Page 79

Week Three

P resley got our girl and all the others’ samples sent off to a Society lab in the city via courier this weekend. He acted like he wasn’t concerned, but I know him better than anyone else. Nothing in sugarplum’s physical exam gave him pause, and no one had an indication that someone had assaulted them during the time they lost between the club and Seer’s house.

Still, the whole thing is weird, especially paired with the shadow people who are rustling around Jolene’s bushes. She insisted on going to school, so Edgar made her promise to stay in the building or have all of their companions with her at all times. She grumbled, but I think the incident shook her enough that it was only a token protest, not a full-fledged battle. Our girl realized she was never going to be able to keep her night time lesson schedule if she didn’t agree to keeping some sort of protection around, and the dogs, cat, and eagle were less obtrusive than one of us standing guard all the time.

After we finished our appointments for the day, I headed to the farm for a meeting with Amiri and he headed to the city to get test results in person. Boone had some sketchy meetings on his books, and the Irish lass was off on some Society mission with her new pals.

Imagine my surprise when I received a panicked call from Edgar demanding Presley and I bring the portable x-ray to Sugarplum’s studio ASAP.

“She’s stubborn as a day old mule, pup! Do you know what she said when I told her they could set the damned thing to explode? Do you?!”

Giving Eliot and Amiri a strained smile, I reply, “No, I don’t know what she said, Edgar.”

“ She said ‘it doesn’t seem to tick, Captain Hook; I think we’re okay!’ and hung up. ”

I can’t help but laugh and his alarmed cries escalate on the other end. I don’t know what he expected from a woman as self-reliant as Jolene, but cowering in fear would never be her response. She trained for the fucking FBI and she can shoot the wings off a dragonfly from a thousand yards. Our girl is not the typical Whistler’s Hollow female. “What do you want me to do?”

“Find Hamilton and get your asses over there… now! I’m on my way back from Burkettsville. I left my clients with an associate and I’ll be there as fast as I can without getting a ticket.”

As if any cop in the state is going to stop Judge Edgar Olivier Boone III’s Shelby, as it flies by at a hundred miles an hour.

“Okay.” I turn to my companions sheepishly as I hang up. “I’m sorry, gentleman. There appears to be an emergency in town that requires me and my portable x-ray. Can we reschedule?”

The handsome royal merely smirks at me as if he knows something I don't. “Please. Take care of your family and we will meet again tomorrow, Wolfie. Family is always paramount.”

“I’ll call you in the morning,” Eliot grumbles as he tosses back his bourbon. He doesn’t look happy, but I’m sure he heard Boone shouting like a crazy person, so he knows better than to make a big deal.

Standing, I gather my things and head out to the barn to load up the machine. I’ve got to call Prez and see where he is, then get downtown. Hopefully, Jolene was right and the fucking thing wasn’t a bomb.

I have no idea how Guardians do this shit because my hands are shaking.

* * *

Prez arrived back in town by the time I got everything ready, so I picked him up on the way. He isn’t nearly as worried as Edgar, but I can tell he’s not happy. The techs in the city had brief answers yet, and he’s not thrilled that he drove up just to be told ‘these things take time.’ When we get to the studio, he helps me unload the machine and cart it inside.

The chest in questions looks like a pirate chest, and it’s sitting smack dab in the center of the room. Sugarplum is pacing back and forth as she stares at the thing and her servals are stalking the perimeter with their tails poofed up. Kali and Hecate are following her as she walks, subtly steering her away from the mysterious box when she gets too close. That’s probably their connection to Boone—he’s making sure they keep her far enough away that she’s less likely to be killed if the box goes ka-boom.

Where is Euryale and where is the judge himself?

A loud screech pierces the air and I watch the huge eagle fly in, immediately swooping past my bird loving partner before settling on the same perch she chose when we set up the grand opening. Edgar comes out of the back, his expression stern as he looks at us.

“ Where have you been ?”

Jolene rolls her eyes and makes a silly face at us. “Don’t mind him; he’s been a fucking mess since we got rid of Britannia.”

“First, Tilly, the girl was inexcusably nasty to you and I won’t stand for it. Second, these two clowns took their sweet time getting here. If they had set this to go off, we’d be a giant meat puzzle by now.” He runs a hand through his raven locks, looking at the chest before turning back to us. “It would be great if you could stop attracting trouble, drugar .”

Prez grins as he and I walk the machine over, approaching it carefully while Boone rants. “That just wouldn’t be our magpie, now would it? Her penchant for unintentionally getting into messes is part of her charm.”

Chuckling, I nod. “He’s right, Edgar. Sugarplum bumbling her way through town like a hurricane is one of my favorite things. It makes every day an extra surprise.”

“Thank you, little Wolfie,” Jolene murmurs, giving me a private smile. She pauses, eyeing the machine for a moment. “Are you two going to lift this thing?”

“Yep,” Prez replies. He drops to the ground, pressing his face against the floor as he studies the bottom of the trunk. “Lucy, will you fetch your vet bag out of the car? I’d like to see if we can use the dental mirrors to peek under here. There could be pressure plates for all we know.”

My eyes widen and I jog out to the car, pulling both of my bags out just in case they contain anything that might help. Edgar and my sugarplum are closing the animals in the back room when I get back, and I sigh in relief. As spooked as we are, the animals will leap to defend their supes no matter what the cost is—that’s how companion bonds work. I’d hate to lose one of them because we didn’t stop to secure them before we tried to disarm a bomb.

Disarm a bomb? What in the chicken fried hell have we gotten ourselves into?

“Be careful!” Our girl hisses the command as Prez lies on his side and roots through the bags until he finds the tools he wants. I don’t blame her for being nervous—it’s not like any of us have experience with this besides what we’ve seen on TV, but since we don’t know who left this suspicious package, we can’t call for help.

“I don’t see any wires, plates, power sources or extraneous shit attached to the bottom. Outside of a mercury switch, we’re probably safe to move it.” Presley slides away from the wooden object, rolling to his feet as he looks at Edgar. “What do you think? You’ve probably had more experience with crazies because of your dad.”

Boone snorts, shaking his head. “ I can't imagine anyone with the skill set to rig a mercury switch being after Tilly.”

“Um…” Jolene rubs her hands over her arms and scuffs her foot on the floor. “I should maybe tell you guys a little more about some of the shit Seer and I did, especially in Asia. But, uh… I think those people would have just blown the place up rather than be this subtle.”

I gape at her, and she shrugs, pressing her lips together in a knowing smirk. “You have assassins from Asia hunting you?”

“Probably not?” she says hopefully. “It’s not likely , but the likelihood isn’t zero .”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Tilly,” Edgar mutters as he walks over and pulls her into his arms. “You have some serious ‘splainin’ to do after this.”

She chuckles. “I’ll tell you what I can without having to kill you.”

Rolling my eyes, I look at Prez and he nods. Together, we bend down and carefully lift the chest, positioning it on the machine. I dig in the cabinet, finding the right size plates, and fiddle with the placement until I think it’s right. The portable x-ray hums to life and I take films from as many angles as I can without jostling the chest. When I finish, I place them all in the sleeves and close everything down.

“I can take these outside to the reader in the back of my SUV.” Tucking the films under one arm, I turn to go out to read them. “Behave while I’m gone, you three.”

Their snorts of disbelief follow me as I take the x-rays to my Range Rover, loading them up. It takes longer than I’d like and when the image comes up, I heave a sigh of relief. There’s a ton of papers and books, but nothing that looks like a mechanism to blow us to bits. It’ll take a while to go through everything inside—the sheer volume of crap shoved inside that thing makes it hard to believe anyone ever got it closed, but it doesn’t appear dangerous.

I shut everything down quickly, running in with a bright smile. “Just books and papers. Nothing suspicious looking. We’re good to load up the machine, the trunk, and everything else and head home.”

“Thank fuck. I’ve been side-eyeing this stupid thing for hours now, and I’m pretty sure every muscle in my body has a cramp,” Sugarplum grumbles as she lifts her head off of Edgar’s chest and stretches her arms above her head.

His rumbling laugh fills the air as Presley picks up the chest. “We can help you take care of that, drugar .”

“Hell, yes, we can. Once we stow this bad boy in the garage, I’ll whip up a stir fry. How does that sound?” I let the animals out of the back room as he and Jolene wheel the machine towards the back door. “We might even wrangle a few milkshakes if everything goes well.”

“Oooh! You know the way to my heart, Wolfie darling.” She waves her hand at Prez and I impatiently. “C’mon, then. Let’s get this crap loaded so you can all feed and pamper me.”

“Are we creating a monster?” Prez pretends to whisper.

“If we are, she’s our monster and I’ll happily worship at her shrine.” I shrug and look at both of the guys. “Don’t hate me because you ain’t me. I’m definitely her favorite.”

Edgar shoots me a dark grin. “We’ll see about that, pup.”

Now it’s my turn to say ‘ooh’.