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Honor looked like he wanted to argue, but he took one look around the room and decided against it. I slipped out before he could change his mind.
Night had settled on my little slice of paradise, cold and quiet. There was a time when nights like that would’ve unsettled me, especially when I had to spend them alone. So far from civilization, the darkness almost seemed to come alive, and the quiet was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Now, after so many years out there, there was comfort in the dark and the quiet. It felt right.
Dry, frost-covered grass crunched beneath my feet as I walked away from the house, away from the light and safety of the front porch. I had to go out a good fifty, sixty yards to be sure no one would be listening in. I didn’t know how good monster hearing was, but if even one of them overheard what I was about to say, they might tell Ghost. I couldn’t let that happen.
The others would get pulled into the plan at the right time, in the right way, at the right place. I had to trust that Mozley knew what he was doing. The alternative was too unpleasant to think about.
No, this plan had to work. Ghost deserved to be free of Parker once and for all, and if I could do that for him, I should.
So, I walked to the edge of the clearing around my little cabin, and I stepped into the cold shadows of an ancient pine tree before I got out my phone and dialed the number Mozley had given to me.
He picked up on the third ring. “Special Agent Mozley speaking.”
“I’ll do it,” I blurted immediately. “I’ll be the bait for Parker.”
Papers shuffled around in the background, but he sounded distracted as he said, “That’s great, kid. Glad you finally came around.”
A twig snapped in the woods off to my right and I stiffened, my eyes scanning the forest. All I saw were the rough trunks of a dozen pine trees and a forest floor made of needles and frost.
“You there, Axel?” Mozley said in my ear.
I turned away from the sound. It was probably just a racoon or a squirrel. If someone was out there, I would’ve seen them. “Yeah, I’m here. Ready and willing. I just need you to tell me what to do.”
“Well, there’s a little paperwork,” he said. “Don’t worry. It’s not too involved. It’s basically just to protect my ass in case you decide you want to sue me later, but you won’t, since I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. Then, after the paperwork, we’ll get you fitted with a wire and a tracker.”
I frowned and turned around again. I could’ve sworn I felt the weight of eyes on the back of my neck. Maybe I was just being paranoid. “How is Parker supposed to know to come get me? I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”
“I’m going to send you out to a particular set of coordinates under the guise that you’re hiking or something. Then I’m going to leak those coordinates,” Mozley said. “It’ll be up to you to make sure Ghost doesn’t follow you. You do what you have to because if he does, the whole operation is compromised. He cannot be anywhere near you when Parker arrives. I can’t stress that enough, Axel.”
I sighed and ran my hand over the back of my neck. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince Ghost to leave me alone for an extended period, but maybe if I told him I was going to work, that’d do it. “And then you’ll swoop in as soon as Parker shows, right?”
“Exactly,” Mozley assured me. “You’ll never be out of our sight or in any danger. Parker won’t even have a chance to take you to a secondary location. It’ll all get wrapped up in under an hour if everything goes according to plan.”
I blew out a breath. It sounded simple. That didn’t mean it was. “You’ve done this before, right?”
“I’m a professional, Axel. This is my job. I’ve extracted operatives from all kinds of situations. This will be one of theeasiest extractions I’ve ever done. You have my word. No harm will come to you as long as you do exactly what I say.”
“Right,” I replied, glancing back toward the house where everyone was waiting for me. “Then I just need to know when and where.”
“I’ll text you the coordinates right before,” Mozley said. “Until then, I want you to lie low. That means no running to the store. No going in to work. No leaving your cozy little cabin. I’ll manufacture whatever cover story you need after, and if you need any supplies, you send Honor out. Got it, kid?”
I sighed. I really wished he’d stop calling me kid. I was over thirty, dammit. I wasn’t anyone’skid. “Yeah, I got it.”
“All right. Over and out then.” He hung up.
I lowered the phone and had to stop myself from turning it off or popping the battery out. Normally, I didn’t leave my phone on at all hours. It was a habit Honor had drilled into me, one that was going to be hard to break. Leaving the phone on, I dropped it into my pocket and took a step toward the house.
The air shimmered next to me and I had a moment of panic, thinking that Ghost had overheard the entire conversation. That panic quickly fell away, replaced by new, cold terror when the shimmering veil fell away and revealed not Ghost, but Parker.
Parker with agunpointed at my face.
I’d spent hours at a time over the last few days imagining what I’d do if I ever came face-to-face with Parker. I’d fantasized about punching him, kicking him, shoving him, and making a run for it. But I did none of those things when he closed on me. Instead, I just stood there and let him take that last step forward.
He pressed the gun against my temple and smiled. “Good evening, Mr. Rose. I think it’s time you and I had a little chat.”
My head jerked upfrom where it’d fallen against my claws. I was curled up on the rug near where half of Axel’s friends had passed out on the couch. The other half had found cozy spots on the floor, while Honor and Ziggy had retreated to their van. Bud the verrid was gone too, joining his mate and offspring in their RV outside. Stuttering snores filled the living room and my head… Why did it feel so foggy?
I shook my head to clear it and drew my tongue over my teeth, hyper-aware of their existence. Where was Axel?
