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Chapter Ten
Charlie
I have got to be losing my mind, Charlie said. The words were barely out of her mouth — “Let’s get her back,” — before she started to regret them.
You can’t just go around Cascadia, helping people release their feral, murdering relatives,she thought. You still work for the FBI, sort of, you know.
In front of her, Kade smiled properly for the first time since they’d sat at the table.
“I’ll get a map,” he said, and stood, walking into another room.
Charlie looked over at Daniel, still feeling baffled. She felt like Kade was hot and cold with her. On one hand, she had a hazy half-memory of him talking to her as he’d run through the forest, carrying her while she bled onto him after the wolf attack. She remembered the gentle way he’d put her on the kitchen table, and how he’d told her that she was going to be okay.
Plus, he’d fought two wolves and then carried her to safety. Neither of those things were easy tasks.
Thatwas the Kade that was starting to make Charlie feel a little gooey inside. She understood why Daniel loved that Kade.
But then, on the other hand, there was the Kade who stood, arms crossed over his chest, as Daniel changed her bandages and fed her, as she tried to move around their cabin. That Kade didn’t seem like he wanted anything to do with her.
“I know he’s your mate, but I don’t know what to think,” Charlie told Daniel. “I really don’t.”
“Kade is like a... gumball,” Daniel said, thinking for a moment. “Hard on the outside, still kind of weird on that first bite, but by the time you really get chewing, he’s all sweet and gooey.”
Charlie blinked at him.
“Was that a weird analogy?” he asked.
Before she could answer — yes, yes it was — Kade was back, a pile of maps under his arm.
He spread one out onto the table, looked at it for a moment, then pointed.
“This is us,” he said, stabbing one finger at the table. “This is Buck’s ranch,” he said, stabbing another finger at the table.
“Is that where they’re keeping Olivia?” Charlie asked.
“You know as much as I do,” Kade said.
Charlie sighed inwardly. This wasn’t the time for Kade to get salty with her.
“You know Buck way better than I do,” she reminded him, trying to do it gently. “Is he going to keep her on his ranch somewhere, or is he the supervillain type? Has he got a lair somewhere else?”
“Buck is anything but a supervillain,” said Daniel. “The man can’t keep his own sons from fighting like cats and dogs.”
Kade snorted. “You mean dogs and dogs,” he said.
“The man has problems besides a feral bear is our point,” Daniel said. “We may as well go to the ranch first. It’s the most likely place.”
“Right,” Kade said. “Okay. We’ll go at night, after dusk, when they’re more likely to be asleep. Tomorrow’s Friday, and they usually get drunk around the bonfire and then head off to bed.”
“Does being drunk make them more or less dangerous?” Charlie asked.
“They’ll be sleepier,” Kade said, totally confident.
Charlie suspected he was wrong. More likely, she thought, it would just make them angrier.
“How many wolves are there?” she asked.
Kade shrugged. “Ten, maybe fifteen?” he said. “Including Buck, who’s the head of that ranch, sort of.”
