Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (37 page)

Just as she
reached the kitchen, one of them bailed her up against the wall—his hands a
little too frisky for her liking.

‘Hey,’ he said
softly right into her ear.

Her top lip
pulled away from her teeth. ‘Get away from me before I remove something of
yours that you might like to keep.’ She’d managed to unsheathe one of her
daggers and was now holding it perilously close to his crotch. Just to drive
her meaning home, she pressed the silver tip through his jeans, but stopped
short of drawing blood. He backed off. Leona pushed into the kitchen to find
Marcus.

‘Leona, dear
one, what can I do for you?’ Marcus asked. He was sitting at the breakfast bar
reading the newspaper.

‘Who are they?’
she demanded to the back page.

Marcus lowered
the paper far enough so she could see his eyes. ‘Backup.’

‘The Fenrir and
Vanaheim wolves?’ she asked.

Marcus lowered
the paper all the way down and nodded. ‘They’ve just arrived.’

‘We’re moving
her tonight then?’ she asked. Marcus nodded again, a small smile curving his
upper lip. ‘So what’s the plan?’

‘Well, Lover,’
Connall drawled. Leona spun around to find him standing in the kitchen doorway
like he’d always been there. ‘We’re going to go in there expecting an ambush.
We already know that Antain’s defective nephew knows that Eaton is being held
at the cabin, and if those silver shots haven’t finished him off, we’ll expect
him and the rest of that Godforsaken pack to be keeping an eye on the place.’

‘Where will she
be moved?’ Leona asked.

‘Well, thanks to
you Lover, Dorian has agreed to take her.’ Leona’s heart stuttered in her
chest. She’d forgotten that she’d been sold like a piece of property in Marcus’s
little game for territorial domination. Luckily, she wasn’t going to be a
Dragos wolf for much longer.

‘When will you
move her?’

Connall’s eyes
met Marcus’s for a brief second. Marcus nodded. ‘Midnight tonight.’

‘And she’s going
to Dorian’s pack house?’

Connall glanced
over at Marcus before answering. ‘Yeah, to his pack house. Antain won’t cross
over so many territories to snatch her again. He’d step on too many enemy
paws.’

‘So that’s it?
We’ll just drive her west for five hours, drop her off and come back?’ Connall
nodded. Damn, that was easy. There were holes as big as elephants in that plan,
and Leona was sure she could make an elephant accidently slip through in order
to hold up her end of the bargain with Antain.

‘Who’s
involved?’

‘Me, you, and
we’ll be breaking in our two newest wolves.’

‘What about all
them?’ she asked, jerking her head in the direction of the living room.

‘Just a few more
eyes and ears on the ground. That was one of the conditions of us borrowing
them,’ Connall said, smiling at her. ‘We’re not allowed to let them get
damaged. Alpha’s orders. So, does that sound like a plan to you?’

‘Sure. Good.
Great. I’m going to get some sleep while I can.’ Leona stalked out of the
kitchen, and for once Connall didn’t follow.

That was her
first clue that something wasn’t right.  

Leona snuck out of the house just
as everyone sat down for a meal, and she was at the Helheim farmhouse within
forty-five minutes. Rhett met her at the gates, leading her into the office
she’d met them in before. Making another trip out there wasn’t ideal, but
Antain had insisted that they were to meet in person again.

Rhett took up a
position on the sofa. Antain was sitting behind the desk flanked by Vaile and
Sabel. Colton leaned against the door with his arms crossed lightly over his
chest, and staring at her like he found her mouth-watering.

‘I take it,
since you’re here, that you found out what we needed to know.’

Leona looked
into Antain’s eyes to prove her sincerity. ‘Yes.’

‘You’d better
make yourself comfortable then,’ he replied, waving his hand at the empty spot
next to Rhett. She knew that although he was being courteous, every single male
in that room was holding back their raging wolf. She knew it because she was
doing it too.

‘Marcus is
moving Eaton tonight at midnight.’

‘Where?’ Vaile
snapped impatiently.

Leona gave him a
cursory glance before speaking to Antain. ‘Dorian has agreed to take her.’

‘
Dorian
is in on this?’ Antain asked; his teeth gritted and the muscles in his jaw
bulged. ‘He’s our strongest ally!’ he roared, standing up and slamming his fist
onto the desk blotter. ‘What has Marcus offered him?’ Antain snarled.

Leona sucked in
a breath. ‘Me,’ she lifted her eyes. ‘Marcus has offered him me.’

Nobody said
anything to this, and Leona was thankful for it.

‘Who else has
sided with him?’ Vaile asked.

‘The Vanaheim
pack,’ Leona answered. ‘The others don’t want to get involved. They know a war
will start if Eaton is killed.’

‘She’s not going
to die,’ Antain and Vaile both spat at the same time.

Rhett said,
‘Leona, tell us everything you know about what’s going to happen tonight.’

She nodded.
‘They’ve been keeping Eaton at a cabin about five miles from our pack house,
but you already knew that,’ she added, catching Rhett’s eye. ‘It’s an unpowered
site, so the place is always manned to keep the fires burning. Eaton is still
weak from not eating, but they’ll tranquilise her so she can’t shift while
they’re moving her. She’ll be put in the back of our pack’s van, and driven out
to Fenrir land.’

‘Who will be
driving the van?’ Rhett asked.

‘It’s more than
likely that I will be.’

‘But you won’t
be alone, will you?’ asked Vaile.

Leona shook her
head. ‘Connall and three others will be on site for the move.’

Vaile cursed
harshly under his breath.

Leona looked at
Antain who was frowning at her now. ‘So let me get this straight. There will
only be four Dragos wolves in total?’ She nodded. ‘But you told Rhett that we’d
be outnumbered at least five to one.’

‘Dorian and
Charles have given Marcus extra enforcers, but they’ll be used as sentries
only. That was the one condition placed on the agreement. They won’t fight.’

‘So, Marcus is
expecting us then?’

Leona nodded
sharply. ‘Yes. Since Rhett’s attempt, we’ve been watching the forest a little
more closely. We’ve been given orders to kill Eaton if any of you are seen on
the property.’

Antain stood up
from behind his desk abruptly, beginning to pace in a tight line. He ran a hand
through his hair, grinding his molars together. He stopped, planting his palms
onto the blotter with a
thud
, glaring at Leona like he wanted to split
her head open.

‘She. Is. Not.
Going. To. Die!’ he boomed, slamming his palms onto the desk again. Leona
flinched. ‘You know where the weaknesses are in this plan. What are they? How
can we get my Eaton back unharmed?’

Leona sucked in
an unsteady breath. ‘The two in the back of the van are new to the pack. Once
we’ve loaded Eaton into the back, I can … dispatch them.’

‘What about
Connall?’

Leona’s thoughts
clouded over. ‘If I get the chance, I’ll kill Connall myself.’

‘What then?’

‘You guys sweep
in for the grand rescue. We can bring her back here straight away.’

‘And Marcus?’
asked Antain.

‘We could tell
him that we killed her?’ Rhett suggested. ‘Then he wouldn’t have any reason to
come looking for Leona.’

Antain studied
Rhett’s face for a long time. ‘That might just work.’

‘Just so we’re
clear,’ Sabel said. ‘We’re going to come along, let a chick do all the fun
killing-related stuff, then disappear?’

‘With my mate,’
Antain growled. ‘Yes.’

Sabel shrugged.
‘That works for me.’

‘B, we’re moving tonight. You in?’
Rhett asked his best friend. The clock on his bedside table had just ticked
over half past ten. His phone was being held between his ear and shoulder as he
pulled up a pair of black BDUs, securing the button and doing up the zip fly.

‘You know I’ve
got your back, Rhett. See you in about fifteen?’

‘You got it.’
Rhett hung up, flinging the phone down onto the expensive mahogany luggage rack
Eaton had bought for him. Going to his drawers, he found a clean, black tee and
put it on. He was just pulling it over his torso when there was a knock on the
door.

‘You ready?’
Vaile asked. Rhett nodded, glancing over at Indi in the bed. She was sleeping
as soundly as he’d ever seen her sleep since she’d arrived at the farmhouse. The
colour was back in her cheeks, and her temperature and heart rate were back to
normal again.

‘She looks
well,’ Vaile rumbled. ‘Is she feeding properly now?’

Rhett looked
back at his beta, completely ready to lie to him. They couldn’t know that he
fed her. He’d already been beaten once for saving her life that way. ‘Yeah.
Let’s go.’ They met Sabel and Colton at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Ready?’
Rhett asked.

Sabel sneered at
him. ‘Of course we’re ready,’ he spat, marching towards the front door, keys in
hand. Colton followed like the pup that he was. Rhett and Vaile looked at each
other before stalking after the both of them.

The air was
colder thanks to a northerly wind. Winter had twisted the limbs of the bare
trees surrounding the house, freezing them solid until any small gust of wind
would send them tumbling to the ground with an ear-splitting
crack
.
Rhett stepped out, tugging the zipper up on his jacket, feeling the cold for
the first time since he could remember.

‘I’ve got to
pick up Brax,’ he told Vaile when they were in the car, cranking the heat. But
he really needn’t have bothered. Vaile seemed distracted, only grunting and
staring out the passenger window. He left the farmhouse with Sabel and Colton
following.

Fifteen minutes
later, Rhett pulled into the turning circle of B’s apartment building and
killed the engine. ‘You staying here?’

‘Yeah,’ Vaile
replied, eyeing the doorman distastefully. Rhett got out, making his way over
to the entrance.

‘What the fuck?’
Sabel asked when he passed. His Ducati 848 was still running between his legs,
and Colton was perched on the back.

‘How’s your
girlfriend enjoying the ride?’ Rhett asked snidely as he walked past.

‘Fuck you,
Rhett,’ Colton replied; his voice muffled from behind the helmet. Rhett stopped
and glared at him; his wolf snarling. The little fucker was forgetting his
place hiding in Sabel’s shadow.

‘Where are you
going anyway?’ Sabel asked, breaking the near palpable tension between them.
‘It’s nearly midnight.’

‘I need to get
Brax.’

Rhett walked
through the front door and took the elevator up to Brax’s floor. Before he
reached the door, he could hear laughter coming from B’s apartment. He pounded
on the door, and a woman wearing skimpy, black lingerie opened the door; her
arm stretched above her head as she rested against the door.

‘Hi,’ she said
sweetly. Her lipstick was smudged around her mouth, and Rhett knew that B had
been the one to do it. ‘You must be Brendan’s brother. He said to let you in.’
She took a step back from the door. The whole apartment smelled of sex.

‘Where is … ah,
Brendan?’ he asked, eyeballing the wet bar like he wanted to drown himself in
some Lagavulin right then.

‘He’s just
having a shower.’ The human sashayed over to him, throwing both arms around his
neck and leaning in to kiss him. Rhett reared back, prising her off, and
stalked around to the other side of the bar. He found a half empty bottle of
Lag and took a deep drink straight from the bottle. When he looked up again,
the human was making her way over towards him. He’d hoped the bar between them
would have been enough of a deterrent.

‘What’s your
name?’ he asked. She stopped, smiled, and popped out her hip.

‘Whatever you
want it to be,’ she replied in a purr. Rhett groaned. B didn’t normally pick up
pros.

‘Tell me your
name,’ he said again, pinning her with his changing eyes. She sobered suddenly.

‘Trish—Patricia,’
she replied slowly.

‘Patricia, pick
up your clothes and get the fuck out of here.’

‘But I haven’t
been paid yet,’ she said slowly and with a frown. Rhett reached for his wallet,
pulling out five twenties—hoping that would be enough to get her out of there.
He threw them at her. She bent down to pick up the green, shoving it into her
bra. Rhett had another drink while she wandered around B’s apartment picking up
her clothes. She left without another word.

As soon as the
door clicked shut, B appeared from out of the bedroom. His hair was tousled
—wet —and he was wearing a lazy grin.

Rhett raised an
eyebrow at him. ‘A pro, B … really?’

He shrugged. ‘I couldn’t
be bothered to try tonight. I just wanted someone to fuck for a little while.’
He glanced around. ‘Where’d she go anyway?’

‘I told her to
leave,’ Rhett replied, sucking back another mouthful of whiskey. It burned his
throat. ‘You owe me a hundred by the way. Are you ready?’

They both got
back into the car, Brax squeezing into the back seat behind the driver’s seat.

‘Who was the
whore who walked out just before you came down?’

‘Her name was
Diamond,’ Brax said in a languorous voice.

‘B’s whore for the
night,’ Rhett added under his breath.

‘Hey, just
because
some
of us,’ he glared at Rhett through the rear view mirror,
‘have found a mate, doesn’t mean that all of us have to.’

Rhett could have
crawled into the back seat and strangled Brax with his bare hands. Instead, he
curled his fingers around the steering wheel until the vinyl cracked under the
pressure. Vaile’s head had swung around to stare at Rhett.