Page 119 of Contested Crown

“Youwhat?” I asked.

“One part Thorn, one partpureReaper.” Piper modeled it on the scale, then mixed the powders together and started packaging the mixture. “It ends up being slightly more Reaper than our clients are used to getting.”

I blinked, coming over to the table and examining one of the filled baggies. The overaggressiveness of wolves on Reaper, the hyperpresentation of wolf, was it just because addicts were getting more Reaper than they were used to?

“What is Thorn?” I asked.

Piper and Lee looked at each other. She cleared her throat. “We don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” I asked. “What did Declan say it was?”

“He didn’t say anything,” Lee said. “We were just supposed to start pushing it. No more Reaper, none available, try Thorn instead.”

“And everyone went for it?” I turned to Joel. He shrank back for a moment, and I changed my tone, letting myself go softer. “How did clients take it?”

“At first, we got some pushback, but Declan said to make the first two doses free.” Joel met my eyes, and I nodded encouragingly. “Then no one was asking about Reaper.”

“I ran into someone who said Thorn had been on the streets for months,” I said. “But I didn’t hear anything about it before I left.”

Piper and Lee shook their heads. “We only got it a few weeks after your…” Lee trailed off.

“After Declan put a hit on me,” I said. “If Declan was trying it small scale, we’d need to ask the local crews.”

“Miles.” Cade’s voice was quiet, but I turned as though he’d shouted.

He and Jason were still at the computer station, Jason in his office chair, Cade having found a stool from somewhere. Cade pointed at a small picture in the corner of the screen. I crossed the room and squinted at the security camera footage.

“One of the crews is coming back early,” Jason said. “They either need to deposit or ran out of product.”

When a crew got a certain amount of money, they were supposed to deposit it back here, like a liquor store that only kept a couple hundred dollars in the register, the rest going into a safe that no one but the owner had the code for. I had been thinking we’d need to decide what crew to hit next, but now I realized we wouldn’t have to hit anyone. They would be coming to us.

“We need the element of surprise,” I said.

Cade met my eyes, and I saw the slight crinkle in the corner of his lips. “I’ll disguise the front of the building and give you a way out.”

“We’ll be ready.” I pointed my finger forward, and the three wolves fell into line behind me. “Wait for my signal before attacking. I want to give them the same chance I gave you.”

We might not have been a pack for long, but they knew how it worked. They knew how to fight together.

“Uh, boss,” Pablo asked, frowning as though the question was just coming to him. “Why are you working with a mage?”

“Because I trust him,” I said sharply. “Get ready.”

The wall in front of us shimmered, and I recognized it as Cade’s magic, but I felt the three wolves behind me come close to my back, frightened of the power, frightened of the potential. I remembered that feeling, the ingrained fear of magic. A mage’s powers weren’t for us. They meant pain and ownership; they meant danger.

Now I knew Cade’s power was my power. I gave him my strength, and with him, my wolf was stronger.

“Come on.” I walked up to the magic, but when I looked back, the other wolves were staring at me with wide eyes. “Now.”

I let just enough of a command infuse the words that the wolves jumped, leaping into action, following behind me as I headed through the wall. We came out as four members of a crew I recognized were getting out of a car. They jostled each other, a teasing play of dominance that never quite rose to the level of a real challenge.

From the way their eyes swept the building, they didn’t see us at all yet—Cade’s magic made us completely invisible. I stepped forward through Cade’s illusion, and they jumped as though I’d appeared out of nowhere.

The one in front’s eyes went wide as she recognized me, her mouth dropping open. “Miles…”

“I’m taking over,” I said shortly. “I’m starting a pack, and Declan’s going down. Are you in or out?”

She hesitated, and that was all I needed to know. Someone in the back didn’t, his roar of anger loud enough to startle her into action. The four wolves lunged at me, but my pack came through the illusion, and then it was a fair fight.