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Chapter 14
Lacey emerged from the line of trees, her car still sitting where she’d left it the day before, the patches of rust gleaming in the morning sun. Relief swam through her at the sight of it. After ninety minutes hiking with her thoughts racing at the speed of light, the car was the best thing she’d seen that day.
Apart from Mason’s body, of course.
Damn it. Why the hell did her mind have to go back to him every time she closed her eyes?
Shaking her head as if to shake away such thoughts before they led her back on a dark path back to him, Lacey hurried forward, desperate to get the sounds of the forest out of her head. Birds chirped somewhere in the trees, the breeze sending a low whistle through the trees, but all she could hear was the rich sound of Mason’s voice in her head.
A few steps away from the rusted vehicle, a familiar shrill pierced the air.
Instantly, she reached inside her pocket and wrapped her hand around Sam’s phone. Her iPhone rested in the other one. She didn’t know whether to be grateful that she’d remembered to keep both on her at all times or not. She was going with the latter.
“Great. Just the person I wanted to talk to,” she muttered sarcastically.
But she knew she couldn’t just let it ring. No one ignored Sam without paying the price.
And she already owed him big time. A life was a big thing to owe, after all.
Hitting the answer button, she placed the phone to her ear. “Hey, Sam.”
“You got an answer for me yet?”
The hard tone of his words sent chills racing down her spine. A war broke out in her mind – should she tell him the truth or not? If she told him that she’d found them, he could take Karis by force and cement his brutal hold over the Bluestone Claws pack for good.
With Karis paying the price.
If she didn’t tell him, though, she ran the risk of the Blood Hunt. All members of the pack would hunt her down for the rest of her life until she lay at their feet, dead. Or until Sam called it off.
And considering he didn’t try to help Nathan nine years ago, I doubt he would help you now.
Especially since he’d be the one calling it in the first place. Over the years she’d heard rumours of Blood Hunts called, little whispers in the darkest parts of the city’s shadowy world.
Not one shifter had survived one.
As a human, Lacey knew she would not last more than five minutes if Sam did what he promised.
What the hell should I do – save Karis and Mason or save myself?
“Lacey? Don’t ignore me.”
Sam’s voice brought her back to reality and she sucked in a shaky breath. “Sorry, I thought I heard something.”
“That doesn’t concern me. I want an answer. Did you find them or not?”
It was now or never. She had to make a choice. She swallowed long and hard. “I’m sorry, Sam. The lead I was chasing didn’t follow through.”
Her ears blistered with his cursing. For a moment, Lacey thought he would hang up, but after a minute, his voice snarled down the line. “Lacey, Lacey, Lacey. You disappoint me. I thought you were better than that.”
Lacey’s breath turned to ice within her lungs and she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. “Maybe you’d have better luck with another PI. I’m sure there are shifters who are in the same line of work as I am.”
And by then it would be too late. You’d lose your last chance to hold onto power.
“No, I’m not talking about that. I mean I thought you’d know better than trying to lie to me.”
Lacey stilled at his words. Suddenly, all the breath in her body dissipated. “Sam, I –”
“Don’t,” he snapped, cutting off whatever lie sat on her tongue. “But despite the fact that I see the best in people, I’m a practical man. I brought back up in case you failed.”
