AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glance at the hastily scrawled note.
Please help me. Come back at midnight. Meet me out back.
“Cheryl,” Rachel says. “Things just got complicated.”
Chapter Sixty
Cheryl
Noneofthenoisefrom the pool table or the chatting we did over lunch is enough to wake Oscar from his nap. The incessant ringing from my cell phone might have done it, but he doesn’t start to stir until it slips out of my fingers and hits the floor in front of his couch.
“Sorry,” I murmur, as I snatch it back up.
He mumbles incoherently, and sighs as he turns back around to face the room.
I answer Rachel’s call, my heart beating fast. “Hey.”
“Cheryl,” she says. “Things just got complicated.”
“What happened?” I feel Everett’s stare on me, and I look up to find him back by the bar.
“It’s a pack town, and there’s a really weird vibe. We had lunch at a diner, and everyone was staring at us like they’re not used to strangers at all. Then, the waitress practically insisted we take dessert to go, and I found a napkin with a note inside the box. She’s asking for our help. She wants us to go back at midnight.”
“Midnight?” That’s six hours past our deadline. We can’t wait that long to find out what’s wrong with this place.
“I know, right? It’s sketchy. There was something kind of desperate about her. I could believe she needs help, but maybe that’s what they want us to believe.”
I wonder if it’s enough to go to Mabel with. It might be enough to convince her that Oscar wouldn’t be safe there, but that doesn’t mean she’d let him stay with us. He still committed a crime punishable by pack law. That comes with consequences.
“Is it safe to go back under a cloak?” I ask. “Did they make you for a witch?”
“It should be safe enough. I don’t think they thought I was anything but wolf,” she tells me. “Some of the guys were eyeing me as a potential mate. I smell enough like a shifter to pass for a full breed. If I had to guess, I doubt they know what a hybrid is.”
“Okay. Will you call me once you’ve checked out more?”
“I’ll be in touch as soon as we’ve snooped around.”
She hangs up and I put my cell back in my pocket.
“It’s a pack town,” I tell Everett, and Oscar. “Everyone in town is part of the same pack.”
“Are those even still legal?” Oscar asks.
“They’re a grey area,” Everett reveals. “The Council can’t force them to disband, but they don’t like that they exist.”
“Can we argue that Oscar wouldn’t be safe there?”
Everett shakes his head. “What Oscar did was criminal. What the Alpha is doing is just frowned upon. We can’t use it as an excuse. It won’t fly.”
Kind of what I expected, I guess.
“What if there’s some kind of danger in town?” I ask, wondering about the waitress.
“Depends what it is,” Everett says.
Damn. We need to know.
I send Rachel a message, asking her to try and get the waitress alone if she can. Find out if she’s really in danger, and if so what from.
