It’s also possible that Brick tagged me as a possible threat and is digging into my movements. One of Sully’s spies would’ve noticed I was late to work the same day of the museum heist and put two and two together.
Another text comes through from Brick:
CALL ME
I can practically hear his alpha power vibrating through the phone. Forget firing me, I bet he’s salivating to let his wolf out to rip me apart.
I’m busted, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I power off the burner phone and tuck it away. As soon as I obey Brick’s summons, I’m getting fired and exiled from the city. And that’s the best case. Worst case: Sully locks me up as a pack enemy and throws away the key.
But that’s a problem for future me. I have a pack princess to spy on.
I dare to bring the drone closer to her tower, moving in from the top and slowly lowering at an angle. Is that window open? I inch the drone down a little further. Esme helped me source the best military grade drone–a dark drone that mimics the shape of a bird and the quiet sound of an insect. Still, getting it too close to the window could be a huge mistake.
I risk it, swooping in right against the cylindrical stone wall, then dipping below the top frame of the window.
I jerk in surprise, sending the drone on a wild wobble. Aster’s face fills my phone screen.
She was standing at the open window.
Her hand snaps out, lightning fast, and she must catch the drone because the viewer blurs, then her lovely face comes in close. So close I can examine the exact color of her ice-blue eyes.
I drop the useless controller and simply stare.
She peers at the drone, then turns to look past it out the window.
The viewer blurs again and then clears, but it takes me a moment to figure out what I’m looking at: Aster’s bare feet, kicking and jerking in a fit.
She must’ve dropped the drone and slumped back on a bed or chair.
I don’t think. If I were thinking, I would know that what I’m contemplating is the worst idea I’ve ever had. I hop out of the car and sprint toward the entrance to the Adalwulf property. It’s protected by an electric fence, which I clear in the best high jump of my life, thanking the Harvard track team for the lessons in catapulting my body in human form through space. As I sprint toward the compound, images flash in my mind.
Aster on the floor, clutching her head, her eyes rolling back.
Another image flashes in my mind: the location of the transmitter for an invisible infrared laser that must serve as long-range perimeter security.
Recognizing the nearby stone hut from my drone surveillance, I swerve and head for it without a plan. I don’t know how to disable the alarm system, but I’m trusting in the visions.
When I arrive, I see the guard through the window. He spills his coffee down his front, curses, and gets up to walk to the kitchen. I take it as a sign and clap my hand over the laser transmitter to block it as I slip by.
Another image–some kind of underground tunnel–flashes in my mind at the same moment I trip over something and fall flat on my face. An iron ring protrudes from the earth. I wipe the dirt away to reveal the outline of a trapdoor.
The tunnel. I yank the metal trapdoor open and drop down into a dank tunnel.
Incredible. I’ve never experienced waking visions like this. Fate seems to be guiding me straight to Aster. No, to the Moonborn. To complete my mission.
Either that, or the wolf-witch is placing visions into my head to lure me into a trap.
Both possibilities seem equally likely. I know how corrupt the Moonborn are.
I take a moment to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. A sense of danger sparks all around me. I want to shift into my wolf form to run the length of the tunnel, but then there would be the awkward issue of not having clothes.
A dozen images flash in my brain, as if several movies are playing at 10X speed at the same time.
The image of Aster’s jerking foot spurs me back into a run. I don’t know why I care. I don’t care–but it feels like my body won’t let me remain still while she’s in need.
I sprint into the darkness, trusting my senses will keep me from running straight into a wall.
I run for four minutes straight, and then I hit the end of the tunnel and an iron door. It has a ten-inch rusted hoop for a handle and an ancient-looking lock. I grab the hoop and tug.
