ADDIE POVThe guys insisted on dropping me off at my hotel room, even coming into my room to make sure it was safe. I snickered that this; I had just defeated more people in the ring than had ever been done before. But if it made them feel better to make sure I’m okay, then that’s fine. I don’t mind. I kind of liked it, actually.Wolf looked around with distain. “You got enough cash to move out, now, right?” He looked a little disgusted when he looked behind the shower curtain to make sure no big, bad wolf was hiding there.“Yeah. I’d like to get a refund for the week I didn’t use,” I mused. “I’ll ask the clerk tomorrow.”Wolf nodded. “Good idea. Find yourself another place to stay before you come into work. I’ll have one of the girls cover for you.” He turned to go and then looked back at me. “You up for another fight tomorrow? One of the guys in Afton is hosting tomorrow night. It might be a good way to make some bank quick.”I shrugged. “I’m okay with that. An apar
JAMES POVZachary was nervous. Too nervous. He was going to blow it and we knew it. I sighed. “Gag him,” I gave the order to the guard and then gestured that Zach sit next to Bryon on the couch. I took out the phone we got from Dale’s body and handed it to Toby. We knew that this would be a possibility, but we were hoping that we wouldn’t have to do it.Danny had dealt with Dale, and we were counting on the fact that Danny probably didn’t know Zach’s voice well. I kept him in the office just in case Danny asked a question we didn’t know the answer to. I could do my little trick, peek into Zach’s mind, and figure it out.Toby called. Danny answered after the second ring.“I know this isn’t Dale. He’s never prompt.”“Yeah. It’s Zach. Brad killed Dale. Got mad about something and next thing I know Dale’s bleeding out. What the hell, man? I didn’t sign up for this.” Oh, Toby was good. A little bit of fear and a little bit of resentment. Perfect.“What did you do with the
EMILY POVBruce left after breakfast to hang out at the gas station and follow Jenna back to her house after her shift. We knew that Addie didn’t have a car or money when she started out and we assumed she would get a job right away. We were going to use the apartment as a starting point and then canvas out, looking to see if we could find her place of employment and, hopefully, her.We had the license plate number of Jenna’s car from a surveillance camera and Snap was going through footage to see if he could find it anywhere. We were hoping to not have to wait until the end of Jenna’s shift to figure out where she lived.And Troi and I were back to canvassing the streets. We decided to start knocking on the doors of some of the lower priced hotels in the area and seeing if Addie was staying at one of those.We lucked out around noon. We pulled into the parking lot of an incredibly sleezy hotel and Troi made a face at me. “No way Luna stayed here. Let’s move on.”I shook my hea
ADDIE POV We closed up at 4:30 and Wolf gave me a ride back to my new place. I made dinner for myself in the kitchenette with a few things I had picked up at the grocery store over my lunch. It was a simple dinner of macaroni and cheese with some meatballs I had made out of ground beef and barbecue sauce, but it was delicious. I think I like to cook. I don’t know, though. I hadn’t had the opportunity before now. I then got dressed in my outfit and turned on the television while I waited for Wolf and Damian to pick me up. The fight was at midnight and I had some time to waste. I had no idea what type of fight it was but I was ready to make some money. I figured I would fight as many fights as I could until I had enough money to comfortably rent an apartment, furnish it and have a little bit in savings. When that happened, I was done. I didn’t particularly enjoy beating up humans one after another, especially when they didn’t do anything wrong. I dozed off and woke up to
JAMES POV“We found her, Alpha!” My phone rang and before I could utter a greeting, Emily burst out. “We found her!”I leaped out of my chair before I realized I didn’t have anywhere to run to. “Does she remember?”Emily laughed, giddy with relief. “We don’t know. We haven’t actually got her yet. We found where she works and found out she’s involved in underground fighting. We called the owner of the gym she works at, but he didn’t answer. Snap found information of one of the employees. She didn’t know where Addie is currently living but she knows where she’s going to be at midnight tonight.”I couldn’t stand the suspense. “Where?”“An underground fight. She’s fighting as the Grim Reaper. It’s how she’s making her money.”“And she’s going to be there at midnight? For sure?”Emily laughed again. “According to this girl. She said Addie’s really good.”I felt pride swell. Yes, she was. There would be no human that would defeat her. Toby came into my office. I switched th
ADDIE POV“Hey, Little Pup.” The man spoke those words to me, and I grinned back at him. “Hey, James,” I said, lowering my stance into a fighting pose. The bell dinged. He didn’t move, just kept grinning at me.“I really missed you,” he said, standing still, turning his palms to me, body relaxed. James. Why did I know that his name was James?Mate. I heard Talia say, quietly. I stilled. Talia? I asked. Are you back?We’re back, Little Pup, she said, and I felt a warm feeling flood me. I looked over at James, seeing him again for the first time. His scent washed over me, blueberry pancakes, freshly mowed grass and cloves. Mate, Talia said, again, louder this time. I knew. I could feel him. “James,” I said, quietly but with emotion. He could hear the connection in my voice. His grin got bigger. “Oh, Addie. I’ve missed you so much!” He still stood there, not moving. I was acutely aware of the crowd, silent, watching our exchange. “Throw me in the river so I can take
ADDIE POVIt was hard to cuddle in the back seat with Bruce driving like a maniac to get us back to the airport quickly. James wouldn’t let me go, though, and I held on as best I could as Bruce took another wild corner.James explained what had been going on while I was gone. Bruce tossed in a few edits to the story.“Emily recognized the witch when she was driven away so we figured out pretty quick what had happened to you. It took us longer to figure out who did it and why, but Snap found a video of Danny putting you on the bus.”I nodded. “They ambushed me back at the house. They called the driver and told him to kill Emily if I didn’t cooperate. They had him on speaker and I thought that he had hurt her. I could hear her screaming.”Bruce chuckled from the front seat. “Our little Emily is one smart cookie. She kept screaming to throw Zoe and Danny off. She thought she was keeping you safe. She ended up killing the driver and racing back to the house, but you were gone
ADDIE POVWe landed and hopped from the plane to the helicopter. Light was just peeking over the mountains and James was trying to decide whether to take the helicopter straight to the Packhouse or have it land the next town over and we run in. Bruce pointed out that we were so close to the end that we didn’t want to jeopardize anything, so James decided that we would run in.The helicopter landed about fifty miles away in a remote little town. The pilot borrowed the local hospital’s pad so that it would look even less suspicious. We walked into the hospital and then out the back door and into the wood. I folded up my clothes neatly behind a tree, hoping someone would find them and enjoy them. We shifted and then raced for the pack in the early dawn hours.James mind linked the warriors on Patrol and we were met as soon as we crossed into Packlands. Many of the warriors came up and nuzzled Talia. Scout gave a low bark and we continued on, right to the Packhouse. Most Packhous