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“Fair enough.”
“Lock up after me, Stone, and remember I was never here.”
“Got it.”
Footsteps both light and heavy follow, and the door snaps shut again, a lock clicking into place. The grizzly lumbers my way, the giant’s weight making the floorboards creak. He rounds the corner into the room where I’m chained like a dog. “Fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into here, marshal.”
I refuse to show fear. As big as he is, I could take him…maybe. “Might as well call me Nolan seeing as how we’re not exactly on formal terms here.”
“All right, Nolan. We haven’t been introduced all though you’ve met my wife, Kiva.”
“Sadie’s sister with the arrowheads for wings?” I don’t add her attitude or her big mouth as I’d rather not provoke him into inflicting more damage than he came here to do.
“That’s my mate. I’m Stone. Can’t say it’s good to meet you under these circumstances.”
“Did the Huntresses send you?” I don’t give him time to answer. “I know Syn City doesn’t believe in rights for the accused, but I swear I didn’t have anything to do with inciting any riots. Roughing me up won’t change that, and I’ll fight back. Doesn’t matter that you’re mated to Sadie’s sister or whatever they’re called in this life.”
He laughs, a rumble that I swear shakes the room. “I’m here despite the Huntresses ordering everyone to stay away from you until they can finish their sad excuse for an investigation. You’re not the only one they took.”
Fear flares in my gut, hot and ugly. “Sadie?”
“No, wolf for brains, they didn’t take her, but I understand they threatened her secret garden that no one but her sisters have ever found.”
I don’t tell him I found it. “What do you mean threatened it?”
“Kiva says the Huntresses claim her poisons could’ve contribute to whatever crazy shit happened at the Hack and Ale so they want to destroy the garden.”
“No, it’ll kill a piece of her.” Anger has my wolf rising up as if he can stop them. “They can’t—”
“Slow down. Tell me why it matters so much.”
He makes the demand seem so calm and rational. I guess it’s necessary when dealing with a mate as hotheaded as his. “She had a garden in her first life. It was like having her own kingdom. She can grow anything, heal sick plants and trees, make all kinds of potions and balms to cure aches and illnesses. Her family called her a green witch.”
“My mate relies on her salves for roller derby bumps and bruises.”
“Some skating injuries are nothing compared to the wounds that Sadie helped heal with her parents’ help.”
He curves one corner of his mouth into a grin. “You obviously don’t know derby. Those bouts are brutal.”
Okay, this bear obviously spent too much time in hibernation. I get to the point. “Whoever killed Sadie? They murdered my brother next to her garden and trampled every plant she had, even pulling the ones that weren’t crushed out by the roots. It’s like they wanted to erase her family’s entire existence. If the Huntresses wreck her garden, they’ll be forcing her to relive the trauma that’s tied to her murder and losing her parents and sisters.”
“Aren’t you doing that already?” His quiet question slices through me like a million papercuts, painful but not deadly. Not yet anyway.
“I need to catch this serial killer. You know that more than anyone.” A cold tactic considering his mate was murdered, yet I’m fine to be that jerk if it means justice gets served.
He comes closer, and I brace for a blow because I probably deserve a punch for poking at that particular wound. I’ll let him get a single hit before I start swinging. Only he doesn’t curl his hand into a fist. Instead, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a keyring. Grabbing the chain, he hauls the cuffs on my wrists closer to his face and studies them.
“What’re you doing?” I ask when he simply stares long enough to make me uncomfortable. Not that anything about this situation is remotely comfortable, but I don’t need bear shifter breath and massive muscles adding to my problems.
“I designed most of the recent ironworks in this city. Since this isn’t silver, I either made it or have made something like it in the past.” He doesn’t explain further, and he whistles under his breath while he works. It doesn’t take me long to decide the grizzly’s as irritating as his mate.
I open my mouth to tell him to stop fondling the chains when he pops a key in the lock, jiggles it, pauses, and then wiggles it a different direction. The cuffs open with a clank. “Cool trick.”
“The less legal side of blacksmithing. I doubt you’ll arrest me for it.”
The skin around my wrists burns red and raw, and I rub away the sting. “Won’t you get in trouble with the Huntresses?”
He raises one big shoulder. “House rivalries and issues aren’t my problem. Come on, Kiva’s on the roof as our lookout. We should be clear.”
