Page 39 of A Skirl of Sorcery (The Cat Lady Chronicles #3)

There were very few circumstances under which I would have openly entered the Barrow wolf stronghold on my own.

For that matter, there were very few circumstances when I’d have openly entered any werewolf stronghold without extensive back-up.

Right here, right now, however, I definitely had the upper hand.

No wolf, not even Thane’s hot-headed half-brother would lift a finger against me.

Captain Montgomery had returned the bone boxes and their painfully extracted magic to their original owners – apart from the box belonging to Ashina Barrow.

I still had that one. The Barrow alpha wouldn’t receive her wolf until she’d satisfied my conditions.

It wasn’t fair, but I didn’t care. Thane was on board with my actions and that was all that mattered.

I was taken through a long hallway with wooden floors and dust-free corners to reach a large anteroom with closed double doors at the far end. The wolf gestured to a chair set against a wall. ‘I will inform Alpha Ashina that you are here,’ he said. ‘Please wait one moment.’

I didn’t bother sitting down; instead I walked over to the wall opposite.

Doubtless the real reason for the delay was to give me time to peruse the large display of photographs of important Barrow werewolves from the past eight decades.

Naturally there was no picture of Thane, though young Cayden was deemed important enough for a spot.

I glanced at the picture of Ashina Barrow then flicked my narrowed gaze towards Mark Barrow, Thane’s dead uncle.

There were laughter lines around his eyes and mischievous amusement in his face.

He looked friendly, approachable and kind.

I snorted derisively and turned my back on him.

It was a tiny rebellion but I felt better for it.

The double doors swung open and a loud male voice invited me to enter.

As I walked into the room, I absently plucked at some strands of cat hair that had seemingly glued themselves to my sleeve and allowed my peripheral vision to do my work for me.

The room was large, well-appointed and dominated by a large chair in the centre.

There were antique cabinets and unremarkable paintings on the walls.

There was also a window ajar on the right-hand side.

Five werewolves, including Cayden Barrow, were present. Ashina Barrow was in the centre, seated in the chair with a blanket draped over her. She was very pale, sunken-eyed and almost skeletal. Clearly she’d been struggling with the loss of her wolf for some time.

‘You will understand, Ms McCafferty,’ she said in a papery whisper, ‘why I do not get up to greet you.’

I met her eyes; they were the same vivid green as Thane’s although her hair colour was brown rather than coppery red. ‘Sure,’ I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. ‘Stay where you are.’

The man to Ashina Barrow’s left, whom I immediately recognised as my old pal Grizzly, straightened his shoulders and spoke up. ‘I cannot help noticing that you are empty-handed,’ he said.

I deliberately played dumb. ‘I was told that weapons wouldn’t be allowed. I gave my word that I wouldn’t bring any.’ He glared. ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Are you saying that I should have brought a gift? Some flowers perhaps?’

Grizzly wasn’t the only member of the Barrow household who looked pissed off.

‘He’s saying,’ snapped Cayden, ‘that you should have brought the box containing my mother’s wolf.’

I smiled. ‘So you could wrap your hands around my throat and wrest it from me?’ I clicked my tongue. ‘That wouldn’t be a very clever move on my part, would it?’

‘I apologise for my son’s actions,’ Ashina Barrow interjected. ‘That should not have happened.’ For someone knocking on death’s door, she was managing remarkably well.

‘Although you are not blameless yourself, Ms McCafferty,’ she said, eyeing me with a sharp coldness that continued to belie her immediate health problems. ‘We have investigated you and we know that you are friendly with my other son, regardless of what you may have suggested during your last visit here.’

I tilted my head. ‘Oh, I’m not just friendly with Thane.

’ I allowed my smile to extend until I was grinning ear to ear.

‘He’s been in my house. He’s slept in my bed.

I’ve kissed him.’ I paused. ‘Not just on his mouth. I’ve seen every inch of him naked.

’ I didn’t look away from Ashina Barrow. ‘Including the deep scars on his back.’

She stiffened. Doubtless she was little more than a shadow of the woman she usually was, but she wasn’t without strength. Her green eyes glittered coldly and I felt the temperature in the room drop by several degrees. I looked away, glanced at the open window then returned my gaze to her.

‘So it’s true then,’ she whispered. ‘You are here on his behalf. What does he want? Money? Blood? Does he want to see me suffer?’

I was surprised that she didn’t click her fingers for mournful violins to accompany her words. Was I supposed to feel sorry for her? ‘Thane has no need of your money. He’s far richer than the entire Barrow pack.’

‘Yeah, right,’ Cayden spat sarcastically.

Ashina reached across and placed a trembling hand on his arm. He continued to huff and bristle but he shut up. Small mercies.

‘Nor does Thane want blood,’ I continued as if Cayden hadn’t spoken. ‘He has no great desire for vengeance, no matter how much is owed.’

Cayden snarled again; so did Grizzly and the other werewolves, for that matter.

Ashina Barrow flinched. Her reaction was barely perceptible but I noticed it. I licked my lips and lifted my chin. ‘In return for the bone box containing your wolf, all I ask is for some information. If you tell me what…’

She interrupted before I could finish my sentence. ‘Leave us.’ She wasn’t talking to me.

Grizzly stiffened but he didn’t need to be told twice. He threw a quick glance at Ashina’s face then marched out of the room with the other three werewolves beside him.

‘You too, Cayden,’ Ashina whispered.

‘But…’

She didn’t raise her voice because she couldn’t but her tone was unmistakable. ‘Leave. And close the door behind you on your way out.’

Hurt flashed across his face before he nodded and did as he was told. Finally.

As soon as we were alone, I spoke again. ‘You were hoping I’d ask for money, weren’t you? The right information is far, far more dangerous to you than losing the meagre contents of your bank account.’

Ashina Barrow bared her teeth. ‘Name your terms, cat lady.’

It was nice to be properly acknowledged so I curtsied. ‘In return for the bone box containing your wolf, you will tell me what happened when Mark Barrow died.’ I smiled coldly. ‘You will tell me who really killed him.’

Her expression betrayed little. ‘Thane was there. He knows better than anyone what happened to Mark.’

‘He has no memory of it. Either he has blanked out the trauma of what occurred or,’ I paused, ‘a memory spell was used on him.’

Ashina Barrow’s responding glare was icy. ‘I do not appreciate your insinuation.’

I didn’t move a muscle except to say, ‘I don’t care.’

‘If my son blanked out what happened it’s because he cannot deal with the guilt about what he did.’

I noted that she wasn’t saying that Thane had killed Mark Barrow.

I eyed her dispassionately. ‘You are alpha of this pack. You know exactly what happened that night. Give me your word that you will speak the full truth of those events as you understand them and I will return your wolf to you. This offer is non-negotiable. I will make no further compromise.’

Ashina opened her mouth, but before she could form any sort of answer she started to cough and wheeze. There was a rattling in her throat, her skin flushed red and she was forced to clutch her chest and gasp for air.

It wouldn’t have been a good outcome for anyone if she’d died at that precise moment but I stayed exactly where I was. Let the cards fall where they may.

A thick vein throbbed in her forehead as she managed to croak out a response. ‘No… …deal. You … will … leave … now.’

I tilted my head and examined her curiously. Huh. Even though it had always been a possibility that she would take this route, it still surprised me. I glanced again at the window; I could feel a faint breeze drifting in from outside, rippling my hair.

‘You will die without your wolf,’ I said, matter-of-factly.

Ashina didn’t flinch. ‘So be it.’

I looked at her pallor then into her unwavering green eyes. That was when I knew exactly what had happened. ‘It was you,’ I said softly. ‘You killed Mark Barrow. You murdered your own brother and blamed it on your son.’

‘I told you to go.’

‘I’ve met some cold-hearted wankers in my time,’ I murmured, ‘but you rank at the very top.’ I shook my head. Then I turned on my heel and headed for the double doors.

The moment my fingers brushed against the cold metal of the handle, there was a loud feline yowl. It was about time.

I turned around to see a ginger blur as Tiddles vaulted from the window and landed on all fours in front of Ashina’s chair. Her fur was on end and her sharp teeth were bared. She meant business.

Thane’s mother half-choked, half-laughed. ‘A cat?’

‘I wouldn’t be quite so dismissive if I were you.’

Tiddles extended her claws and growled, more than prepared to go paw to paw with an alpha werewolf. Given Ashina Barrow’s condition, Thane’s kitten might do her some serious damage.

I waited, prepared to see how this would play out without interference from me. Several seconds passed until Ashina opened her mouth again. This time I had to strain to hear her words. ‘She smells of him,’ she whispered. ‘Almost as much as you do.’

I gazed at her, unsure if she would speak again, but then she said, ‘It wasn’t my fault. I had to make a choice.’

I froze.

‘I had to choose between Thane and the rest of the pack.’

Both Tiddles and I stared at her. Neither of us moved.

‘I knew about the beatings – of course I did. I told Mark to stop but he was a law unto himself. I couldn’t kick him out of the pack because we needed him. We were weak.’

She drew in a shaky breath. ‘We needed someone with his strength in order to survive and not be subsumed by another wolf pack. In a few years, Thane might have been able to take his place but he certainly wasn’t ready at fifteen. And my son never had the same sort of steel as Mark.’

‘Because Thane is a good guy,’ I said.

Her response was cool. ‘Sometimes you need a bad guy on your side to succeed.’

I rolled my eyes but Ashina didn’t react.

‘I could control my brother up to a point but it was getting harder. The night he died we had an argument. He told me he had endured enough.’ She laughed harshly.

‘He was planning to make a play for alpha. I knew that he would win if he did. What happened after that would be a disaster for everyone, especially Thane. So we argued. We fought.’ She sniffed. ‘And I won.’

‘So why not tell everyone that? You were alpha – you are still alpha. Dealing with someone like Mark was your responsibility. You would have been forgiven.’

‘I doubt that. Mark had as many supporters as detractors. If they had learned what I’d done to my own beta – to my own brother – they’d have demanded that I step down.’

I swallowed hard. It was an incredible effort to keep my voice even. ‘So this was about maintaining your own position?’

‘Don’t be na?ve! It was about the future of the Barrow pack. The vultures were already circling. I knew we’d barely survive losing Mark. Dissension in the ranks would have finished us off.’

I curled my hands into fists, my fingernails digging painfully into the flesh of my palms. ‘Unless you could offer up a sacrificial lamb. Your own son.’

‘His exile satisfied the more aggressive and vocal Barrow wolves. In time I was able to increase my authority over them and matters settled down. I’m not proud of what I did but the Barrows needed to survive.

This was about more than Thane, it was about the survival of my pack for the generations to come.

As alpha, I didn’t have the luxury of caring only about my son, I had to care about everyone’s sons. ’

For fuck’s sake. ‘Did you use a memory spell on him?’

For a moment she didn’t answer then her whisper drifted across the room. ‘Yes. I called him to me. I placed the knife in his hands and I cast the spell so he wouldn’t remember.’

I half-closed my eyes.

‘It was the right thing to do,’ she said. ‘Thane survived. In the long run, he thrived and so did the Barrow pack. We grew stronger. We were able to put off our enemies and increase our numbers. In the end everyone won.’

‘If you believe that,’ I said, ‘then you’re more of a fool than I realised.

Memory spells are very dangerous and incredibly expensive – they always have been.

You wouldn’t have simply had one lying around the place in case you needed it, you’d have had to go out and buy it in advance.

You planned Mark Barrow’s death and you planned that Thane would be blamed. ’

There was a defiant tilt to Ashina’s chin. ‘I won’t deny it – and if I went back to that time, I would make exactly the same decision. I did what was necessary, no matter how much it hurt.’ She hesitated. ‘How is Thane? Is he happy? Does he ever think of me?’

Tiddles hissed and I wholeheartedly agreed. ‘You don’t get to ask those questions.’

This time Ashina Barrow didn’t say anything.

‘There is a spriggan waiting at a nearby café. Once I give him the nod, he will come here and give you the box containing your wolf. We had a deal and I will keep my end of the bargain.’

I gazed at her. ‘If you ever try and contact Thane, if anyone from the Barrow pack ever hurts him or attacks him, if I have the slightest suspicion that you’ve done anything against him, I will come back here,’ I told her.

‘And I will kill you. I’m capable of more than I appear.

’ Tiddles miaowed so I added an extra comment. ‘So is the cat.’

She looked at me and I knew she got it. Then I turned and left with Tiddles at my heels.