okay?”

Chase gives a heavy huff and quick tail wag in the affirmative. Still, he stays in his lupine form, his watchful gaze scanning the corridor. Turning back to Nan, I force down guilt at the look of terror on her face. “We have to go.”

“He’s… a wolf,” Nan notes faintly, her hand fluttering over her chest like a proper lady fighting a swoon.

“He’s Chase,” I reply simply, ducking behind her wheelchair to push her through the doorway and away from the dead body.

Then, I hesitate before running back for the guard’s discarded gun.

The cool weight feels unnatural in my grip, but I force myself to pick it up, keeping my fingers well away from the trigger.

Isn’t there a safety on guns? Where the hell is that?

“Your maybe-more-than-friend from work?” Nan asks weakly, resolutely not turning her head in the direction of the bloody corpse or the werewolf trailing behind us. Which suits my purposes well, since she would absolutely not approve of me looting a gun from a dead man.

“We’re kind of engaged,” I admit with a wince.

Nan splutters indignantly. “To a wolf?!”

“He’s not always a wolf,” I rush to assure her. “Well, that’s not true. He’s always a wolf. But sometimes he’s a man, too.”

“Anna,” Nan groans, holding a hand to her head like all of my hedging is giving her a migraine. Hopefully she’s taken her heart meds lately, but if not, I’ve got them in her suitcase.

“I told you I’d explain, didn’t I? Trust me.”