Page 15 of The Goblin in the Sink Drain
A broad man with dark skin stood in the grooming area, staring up at the camera.
“I’m Perry Nelson, alpha of the Springvale cougar pride.” His eyes glinted golden. “To honor my alliance with the Sartori pack, I have taken four humans from this establishment into custody. Their wounds will be treated, and they will be well cared for until such time as I receive word to release them.” More than anything, he struck me as bored with his assignment. “Go home, Princess.” He gestured around him. “Your daddy can make all of this go away if you’ll only cooperate.”
Without another word, he turned on his heel and exited the building, disappearing from sight.
“So much for truces.” Sloane wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Ana.”
“They didn’t break their word,” Liam gritted out. “They made no promises to side with us over Sartori.”
“This goes beyond asking them to look the other way,” Rían agreed with reluctance. “They don’t know us. They don’t know what we’re capable of. Sartori is an old threat, a familiar one. They’ve chosen to side with the devil they know.”
“I have no choice.” I sagged on my bones, the reality of my situation sinking in fast, along with embarrassment I had thought even for a second I could outwit Dad. “I have to go to my father.”
“No.” Liam slashed a hand through the air. “That’s out of the question.”
“You don’t get to make decisions for her.” Rían curled his fingers into his palms down by his sides. “I won’t force her to stay with us, withme. She’ll never trust me if I lock her up the way he did, and you know it.”
“Then I’ll do it for you.” Defiance sparked in his eyes. “She’s your?—”
“No.”The single word rolled through the air like thunder, and a vibration rattled his chest. “Touch her, and cousin or not, I will rip off your head and shoot hoops with it.”
“That escalated quickly.” Sloane nudged me behind her and away from Rían. “Everyone calm down.”
“You don’t understand what’s at stake.” Liam turned his ire on her. “Sartori won’t let her choose a side.” His lip twitched up, exposing fang. “He’ll toss her in a cell and throw away the key first. Do you really think someone like him believes Rían wants her for herself and not what she is or what she can do for him?” A tremor shook him. “Rían will never see her again, and she’ll be lucky if Sartori doesn’t kill her attempting to pry the dragon out of her because he’ll see this as confirmation she has one. Do you get it now?”
Frantic as the idea of Rían losing me made Liam, I must be missing a vital detail to explain his willingness to strip me of my freedom if it kept Rían and me together. With Tara and the others held hostage, and their involvement in this mess my fault, I had to prioritize them over finding answers for myself.
“He’s right.” I shook my head. “Dad’s always been overprotective. He won’t let me go once he’s got me.” I ignored the pinch in my chest. “There’s history between the Walshes and the Sartoris I haven’t had time to come to terms with, and part of me knows I won’t be able to accept your account of the past until I’ve looked Dad in the eye and heard his too.”
“I’m going with you.” Sloane left no room for argument. “Where you go, I go.”
“He’ll punish you.” I pictured his feral intensity from their battle. “Mercer will punish you worse.”
“I don’t care.” Her brows slammed down over her golden eyes. “You’re not going alone.”
“You hear yourselves, right?” Liam flicked his glare between her and me. “Why go back if you know he’s going to take a chunkout of your hides?” He looked to Rían for help but found none. “You’re not seriously okay with this, are you?”
“This isn’t about me, or my being okay with it. It’s about Ana finding her own path, and her own truth.” Rían shook out his hands, and I noticed they had begun to smoke. “As soon as Rochele, Jess, and Mindy finish dropping the pets at GSG, we’ll have them help us get these animals back to their owners in case the pride gets any more ideas.”
The pets remaining in my care were boarders, but most only had a few days left on their stay. Pet parents wouldn’t take kindly to a delay in getting their fur kids back, so we had to resolve this fast.
“There’s a bigger problem.” Sloane eyed Liam. “How did the pride know when to act?”
“With lines of communication cut within Brentwood,” Liam answered, “someone is crossing the ward to update Sartori on our plans and movements.”
“I’ll see what I can find out when I meet with Dad.” I rubbed my hands up my arms. “Sloane, we should get going. I’ll grab a printout of names and phone numbers, and I can call the employees’ families on the way. We have to act fast before they're reported missing. We don’t know what the pride’s relationship is like with local law enforcement, so piquing their curiosity is a bad idea.”
Most supernatural factions policed themselves, but areas with high concentrations of para citizens also maintained ties with paranormal law enforcement agencies for when TPTB failed to discipline their own.
Dad kept the powers that be in this area in line, one he had drawn himself, but you could never be too careful when it came to involving humans in para matters. Especially when the victims were human.
“We’ll take a Swyft.” Sloane checked with me. “We can be at your dad’s house in an hour.”
The rideshare app paired para drivers with para passengers, making it easier for factions who didn’t blend in with human society well to travel short distances. I hadn’t made use of it more than two or three times. Summons to return home came with a driver and armored vehicle to get me there, and likewise Dad arranged transportation if I left Brentwood for any reason.
“Whatever you think is best.” I flashed a weak smile. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into hanging back?”
“Nope.” She used her index fingers to force my lips into a face-stretching grin. “You’re stuck with me.”
