Chapter 88

Sarah POV

With Zane at the temple and the girls at their riding lessons, I felt a little uplift of freedom and refused to feel guilty about it.

Well, not too guilty, anyway.

Every parent has felt that sense of freedom when the kids and spouse (boss) are busy and they have a few hours to themselves. Besides, my errands concerned the girls.

With Danielle at my side, I went first to my favorite fabric store, Zig-Zag, for more bits and ends, and then to Barnes & Nobel.

“I’ll be a while,” I told my bodyguard. She just nodded.

I had truly grown to love Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Nightingale,” but after the twentieth read or so, I had also grown incredibly sick of it. Yes, we’d read a few other books, like Dahl’s Matilda and Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, but they just kept coming back to their favorite over and over.

So, it was time for a new favorite.

I figured I’d start with the familiar and went over to Anderson’s long line of books. For a human author, he reigned supreme in the children’s section. The Little Mermaid popped out at me, as did The Emperor's New Clothes, but I thought maybe a story that people are foolish in public wouldn’t be the best choice.

Then I looked around some more and picked up Floca’s Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, Lewis’s The Wolf, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Dahl’s Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and a few others. I paused at the Harry Potter series, but while the girls were old enough, being werewolves, for the story, I knew the sizes of the books would put them off.

Next year, I thought. They’d have handled textbooks by then and wouldn’t be so rapidly opposed to books an inch thick or more.

I had enough books, but I treated myself to some time in the crafts section, picking up Montano’s Elegant Stitches, and walked then into the section for wolf lore.

I smiled in real pleasure, but then I felt a little sad. I would rather be there with the girls and Zane. I’d love to know what sort of books he liked.

Still, no one has asked for a selfie yet, I thought, looking around at the empty aisles.

Wait, they were a little too empty. I looked some more and realized the bookstore personnel were directing people out of the section I was in. Danielle was also eyeing everyone murderously.

With a sigh but determined not to lose my good mood, I went to the register. A boy in his early twenties with a nose ring and neck tattoo greeted me with a cute smile.

“Did you find everything you were looking for, Miss Sarah?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you.”

He looked ready to ask me something else, glanced at Danielle, and then he quickly rang me up. I paid with my own card this time and reminded myself to check the balance.

Girls at riding lessons and Zane at the temple, so she runs a quick errand.

“Can I carry these to your car?” he asked as he hefted the large bag, which I didn’t think was quite heavy enough for him to ask.

“I thought I’d get some coffee,” I said, leaning my head toward the little shop in the corner.

“Would you like us to clear it for you?”

“No, no.” I hid my exasperation and smiled. “I’ll be fine.” I took the bag from him and cradled it in my arms as I walked to the little shop, Danielle looming behind me.

The barista also greeted me by name and made me up a latte with whole milk with a brilliant smile. I could tell her coworker took a photo of me on her phone.

I took a little corner seat and set the books out in front of me. Should I have bought The Little Mermaid? How did that story land with werewolves? Perhaps I should have gotten Harry Potter after all.

After all, there were rumors that the books were so fantastically popular with pups because the read them as a code for a wolf-only world. If so, why would human children love them so much? I’d heard it was because it allowed them to pretend they were werewolves or even better than werewolves.

I’m going to read the wrong books to them and destroy their lives, I thought with another sigh.

A shadow passed over the table, and then Scott sat down across from me.

I looked up in alarm and then looked over to Danielle, who nodded to say she was ready to toss him out.

“Please,” he said with a calm smile. “I swear, I would just like to talk to you briefly.”

“But I don’t wish to talk to you.”

He pointed to my purse. “Please, bring out your phone and record our conversation. You can play the whole thing back to anyone you like.”

I didn’t move.

“Please. This is for Zane’s benefit as well, I promise.”

“I doubt that.”

“Five minutes of your time.”

I reached into my purse, pulled out my phone, set it to audio record, and put it on the table next to me.

“Thank you.” He looked down at my books and scowled slightly. “Anderson? I suppose I should have known you’d like that rubbish.”

“Not a good beginning for you, Scott,” I said.

“I began to suspect something was wrong with the Children’s Hunger Bank about five months ago. Some of my acquaintances were just a little too interested in their charity auctions, especially considering they were being held in conjunction with various parties and events all over the territory. I began to act a little interested myself.”

He made a faint noise of disgust. “It’s no secret my brother and I do not get along. I was approached with an offer of an invitation to a ‘VIP after-party. I brought a recording device with me.”

He held up a flash drive and then put it on the table between us.

“If you had suspicions, why didn’t you tell Zane? I might have saved a few lives.”

“I had no proof. Please, Sarah, think about me. I show up and tell Zane what I suspect? He’d have thrown me out with the eggs shells.

“And it was just as well I said nothing because that first after-party, and the one after that, nothing happened.”

He took what looked like a steadying breath. “The first real evidence, which is also on that drive, was a young woman who was brought in to, well, service me. She seemed willing but scared. They demanded she attend to me there in front of them. I knew it was an initiation.”

He looked down at the table and picked at his cuticles. I noticed them for the first time, bitten and ragged. It was the first vulnerability in him I’d seen.

“After that, I was invited to an auction. I bid on a young boy, no more than ten years old, and then I arranged for him to escape.”

My face must have spoken for me. He held up a hand. “The boy, his name is Josh, has been returned to his family in a territory to the north, Alpha Johanne’s. His contact info is also on the disk. Please, call him.”

“Now that you have your information,” I said, “why don’t you go to Zane?”

“Because I wanted you to know I’m not a monster. I really was trying to signal Zane without alerting Rob. I mean, do you realize how well-oiled a machine that slave—er, human sex tracking ring was? One signal from him, and in five minutes not a trace of evidence would be left.

“But all of that is beside the point,” he said next, leaning forward earnestly. “You and I, Sarah, we’re fated. Neither of us can stop what’s meant to happen to us.”

That wasn’t quite what being fated meant for wolves, I knew, but again Scott was bending the truth slightly for his own ends.

“You and I, we’re everything,” he said. “How could I have ever sought to hurt you?”

“Being a psychopath probably helps.”

He startled slightly, then calmed himself and smiled. “I know that’s my brother talking.”

I reached over and took the flash drive, then I put my still-recording phone in my purse. Then I gathered the books into my plastic bag and stood. Scott stood as well.

“Soon, I’ll be able to prove my devotion to you.”

“Please don’t,” I said. I looked at Danielle, who nodded, and then she walked beside me out of the store.

It occurred to me that Scott trying to prove his devotion to someone sounded terrifying.