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“You are, but you shouldn’t have to,” he insisted. “If you need anything, you ask for it. From Dylan, or Kingston—from anyone in the pack. And if you don’t know who to ask, you call me. Hell, I’ll ask for you.”
“I won’t need anything,” I promised.
“You don’t think you will,” Xander said. “But you might.”
“How can I ask them to take care of me? You’ve just told me I’ll be taking care of them.” I could imagine nothing more mortifying than being entrusted with so much, only to realize how deep in over my head I was.
He sighed and shook his head. “One of these days, you’re gonna have to accept that this thing goes both ways. You take care of them, they take care of you. That’s what having a pack is all about.”
Chapter17
Xander
When I got off the plane, it felt like I’d been shot up with adrenaline, then repeatedly kicked in the head.
The flight from Boston to Vegas was horrible, an overwhelming cocktail of everything I hated about flying all chucked in a blender. We hit turbulence somewhere over the Midwest, and it seemed to last until the minute we landed. Halfway through the flight, one of the bathrooms had malfunctioned, creating a catastrophic pile-up for the remaining toilet, despite the seatbelt light being on. The guy sitting next to me spent most of the flight filling up barf bags while people in the aisle tried and failed not to tumble into his lap. In the seat across from us, a woman’s tiny, angry purse-dog quickly picked up on my scent and determined that we were mortal enemies. It then spent the entire flight barking in my direction while petulantly marking its territory on its panicking owner’s skirt.
All that got me through it was the lingering taste of Felicity on my lips. The belief that, when I brought our son back to her, I’d be able to do it again. And again.
“How was it?” Denny asked when he met me at Arrivals.
“Fine,” I lied. “Yours?”
“Not bad. Got in about half an hour before you did.” Denny jerked his head toward the baggage claim. “You check anything?”
“Nope.” I shifted my duffel bag onto my opposite shoulder and headed for the exit. “Let’s just get this over with. Where’s Melony?”
“Oh, right. Lemme just snap my fingers and summon her up for you.” Denny deadpanned. “I’m a wolf, Miller, not a wizard. Rental car’s this way.”
We passed out the exit and veered off toward parking.
“Where do we start tracking her, then?” If I had to be here and do this, I figured we might as well be done with it as quickly as possible.
“Today? We don’t.”
“But—”
“We need to plan this out properly, not launch into it with our heads up our asses,” Denny said in a tone that suggested I needed to quickly pull my head out of a certain hole. “Once we’re settled, we’ll worry about tracking Melony down, but not before.”
The rental car was a silver Buick Encore, nice but unassuming. It smelled of cleaning supplies, leather, and pine, like it had been freshly detailed that morning. While Denny drove us out of the airport, I called Felicity to let her know I’d made it in one piece. She held the phone up to Rylan’s ear for me so he could hear my voice. Before we hung up, her tone went breathy, and she told me she missed me.
It was promising. I felt like the rift between us was finally closing. Last night’s goodbye seemed to have left an impression on her.
Bringing Ryder back home with me would leave an even better one.
Billboards advertising strip clubs and musical acts lined the interstate. I watched them, bored, as we passed them. The sun hovered above us, high noon, as we headed south down I-215. Denny followed its curve east, taking us far away from the glamorous casinos and luxury hotels.
“We’re not staying on the Strip?” I asked, eyeing the rocky shoulder and the high walls that separated the interstate from civilization. Beyond the walls, I could just barely make out rooftops.
Funny that people actually lived here. I only ever thought of the people passing through.
“When I’m in Vegas, which isn’t often, I’ve got a family obligation to stay up in Firebend Ridge with the pack.” Denny didn’t sound too excited about that. “They’ve insisted on hosting you, too, so I’d lose any notions of partying it up at Caesar’s Palace.”
“Suits me just fine.”
In fact, I preferred the idea of staying with Denny’s pack. I’d never been much of a gambler. Anything else of interest in Vegas wouldn’t be half as much fun without Felicity by my side. We weren’t here to play tourist, anyway. We were on a mission. If we needed to make plans, it’d be easier to do that away from the noise, and with our own kind.
Denny’s family’s home was perched high on a ridge well off the interstate. Behind it, there was nothing but mountains and Nevada skies. The sheer size of the mansion reminded me of the lodge back in Evergreen. But where the lodge was built like a rustic New England hunting retreat, the Kerry estate was a luxurious pueblo revival. It looked perfectly at home against the backdrop of the harsh but beautiful desert landscape.
