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I opened my mouth—to say what, I didn’t know—when the car creaked behind me.
The wolves looked away from me toward Ezra as he climbed out of the car. I cursed silently as he grunted. He shuffled over to my side, wincing at the pains of his old body. He muttered about the idiots standing before him.
“I told you to stay in the car,” I said under my breath, though everyone could hear me.
“You looked as if you could use some backup,” he said, sounding far more cheerful than the tense situation called for. He bumped his shoulder into mine before bowing as low as he could. He barely grimaced at the pain in his back. “Alpha. Thank you for hearing us out. As my young friend said, we mean you no harm. All that we ask is for an exchange of information. Nothing else.”
“An exchange?” the Alpha asked dangerously. “An exchange implies you have something I want.”
“Oh, I imagine we can come up with something,” Ezra said. “All we ask is that you listen to us, and we promise to listen to you. You have my word.”
The Alpha appeared to relax slightly. She nodded at both of us before glancing back at her pack. I don’t know what they saw on her face, but they didn’t seem pleased. She turned toward us again and said, “One night. You can sleep in the barn. In the morning, you leave, no matter what’s been discussed.”
“Agreed,” Ezra said as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
“My name is Shannon Wells,” she said, her voice quieter. “And I am the Alpha. This is John and his brother, James.”
John’s scowl deepened.
James gave a nervous little wave.
“And this is my second,” Shannon said, jerking her head toward the other man, “Malik.”
Malik didn’t say a word.
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p; “You are welcome in my territory,” Shannon said. “But if I suspect there is anything untoward happening, I will kill you both, consequences be damned. Do you believe me?”
“Yes,” Ezra said. “I do.”
“Good. Pull your car up next to the barn. It’s almost time for dinner. You can join us if you wish. I’m sure you have much to say, whether I want to hear it or not.”
The interior of the farmhouse was more modern than I expected, though it still seemed to be a work in progress. It smelled faintly of wet paint, so it had to have been a month or two since they’d done it. Mostly it smelled like the four of them, like a pack home should.
Off to the left of the entryway was a large living room, a sectional couch surrounding a TV mounted above a fireplace. I was amused to see a stack of old black-and-white monster movies on a bookshelf. They all seemed to be about werewolves.
“I like them,” a voice said.
I glanced over to see James standing beside me, nervously wringing his hands. “Yeah? I’ve seen a lot of them. Pretty good. Funny. Got a bunch of stuff wrong, but some of it isn’t so far off. Makes you wonder if any wolves actually worked on them, you know?”
He nodded, looking relieved. “It’s—”
“Jimmy,” John said, voice rough. “Come here.”
Jimmy’s eyes widened, and he took a step back toward his brother. John wrapped an arm around his shoulders, glaring at me as if he thought I was about to attack Jimmy. His expression softened as he glanced over at Jimmy. He leaned over and kissed the side of his head. “Stay by me, okay?”
Jimmy looked annoyed but didn’t argue.
Malik disappeared up the stairs in front of us without a look back as Ezra crossed the threshold. Shannon came in behind him and closed the door.
“No wards,” Ezra said as if he were commenting on the weather.
“No witch,” Shannon said. “Though I think you already knew that.”
“I could help you with that, if you’d like.”
“I wouldn’t like that at all.”
