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I wait for a reply, but nothing comes. No matter what bug is up Finn’s ass, he won’t let it affect vampire business. Will he?
With no time to worry about it, I beat feet toward the bridge and don’t stop running until the ground goes soft and the stench of werewolf taints the air. The Algiers pack has control of not only Algiers, but most of the wild lands of Westbank as well. It’s a lot of landscape to patrol, so it’s usually easy to slip in and out unnoticed.
Egan’s home is a sprawling house between Brechtel Park and the golf club. It’s urban enough for him to keep a hold on his part of the city but with enough green space that—with the help of a Moon Witch glamor—they can run without causing mass hysteria.
Egan’s camp is quiet when I arrive, but being four in the morning, it won’t be long until the sun comes up and the mutts start stirring.
Where did they take Aiden? Did they grab him because of his connection to me, or was it random? Door number two gives him much greater odds of surviving. I hope for his sake, it’s random.
Still, I need to find him…and the others.
How many men are we talking? There is only one reason I can think of for the wolves to grab random men off the street.
Egan is building a wolf army.
Dammit, Aiden. You should’ve just gone home like I told you to.
Only, I didn’t tell him to go home. I told him to stay clear of the trouble. If wolves grabbed from the riverfront of the Quarter, that’s not his fault.
Fuck. None of this is his fault.
With a dark cloud looming over my mood, I move away from the main house. If they’ve been kidnapping tourists, they have to be holding them somewhere. I need to figure out where.
I’ve been here enough times to know the general lay of the land and it strikes me now, that there is an old driving shed at the back of the golf course property that would be easily accessible from Egan’s land.
I’ve only got another hour or two before the sun comes up, so I need to find them while I still have the cover of darkness on my side.
After listening to my surroundings to confirm I’m alone out here, I take off at a jog. It’s the only place I can think of that’s big enough and remote enough around here.
If they took Aiden and the others into the bayou lands somewhere, I’m fucked. I’ll never be able to find them in time to save the kid.
Can I save the kid?
Sebastian won’t want me to start a war over one of my street rats, but I don’t want to leave Aiden blowing in the wind, either.
He’s dependable, tough, and has grown on me over the years. I’d go so far as calling him a friend.
I get within sixty yards of the outbuilding and crouch behind the wide trunk of a live oak. There are two burly men having a smoke in front of the door, and by the stench of them wafting upwind, there’s no question that they are wolves.
Shit. I’ll never get close enough to find out what’s going on in there. Two against one isn’t insurmountable, but Mouse said there were two of them at first, and then two later.
Does that mean four total? And how many could be inside? Four on one during a rescue will likely get Aiden killed. I pull out my phone to see if there’s any word from Finn.
Nothing. And so, I wait.
The morning sun washes the clearing a few hours later and while I can’t say I enjoy stakeouts, I am enjoying the sun on my skin.
Thank you, Josie Dumont.
Maybe now that Finn and I are daywalkers we won’t need a human street team. Then I won’t have to put kids like Aiden in harm’s way.
Poor Aiden. Wolves are brutal bastards. I’m worried about the little punk. If there’s witch warding on the building to keep sound from traveling, I’ll never hear what’s going on inside.
They could be beating the shit out of him and I’d never know it. With my efforts straining to hear anything, I pick up a gentle shift in the grass at the base of the tree. I take in the chipmunk and an idea strikes.
“Hey there, buddy. Mind lending me a paw? I need some help.”
The little guy’s tiny eyes lock onto mine for a moment before it wipes its whiskers. What’s in it for me if I do?
