Roar (Witches & Warlocks Book 3) (5 page)

I write about it at night, in my Memenderat, and I’ve come to realize just how much I have my heart set on a happily ever after with him. And — assuming he forgives me — if I’m ever going to have a chance of a happily ever after with him, I’m going to have to get Lucy out of the way. Daya will never let us alone as long as Lucy lives. We will always be her weapon. Always. We are gonna have to stop this war, win this war, in order to ever have the chance for a moment of peace.

Every day that goes by without an order from Daya makes me more and more antsy. Why? Why hasn’t she discovered the next target? Why haven’t we been deployed? As nice as it is to pretend to be normal, the fact of the matter is that we’re not normal. We have a job to do and it makes me itchy not to be doing it.

“Where’d ya go?” Noah’s voice interrupts my thoughts and he leans forward a little to catch my eyes as we walk home from work. It’s dark and it’s cold and it’s snowing again, tiny flakes that catch in the streetlights like glitter. Our booted feet leave prints on the sidewalk and my nose is cold. I should have made us a cup of something warm to drink on our way home.

“Sorry.” I smile. “Lost in my thoughts.”

“Ya. I noticed. Anything you feel like sharing with the class?”

Only that I love you and I’m really looking forward to killing some more vampires, and eventually the vampire queen so I can spend a happily ever after with you.

Nah. Totally not going to say that.

I just shake my head and give him a sly little sideways glance. “Not particularly.”

“You forget that I’m a badass warlock who could just reach into that pretty little head of yours and find out what you’re not telling me.”

“And you forget that I’m a badass witch who won’t let you in.”

Noah laughs again and I might as well be on cloud nine. “Touché, my friend. Touché.” I consider asking if he wants to stop somewhere and have a drink. Throw some darts. Laugh together. But that goes against the whole moving at his pace thing that I’m trying to do. Plus, what if all he wants is a friendship and here I am trying to push a date on him … well … I’m just not gonna do that. His pace is his pace, even if it is dreadfully slow.

We finish the walk home just talking and laughing and we are, in fact, still laughing when we close the door behind us. Luke looks up from where he’s sitting on the couch, his dragon perched on his shoulder, shooting flames at pieces of paper Luke’s been tearing off of something and throwing into the air.

“You guys sound very buddy buddy,” he says.

I don’t have a decent response, and I guess Noah doesn’t either. We both just kind of shrug our shoulders and look away. Luke’s been more and more combative with each passing day. I don’t know if he doesn’t like being cooped up, or if he doesn’t like following orders, or having to live what looks like a normal life. It could be anything, but it’s getting to where I really don’t care about the why of it. He’s just a pain in the ass to deal with.

I give Noah’s hand a little squeeze. “Thanks for walking me home.”

He smiles and squeezes me back. “Of course.”

And then he heads down the hall towards his bedroom and I head off towards mine, leaving Luke staring after us while his dragon hops from his shoulder to his lap, flares his wings and roars.

********

So this is what it’s come to. We’ve gone too long without Daya contacting us with another target. I decided last night that I couldn’t wait around anymore. Surely, my talents are being wasted making coffee for the hordes of people who slurp it down like it’s water. I should be out, looking for clues … I mean … surely I could locate a target just as easily as Daya can.

Thing is, Nancy insinuated that Lucy knew about Daya’s plan. And if that’s true, Lucy probably knows what I am and what the guys are and what we are together. Snooping around the vampires seems like a good way to get myself killed. We’ve not yet had a werewolf target. (And that’s probably because I can’t use my fancy ‘make them come alive and lose all their supernatural powers’ trick on a werewolf, but it could also be because the wolves aren’t as involved as the vampires.) And Albert and his little group of furry friends are in on this whole thing, too, right? If I know Lucy, and I really don’t, but it seems to me that she’s gonna want to keep some pieces of information just for herself. You know, leverage. So I’m gonna take the chance that Albert doesn’t know the truth about me.

And I’m gonna corner him.

And I’m gonna find out what he knows about Lucy and I’m gonna figure out how to skip to the part where we kill her.

Turns out werewolves are a lot like actual wolves and like to hang out in packs. In most places, the alpha wolf usually runs a bar and they all hang out there. Albert went a different way. He’s opened a gym, apparently in an effort to put the frenetic energy present in all weres to good use. To channel it into physical strength rather than a destructive force. His wolves either work there or basically live there, throwing weights around and grunting at each other or whatever it is muscle heads do at a gym.

When I show up to my shift at Sir Perks-a-Lot, Krystal lifts a carefully sculpted eyebrow at my gym bag. “Planning an overnight?” she asks, clearly aware that I’m not.

“Nope. Going to the gym.” I have no intention of actually working out. Just thought that if I showed up to the gym without a change of clothes, it might look suspicious.

She just shakes her head and drops the subject which is fine with me. Work flies by as usual and I’m almost sad when Noah doesn’t show up to walk me home. I told him I was working late tonight. Figured if I told him I was going to the gym, he might want to go with me and that if I told him
why
I was going to the gym, he might try to stop me. So I lied. And that doesn’t feel so good right now.

But I can’t focus on that so I gather my wits about me on the bus ride across town to BAM! Fitness. As the sun dips below the horizon line and the wind starts rocking the bus, I hope Albert keeps the gym warm because I’m really second guessing the little shorts and tank top I’d shoved into my gym bag before I left for work. I snuggle deeper into my coat and stay there until we arrive at my stop.

BAM! Fitness is formidable on the outside. All red and black and reflective windows that don’t let you see inside. The words
Welcome to the Wolf Den
are etched into the blacked out glass of the front doors in haphazard script. I guess that’s what you’d call hiding in plain sight.

I didn’t need to worry about being cold inside. A warm blast of musty air hits me in the face as I pull open the big door. Yuck. Nothing like stale sweat and humidity to make a girl feel like getting fit. There’s a monster of a man behind the front desk, his biceps abusing the thin cotton of his t-shirt. He nods in my direction and sizes me up. I’ve never felt more out of place. Ever. And that’s saying a lot.

“Help you?” he asks, not really trying to cover up the grin making its way across his face. Ya. I get it, buddy. I’m not exactly BAM! Fitness material.

“Is Albert here?” I ask with a smile. Maybe name dropping this guy’s alpha will buy me a little street cred. I can’t stand being underestimated.

Xavier — his name’s embroidered on his poor t-shirt — scowls. “You got an appointment?” So much for street cred.

“Nah,” I try to brush off his dismissive attitude with even more dismissive attitude of my own. “Just an old friend. I know this is his club. Thought he might like to give me the tour.”

Xavier looks skeptical and picks up the phone, punches a few buttons and asks me my name. “There’s a Zoe Tate here to see you,” he says after a pause. Surprise lifts the guy’s eyebrows and he regards me a little more intently than I’d like. I know vamps can smell my magic, as disgusting as that is. Suddenly I’m wondering if this guy knows I’m a witch in the same way I know he’s a wolf.

“He’ll be right out.”

I just nod and wander over to a display of supplements and protein bars, trying not to get distracted by the monstrous men — and women — grunting and scowling in the weight room down the hall. I don’t have to try long. A door swings open and Albert steps into the atrium, all smiles and gruff, stubbly beard.

“Zoe! What a pleasure!” He’s holding the door open and my heart stops as I see who else is coming through. It’s like in a movie when the director gets all cinematic. I see one long leg ending in a spiky heel extend out into the atrium and follow that alabaster skin up to a designer dress. There’s the swish of black hair and a flare of red lips and suddenly, I’m staring right into Lucy’s face.

Chapter Six

Thank God I thought to bring a gym bag, just in case. I take a breath and adjust the strap on my shoulder, make sure Lucy has a chance to see that I’m perfectly equipped to be in a gym, even though this really isn’t the kind of gym I belong in.

“Zoe!” She draws out my name in mock surprise, as if she couldn’t be more pleased to see me. “Whatever brings you out to our little wolf den?” I don’t think I’ve ever seen teeth that white.

I shrug and duck my head, trying to remember what it felt like to be shy and awkward and not comfortable in my own skin. That’s the Zoe Lucy remembers. She has no need to know how strong I’ve gotten.

Albert claps a big hand on my shoulder and leans around to give my gym bag a very purposeful look. “I’d say she’s come here to work out.” He leans down a little like he’s talking to a child. “Is that it?” he asks me.

Well, if I’ve managed to engage his protective man thing, I think I pulled off shy and innocent well enough. I smile and look up at him through my eyelashes and nod. “Ya.” I try to make the word a tiny little whisper, a girl afraid of her own voice. “I thought it’d be easier to figure this all out if there was someone I was comfortable with helping me.”

“Of course it will be!” Albert says at the same time Lucy laughs.

“Don’t let these boys chew you all up, sweet Zoe,” she says with a glint in her eye that makes me think of corpses all rotting and bloodless.

Albert guffaws and slaps a hand to my back, knocking the wind out of me. “No one will be chewing on our sweet Zoe,” he says as I cough, trying to get a clean breath. “I’ll show her the ropes myself.”

Shit. I had no intention of actually working out. I was just gonna feign interest and see if I could ask a few leading questions that might lead to more questions that might lead to an answer here or there.

“Think it’ll take long?” Lucy asks. “I could just wait in your office.”

Double shit. It looks like I’m really gonna have to work out. This is
so
not what I wanted. Albert tells Lucy it’ll be forty-five minutes tops and she wanders back through the door, leaving it open, and takes a seat. Before I know it, I’m dressed in my shorts that feel too short and my tank top that feels too tight and sweat is rolling down my back and my chest. Hell, even my legs feel sweaty as my feet strike an uncomfortable staccato on the treadmill. Albert called this my warm up.

Ha!

Warm up.

I’m out of breath and totally done with this whole workout thing when I step off the machine. But that doesn’t stop him from putting weights in my hands and barking orders at me as I do all kinds of strenuous things with them. And to make matters worse, a crowd is gathering. A crowd of over-muscled, well-intentioned onlookers, eager to shout out their assistance. Just what I wanted. A whole squad of wolfish cheerleaders watching my very first attempt at a workout. Ever.

Exactly forty-five terrible minutes later, I’m perched on a bench in the locker room, elbows on knees, sweat dripping in places I didn’t know could sweat. My hands are shaking and my legs are weak and I can’t fathom getting dressed, putting on a coat, and heading out into the cold. Nor am I interested in taking a shower. As good as that would feel, I don’t have a towel, or soap, or a hairdryer. I don’t have to go looking to know that BAM! Fitness doesn’t keep those things stocked.

I grab a handful of paper towels and do my best to wipe the sweat from my body before pulling up my jeans and sweatshirt. Of course, paper towels aren’t the most absorbent things out there so my jeans still stick to my legs. The minute my sweatshirt is over my head, I regret it because I’m now
hot
. I consider trying a spell to cool me down, but for one, I’m in a gym filled to capacity with werewolves who may not already know I’m a witch, and for two, I’m about to head out into a freezing-ass December night. I’ll be plenty cold in no time.

I grab my bag, my legs and back already aching, and calling me terrible names for what I just put them through. The trip back through the gym towards the front door is filled with lots of little knowing smiles and waves from my newfound gym-rat friends. Albert stops me at the front desk, hands me a membership card.

“This is on the house. No charge. I think I’m gonna like getting you in shape.”

Great.

I smile and say thank you and try not to cringe when he pencils me in on his schedule four days a week for the next several months.

“There’s no backing out now. Can’t turn down a gift, now can you?”

“You got me there.” And he really does. Call it what you will, but I’ve never been able to treat a gift with anything but the utmost respect. Damn my parents for raising me well!

I suffer through the bus ride home. I was right. I’m definitely cold now, but I’m also still sweaty. I didn’t know it was possible to be both things at the same time and it’s incredibly uncomfortable. All I can think of is how good a shower is gonna feel, all hot and steamy. Water running down my body. Soap wiping all the grime from my face. I almost groan when I walk in and find Noah smiling at me from the couch.

“Welcome home,” he says and pats the seat beside him. “Long day, huh?”

Oh, no. I’m not gonna pretend that I was at work this whole time. If I’m gonna lie, at least I can mostly tell the truth. “You’re telling me,” I say. “And I’d love to sit down with you, but I
have
to take a shower.”