Page 35 of Wolf Trap

I nodded and Hakon grinned, then slapped Lycaon on the shoulder. “How goes it, wolfman? So, I heard there was a party here. I knew you’d all be lost without me.”

As my heartbeat slowly recovered, I puffed, “We’ve got what we came for. We should leave.”

Brows raised, Hakon’s voice pitched. “Really? I just got here. Mint place mind you. I don’t know, I might buy it. Did you see all that armour out there? I think we should try it on… Ah, the good old days of armour.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You never wore armour, Hakon. I don’t believe that.”

He stood right in front of me, peering down. “Didn’t I? I’ll have you know-”

Lycaon interrupted, “Much as we appreciate your wit, Hakon, lad, we need to go.”

“Pfft, you never use the word lad! Good, I’m rubbing off on you.”

“Who, what?”

Shaking his head, Hakon replied, “My cocky ways are taking a grip on your psyche! Geez, and ugh, not everyone thinks of you as a hot stud alpha, Lycaon.”

Looking at his screen, Anthony sighed. “We can’t go back to Austin’s. He’s on another job. We should go to my home. I have some contacts, Nathaniel knows even more. And we’ll get this blood analysed.”

His chest sank, shoulders slouched. Handing Hakon a bullet, the old vampire squinted, holding it up to his face.

He almost squawked in shock. “Angel blood! And silver… that’s a turn. Bloody hell.”

“Come on then. How did you get here? Hakon?”

Hakon was transfixed by the bullet.

“Eh? I drove, mate, and that’s the way I’m going back. You three best get on then. I’ll go home, see what I can find. I’m alright to keep this?”

Anthony glanced at me before answering, “Sure. Knock yourself out. Elsa, Lycaon, shall we?”

“Anthony, no, you’ve done enough. Leave this to me. I...”

Shaking his head, he cut me off, “Elsa, no offence, but you need someone who’s tech savvy, who can dig deep into the dark web. This,” he held another bullet up, “this won’t even be on the supe’s web, this will be hidden. Darker. I can do that, most unfortunately, or Luke. Our lives, well, sometimes we’ve had to dig into places that are very disturbing. We hunt out the bad guys, Elsa… It’s not always a random chance for us, as vampires, that we happen across them. Sometimes we hunt them. And Adara seems to have its roots spread across many sections. That said, I wouldn’t just put their name into Google, it’ll probably signal them.”

“No, I can’t expect you to do that. This isn’t your fight. You’ve already done so much. They’ll be after you otherwise.”

“This is bigger than us. I’m going to research, see what I can dig up. How about you? You can come to my house. Do you need anything? Shall I take you home?”

Hakon slipped the bullet in his coat pocket.

“Hakon,stay in touch. I’ll take these two to my house. I’ll do some digging on the dark web. And let the others know about Adara’s weapons. Then, well. We’ll plan our next move, if that’s alright?” He glanced at me.

“Sounds like a good plan. Thank you. I appreciate your help, and you’re right. This whole thing is like Pandora’s box!”

This thing was growing beyond my reach. Even with Hecate’s power, I felt like all of Hell was spewing out. Part of me wanted to run and hide under the duvet. Go back to normal. But the other part, confusing though it was, the part with Lycaon… that part made me feel like with him by my side, there was nothing I couldn’t do. But I realised that was wishful thinking.

Grabbing my arm in his,Hakon led the way out. “I don’t mind telling you, Elsa, I did indeed don armour, and before that chain-mail. A thousand years ago, you’d die without a sword in your hand.”

He glanced over his shoulder. Scowling, Lycaon poked him in the back.

Hakon retorted, “Aw, back off, wolfman, guess you don’t know your missus is my masseuse, huh?”

Lycaon grunted, but Hakon ignored him and continued, “Now, where was I? That’s right, eight-hundred and ninety…”

A grating sound had us all stop and turn around.

Lined up and blocking the entrance stood the armour, poised with lances, swords, axes in hand, as if some ghostly warriors inhabited it.

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