Page 15 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)
~Amanda~
The guard at the door alerted me that Troy had returned less than a minute before the man in question showed up at my door.
“Are you free to talk, Alpha?”
Fresh from his walk outside, he brought the scent of pine trees along with his sea-salt mate scent, and the combination filled the space between us, warm and inviting.
His cheeks carried a hint of red from either the fresh air or the exertion, and with each deep breath he took, his broad chest expanded, stretching against the black of his uniform.
Mentally shaking away those observations, I motioned for him to come into my office and he did, closing the door behind him. “Where’s Kalo?”
“He was curious to see the kitchens and Jasper promised to keep him occupied there as long as possible. What have you learned?”
His eyes swept over me as he approached my desk, looking for any signs of injury or distress, a protectiveness that seemed to be so instinctual in him, I couldn’t even be sure he knew that he did it.
When I gestured again, this time for him to sit, he lowered his large frame into the chair in front of my desk, his whole body still on high alert.
“Kalo is a genie.” Easiest to get that fact out into the open right off the bat. “That’s what Savannah’s contacts at her old pack think, anyway. They believe I summoned him here using this necklace.”
I picked up the piece of jewellery from where I’d left it on my desk after taking it off. Wearing it seemed like an invitation for more trouble even if the damage had already been done.
“A genie ?” Deep creases lined Troy’s brow as he took in that piece of information. “Seriously?”
“Apparently so. The people we spoke to have a great deal of experience with other species between them, so I trust their expertise. As our allies, they have no reason to lie to me. Since Kalo doesn’t set off our sensors and he appeared just after I made a wish this morning, it all fits.”
At the word ‘wish’, something dawned in Troy’s pale brown eyes. “He was just talking about wishes on our walk. I thought it was an odd way to phrase things, but if he’s a genie…”
“He’s using the language he’s comfortable with,” I filled in for him. “What did he say to you? You didn’t wish for anything, did you?”
Troy shook his head, his eyes never leaving me. “The only thing I truly want, I need to prove myself worthy of on my own.”
Longing panged deep in my abdomen, courtesy of the pull of our bond that never stayed silent for long. He must have felt it too since his lips twisted into a grimace and he shifted in his seat.
Silence pressed down on us for a long moment until he spoke again, his voice gruffer than before. “How do we get rid of him?”
I relayed the rest of what Calista and Felix said, about how I couldn’t simply wish myself free of my guest and how any wishes I made might have unintended side effects. Troy listened carefully, his jaw clenching harder with every word that made it clear just how precarious my situation might be.
“You said this necklace came from your mother’s collection. Do you remember her wearing it?”
I’d asked myself the same question earlier. “When I came across it in her things, something drew me to it immediately, but I didn’t recognize it.”
“Is it possible she knew how dangerous it was but forgot to tell you?”
“It’s possible. Her illness came on so suddenly, and my father giving up his position happened even more unexpectedly. But she’s mentioned other heirlooms to me over the years, so it seems strange that she’d forget to mention this one.”
The more I talked it through, the more something about it didn’t sit right with me, and before I could second guess myself, I pressed a button on my desk phone to call my mother’s cell. The ringing sound filled the office for the space of three rings until she picked up.
“Hello?”
Her voice, once so vibrant, shook with the effort of speaking. Her life had been saved but she remained very weak while we waited for a permanent cure for her condition. “Hi, Mom. It’s me. How are you?”
“Better,” she claimed, but we both knew ‘better’ wasn’t the same as ‘good’. “How are things at home?”
As much as I wanted to confide in her, there was too much to tell and she didn’t have the energy for it anyway. “Things are okay but I have a quick question for you. What can you tell me about the antique necklace in your collection? The gold one with the oval pendant?”
A pause followed, long enough to make me wonder if the connection had dropped, before she finally answered. “I don’t have a necklace like that.”
My eyes met Troy’s over the desk, the concern in his gaze mirroring the unease in my chest. “Are you sure? Let me send you a picture.”
Grabbing my own cell phone, I snapped a quick photo and sent it to her. We heard the ding through the line, confirming it had arrived, and a moment later, she spoke again.
“I’ve never seen that before in my life.”
Rustling sounds replaced her voice, followed by the sound of my father’s deep baritone. “Amanda? Your mother’s tired, she needs to rest. What is this about?”
I didn’t miss the way Troy stiffened at the sound of my father’s voice, but I kept my eyes on the phone speaker. “Don’t worry about it. She told me what I needed to know. Take care, both of you.”
I hung up before he could say anything else, only looking up at Troy when the line had disconnected.
“If it didn’t belong to my mother…”
“Where did it come from?” he wondered, completing my sentence just as I’d finished his earlier.
“I don’t like this. We need to lock down access to the house, and to you, and I think we should disconnect the wi-fi and cell service.
If anyone within the pack is communicating with other packs, we need to cut them off. ”
His suggestion made sense, and it didn’t necessarily need to raise an alarm within the pack. Being as remote as we were, connection could be spotty. I could claim we were having technical issues and no one would find it suspicious. It would give us a day or two’s grace, at least.
“Can I leave you to coordinate that with Jasper? He’ll have the necessary access and Savannah can authorize it.”
Troy’s lips pursed into a frown. “What are you going to do?”
“I need to speak to Kalo.”
Protests jumped to the tip of his tongue, but I cut him off with a firm shake of my head.
“If I’m going to find a safe way out of this, I need to know more about him. That means talking to him.”
“I’ll go with you,” he tried to insist, but I shook my head again, more gently this time.
“As long as he wants something from me, I don’t think I’m in any danger, and he might open up more one-on-one. Diplomacy is my job, Troy. I can handle it.”
Pride and protectiveness warred across his face, but in the end, he bowed his head in acceptance. “I know you can. And I’ll take care of everything else. Like a team.”
A team. That sounded nice, I had to admit. Even if I still had very strong reservations about the man across from me as a mate, I couldn’t doubt that he had my back in this scenario.
“We’ll regroup here for dinner, along with Savannah and Jasper.”
“Yes, Alpha.” With one more bow of his head, he took his leave, and I prepared to once again face our mysterious visitor, armed with a little more information than before and even more questions.