Page 30 of Waifs And Strays
He didn’t miss a beat. ‘What kind of name is Shane?’
I shrugged. So much for the lone gunslinger vibe, then, but I didn’t give a cat’s arse what he was called. ‘Shane. Thane. Birdbrain. Whatever. Tell me where Nick is.’
Suddenly he became very still and his eyes, which I belatedly realised were an astonishing shade of bright green, narrowed. Uh-oh.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked slowly. ‘He’s staying with you. You’re the one who should know where he is. I haven’t seen him since yesterday morning.’ There was an appalling ring of truth to his words.
I hunkered down until we were face to face and searched his expression. I scanned every inch of his pale, stubble-laden face, and my stomach tightened with every second that passed. Eventually I stood up, shoved my hands into my pockets and turned away. ‘Fuck.’ The expletive bore repeating. ‘Fuck.’
I took several deep breaths before swivelling back to the werewolf. He was starting to get to his feet but I shook my head in warning. ‘No. Stay where you are.’
His expression flickered as he debated whether to obey or ignore me. Fortunately for both of us, he chose the former. ‘What happened to him?’ His voice was low and calm.
‘He was kidnapped yesterday afternoon while I was out.’
His eyes narrowed even more. ‘Fuck,’ he muttered, echoing my own sentiment. ‘When you went to the MacTire mansion?’
I nodded.
Thane’s fists tightened. When he spoke again, his voice was still measured but he couldn’t disguise the rage that clouded his face. ‘Why did you think I took Nick? I’m good but not even I can be in two places at once, and you knew I was following you yesterday.’
He’d only followed me on my waybackfrom the MacTires; he’d have had plenty of time to nab Nick before then. I folded my arms defensively. ‘You’re notthatgood.’ I indicated his position on the floor. ‘I thought you’d dealt with Nick then come for me.’
Thane’s lip curled. ‘I don’t care about you, I care about Nick.’
‘Then why did you follow me?’
‘You took Nick in,’ he snapped. ‘Then you went to the damned MacTires.’
‘They didn’t give me much choice in the matter.’
‘I think you’ve just proved that you’re capable of standing up for yourself. You didn’t have to go. Besides, I needed to know what your intentions were.’
‘I’m a cat lady,’ I said. ‘I can’t do shit against a pack of werewolves, especially when those werewolves are MacTire. My intention is to live a quiet life.’
‘You’re much more than a fucking cat lady, and if you wanted to live a quiet life you wouldn’t have taken Nick in. And you wouldn’t be standing here now.’
He had a point but I needed more convincing. ‘You spoke to Trilby about getting a forget-me-not spell.’
‘Trilby? The market-stall dealer with the hat? That’s not true.’ Thane sighed. ‘I spoke to them to find out if anyone hadtried to buya forget-me-not spell recently. I didn’t want one for myself.’
I hesitated; that wasn’t what Trilby had told me.
He appeared to register my doubts. ‘I didn’t stroll up and demand to know who their recent customers were. I don’t know Trilby and they obviously deal in black-market goods, so they’d have no reason to tell me the truth. I was trying to find out if forget-me-not spells were something theynormally sold. When I found out they hadn’t had any in stock for more than six months, I knew I was barking up the wrong tree.’
‘You didn’t know Nick had been abducted until all of two minutes ago so why did you care about forget-me-not spells?’
Thane’s expression hardened further and he nodded as if I’d just confirmed something. ‘What?’ I asked.
‘I wanted to know about forget-me-not spells because I’ve been targeted twice recently by similar magic.’
I sucked in a breath. ‘You’re sure?’
‘Yes,’ he growled.
‘Similar magic? Or an actual forget-me-not spell?’
‘I don’t know,’ he snapped. ‘I can’t remember.’ He tapped his skull. ‘There are blanks where there shouldn’t be any.’
