Page 5

five

Aware I was taking my life—no, worse, my freedom—into my own hands, I let myself into the neighbor’s yard.

He had been good friends with Aunt Lettie, apparently, and they had built a cross-through gate in their shared fence.

From there, I climbed out of his yard into the next and then the next and then the next until I hit the one beside GSG.

Had I been wearing my charm, I wouldn’t have left a trail.

As it was, I had to rely on the scents of the dog in the yard behind me and the three stray tom cats Mrs. Engleton fed to conceal my route.

The chemical stink wasn’t doing me any favors, but it might be enough of a deterrent to keep Tai from snooping while I was gone.

Add to that any noises Myrtle made that convinced him I was pet sitting like a good little girl, and I might just pull this off.

Bleach was a part of my daily life, so I didn’t struggle to check for competing scents between me and the gate leading into the side yard where the potting shed was located behind the kennel runs.

Now I had to compare the angle of the video I saw earlier against the other side of the street until I located a slow red blink, barely a pinprick of light.

That must be the camera. Unless I wanted to end up on a live feed on the tablet Mercer was never without, I had to think up an alternate route in that avoided the rear entrance I had no doubt would be under heavy surveillance until Dad was satisfied the doggy deposit was a one-off and not a veiled threat to prove how easily a rival pack could circumvent my meager security measures.

“What are you doing?”

A yelp stuck in my throat as I spun to find Sloane behind me with her fists anchored on her hips.

“I forgot something.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder. “At work.”

“And you thought you would creep through your neighbors’ yards instead of using the front door why?”

“I thought you went home.” I spun the questioning her way. “Are you spying on me?”

“I was just down the road at Brisket Barn. I came to apologize after I got your text. I didn’t want to draw attention to you, so I used your other neighbor’s side yard to get into your backyard and—” Her cheeks flushed. “That doesn’t matter. Why are you here?”

“No reason.” I let my shoulders slump. “Let’s go to my place so I can face the music from my couch.”

The fifteen minutes I promised Walsh had timed out fifteen minutes ago.

Good thing he was already dead, or the delay might have done him in.

“Can you just—” she clutched my upper arm, “—tell me what’s so important you would risk permanent lockdown if Mr. Sartori caught wind of it? That’s why you’re sneaking in, right? You knew he would lose it if he learned you were surveilling GSG to catch the…break and enterer…by yourself.”

That wasn’t a bad angle. I wished I had thought of it. Still, I latched onto it with both hands.

“Yes.” I faked contrition. “You got me.”

“You could have asked me to stay late.” She searched my face. “I would have helped you.”

“You would have called Dad, like you did earlier, like you’re about to now, and he would have sent half the pack to stop me.”

“You don’t have to do everything alone, Ana.” She blew out a sigh. “You’ve got friends.”

“Who do I have in my life that wasn’t assigned that role by my dad?”

“I was assigned to protect you. I can do that with or without you liking me. But I want to be your friend. I kind of thought…after a whole year…” Sloane straightened her shoulders. “The point is that you’re being reckless by sneaking out alone when there’s a?—”

“Break and enterer on the loose?”

“Yes.” Her complexion turned blotchy. “I can keep a secret.”

“You’re pack, so, no. You can’t resist the urge to obey Dad, and that includes orders to spill your guts.

” A good friend ditched me after one such interrogation, and it left a mark.

My other so-called friends? They hadn’t required convincing.

“You might not want to do it or mean to do it, but everyone does in the end. I don’t blame you for your nature.

Even humans and latents like me struggle against his dominance. ”

“Try me.” She jutted out her chin. “Give me a chance to prove I can be a loyal friend.”

“You’ll lose your job, maybe even your position in the pack, if you defy Dad’s orders.”

And if I got hurt in the process? She might lose more. Like her life.

“Maybe I will, but he can’t stop us from being friends.”

The little girl in me, the one desperate to belong, was already planning our first sleepover.

God, I was pathetic.

But I did have a carousel of nail polish and a stash of unused face masks under the bathroom sink…

“How about this?” Sloane took out her phone, motioning me closer. “I’ll take the first step.”

A contact name popped up as her thumbs got tapping, proving she was reaching out to Tai. Now that I was safely home, or so he thought, he would patrol between my house and GSG until shift change.

Left the key to my apartment in my locker like a dope. Be there in a minute to fetch it.

No worries.

Anyone else I need to notify? This morning was tense. I don’t want to cause an incident.

Nah. Just me tonight. Everyone else is in Shorter at that meeting.

Leaning around her, I read the exchange. “What meeting?”

“They never tell me anything.” She bobbed a shoulder. “I can go fishing, though.”

I must not have gotten the memo.

You’re not missing anything.

“Ask him if it has anything to do with the Walsh situation.”

Any intel on my guest would help me determine how to treat him going forward, as victim or threat.

A beat of hesitation paused her fingers over the screen before she gave in. “Okay.”

The Walsh situation, right?

Who told you about that?

“Now what?” She fumbled her cell. “I suck at evasive maneuvers.”

The quick clapback convinced me there was more to the bloodied vampire than met the eye.

“Give it to me.” I snatched the device, an evil smile curling my lips. “I’ll handle it.”

Bowie mentioned it this morning.

Part of me wondered if Bowie felt the impact when I threw him under the bus.

What did he say, exactly?

Just that he and Zoe were working on it.

The rest of me hoped he sensed it when I threw that bus in reverse then drove over him again.

Bowie has a big mouth. Forget about it. It’s nothing.

Sure thing.

“You really hate Bowie, huh?” Sloane whistled softly. “He’s going to get in so much trouble.”

“Nah. He’s nothing special. I have a list of people who—” I clamped my mouth shut. “So, your plan?”

“I’m going to shift and cause a distraction.

” She reached for the hem of her shirt. “While you change into my clothes to conceal your scent and walk in through the front door.” She offered up a black hoodie tied around her waist. “This will help. It stinks like teenage boy and body spray. I stole it from your neighbors in the gray and white house, so we’ll need to return it to the lawn chair where I found it. ”

“You really came prepared for anything.” I peeled out of my clothes. “I’m impressed, Sloane.”

“Without knowing what you were planning, I figured it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.” She stripped off the rest of her clothes until all that remained was a leather thong between her breasts strung with a hammered charm.

“I won’t be able to shift back after this for an hour, so good luck.

I’ll give you as long as I can, but Tai is fast. Do what you need to then meet me back here. ”

Another charm Mercer bought in bulk? One that allowed a near instantaneous shift for his sentinels.

The cost of forcing a body through a metamorphosis that usually required a quarter hour, for the lucky ones, to complete in under one minute induced burnout.

Sloane would be trapped on four legs, and after a short burst of activity meant to give sentinels an edge in battle, her energy would gutter and she would black out until her natural magic revived her.

That she was willing to endure the pain when she had no clue what I was up to, whether it was worth it, made me want to believe she was telling the truth. But I had been let down too many times to accept an offer of friendship at face value.

As the change swept over her, she contorted, her body breaking and bending and reshaping itself anew.

How she, or the others, endured the agony without crying out never ceased to amaze me.

Sixty seconds later, a light-gray wolf with a white blaze over one eye stood before me.

Sloane wagged her tail once, butted her head against my thigh, then sprinted away into the dark.

A distant growl alerted me that Tai was in hot pursuit, and I couldn’t help my smile as I tugged the stinky boy hoodie over my head and strolled to the front of GSG, mimicking Sloane’s rolling gait.

I let myself in then ran to the side entrance and slipped out that door.

I flattened myself against the grass, praying it was only the one camera I was avoiding, and crawled to the potting shed.

Before I reached the end of the runs, I noticed the door was cracked and cursed under my breath.

Arm over arm, I wriggled faster until I could push the door open.

Unlike last time, it swung all the way, bumping against the far wall.

Because, I confirmed with the flashlight on my phone, the vampire was gone.