Chapter Seven

I stood outside the borders of Puerto Vallarta. It was eleven pm and the sky was dark. Abeloth and I would fly over his house and recon the perimeter. It wasn’t hard to find his house, everybody knew him and I had tracked one of his pack members to the outside fence.

Abeloth separated from me and stretched his wings open to their full glory. He blended in with the darkness around us and I had worn dark clothing and rubbed some of the dark soil on my face and hands.

“I love the smell of victory,” Abeloth said.

“We’re going in blind Abeloth,” I said as he lifted me onto his back.

“We’re ferocious, unstoppable and blood will be spilled,” he deepened his voice.

“Why are you deepening your voice?”

“I’m not idiot,” he said in his normal voice.

He flapped his wings and took off into the night. The air was warm and the wind didn’t bring any kind of relief. Gideon’s property had lights on the outer perimeter but as I’d learned in town his territory hadn’t been breached in over twenty years.

There was a warrior guarding the front gate in a guard house and four wolves patrolling the wooded area around his house. There were no guards on the roof or the verandas and all I could smell was wolf. Abeloth glided soundlessly over the area before turning back.

I had obtained two guns and two knives earlier in a back alley for almost double their retail price. It was money well spent and I didn’t feel so naked anymore. “Dive and roll,” Abeloth said as he slowed down and I jumped off his back.

He merged with me before I’d even gotten to my feet and I surveyed the garden below me. The four wolves’ patrols interloped every thirty minutes. I watched them for an hour as I lay quietly on the roof. It was time to move.

The house was dark on this side and I landed on the veranda with a soft thud. I knelt in front of the French glass door and quickly picked the lock. I was on the top floor of the four story mansion in what seemed like a private sitting room.

I took in the foreign wolf scents and looked around as Abeloth pushed forward. “I hear snores to your left.” I moved silently through the room and stopped in front of an ornately decorated door. Wolf carvings dominated the wood and I opened the door.

“What is it?” I heard a voice ask and I tightened my grip on the gun in my hand.

I heard the rustling of bed covers and then a lamp went on casting shadows in the corners of the room. The man had greying hair, some lines around his eyes but he was still in pretty good shape. “Are you Gideon Delanie?”

“Do you have a death wish boy? Entering my territory, my house … without sanctioned permission?” he asked me.

“We need to have a conversation,” I said as he walked towards me.

He was a head shorter than me and he stopped when he noticed the gun in my hand. I motioned him towards the sofa and sat down opposite him with the gun still aimed at him.

“What are you?” Gideon asked me. He wasn’t afraid, I could sense his aura, the Alpha blood running through his veins. He was surprised mostly at my boldness to enter his house and confront him.

“That’s not important.”

“Why are you here? I sense a coldness in you, you’ve come to kill me,” he said.

“Three months ago my fiancé was taken, tortured and who knows what else. She died two weeks ago after having been left in my father’s territory,” I said.

“And why did you assume that it was me?” he asked.

“There was a note about an unpaid debt, she was taken to prove a point, her father gave me your name,” I said.

“I don’t take innocents,” he said calmly.

“How much does Kurt Greer owe you?” I asked him.

“Who?”

“Kurt Greer from Aurora, Illinois,” I said.

“I don’t know that man, he has given you false information,” Gideon said.

“Why would he lie? I was busy drilling into his knee at the time,” I said.

“Perhaps he thought you wouldn’t make it out alive, my pack isn’t known for their niceness,” he said.

Abeloth pushed forward and my eyes changed colour as Gideon looked at me with interest. “Speak the truth wolf,” Abeloth said and I could feel him overpowering the wolf inside Gideon. His eyes darkened and his voice was rougher when he spoke.

“I punish only the guilty, every man or woman must pay for their own sins,” the wolf spoke through him.

“He’s telling the truth halfling,” Abeloth said to me.

“I believe you,” I said and lowered the gun.

“How do you plan to leave here in one piece?” he asked me with a small smile on his lips.

“How do you think I got in here without killing anyone?” I asked.

“Then I will grant you five minutes to leave my territory,” he said.

“No you won’t.”

“No, I won’t,” he agreed.

“How do you know Basil Sherwood?” I asked him.

“I am godfather to the Sherwood boys,” he said and laughed at the shocked expression on my face.

“I worked with Felix,” I said and his facial muscles relaxed.

“You’re Ryder Grey?” he asked me.

“Yes.”

He stood up and walked slowly towards me. “I’ve heard only good things about you, Felix said you were a brother to him.” He hugged me suddenly and Abeloth didn’t resist the touch.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save him,” I said.

“You avenged him.”

“Will you give me those five minutes now?” I asked him and he laughed suddenly.

“There’s no need for that, you will stay as my guest and we will find out why Kurt Greer gave you my name,” he said with finality.

“You have company,” Abeloth said through me as my eyes flashed yellow and Gideon took a step back as the doors burst open and Basil stopped a few inches in front of me.

“Are you fucking insane?” Basil yelled at me.

“Calm down boys, no harm no foul,” Gideon said as he placed a hand on Basil’s shoulder.

“We were afraid that we’d find your bloodied corpse in here,” Basil said.

“My corpse?” Gideon asked surprised.

“Well, Ryder here’s not exactly known for his restraint,” Basil replied.

“I’m not?” I asked him.

“We were just having a conversation,” Gideon said calmly.

“Sure you were,” Basil said looking very relieved.

“I assume you boys are staying the night?” Gideon asked.

“I should get back and talk to Kurt again,” I said.

“My people can have him here by tomorrow morning,” Gideon said taking his phone from his bedside table.

“That’s settled then, I’ll show Ryder to a room,” Basil said putting his hand on my arm.

Gideon nodded and Basil basically pushed me out of the room and towards the stairs. I followed him as he turned down a hallway and opened a door. “This is you, try not to kill anyone.”

“You weren’t going to call me back,” I said.

“No, I wasn’t until Tank called me and told me the whole story,” he said accusingly.

“We’re brothers, I thought you’d have my back,” I said jabbing my finger into his chest.

“Exactly, you should’ve told me about Megan!” he yelled at me.

“I know,” I said, my anger deflated as I sat down on the sofa.

“I’m sorry Ryder, Megan was special and I’m here aren’t I?”

“She was being hurt Basil, for three months, while I sat on my ass and thought she’d left me,” I said.

“You have people Ryder, people that care. I won’t leave you to deal with this alone,” he said.

“I drilled a hole through her father’s knee,” I said as he started to laugh.

“That part you can do alone, I’ll wait outside, but I’ll still be there,” he said.

“This is personal.”

“Fuck you, if I’d met her first she’d be mine,” Basil said as I glared at him.

“She was mine long before she even knew you existed,” I said.

“It’s the piercing isn’t it?”

“It’s magic,” I said.

“Get some rest, Gideon’s a man of his word, come tomorrow morning Kurt Greer will be in the basement cell,” Basil assured me.

“How come none of you ever mentioned knowing Gideon?” I asked him.

“Because while Gideon’s our godfather, he’s also a very dangerous man. His pack didn’t become this large because he’s a nice man,” Basil said.

“Some brother you are,” I muttered.

“It was the same with you and Felix, you never truly spoke about the things you did, we were jealous of the bond you two shared, the knowing looks, the inside jokes. Some things are best kept secret,” he said.

“Felix loved both of you,” I said to him.

“He did but you two had a connection that we never shared with him, not even Elio and sometimes it was hard to watch but we were also glad that Felix had found his person, you two were more like twins than they were.”

“Felix felt misunderstood.”

“He did, but you got him and he got you. Let me help you through this,” he said, his voice taking on a sadness I hadn’t heard before.