Chapter 13
I called Mom on my way to the Olympus ’s casino bar.
She was nonplussed by the news about Ben. I wasn’t sure my explanation made any sense. It still sounded like the plot of a bad movie. “Kitty, are you sure you’re all right? You sound a little panicked. Where are you? Your father and I can meet you—”
“No, Mom, that’s okay. I’m fine—I mean I’m not fine, but I’m functioning. I’m going to find some people who might be able to help. You and Dad should just—I don’t know. Just don’t worry. I’m going to figure out what’s going on.”
She sighed. “But Ben wouldn’t just up and leave without telling you.”
“That’s what I told the cops,” I said. “But that only means something terrible has happened.”
“I’m sure the police are doing everything they can. Kitty, you really shouldn’t be by yourself. Let us take you out to dinner.”
As if I could think about eating at a time like this. I’d reached the bar and started searching. The place was packed with a Saturday evening crowd. Unfortunately, every single one of them looked like they belonged at a gun show. Half of them seemed to be eyeing me suspiciously. I so didn’t want to be here. I parked with my back to the wall, between the bar and the front entrance, and kept a watch out.
“Kitty, are you still there? I can hardly hear you. Where are you?” I had no idea what she could be thinking. She’d always been supportive, even when she didn’t entirely understand what she was supporting. But I wondered: did she sometimes wish I could just be
“Yeah, Mom. It’s okay. Really.”
I heard rustling through the mouthpiece, and she said, “Your father wants to talk to you.”
Crap. I knew he was only worried. But I wouldn’t be able to tell him no.
“Hi, Kitty?” he said. The father-knows-best worried voice.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Deep breath now. “I’ll be fine. It’s all going to turn out, trust me.”
“Hey, don’t get defensive. I just want to talk to my favorite youngest daughter. Now, your fiancé is missing. I really don’t think you should be alone right now. If you don’t want to have dinner, that’s fine. Your mother and I just want to be sure you’re holding up all right. Just a drink in the hotel bar. Okay?”
I couldn’t argue. How did he do that? “Okay. I’m in the bar right now. But give me half an hour.”
“We’ll be right down,” he said.
“No, half an hour—” but he’d already hung up. Great. This was going to get interesting.
I sat on a stool and ordered a soda. I hadn’t realized how dry my mouth had gotten. Adrenaline and nerves really sucked it out of you. I had to keep my strength up if I was going to find Ben.
Playing with the ice, I watched the entrance. I assumed the clandestine convention-within-a-convention was still happening. One of them would pass through here eventually. I’d spot them and pounce. I still felt like I had a target painted on me. I tapped my feet, didn’t even bother trying not to look anxious. Remembered Brenda’s ultimatum: she sees claws, she shoots. And I couldn’t blame her one tiny bit.
This wasn’t my crowd. I had no idea how to deal with people who would sooner shoot me than look at me. Well, actually, I did. The night I met Cormac, I managed to talk him out of shooting me. I wished Cormac or Ben were here to talk to them. But if they were here, I wouldn’t need to confront Evan and Brenda, would I?
I had gotten used to the idea of a pack—human, werewolf, all of the above—standing with me, helping me, watching out for me. I didn’t want to go back to being on my own. Wolves belong in packs.
I kept checking my phone in case I’d missed a message. I hadn’t. I wanted Gladden to call and tell me everything was all right. The woman tending bar leaned over to me at one point and said, “He stand you up or something?”
Strangely, after processing the question, I wasn’t sure how to answer. “Not yet,” I said finally.
She shrugged and went about her work, like this wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened all day.
When Evan finally appeared, I almost fell off my seat. I stopped myself in time, took a breath, and played it cool. Hoped I was playing cool.
He was talking with another man, someone I didn’t recognize. They exchanged a few words outside the bar, shook hands, and the other guy walked off. Deal concluded, it looked like. I was afraid Evan was going to walk away as well, forcing me to chase after him. But he didn’t. He came in and headed for a booth in back.
I stalked after him.
He looked like he was about to slide into the booth, but he wasn’t, because his body was tensed the wrong way, angled so that he could see over his shoulder, which meant he knew I was following him. Which was fine; I wasn’t trying to be subtle.
In the same moment, I stopped, and he turned, reaching under his jacket for what was undoubtedly a gun in a shoulder holster. He froze there, staring at me with a cold gaze. His jaw was set.
“Tell you what,” I said. “I’ll admit that you’re not stupid enough to draw and shoot in here, and you admit that I’m not stupid enough to sprout claws.”
He relaxed incrementally. The hand he drew out from his jacket was empty. But the mask, the easygoing man-about-town I’d seen when I first met him, was gone, and he now wore the stony expression I was used to seeing on Cormac. The hunter had emerged.
Slowly, the mask returned, and he seemed calm when he finally spoke. “Don’t tell me you’ve been waiting here just for me.”
I smiled. “Shall we sit? Since you obviously have something you want to talk about.” He gestured to the booth.
“This your on-site office?” I said.
“Something like that.”
I slid in, sitting right on the edge, not taking my eyes off him. He sat opposite me, and we looked at each other across the table. Our stares definitely held a challenge, and neither one of us was going to look away. And they called me an animal. . . did he even realize our body language was the same?
I thought about being coy, then realized I didn’t have a clue how to be coy about this, so I laid it out. “Ben’s missing.”
“What do you mean, missing? Like he stood you up or something?” He chuckled, like this amused him.
Was everyone going to immediately assume Ben had ditched me? Was I that ditchable? I closed my eyes, counted to ten, reminded myself that I could claw this guy’s eyes out under the right circumstances. Then I reminded myself that he carried silver bullets. Best be polite.
“I mean missing. Gone. Kidnapped, even.”
He grimaced, confused. “What? I just saw him at lunch—he did exactly what he said he was going to do, won me two hundred bucks in a side game before going to play in that tournament of his. You’re saying someone kidnapped him out of the tournament?”
“Do you know anything about a petty Vegas crime lord named Faber?” I said.
His smile faded. Which actually made me feel worse. He said, “He’s a typical lowlife type. Nasty piece of work, but stay out of his way and you’ll be fine. By the look on your face, I take it Ben got in his way.”
“He tipped the casino off to a cheating ring in the poker room. They got security footage of one of Faber’s goons putting Ben into a car.”
He lowered his voice. We both leaned over the table for our conference. “Do they know he’s a werewolf?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think so.”
“Because if Faber and his goons know, and don’t ask me how they might know it, they might have gotten someone from here to go after him.”
I didn’t like the sound of that at all. Mob guys were scary enough, but they probably didn’t use silver bullets, and Ben might have a chance. But if one of Evan’s bounty-hunter crowd was involved—anything could happen.
“Have you heard anything? Have there been any rumors about Faber?”
Evan put his hand on his chin and looked thoughtful. “I can find out. I know a couple of local hunters. I’ll talk to them about what Faber’s been up to.”
When Brenda entered the bar, I recognized her by the rhythm of her heels clicking on the floor and the scent of her leather. She came straight toward us and stood at the table, hand on hip, hip cocked out. Today she wore leather pants that laced up the side and a complicated sleeveless top with more lacing and strategically placed gaps in the fabric.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she said. “I have to say this is the last place I expected to actually find you.”
“Ben’s missing,” I said. “You have anything to do with that?”
Her brow furrowed. Like Evan, she didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. “Missing? When did this happen?”
“This afternoon,” I said. “And why have you been looking for me?”
“Scoot over.” She shoved into the booth next to Evan. “What happened?”
I explained it all again. Like Evan, she nodded in recognition at Faber’s name but didn’t seem to know much about him other than his identity.
“Are you sure he didn’t run off on you?” she asked finally.
“Don’t start with that, please,” I said. “If this guy did take him, wouldn’t the police have been able to find him by now? They know where all these guys are, where they operate.”
Impatient, Brenda shook her head. “Listen, Ben’s a good guy and I don’t want anything to happen to him, either. But that’s the least of your worries right now. Boris and Sylvia have been making noise.”
“What kind of noise?” Evan said.
“They’re bragging about being able to take you down and get away with it,” Brenda said, nodding at me. “She’s been saying she’s spent the last two days scoping you out.”
“I know,” I said. “I saw her at the pool this morning.”
“And you didn’t
Brenda continued. “She’s looking for someone to pay for the hit. But it turns out fame is pretty good protection and she can’t find a buyer.”
“That’s good, right?” I said, my eyes wide and shocky.
“Except this is Sylvia, and she may just do it for laughs.”
“I wouldn’t be laughing,” I said.
Brenda leaned back in the booth. “Anyway, I thought you and Ben should know. But now Ben’s missing. Which is kind of worrying. I wonder if those two are involved.”
Evan set his jaw; it almost looked like a snarl. “Boris and Sylvia. I
