Chapter 16

When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I said, “I wonder if Reggie still has some ice cream in her freezer.”

He laughed. “How could you possibly eat more?”

“You’d be stunned at what I’m capable of,” I told him. When we were younger, Billy, Regory and I never had enough food for one of us to be healthy, let alone all three of us, an unlimited supply of junk food was a dangerous thing.

He just shook his head. There was a glint to his eyes, now, though. It suggested that he was very aware of why I could eat the way I did. I guess Billy had told him all about that. Or he guessed from when she first joined his Family. It wasn’t even three days after we escaped our grandfather, and she had been in rough shape.

For a second I could see everything.

Regory had taken what little cash he still had from his job at the grocery store and bought us a motel room for a few days. The kind that didn’t bother keeping kids from renting it. I could almost feel the stiff mattress I had been curled up on and I could hear Billy vomiting and crying in the bathroom while Regory rushed between the two of us. Trying to keep us both alive and worried that he wouldn’t make it.

I could hear his voice saying soothing things to his mate.

Then my own telling them what we had to do. The look that came into his green eyes. The shock and immediate denial. Then the acceptance. He’d made the call to Loki mere minutes later.

Billy had stopped vomiting long enough for Regory to finish with the call. The Heron Family was well known. Not for any of the things that Billy or I were well known for either. They were the Family of Children. All of them coming together before they were legal by society’s standards, and a lot of them before they were adults by legion standards.

Legions live rough lives. Since by the time we’re sixteen most of us have killed, mated and lost someone we loved, that’s when we’re considered adults.

I came back to the present when Loki touched my shoulder. I tensed up immediately, out of habit, but then Loki said something and I relaxed.

“Hmm?” I asked.

“Are you okay?” he repeated himself.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” I said.

His phone rang before he could follow up with another question. He pulled it out and answered it, but his brilliant eyes stayed on me while he did so. “Hello? Oh? I think that’d be okay. Just keep an eye on her… No that doesn’t mean you should follow her… No, do not tell her I gave you permission.” The man on the other end of the phone talked so quietly and so calmly that I couldn’t hear a word he said. Odd, considering my hearing was so advanced. Something we got from werewolves and vampires.

“Yeah… bye.” He hung up.

He looked unnerved, so I asked if everything was all right, even though it wasn’t my business.

He shrugged. “I’ll know in about an hour. My little sister is meeting one of our big clients. She can be…”

“Aggressive?”

He shrugged. “Yes…but that’s…”

“Too stubborn?” I tried again.

“She’s nineteen,” he eventually said. “And she acts like she’s nineteen.”

“Ah.”

“However, if I don’t let her do this, bad things will happen. She almost took my head off for not bringing her to Seattle with us,” he said with something akin to affectionate exhaustion.

I tried not to smile. “I see.”

“Do you?” he asked. Before I could answer, he went right on talking. “She won’t be alone, so there’s that. I’m sure the others can rein her in if something goes horribly wrong.” Though his words were confident, I couldn’t help noticing that he was a little tenser than he’d been before.

Without warning, Reggie came barging through the door. Her heels clacking angrily. “Problems. We got problems!”

“Animal, vegetable or mineral?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes and deigned not to comment on that. “Basil is on his way here. Right now.”

“So animal,” I said.

She hit me in the face with one of those silly little throw pillows that women put everywhere that did nothing but look pretty.

“Basil?” Loki asked, trying not to smirk while I pushed my mussed hair out of my face.

It wasn’t enough that she hit me in the face, she also had to mess up my hair, knowing it would get all tangled up. That’s why I don’t get into bitch fights. Other than the fact that I prefer breaking noses to pulling hair.

“He’s the unofficial leader of the nonexistent pack of werewolves,” Reggie said carefully.

“Don’t worry, he already knows most of the city’s secrets,” I said, finally getting the brown cascade to cooperate.

“Good. That’ll make this meeting easier,” Reggie said. “He’s coming by to discuss the people that killed his wolf. He didn’t even bother making an appointment. Just called and said he was on his way.” She rolled her eyes and turned on her heel. “Which means I can’t get my legions here in time for a proper intimidation tactic.”

Loki’s eyebrows rose.

“You two are just going to have to do,” she said. She then looked Loki up and down once and said, “You’re big and brawny. Can you be scary too?”

“Uh…” he said.

She threw her hands up. “Don’t talk. That’ll make this easier. C’mon, c’mon.” She waved. “We have like five minutes before he gets here.”

She marched out of her apartment at a fast clip, leaving us to follow behind her. I got up and did just that. Loki rose as well, although somewhat confusedly.

In her office, Reggie was on the phone with Jen. “Yes, I know I have other appointments, but they have to be canceled. So what you’re going to do is get JR, escort anyone and everyone out of the gallery and leave. Then you are going to make the calls I need from your car, preferably while you are parked so I don’t have to worry about being the reason you die, and you're going to cancel them. Is that understood?”

Her tone wasn’t pleasant, but she was under a lot of stress. If Jen got snippy, I was obligated, as Reggie’s best friend, to cut her down to size. Of course, as her best friend I was also obligated to get revenge on her exes for her and I didn’t do that. Mostly because I didn’t have that kind of time.

“Yes ma’am,” Jen said quietly. Then they disconnected.

Reggie marched out of her office with Loki and I trailing behind her.

“Are the werewolves dangerous?” Loki asked, looking confused.

“Not necessarily,” I started. “It’s just… Their pack mentality is a bit stronger in the city than what you’re used to. If they get threatened, or think they’ve been threatened—” Reggie cut me off.

“Then it’s open season on people.” She leaned against the wall of the elevator, looking at her appearance in the mirror. She smoothed out her wrinkleless skirt and tapped down her almost tamed curls before taking a deep breath. “Seattle is like a wildlife sanctuary,” she finally said. “You give the animals medical care when they’re sick, but you make no move to stop them from killing each other. Just sit back and roll the film.”

The doors slid open and we stepped out in time to see Jen and JR leave through the front doors. There wasn’t a sign to announce the place was closed so Jen locked the door and scurried away. Unaware of what she just dodged. Jen was a human and JR was a soul-reaper, born in this city and either unwilling or unable to leave.

Both of them knew what could happen. Neither of them knew how bad it could get.

They were gone maybe three minutes before the wolves arrived.

Reggie took a step forward, putting herself in front of us and making it clear who the leader of the legions was. One glance at Loki told me he didn’t like that. I guess he wasn’t used to being second in command. Or, in this case since I was there, third in command. Save us all from the alpha males.

Five werewolves came toward the doors. Reggie casually unlocked them and then took up station over by us again. Her hands were on her hips and she was standing straight up. Her pinup body was displayed with the stance. Probably attempting to distract the unofficial alpha.

Didn’t work. He was wise to her tricks.

Basil walked in, looking almost bored with this trip. He wasn’t near Loki’s height, but was still an inch or two taller than me. He wasn’t bulky like Loki was either. Instead, his body was covered in lean muscles that stood out whenever he moved too quickly or got too tense. He was tanned from working outdoors for so many hours every day and his hair reflected that as well. It was light brown, but had sun bleached blond highlights throughout the gentle waves. His eyes were gunmetal gray. He wore a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up his elbows and jeans.

His four wolves stopped a step sooner than he did. Which left him and Reggie in the middle of the room, facing off with each other.

The wolves were dressed similarly, but looked as different from each other and him as possible. The only similarity was the eyes. Different colors, but they all had the same cool confidence and purpose that their alpha had.

So not good.

“Regalia,” Basil said, his voice a smooth southern drawl.

Reggie didn’t respond to the name outwardly, but I knew in her mind she’d just kicked him in the crotch. She introduced herself as Regalia as to be professional, but she absolutely hated the name.

“Basil,” she responded in kind, nodding her head in a polite way. Through the whole thing I could feel Loki watching, absorbing. Being annoyed that he was relegated to the background. Even though it was for the best. Just imagining how this meeting would go if Loki and Basil were talking.

It’d be utter chaos and destruction.

But it’d be interesting to watch Loki in action.

“What brings you by today?” Reggie asked, folding her hands comfortably in front of her. Showing that she didn’t have any weapon. Only the werewolves didn’t know her hands were the weapon. If they got too close, then she’d reveal the secret. And she loved doing that.

Basil’s eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest. His stance was wide, preparing to fight if it came down to that. Before the Martinson Family showed up in the city we had a mutual understanding. Leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. It seemed that understanding was out the window.

“You know why I’m here, Regalia,” he said easily, showing too white teeth. “I want to know who killed my wolf. It was a legion, I know that,” he said comfortably. “I want to know which one did it.”

“I can’t give that information to you,” she said.

“Because you want to protect what is yours. I get that. But if I have to kill each one of your legions to avenge my wolf, then that is what I’ll do,” he said with an easy shrug. He glanced behind her, at me. His eyes raked down my body in a professional way. Trying to decide if I could take him.

Then his eyes did the same with Loki.

“No,” Reggie said. “I cannot give that information to you because it was— sorry. Our enemy. There are foreign legions in the city,” she explained. Not everyone was as up to date on the legion terms as we were.

His eyes narrowed. “That’s what you told me when the body was dropped off.”

“Yes,” she said. “So forgive me if I don’t understand what’s happening right now.” She gestured toward the wolves behind him.

“We’ve scoured the city and found no foreign legions,” he said darkly. “Where are they hiding that we cannot find them?”

This was going well…

Reggie sighed. “We suspect they are hiding outside the city.”

“Convenient,” he said. “And if I told you that I didn’t believe any of this?”

“I suppose that would depend upon you, wouldn’t it?” Reggie asked. “However, I’m not in the mood to deal with you.”

Basil nodded and turned to one of the wolves next to him. Their conversation was hushed to the point that I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Obviously that was on purpose.

Loki tensed next to me. He glanced up at the ceiling and then leaned toward me. “How likely is their attacking us?”

“Fifty/fifty,” I said.

“I can stop them from shifting,” he informed me. His voice low enough that I could barely understand the words. “If it comes to that.”

“That’s good news,” I said.

Two of the wolves started grinning, like they were getting juiced at the idea of letting loose. Their eyes were starting to get flecks of gold in them and I wondered if Basil could bring them under control again when they lost it. Sure, I wasn’t above breaking the rules in my Orphaning papers, but that didn’t mean I wanted to break them all in one week. Might be pushing it.

Reggie tensed and flexed her hand in preparation. The wolves didn’t seem to notice, but I heard the crackle of the air in her palm. Loki noticed as well. He glanced at her and then at the wolves again.

Basil straightened and opened his mouth.

I threw up my senses, so that if we threw down I’d know where everyone in the building was.

And all the glass from the front of the gallery exploded inward. Flying shards sliced into the wolves’ backs and enraged them. Growls emerged from human throats and the two that had been pumped up began to shift immediately. Their eyes were wholly gold now and those golden orbs were locked on the three of us.

Basil whipped around in surprise and got a shard of glass to the cheek.

“Reggie,” I yelled.

“Wasn’t me,” she said, even though I already knew it. Must have been for Loki’s benefit.

Things only got more chaotic from there.