case of trouble and take off like a rocket never to be caught by freaky broads with deepwater teeth. Let me think…
“Sure. Be glad to have you.”
Chapter 12
Miraculously the phone in the hallway of the shapeshifters’ office worked. As much as I wanted to get the hell out of there, I didn’t want to risk leaving on foot.
I got Maxine on the first ring. “Atlanta Chapter of the Order. How may I help you?”
“Maxine, it’s me. May I speak to Ted?”
“He’s out.”
“Out? Ted’s never out. Where is he?”
“He’s on an errand.”
Crap. “What about Mauro?”
“He’s out, too. Most of the knights are out.”
What in the world? “Is anybody there?”
“Andrea.”
Oh boy. “Can I speak to her, please?”
There was a click and then Andrea’s voice said, “Hey, Kate.”
Hi, Andrea I know you’ve been attacked by a loup, but can you come to pick up me and my teenage werewolf at a shapeshifter compound? I took a deep breath. Here’s hoping she didn’t suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I really hate to ask you this, but I have no choice. I’m trying to escort a little girl to the Order so I can hide her in the vault. I need three horses.”
“No problem. Where are you?”
“I’m at the Pack’s Southeast office.” I cringed a little as I said it. “I’ll meet you on the corner of Griffin and Atlanta Avenue. And I have a shapeshifter with me.”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Sit tight. I’ll be right there.”
I collected Julie, once again armed with my knife, and we left, Derek in tow.
“Where are we going?” Julie asked as we headed toward Griffin Street.
“To the Order.”
Around us the city shrugged off the remnants of the magic-filled night. Technology had hit early in the morning, but the magic waves had flowed and ebbed all night.
“What are we going to do at the Order?” Julie asked.
“The Order’s very well fortified. I’m going to leave you there with Andrea. She’s a very nice lady.”
“No! I’m going to stay with you!”
I gave her my hard stare. “Julie, this isn’t a democracy.”
“No!”
I kept walking. “I have to go out and look for your mom. You do want me to find your mom, don’t you?”
“I want to come with you.”
On the corner of Griffin and Atlanta Avenue a crowd blocked the traffic around a crane. A skinny dark-haired girl with the buttery grace of a pickpocket was working the edges of the gathering. She drifted our way. Julie pulled out her dagger and gave the pickpocket a hard look. The girl reversed her course.
The crane groaned. The cable snapped taut, and a huge fish tail reared above the crowd, followed by a serpentine body covered with turquoise scales bigger than my head. The scales glistened with moisture. Something about that fish looked familiar…I couldn’t recall where I could’ve seen a three-story-tall fish. Not exactly a sight I would likely forget.
“What is that?”
A balding middle-aged man with a teamster badge on his leather vest turned to me. “The Fish Market Fish.”
“The bronze sculpture in front of the Fish Market?”
“Used to be bronze.”
“How did it get here from Buckhead?”
“There was a river,” a woman on my left said. “I saw it from the window.”
“The ground’s dry,” the teamster pointed out.
“I’m telling you I saw a river. You could see clear through the waves. Like it was made out of ghosts. Never seen nothing like that.”
The teamster spat into the dirt. “Yeah, well, we’ll see worse before the flare’s over.”
We stood to the side, away from the crowd, and watched the fish being hoisted up.
“You can’t leave me,” Julie declared.
Considering our earlier conversation, I would’ve thought she’d jump at the chance to get me out of her hair. “I want you to think back to when the reeves came.”
She paled.
“The reeves are out there. They want you for something and they won’t give up. Put yourself in place of your mom. Would you let your daughter tag along with some weirdo woman who is going out to hunt reeves or would you want your baby to be safe?”
Her face fell. “You’re not my mom. You can’t tell me what to do,” she said finally, but her tone signaled the end of the argument.
“I’m a substitute mom,” I told her.
“You’re more like a crazy aunt who only gets called when somebody needs bailing out of jail,” Derek said.
I pointed my finger at him. He grinned.
“Julie, until I find your real mom, I’m in charge of your safety. She loves you and she’s a good person. She deserves to be found and to have you be alright. If I found her, but something happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.”
At the other end of the intersection, Andrea appeared, riding a bay gelding and leading three horses.
I would’ve liked to gallop all the way to the Order, but the traffic was heavy. The city knew deep magic would hit soon, and while the tech was up, they made the best of it. We had to settle for a slow trot.
Andrea rode in the lead, Julie behind her, clutching the reins with white-knuckled panic, and Derek and I brought up the rear. I wanted Derek and Andrea separated as much as possible. When your partner goes loup and tries to turn your stomach into an all-you-can-eat buffet while you’re still breathing, you might develop a slight dislike of shapeshifters. Why tempt fate?
“He’s actually quite patient,” Derek said, drawing even with me.
“Who?”
“Curran.”
I nodded. “He’s patient as long as everyone plays by his rules.”
“That’s not true. You’ve never seen him when he isn’t under pressure.”
“Being the Beast Lord, I’d imagine he’s always under pressure.” I sighed. “I didn’t mean to aggravate him. It was a matter of bad timing. He was pumped up full of adrenaline after working out, which made him more aggressive than usual. It was the wrong time to bring it up. That’s all.” That and I couldn’t control my mouth in his vicinity. He got under my skin.
“It’s the flare, too,” he added. “Makes it harder to restrain yourself.”
“Look, if you want I’ll try to smooth things over if I get another opportunity.” Ha! Fat chance of that. After that blowup, I was probably persona non grata in the Pack for life.
I didn’t breathe easy until we dismounted in the Order’s parking lot.
I swung the door open and motioned Julie inside. “Second floor, my office is first on the left, should be
