Page 25 of Knot a Tie
“Before you do that, can I say something?” Spencer asks cautiously.
Going still, I nod again.
“What’s your name?”
“Rayne.”
“I’m Spencer and that’s William.”
“Uh-huh.” I already knew that.
“Can you tell me what was going on back there?” His tone is light, but insistent.
I shudder and clutch my bag tighter. Licking my lips, I say, “Mick, that douche canoe, lame-arse alpha wanted to use me to tie some loose packs to him as their leader. He assumed they would all fall in line if he offered me up for pack mating.”
“Jesus,” Spencer mutters. “Who are you?”
“Rayne.”
“No, I get that,” he says with a small smile. “I mean,whoare you? Why did he think you had this power?”
Power.
“Rayne Halstead. My father is…”
“Chief Justice of the Inter-pack Parliament,” he finishes for me. “I see. Perhaps ringing your parents isn’t such a good idea, right now…or at least, you can ring them but don’t tell them what happened. I fear that this may have been about your dad as much as it was about you.”
“What?” I don’t understand what he’s saying. “Who areyou?” I snap. “What makes you such an expert? Are you planning on doing the same?” My voice has gone shrill and weak. I can’t run again. I’m too tired. But Richard trusts them. I have to believe that I can trust them as well.
“Absolutely not,” Spencer says firmly. “However, we know a thing or two about politics. We are the St. Stevens pack.”
I blink rapidly. “Yes, I’ve heard of you. The most powerful pack in England next to the St. James pack. You have not one but two seats in Parliament.” This knowledge is coming back to me from poring over my dad’s books.
“That’s right. James, our prime alpha is the MP for Kensington and Chelsea. I sit on the backbench.”
“Yes, yes, yes…” I keep nodding like one of those annoying nodding dogs, but I can’t seem to stop the action. “I know this.”
“We are going to take you to our home in Chelsea, where you can contact your parents. Where are you supposed to be right now?”
“With my cousin in London.”
“Okay, good. Tell them that you’re safe, which you are with us. If you lure your father out and into the middle of this, things are going to get ugly. We’ve been increasing our efforts on the loose packs to arrest and prosecute. Your father is in the very midst of it. His location is a secret for a reason.”
I don’t know what to think right now. It sounds plausible, but maybe he is just trying to separate me further. And secret location? Since when? I search Spencer’s eyes and see no sign of deception or fraud. Have I been living a lie this whole time, oblivious to everything around me?
Heaving a sigh, I look away. It wouldn’t surprise me. All of dad’s hushed meetings, why he never leaves the house unless he absolutely has to, the video calls in the middle of the night.
Oh, Rayne. You’re a dumb fuck.
“Why can’t you just take me home?” I ask, my lower lip trembling with the effort of holding onto my tears.
“We have several tails,” William says from the front. “I keep shaking them, but more keep finding us. This is going bigger and wider than we originally thought. If we lead them back to your home, we are being idiots.”
“Oh,” I whimper.
I feel that I have no choice but to believe them.
“Here,” Spencer says and hands me his phone, unlocked.
