Chapter 571 Chapter 571
He’d never kissed anyone before, ever. Griffin wasn’t sure what possessed him to grab her and kiss her. Yes, she had kissed him first, and he’d been shocked, then decided without thought he needed to do it again.
Griffin licked his lips; her taste was gone, which wasn’t surprising; he had probably run his tongue over his mouth thirty times in the first few minutes after it.
She’d turned the radio down but hadn’t so much as looked at him in the last four hours.
Her phone rang, dragging him out of his head.
“Hello.”
“Blaise, it’s Sloane Travis.”
Blaise grinned, “hey, Sloane, what’s up?”
“Kenzo told me you’re about twenty minutes from my location. I may need an assist.”
Blaise frowned, “what’s going on?”
“I was heading home to recoup from my injury…”
“Injury?”
“I was at Benny’s clan, some young cub was illegally trying to take Alpha from Benny,” she blew out a breath into the mouthpiece, “damn lions are insanely strong, my arm got busted up a bit. Nothing too bad, a week of no shifting until it repairs enough that I can.”
“Damn. All good at Benny’s now?”
Sloane snorted, “I beat the cub upside the head with the butt of my gun after his stunt, so he’s chill now.”
“Better you than me, I would have shot him.”
“I won’t lie, the thought crossed my mind. Drives me crazy. I don’t care if it’s a clan of squirrels, we shouldn’t be fighting each other right now, not when our own are being picked off like flies being swatted.”
“What do you mean?”
“Four boys were shot last week. Outright shot, not taken, or mugged or anything, just erased.”
“I hadn’t heard about that.”
“We’ve all been a little busy lately for catching up.”
“Did they get who did it?”
“Yeah, they got Calder and Jett into it, and they tracked them, just before the storms came in.”
“Who was it?”
“Stupidity, that’s what it was, rogues. Our own taking out kids.”
Blaise shook her head. “We don’t have time for crap like that right now.”
“Tell that to the rogues.”
“So, what are you doing now?”
Blaise glanced at him finally, and he could see the concern on her face. Was that concern for the woman on the phone, her situation, or taking him somewhere else again? He needed to find out more about rogues.
“More stupidity to check in on.” He heard a door slam. “I’ll hold up here until you’re here. I don’t know what I’m walking into and I’m not taking a chance with only one arm. A group from Maxine’s clan broke off on their own, some internal beef or something, and they moved down into Ontario.”
Blaise squinted at the windshield, “wolverines?”
Griffin’s eyebrows went up; there were wolverine clans?
“Yeah. The King asked Wynter to send someone to check in on them.”
“Did they declare a new clan with Alpha?”
“Yes and no, don’t ask me for details, that’s all I got. I’m just checking in on them and making sure they know to report to the Alliance office with numbers and names and all that.”
“Yeah, text me your location and we’ll be there asap.”
“We? Kenzo didn’t tell me you were riding with someone. Perfect, more backup.”
Blaise glanced at him again, “I’m taking Griffin to Ed’s clan to do some things for the King,” she lifted one shoulder and let it drop, “for the whole Alliance, I guess.”
“Griffin. Aiden Tomas’ half-brother?”
“Yes.” She smirked. “I guess that news made its rounds.”
“With many cheers and toasting, with coffee, but still toasting, these ops are exhausting.” There was a short pause, “I hear we will have many more, thanks to Griffin.”
“We will.”
“I look forward to meeting him. Okay, I’ll text you the address before you’ve already driven by.”
“See you shortly.” She tapped the screen and hung up the phone. A Second later, it buzzed, and she checked the screen.
Griffin stared at his hand trying to process what he’d just heard.
“What?”
He looked over at her, “nothing, just—” He lifted his hand and let it drop. “That’s not the reaction I expected.” He tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling, blowing out a breath he dropped it and shook it. “None of it. I thought I would live in a cage for the rest of my life.”
“You could have been, but then you did the smart thing and gave us the information we needed.”
“I didn’t,” he reached and cracked the window an inch for some air, “I didn’t think what I was sharing was all that important, most of it was just little things I remembered.”
Blaise snorted, “little things that tell us how it all works, who is involved, and,” she stopped so he looked over to see her leveling him with a serious look, “who the rats are that have been sabotaging us for a long time.” Her expression lightened, “that’s pretty important, Griffin.”
“I just want it done. I want Aiden—all the others to be sitting in a cage so they know what it feels like, I want the clan members they’ve abducted and bred, forced to live like,” he waved a hand around, “animals to be able to make their own decisions, have a life.”
“All of that will happen, thanks to you.”
He took a deep breath and blew it out in one loud one, saying, “I hope it’s enough.”
“Hey,” she reached over and put her hand on his arm. He looked over at her, “we’ll make it enough. We’re not going to stop until it’s done. Trust me on that. When you meet some of the ones we pulled out of those houses and worse, that camp Lindon had his clan at, you’re going to see that it is happening.” She turned back to watch the road.
“Where am I meeting them?” He was going to come face to face with those he’d had to watch suffer. No, that couldn’t happen.
“Blair’s, Noah’s…”
“They are not going to want to see me.” He shook his head.
Blaise smirked, “I don’t know if you’ve looked in a mirror, but you don’t exactly resemble that scrawny, neat, and tidy man that Tripp tranq’d.”
Rubbing his hand over his hair, “but I’ll know.”
“Well, know this too, you’re helping end it. And,” she gave him a quick look, “if anyone says any different, I’ll clue them in.” She gripped the steering wheel a few times, “if you don’t want to, it’s okay.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her, “so you’re allowed to stand up for me, but not the other way around?”
She stiffened in the seat, “we have about eight minutes to discuss this and then it’s done.”
Griffin leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. He would never get used to his arms being too big to do this comfortably. “Okay, talk.”
“I appreciate what you did, I really do.” She flexed her hands on the steering wheel a few times, “people don’t bother defending that I look different, that I’m…”
“Lovely?”
She glared at him, “no, different. I,” she jerked her chin and held her head higher, “I kissed you because I was touched that you did.” He watched her clench her jaw a few times.
“And you didn’t like that. Feeling.” He was rewarded with another glare. “I get it that you have to be this tough woman and that you’ve had a rough life. I understand. I’ve spent my whole life observing others, and I know when someone had to build a wall or shell themselves in to survive, and that you have.” He dropped his arms because he felt ridiculous with them crossed, “but I don’t care if I’m technically a prisoner, I’m not going to stand back and watch anyone be mistreated again. I’ve had a lifetime of swallowing down the bitterness of seeing it and being able to do nothing about it—and I’m not going to anymore, so deal with that.”
Blaise looked at him and then back to the road, only to glance his way again. “I get that. Just don’t think we’re going to be kissing each other every time something nice happens.”
Griffin grinned, he knew he probably shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help it. “I guess we can’t have that, nice moments.”
“Shut up.” She jerked her chin toward the windshield, “we’re here.”
Checking the clock on the dash, he sighed, “that was a short eight minutes, what did you do speed up?”
“Maybe you just said too many words.” She pulled over and put it into park, then looked him up and down. “I don’t want to leave you sitting here. You’ll have to come with us, but hang back, I don’t know what we’re walking into.”
“I didn’t know there were wolverine clans.”
She opened the door and then turned to look at him, “I’ll get you a list of clans, how’s that?” She hopped down and then looked back in the door at him, “if you just promise to go back to that guy with the internal dialogue and stop chatting at me.”
Griffin opened the door and got out, then smirked at her, “with you,” he pointed to her, “you chat back.” He closed the door, leaving her standing there scowling at it. He felt pretty good, overall. He’d enjoyed talking. He’s also liked having the last word for the first time in his life.