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“He probably thought he had a clever way to get me away.” She shook her head but finally brought her gaze back to mine. “My friend, Ruby, and I were accosted by a knife-wielding guy. He threatened to take us somewhere after we gave him money. I’m guessing to my brother.”
“Andy must not have understood your abilities if he thought that was the way to go.” I tried not to laugh, but I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Her stepbrother was truly a moron if he’d figured an assault then kidnapping would get Charlie to him.
“Like most men, he underestimates what I can do. He’s basing his information on rumors more than facts.” There was more to what she was saying than what was coming out of her mouth, but I didn’t push for details. I knew the males in our species completely misunderstood the capabilities of the females—always had, at least in these more modern times. And Charlie had a hell of a lot of rumors swirling around her talents, some too fantastical to believe.
“According to Levi, the flight landed at Pearson Airport and Andrew got off. That’s the last anyone has seen of him.” I fed her a little more to get her moving in the right direction again.
“Sal would have had Andy taken out when he landed.” ‘Had he known,’ went unspoken but was mutually understood. She paused again, obviously thinking.
“Andrew was a step ahead of Sal,” I offered.
“Barely a step.” Charlie sighed. “So typical of Andy to fuck up a rescue. He must have known Sal wanted to sell me to the highest bidder.”
I stayed silent as she processed, connecting the dots until her eyes widened and she looked at me with a what-the-fuck expression.
“Or maybe he wanted to get to me first.” She mouthed the word ‘fuck’. “That bastard… He was trying to take me out of the game before it started.”
I let that sink in.
She speared me with a death glare. “Did you know?”
I lifted my chin in response.
“Let me guess. Kane has a theory.” She rolled her eyes.
“If Andrew knew that Sal was going to sell you to the highest bidder, then maybe he wanted to make you aware of the situation. Let you choose.” I didn’t really believe that, but it was a theory that we’d batted around, too. Everything had been moving so fast at the time, and we knew that Andrew had had some kind of hush deal with Charlie, paying her to stay away.
She snorted. “Like you did?”
Ouch, low blow, but one I deserved. “I should have been upfront, but I didn’t want you to bolt. That would have alerted Sal, and he may have acted rashly.”
“More rashly than collaring me?” She touched her throat as if the collar were still there.
“We didn’t know about that until it happened.” I felt so much guilt over what had gone down in Sal’s office. If I’d have known Sal was going to play dirty, I would have stopped Charlie from going into the building somehow. “But yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what a sadistic bastard that guy is.”
She waved my apology away. “Kane is trying to hunt down my stepbrother, why? You’ve got me now. I’m safe.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her tone, and I didn’t blame her. “He won’t come after me when I’m with you big, tough guys.”
“Kane wants Andrew so we can pump him for key inside information that will help us infiltrate the Larsen stronghold when the time comes.” Which was plan B if Charlie didn’t agree to lead the pack and unlock her potential. We’d need some insider secrets to get us where and when we needed to be.
“And you think I can’t give you that information?” She cocked an eyebrow as she picked up her donut like we were just going to continue on with our day.
I shook my head. “We like to hedge our bets.” I didn’t want to undermine her or pester her for commitment, but until she agreed to lead, we needed every advantage we could get. We were going after Sal, one way or another. “And you haven’t been in the Larsen clan for a while.”
“Yeah, but I know some things that likely won’t have changed.” And the way she said that made me perk up. “Some things that would be very valuable in any plans to get past Larsen security and strongholds.”
“Such as?”
She downed the rest of the donut then wiped her mouth. “You have your secrets, and I have mine.” That’s when I realized she’d been onto me the whole time. She knew we were keeping her in the dark because she hadn’t committed to our pack. “Let’s see what Kane digs up then we’ll talk. I have a thing or two I’d like to say to Andrew myself.”
I laughed, couldn’t help it. I liked her wit and her candor. “Deal.” I gathered up the garbage. “Come on. We’re wasting valuable shopping time. We can do a lot more damage to the bank account before noon.”
We’d overlooked Charlie’s wealth of experience and information about her clan, if only because she’d been in isolation for three years. But she had decades of knowledge that had come before she’d left the Larsen pack. Charlie was obviously used to people, to men, underestimating her.
I wouldn’t make that mistake again, but I couldn’t speak for Kane with all his damn theories and plans, some of which he was keeping secret, even from me.
