Chapter 85

Kayla

Nora stepped into the room, looking sheepish as ever.

“I took Silverbite that day I sparred with Kayla,” she explained before anyone could say a word. “I can tell you the name of the main dealer in the area.”

Nicholas, Marcus and I all glanced at each other. Nora wasn’t exactly the paragon of truth, and not much had happened since the last time we’d spoken for me to trust a word that came out of her mouth.

“Why should we trust you?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Nora sighed heavily. Her eyes were still filled with annoyance as she glanced up at me, but there was something else there, too. Regret, maybe. Regret for alienating herself from Nicholas, who she so clearly loved, thanks to her own actions.

Finally she shrugged. “I’m just trying to help my pack. And my Alpha.”

I bristled a little at her tone, but to be fair, I couldn’t entirely fault her. If she genuinely had information to offer, even if it was driven by selfishness, then it was better to listen to her than to cast her out.

Nicholas, sensing my thoughts, nodded. “Very well. Tell us your dealer’s name, Nora.”

She took a deep breath. “He goes by the name ‘Gemini’. He usually does his deals down by the shipping containers at the docks.”

The shipping containers… I vaguely knew about that area, but I didn’t often think about it. It was just an industrial area where the shipments for all of the nearby packs’ supplies were brought in.

Marcus quickly jotted the information down and slipped his notepad back into his pocket. Nicholas excused Nora, who scurried away with one last reproachful glance at me over her shoulder before she disappeared.

Once we were alone again, Nicholas turned to me. “Want to go?”

My eyebrows shot up. “You don’t mean to go down there yourself, do you?”

“Alpha Nicholas is very… hands-on when it comes to these sorts of things,” Marcus supplied, to which Nicholas just nodded and placed his hands on his hips.

I hesitated, unsure of what to make of that. My leg was still aching from the wound, and the last thing I wanted to do was go down to the docks and talk to a drug dealer. But if Nicholas was going, then…

Dammit.

“Fine,” I blurted out, throwing my hands up in the air. “But you’ll owe me one.”

Nicholas’s eyes lit up. “I’ll owe you two.”

“Three.”

“Deal.”

And just like that, we jumped into action.

With all of the reporters swarming outside, we couldn’t just walk out the front door and go on an adventure. So over the next couple of days, we came up with a foolproof, if not slightly comical plan: Jade and Marcus would wear our clothes and move around one of the windows, pretending to be us, while Nicholas and I snuck out the back.

It felt a bit silly, seeing them wearing our clothes—especially Marcus, who was smaller than Nicholas, and thus his clothes hung awkwardly off his frame. But it would look convincing enough from afar.

As for Nicholas, his determination was palpable. I quickly realized that he was really just doing this because he was concerned about Noah, and he wanted to do this himself. He could have sent Marcus instead, but he insisted on doing it himself because he had to make sure that it went according to plan.

At least, that was how it seemed to me. But for his sake, I didn’t ask, if only to spare him from having to admit that he really missed his best friend.

On the night that we were scheduled to sneak out, Jade and Marcus dressed in our clothes and positioned themselves in front of one of the front windows overlooking where the majority of the reporters were camping out.

“This had better work,” Jade groaned as Marcus wrapped one arm around her waist, just to sell the image. “Otherwise, I’m gonna kill all of you.”

Nicholas and I both quickly schooled our smirks, nodding. A moment later, the curtains opened, revealing ‘us’ to the reporters.

The shouts outside were immediate. I could hear the reporters calling our names, trying to get our attention. Meanwhile, as Jade and Marcus swayed back and forth as if dancing in front of the window, Nicholas and I crept out the back and climbed onto his waiting motorcycle.

Emma winked as we tugged our helmets on, clicking the remote for the garage door. “Good luck, kids,” she said with an impish little grin.

And then, with a rev of the engine, we were off.

I couldn’t help but let out a wild laugh as we sped out through the back entrance, unseen. The gates slid shut behind us, leaving behind the swarming reporters, flashing cameras, and brightly lit house.

And I couldn’t quite tell beneath his helmet, but I was pretty sure I heard Nicholas laugh, too.

By the time we arrived at the docks, my fingers were ice cold from the ride, even through my gloves. I rubbed my hands together, sticking close to Nicholas as we made our way to the meeting point.

“There he is,” Nicholas said, tugging me behind a shipping container. He jerked his chin toward the lone figure standing up ahead, indistinguishable other than the red ember of a cigarette hovering in front of his lips.

“You’re sure?” I whispered.

Nicholas nodded, and I chose to trust him on this. Quietly, we approached the drug dealer, eventually coming to a stop a few paces away from him.

“Gemini,” Nicholas said calmly.

The dealer’s cigarette fell from his hand.

Without a word, he took off, his footsteps echoing through the tall stacks of shipping containers. Nicholas and I gave chase, following him through the maze-like structure. Gemini seemed to know it well, but what he didn’t know was that we hadn’t come alone.

Nicholas and I split off, flanking him from either side. The dealer cursed and sprinted to the left, right down the narrow alleyway that we intended. And just as he reached the end, two Nightshade warriors stepped out from the shadows, cutting him off.

“We just have questions,” Nicholas said, stepping into the glow cast by a single streetlight. “Answer them, and your sentence will be reduced.”

The man scoffed as he backed up against one of the containers. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Before Nicholas could speak, I stepped forward, even though my leg was throbbing. “Oh, but we think you do,” I said, making my voice as low and commanding as I could muster. “Have you sold Silverbite to this man?”

I held out the picture of Mr. Gray that I had in my pocket. Gemini scanned it, then shook his head. “Never seen that guy in my life.”

Liar, I thought. With a growl, Nicholas surged forward, slamming Gemini harder against the containers. The dealer’s breath huffed out in a rush, and he gasped for air, scrabbling against Nicholas’s grip to no avail.

“Just tell us the truth,” I said, shoving the picture in his face. “Have you or have you not sold Silverbite to this man?”

Gemini swallowed hard, seemingly considering his options for a moment before he realized that there was no point in lying, because we already knew the truth. Finally, he nodded.

“I-I have. He’s from the guild, right? Goes by the name ‘Mr. G.’ C-Check my left pocket. I keep receipts of all my sales in there for my boss.”

Sure enough, when I reached into his pocket, I found a small notepad with names or aliases, amounts of drugs sold, and how much each sale cost. It didn’t take long for me to find the ‘Mr. G’ in question—two grams of pure Silverbite powder.

I pocketed the notepad and nodded to Nicholas, who released the panting drug dealer. He didn’t struggle as the guards cuffed him and took him away.

As we watched them go, I turned to Nicholas, my face pale.

“So it was him,” I said quietly. “What now?”

Nicholas’s face hardened.

“He’s not going to go down easily,” he replied bitterly, his fingers curling into fists at his sides. “But he’s going to go down, one way or another.”