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‘Thank you,’ I said to the elder with a little bow.
‘Thank you for attending to the matter promptly,’ she responded warmly.
‘They weren’t my wolves.’
‘No, so I gathered. You are not in breach of our treaty. Be well, Lucy Barrett of the Home Counties pack.’ She nodded and disappeared into the tree again. This time, she didn’t reappear.
‘Get me down from here!’ Amber screeched from high above me. She was still perched precariously on a branch at the top of the tree’s canopy, and her shriek lacked her usual poise. Was the scariest witch of the south afraid of heights?
With the tiniest huff of laughter, the griffin rose with a huge gust of air as he flapped his pale wings. He reached Amber, carefully gathered her in his forepaws and gently carried her back down to earth. He set her down and shimmered back into human, complete with his ever-present clothing. Lucky sod.
Amber glared at him. ‘This changes nothing between us,’ she spat at him.
He raised an elegant eyebrow. ‘Thereisnothing between us.’
‘You killed Jake.’
‘I have killed many.’ He shrugged, like Jake’s death was inconsequential.
Amber leapt towards him with a cry, but froze abruptly as she felt cold steel at her throat. ‘Do not forget what I am,’ Bastion said, his voice laced with threat.
‘A monster.’
‘An assassin,’ Bastion corrected. ‘Next time you attack me, it will be your last action.’ He spoke evenly, factually; if Jess had been there, she would have said his words rang with truth. I swallowed hard and I saw Amber do the same.
Bastion sheathed the knife back to wherever the hell he’d got it from. ‘It’s been fun,’ he said to me.
‘Your definition of fun needs looking at.’
His lips tipped up minutely. ‘So Jessica tells me.’ He inclined his head, shifted into griffin form and flew away. Amber watched him with hard eyes until he disappeared from view.
The pack shifted and dressed in the clothing we’d been gifted. The dryad had forgotten to bring us shoes, which wasn’t ideal, but at least we hadn’t been left buck-naked carrying dead bodies through the woods. Black Park backs onto Pinewood Studios, and there are a lot of film sets in and around the woods. The locals are well used to odd sights by now. If anyone had seen us, I’d have shouted ‘Action!’ and hoped they were fooled.
Luckily we didn’t encounter anyone. Liam went ahead and pulled the car to the side of the road so we didn’t need to trail the dead bodies through the car park. When they were loaded in the car, I cleared my throat.
‘I know the last few days have been less than ideal, but we’ve avenged the pack and we retain its honour. We’ve also dealt a severe blow to the black tourneys, albeit they will never know it was us.’
I held Elena’s eyes; she couldn’t go bragging because this was one of our pack’s secrets. No one could suspect the role we had played lest it get back to the council. Ace and Lauren had diplomatic immunity; technically we should have reported them to the council and let them deal with it. However, with corruption rampant that really hadn’t been an option.
Elena nodded her agreement. She was grinning, pride shining in her eyes. Something had been restored in her.
‘Back to the mansion,’ I ordered. ‘We’ll shower and grab some pizzas. I think it’s time we had a movie night.’
My announcement was met with grins; the whole team was relieved that the confrontation had played out the way it had. Liam sent out a pack-wide WhatsApp inviting them all to the mansion for pizza and action movies. I texted Mrs Dawes and asked her to get in some beer and wine.
We piled into the car and headed home. When we drew into the drive, I asked the team to carry the bodies out beyond the rose garden, then dismissed them.
I waited until they were all inside before I called Ares. ‘Ares, dinner!’ He came quickly, looking quizzical. ‘I don’t know how much of this you fancy, but here.’ I unzipped the body bags. I needed to dispose of some bodies, and Ares needed some dinner. It was Esme’s idea; she is nothing if not practical.
Ares whinnied in delight, grabbed Ace’s hand in his mouth and started to drag the body into the trees. He trotted back a moment later, red eyes looking suspiciously happy as he did the same to Lauren.
‘Okay,’ I called out to him. ‘Good talking to you.Bon appetit.’ I gathered up the empty body bags and carried them inside the house. They would need disposing of, too.
I walked into my office and, as I’d half-expected, Greg was there. ‘Any ideas about how to dispose of these body bags?’
He grinned. ‘Our unicorn didn’t fancy those too?’
‘Ah, you saw that.’
