Page 24 of Diners, Damsels & Wolves

Twenty Four

Thomas

A string of curses rang in his mind as he growled. His oversized wolf hands tore at the great pine in front of him. It fell to the ground.

They’d followed seven different trails, each of them a dead end. It was past midnight already. With every hour, the chances of finding Clarissa alive dwindled.

“ How are they doing this? ” Sam thought.

“ I don’t know. ” Emmanuel’s thoughts were distraught. He’d always been able to track anything he’d caught scent of; this was causing him to lose faith in his nose.

“ Boss, ” Sam thought, “ your phone is lighting up. It’s Maria. ”

Phasing to human, Tom pulled out his cell.

“Maria,” he said.

“Tom, I’m with Sara. You need to get to The Barrel, now.”

Hanging up, he dropped the phone back in the bag. Phasing mid-stride, he ran as fast as he could.

Sara met them in the woods outside The Barrel, sweatpants draped over her arm.

“If anyone drives by, you should probably be dressed.” She tossed them at him.

Pulling them on, he turned to the others. “Stay here and keep a watch out.”

He followed Sara to the parking lot. It was late enough The Barrel was closed, and the front lot was deserted. She took him to a side lot mostly hidden from the road by the trees and the bar.

“Okay, so we did something you won’t like,” she said. “But you should listen before you get too pissed.”

He grumbled. Anything involving Maria doing something he wouldn’t like was bound to be a terrible idea. Walking through the parked cars, he sensed more members of his pack, waiting in their vehicles, lingering in the shadows, milling between the trees.

“Well, hello, handsome,” a silky soprano called out.

“Absolutely not,” he growled.

“Thomas!” Maria yelled.

Maria stood in the parking lot, leaning against a gaudy red car. A woman sat perched on the hood. A long black dress with a slit up her thigh showed off her legs. Her raven hair flowed freely down her back, pooling onto the hood of the car. Her violet eyes fixed on Tom, her lips, painted black, curled into a smirk.

“Thressa,” he said.

“You remembered; I’m flattered,” she purred.

“What is the witch doing here, Maria?”

“She’s here because I called her,” Maria said, “and because she can help.”

“Help?” Tom asked. “Witches are what got us into this situation!”

“The bears you’re tracking made a demon deal, not a witch deal,” Thressa said, fanning her hair out. “Witches were banned from making bear deals forty years ago.”

“Since when do witches do what they’re told?” he asked.

“No witch defies the High Council if she wants to live. You peasants are another matter entirely,” Thressa said. Tom bristled; no one fucked with the High Council if they wanted to live. “As I was saying, since your bears are demon made, they will have extra abilities. Abilities that are tailored to the demon deal and thus, almost impossible to deduce. Based on what Maria told me, it sounds like you can smell them sometimes , but not enough to track them, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Tom said. “Can you track them?”

“No, I can’t,” Thressa said. “But this human, the woman they took, I could track her.”

“Then what are you waiting for!” he bellowed. Why was she wasting his time like this? Didn’t she care Clarissa’s life was at stake? No, she was a witch, she only cared about herself.

“Calm down, Casanova.” Thressa hopped off the hood of the car. “I can’t track someone I’ve never met before without a sample of them. Unless I use something else.”

The way she eyed him, like he was a snack, piqued his suspicion. “What do you need?”

“You’ve had intercourse with this woman?” she asked.

“What does that matter?” he snipped.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’ And this intercourse, was it purely carnal, or was it … intimate?”

“Excuse you?”

“Do you love her, Tom?” Maria said.

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate.

“Good,” Thressa said. “I need your blood.”

“What?” He blanched. Giving your blood freely to a witch was dangerous. She could use it in any number of spells or curses against you. “How much?”

“Three drops, no more, no less,” Thressa said. “Don’t worry, it’s not enough for me to keep any for my own use.”

He glared at her. “Why are you doing this? You’re a witch, you’d never do anything unless it benefits you. What do you want in return?”

“You insult me, but you’re right, I do want something in return. I want your good favor. I want you, the Alpha, to remember it was I who helped you when you were in need.”

“Explain?”

“It’s dangerous out there for a little girl to be all alone.” She fake pouted. “You have pack members in more than a dozen towns and two major cities across three states. This is the biggest pack of shifters I’ve seen in over a hundred years. I want in. I’ll do spells for you, help you when you need it, in exchange for protection. And, maybe, the occasional invite to the lunar equinox party.”

“I can’t guarantee the last part, my pack is at their most vulnerable during the lunar equinox,” Tom said.

“Also, at their most fun.” She smirked.

“If you help us tonight, you’ll have my protection. But be warned, if you do anything to compromise my pack, the deal is off.”

“Done.” She held out her hand.

He took it, something sharp stuck his fingertip. Taking the drops of blood in the palm of her hand, she sniffed them.

“Oh, very potent,” Thressa said. “She’s a lucky girl.”

Going back to her car, she pulled items from an old leather doctor’s bag: vials of various dried things, a black candle, four crystals, and a map of Fairville.

Tom leaned close to Maria’s ear. “Take her to the hospital after this.”

“What?” Maria said.

“I told her if she helped us tonight, she’d be in the pack. Well, tonight, she has more than one spell to cast.”

“You tricked her.”

“No, I didn’t have time to argue with her,” Tom said.

“I would have taken her to the hospital regardless, but I’m not happy with how you did that,” Maria said.

“Shh, she’s concentrating,” Tom said.

Thressa put the crystals on the map’s four directions, then lit the candle. Sitting cross-legged on the pavement, she started to chant in an unfamiliar language. Her eyes and the crystals glowed pink. Taking a single rose petal, she dipped it in Tom’s blood. Cupping her other hand over it, she chanted again.

The crystals grew brighter. Opening her hands, the rose petal had absorbed the blood. Leaning over the map, Thressa blew a breath over her open palm, sending the petal flying. Floating over the paper, it vibrated and spun. The tip of the petal touched the map. Staying upright, it marked a place almost forty miles west.

He memorized the mark before turning to go. Running back to the tree line, he shifted, not bothering to pause to remove his sweats. They shredded. Behind him, he felt the others leave their cars, emerging from the shadows and the tree line. More than twenty wolves followed him out of the lot.

He couldn’t help the sense of pride welling up in him. No other pack took in as many strays as he did. The pack elders called him crazy, told him it would hurt the pack dynamic and the bonds between them. This ordeal proved them all wrong. His pack came out in droves to support him and his unconventional mate, to protect each other and their towns.

“ Forty miles west, ” he thought at them, taking point. “ They’re demon-made bears with extra abilities. Be on your guard! ”