Page 29 of The Alpha's Warlock
Anyway, Dor was a million of those steps ahead of me, and that was depressing, but it wasn’t the most important issue. I got my head out of my ass and focused. We were a mile or so inside the Kimball territory, but we were right near the road that led southeast toward the Armitage territory. I thought it was fairly obvious why we were here.
So did Dor, by the way he sighed, so faintly it was almost inaudible. Almost inaudible to me, but clear as a shout to a werewolf.
“We’re going to walk from here, and we’ll go along the road your brother’s most likely to take to meet Kimball,” Charlie said at a normal volume. “What?” he asked, when Ian stared at him. “Dor has wards. I’m not going to tiptoe around like the Scooby gang for no reason, even if I did bring my very own Scooby with me, Goddess help us all.” With that, he stomped off to lead the way, tossing his head. He looked like a teenager throwing a tantrum.
We all set off in his wake. I let what he’d said revolve around in my brain for a minute, ignoring Ian as he started to grumble and complain and try to start an argument with Dor, who replied in unconcerned monosyllables.
“So you’re expecting Matthew to show up tonight,” I said finally. “You think — what, that Kimball’s behind all the bullshit we had to deal with today, and that Matthew’s going to come out here and get together with him to plan the next move?” Ian let out a low growl, and I hastened to add, “Which is crap, because Matthew didn’t plan the previous moves, obviously. So why are we staking out the road?”
“Matthew’s coming,” Charlie said. “Whether you like it or not.”
“If he is, it’s because he’s looking for me and Nate,” Ian shot back. “Not because he’s in the middle of some evil plot.”
Charlie didn’t even dignify that with a reply, which was so passive-aggressive. The silence hung between us, full of unspoken contempt. Personally, I thought Ian’s blind spot where Matthew was concerned had gotten big enough to blot out the incredibly fucking obvious question: Why would Matthew think the Kimball territory would be a good place to look for us, if he was so sure Sam Kimball wasn’t involved in my kidnapping?
But it wouldn’t help to say that out loud. I moved to walk right beside Ian, hoping to show support, and also maybe be in range to stop him from committing suicide-by-Dor if he wolfed out again. He ignored me.
“So how far are we walking?” That sounded a little whiny, but seriously, I’d walked enough that day.Are we there yet?A shitty family road trip classic for a reason. “I mean, are you planning to try to intercept Matthew?” I shot a wary look at Ian’s stony profile, and the hint of fang glinting in the moonlight, and added, “You know, if he’s coming at all.”
“The Kimball territory’s big,” Dor said. “We don’t know what they’re planning, or where they’ll meet. Easier to follow Matthew’s likeliest route to the meet point than wander around the woods playing hide-and-seek with a shaman.”
Easier? Really? That was debatable. The Kimball territory was mostly redwood forest, which made progress fairly simple — not much undergrowth. But the trees here grew close together, and we were going in more of a series of loops around wide trunks than a straight line. Moonlight filtered down through the canopy and cast eerie criss-crossing spiderweb shadows everywhere. It might’ve been beautiful if I’d been ten feet from a campfire, a comfortable folding chair, and a well-filled cooler.
Ian stiffened and stopped dead a second before I heard it: a car engine. My hearing wasn’t good enough to tell one car from another, but Ian’s was. By the look on his face, he recognized this one.
Dor was a streak of deeper black against the darkness as he flowed like water to the edge of the road, taking up position with one hand outstretched.
“No,” Ian choked out, and began to run after. “Fuck that, you’re not going to —”
“Don’t!” I dived after him and managed to catch his sleeve. “Don’t, Ian, they’re not going to hurt him.” I wouldn’t bet on that after Charlie got the information he wanted, but for now, I believed it.
Trying to shake me off without hurtingmedistracted Ian just long enough for Matthew’s car to round a bend in the road. Dor’s hand moved, and to regular sight, nothing happened. I caught the faintest flash, the darkest possible color of light, and then Matthew’s car was out of sight around another twist in the winding road.
Dor spun around, his hand still outstretched. “Don’t chase after him.” His voice rumbled with power and command, a restrained energy that felt like it charged the air around us with static electricity. Even Ian stilled, his arm finally free of my grasp, frozen in the posture of someone about to run. “We’ll follow. I’m tracking him now. But we’re staying together.”
“He’s here for me,” Ian cried. “Of course he’d ask Kimball for help after I went missing, so if he finds me now, then none of this is necessary! I don’t understand —”
“Shut up and walk,” Charlie snarled, melting out of the shadow of a huge redwood like a ghost. “You’ll be reunited with your precious brother soon enough, and standing here acting like a child isn’t helping. If we have to knock you out and carry you, we will. So move.”
“You know it’s not an empty threat, Ian,” I put in. “Dor can do it, he did it to us both earlier.” Ian’s fists clenched, and blood dripped down from his claws. Fuck, fuck, I had to do something. Inspiration struck; Ian might not be my biggest fan, but alphas took care of their mates, no matter what. “Don’t leave me alone with them,” I whispered, as if I was trying to keep a secret. “If you’re unconscious I won’t have any backup at all.”
It sucked, manipulating him like that. Yelling at him, insulting him — that was up-front, at least. It meant exactly what it said on the box. Using his alpha instincts against him? I felt like dirt.
But it worked. Ian’s fists and jaw stayed clenched, but he nodded jerkily and started to walk. I let out a deep, shaky breath and followed along, keeping myself close enough to jump on his back if he changed his mind about going with the program.
Hopefully he’d interpret that as me wanting to stick close for protection. And honestly, that wasn’t a bad idea, either.
Dor took the lead, following his magical nose, and Charlie hovered about as far behind him as Ian and I were, maybe ten feet off to the left, with me between him and Ian. The only sounds were the shush of our footsteps on the damp leaf litter and our breathing, labored in my case, deep and even in Ian’s and Dor’s, and interspersed with sighs and low-voiced mutters in Charlie’s.
I’d been too rushed to even think about where I was going or what I was doing, but as we skirted around enormous tree trunks and stepped over fallen branches, the reality of it finally caught up with me.
Matthew. What the fuck was he doing here? Looking for Ian and me, like Ian insisted on believing — or pretending to believe? That seemed unlikely. And why had Kimball targeted me? How had he known how to use me? Using me against the Armitages made a certain amount of sense — if I could get over how he knew it was an option in the first place, and why he’d be meeting with Matthew if it was all a plot against Matthew to begin with.
There was something we were missing. Probably more than one something. The closer we came, the more I was sure we were walking into a trap. Were we the bait or the prey, though? I wasn’t super happy with either of those options.
I watched Dor weave gracefully through the trees like a dancer in one of those intricate group dances in a period movie, only without any other visible participants. Dor wasn’t prey, that was for sure. Ian wasn’t prey either, but he was bull-headed and reckless enough to make awesome fucking bait. That made me the bait-mate, I guessed? Fuck that.
Slogging through the forest took on an unpleasantness that transcended the physical discomfort of burning muscles in my calves and chilly fingers.
