“You said he mentioned his mate,” Conrad asked her, his eyes lingering on the young wolf as he finished stamping out the fire. “Where is she now?”
“Wherever the rest of their pack is,” Mira said softly, her eyes moving from Ren to his sister. “Her mate is there, too. We hope.
Conrad hesitated. “Can you teach me how to say something?”
He practiced under his breath all the way up the hill—she could hear him muttering the words so quietly that even the wolves’ sharp hearing wouldn’t be able to pick it up. Then, when they were on the patio, he cleared his throat. Vee and Ren turned, both looking curious.
“We will find them,” he told the wolves, in strongly accented but clear English. “We will bring them home.”
Vee threw her arms around him, and Mira had to stifle a laugh at the way he froze in abject shock. Ren stood back, as was his habit, but Mira could see by the look in his eye and the quiet nod of acknowledgment that he was touched by the gesture, too. Vee pulled back, dashing tears away from her bright silver eyes, and bid them both a breathless goodnight.
Heather was in bed already, it seemed—the farmhouse was dark, but there was a light on in Mira’s childhood bedroom and even a set of pajamas laid out for her to wear. Two sets, she realized as she picked them up, a smile breaking out across her face as she saw what Heather had done. If that wasn’t a clear sign of approval, Mira didn’t know what was.
That being said, she had no intention of letting Conrad stay clothed for long. They had a long few days coming up ahead of them, and right now, she was going to do everything in her power to make both of them forget about everything but each other.
Chapter 24 - Conrad
When the sun rose the next day, Conrad was already awake. He and Mira had stayed up long into the night… once their appetite for each other had been temporarily satiated, they’d lain talking for even longer. Still, he felt refreshed and ready when he rose with the sun, leaning down to press a kiss to Mira’s forehead as she stirred in her sleep. She was every bit as beautiful as she was intelligent, he reflected, gazing down at her for as long as he could before he sensed she was about to wake and hastened away. There would be time enough for admiring her in the dawn light later… at least, as long as they pulled off her plan successfully.
The morning was mostly spent in conversation. Mira had insisted that they speak with her aunt first. Heather deserved to know everything that was going on… including the part about her niece being a dragon. She’d talked about it with the wolves, who hadn’t resisted her desire to let her aunt in on their secret… but had cautioned her to emphasize the importance of not spreading the word. But Mira knew she could trust her aunt.
Conrad joined her for the conversation. He still couldn’t make out a word of what anyone was saying outside of names, but he did notice a distinct shift in energy, the way Heather’s eyes widened with disbelief and a touch of amusement. It was the same expression Mira had worn when he’d first mentioned dragons to her… and just like then, it wasn’t long before the amusement was gone. They talked at length, then. Conrad was half convinced they were going to need to go out into the paddock again and demonstrate the transformation to her… but in the end, that wasn’t necessary.
After that conversation, Mira and the wolves filled Heather in on the plan. Conrad returned to the hostage while they did, curious to see whether the man’s long stint in isolation might have made him more willing to talk… but his malevolent glare was unchanged. He tried asking him a few questions, but he remained stubbornly silent.
“What happened to your filthy mouth, hm?” Conrad asked, kicking at the man’s boot to get his attention. “Or do you only insult women?”
No response. Well, he hadn’t really expected one.
By sunset, they were as ready as they were going to be. Conrad could tell Heather was worried, but she didn’t seem to be trying to talk any of them out of it. She cooked them an enormous dinner, though—delicious roast meat, flavored with a range of herbs that tasted tantalizingly familiar, just different enough that he couldn’t quite name them. The wolves took a plate out for the captive, talking and laughing among themselves. They’d been in good spirits all day—glad that things were in motion again, Conrad suspected. Funny, how much more he felt he could trust them, even after such a short span of time with them. They all stayed up a little longer, playing a card game that required so little speech that even Conrad could join in. Then they switched out all the lights and went to bed.
But they didn’t sleep. Conrad and Mira lay fully clothed with the blankets pulled over them, listening intently to the night air outside. Difficult to distinguish anything unusual from the distant sounds of wildlife… but then Mira held up a finger, holding her breath. Conrad redoubled his efforts, squeezing his eyes shut as though that would help him hear better… there it was. Ever so quiet, the sound of a boot on a driveway. And a few minutes later, the distant rumble of a van’s engine.
“Oh no,” Mira whispered. The grin on her face was wicked. “It sounds like our prisoner has escaped.”
Ten minutes later, they were all gathered around Heather’s computer, Conrad doing his best to pretend that the machine wasn’t just about the most baffling thing he’d ever seen. Ren seemed to be piloting the contraption, commanding it by tapping on square keys to reveal what must have been a map of the city. On it glowed two red dots that he pointed at with one long finger. One dot was stationary… the other, moving very slowly.
“He found one,” Mira said, grinning widely. She said something to Heather, who responded with a funny little bow. It had been Mira’s idea to allow the prisoner to ‘escape’—the wolves, pretending to argue with each other, had left the shed door open after delivering his meal. During the day, they’d plant some kind of device on the man’s vehicle that would allow them to see where he went. It had been Heather who’d suggested planting two instead… one that was easy to find, and one that wasn’t.
They watched the screen for a very long time, the little red dot winding its way along road after road until finally, it came to a rest. They waited a short while longer to ensure that their ex-prisoner had surely reached his destination… and then Heather gestured towards the door, her face set. Before they left, she hugged each one of them in turn. Conrad smiled down at her, wishing he could say more than the stilted little phrase he’d learned for the purpose.
“Thank you, Heather.”
It felt strange to be back in the wolves’ car again. They’d only been at Heather’s for a little over a day, but so much water had passed under the bridge since then that he barely felt like the same person. No music this time, as Ren drove them swiftly through the winding roads, the battered phone propped up on the dashboard guiding them towards a distant address. Conrad looked across the seat at Mira. Her eyes were alert but far away, that sharp mind of hers clearly racing… he reached out and squeezed her hand, and she flashed him a smile that made his heart skip a beat.
Whatever was waiting for them, he’d do whatever he had to do to keep her safe.
The city began to build up around them again. It must have been close to midnight when Ren finally eased off the breakneck pace he’d been setting, the phone beeping gently to indicate they’d reached their destination. For a moment, Conrad didn’t know what it meant. All around them were enormous, nondescript gray buildings, looming into the sky. Mira called them warehouses, explained that they were used for storage, that nobody lived around here… he took in the sight of them, wondering at the size of a civilization that needed this much space to store its spare possessions.
But which building belonged to the organization they were searching for? For a while, Conrad worried they’d reached a dead end, that all their efforts and planning had been for nothing… but then he heard Ren murmur something and saw what the young wolf had seen. There, half-hidden beneath a sloping roof, a whole row of vans, unmarked and incredibly familiar. There were at least a dozen there, if not more. Ren pulled the car over and the four of them got out, the slamming of the doors seeming too loud in the quiet night air.
Were they walking into a trap, he wondered? The wolves both split and ran off, their footfalls quiet despite their speed—doing a lap of the building, he guessed, trying to see if anyone was still inside. It was the middle of the night, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were about to walk into an empty building. He and Mira found the door, a nondescript entrance not far from where the vans were parked.
“It really does look like an ordinary old warehouse,” Mira murmured. He could tell she was worried that they’d gotten this wrong. “What if I’m wrong? What if this isn’t the place?”
“Then we find out together,” he told her softly, slipping his hand into hers. The wolves rejoined them a few minutes later, giving them the all-clear—no lights on in the building, no sign of any guards. That didn’t mean there weren’t any, Conrad thought, wishing he had Captain Acantha and a few of her well-trained soldiers behind him. But he didn’t. It was just him, his two unlikely new friends… and the woman he loved.
Ren and Vee were already prying the door open with a surprising amount of skill, their movements practiced as they passed each other tools. He thought of the man who’d broken into Mira’s house that first night and smiled to himself at the symmetry. Revenge, or something like it. Mira had a faint smile on her face, too… and as the door finally sprang open, he caught her hand.