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I jumped across the table immediately and came for Heralder or the man pretending to be Heralder. He was faster than I couldhave imagined, but he didn’t fight back at him. He removed a knife from his pocket and just pricked me. I felt a heat rush through my body, and I fell to the ground. He had paralyzed me. I tried to move, to get up, but nothing worked. I remained on the floor as he walked over and stood above me.
“I told Bonne, you might look a fool, but not a total one. I told him I should kill you, but he didn’t want to throw the city into disarray. They need their alpha, even if he is one without a spine.”
He knelt very close to me and smiled into my face. “And yes, I am Heralder. You got the right guy, but you picked him for the wrong job. I am a lone wolf. I don’t hunt other lone wolves. You pack wolves should learn about camaraderie.”
He stood up and walked away from me then. I remained on the floor for a while as the poison rushed through me and my body struggled to burn it out as fast as possible. I remained still so it would happen faster.
After about an hour on the floor, I was finally to stand up, and I walked out of the pub, heading back to the Palace. When I got there, the kids by the door were gone, and there was a commotion inside.
I saw Lenny walk up to me.
“Where have you been,” he asked, but I didn’t answer him.” They came and got them.”
“Who?”
“The lone wolves. They came minutes ago, got the family, and left. Where were you?”
“Dealing with family matters,” I told him.
“We just lost the only bargaining chip we had against Luke and Hayley. We should have known the Bonne fellow was plotting something when he didn’t come to us begging.”
“How did he get in so easily?”
“He paralyzed people. They say he is some kind of herbalist. He is good with things like that and knows how to render a werewolf useless within seconds.”
I was too familiar with that.
“There is news,” Lenny said and dragged me under the stairs so we could talk. “They are out. They got out of the tribe, and they have the moon stone with them. They are heading right here, back to Nillport. You know what they want. We will not be able to deal with them. See what one of their friends wreaked in here in just under thirty minutes. We need help, Viper. Help from whatever source you can get it. We need help, and we need help fast.”
“We need to make the delivery then. Hurry it up. Is that possible?”
Lenny said. “It’s not impossible, but it will be hard.”
“If I would ask the Tarloux for help, I need to put a good foot forward. If I get them their merchandise, then deliberations go faster. Make the calls, Lenny. In two days, we will make the delivery. Let’s put this to bed and focus on Hayley and Luke. We can’t have them running amok in the city.”
“You know what that means for you, right? Contacting the Tarloux for help.”
“Yes,” I told him. I knew what it meant. It meant siding with the most dangerous family out there and inviting them to Nillport. It might even mean giving up my throne, but that wouldn’t happen without me putting in a fight. I nodded at Lenny. I was ready for this, and if war was what Hayley and Luke wanted, then I would give it to them.
Chapter twenty-nine (Hayley)
We knew what we had to do now that we were back in town. Even though I felt different and more reassured in myself because we had the stone and because I knew Luke was with me and he would always have my back, I didn’t feel any more powerful. We only have the stone and haven’t activated it just yet. We didn’t need to because the next job we were about to take on, we wouldn’t be doing alone.
Luke and I walked side by side through the heavy fog forming in the morning. It seemed appropriate for the clandestine meeting we were about to have. The smell of metal and engine oil trickled through the fog and to my nose, and we dropped from an abandoned pier onto the top of a container. I wonder how they moved it there.
Beyond the smell of the oil and metal, I could smell the sea too. It was just half a mile from us, which made this spot the best place to meet—hidden with all the abandoned cars and metal scraps. No one would think of finding us here, and so close to the dock too. I jumped down from the container and was back on the ground again.
We’d been back almost two days but didn’t venture deeper into the town. We didn’t even let Bonne know we were around. He wouldn’t be able to help us here, so there was no point in telling him. Luke said it would only make him worry more. On our travel back, we didn’t encounter any hunters, and that was because of Merine. He had some of the tribe members followus, and they masked our scent the whole way. Some hunters had been waiting for us outside the clan, but we used a different route to evade them. By the time we were about three leagues away from the clan, and they were sure they hadn’t followed us, our entourage returned, and it was just Luke and me. We made the rest of the journey on our own, and it went uneventfully.
When we got to Nillport, one of Luke’s lone wolf friends had a message for us. They had found where the kids to be sold were being kept, and the sale was getting hurried up. Something about an incident in the Palace and Viper looking to get in the good graces of the Tarloux family. He would need their help for what was to come.
Well, those good graces will have to wait. We arrived, and they were all waiting for us. A total of ten of them were standing beside an old Chevrolet Jeep missing its engine.
“You’re alive,” the first said and stood before Luke and me. I recognized him from the first time I was at the reservation and made a fool of myself. It was just about a month ago, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. A lot of things have happened in such a very short time. Things that would forever change and define my life. I recognized the man, but I didn’t know his name. “We thought it was a trap when we got the message that you wanted to meet here. But the location had to be some kind of message. Because I know this place. This was where we first met.”
“And fought,” Luke added.
“Yes, and fought. What are we doing here, Luke?” the man asked and looked at me. He gave a little nod of acknowledgment, but I wasn’t getting anything beyond that. I was the girl that took theirfriend away, and they didn’t know whether or not he would be back.”
