It was Nova who pointed, the opposite direction the prisoners had run. “We’d already sent people that way when she spoke up. They didn’t find anything. No scents, no tracks.”
“Neither did we,” I replied. “Mount up, let’s put some?—”
“I found this, by the way.” Aurelia held out a little square tab of paper.
I hesitated before taking it, glancing at Nova. She shook her head infinitesimally. Aurelia hadn’t brought it up before now.
“And what is that?” It felt like cardboard, thick but somewhat pliant. The edges were slanted, one side almost looking torn.
“Don’t you recognize it?” She gave me a haughty look. “That’s one of my evil products that apparently kills whole villages.” She pointed at the ground near where she’d been standing. “I found it on the ground. Clearly your people have been sampling the merchandise. Very reputable, your outfit.”
I yanked it nearer my face so I could get a better look. The surface was lighter in some places than others, the other side equally nonuniform. The slanted edges and ripped area looked like a child had cut it out. The coloring was almost anemic and overall, it didn’t seem at all appetizing, not like the colorful,symmetrical candy-coated looking tabs I’d seen in badly hit towns and villages and all through the cities.
“This is part of your product?” I held it out to make sure she’d had a good look.
She rolled her eyes. “I know what I make.”
“Is it a new product? New to markets, I mean.”
“Not even remotely. It’s done really well without a lot of modifications.”
Dante practically leaned over my shoulder to get a look. “Do you have kids working in your outfit? Because that looks like a kid cut it out.”
She stared at him for a beat. “I don’t have help and I have a lot to get done. I cut them in the doses best suitable for the batch and toss them in the bin. A few villagers collect it and store it, and a few others take it to the property line when its time. Granny’s people pick it up and take it to market.”
“Like that?” Dante reached over me to point at it, clearly forgetting himself. I wanted the answers, though, and she didn’t tend to give those to me easily.
“For this product, yes, like that. For others, I have to separate them into sheets for storage. Others need to go in little packets or they corrode. Obviously you can just look for yourself since you clearly took the supply. I’m surprised you haven’t already.”
“The cart holding the product is behind us.” Nova jerked her head toward it. “It hasn’t been touched. None of the crates have, either. I checked when you were looking for the prisoners, Alpha. The crates we took out of the storage shed are still covered and tied down exactly like they were when we pulled them out, save the couple we checked to figure out what it was. I could be wrong, but they don’t look like they’ve been disturbed.” She lifted her brows slowly. “I will have everyone searched, but I can’t imagine anyone would take the chance.”
I agreed with her. Only a fool would dabble in the drugs coming out of this village. We’d looked in a couple of the covered crates but in the haste to get moving, hadn’t dallied with the details. Everyone was wary of that product’s dangerousness, no one wanted to dig through it.
“You found it on the ground?” Dante asked, looking around the ground at his feet.
Turned out, there were more. Some ahead, some behind, scattered in the dirt with enough space between them that they could easily be missed. And they had been, obviously, except by Aurelia, who knew what it was, and by the prisoners, who knew what they could do. That product must’ve somehow loosened the bond connecting those shifters to my pack.
“Walk with me.” I motioned her on, needing more info but also needing to get my people on the move. I didn’t want to give the lurkers time to organize and surround us. Without my ability to capture them with a pack bond, we’d be in trouble, especially if they outnumbered us.
“Sir.” Clothes were given to me and this time I took them, handing the drug to Nova. “Mount up,” I told everyone. “Let’s move out. We’ll need more feet on the ground. We’re being watched. Stay vigilant. Sound the alarm if you see or smell anything.”
Once near my horse, I quickly dressed and swung into the saddle. I reached down for Aurelia, who had Nova at her back to make sure she didn’t bolt.
“Oh.” Hadriel paused near his mount. “I’m riding alone now, I take it?”
“Not even a prisoner should be subjected to your jokes for too long,” someone murmured.
“Cute, Kurt. I can see why you never developed a sense of humor—your mother was all out of jokes after she had you.”
“Ooooh,” a few people said as everyone started laughing.
Aurelia ignored all that. “But...” She pointed at the saddle. “You don’t have much room at the back of that.”
It was true, but I didn’t have time to mess with it.
I continued to reach for her. As though on impulse, she took my outstretched hand. In the next moment I swung her up in front of me, chest to chest, guiding her leg over my thigh.
“Ohmmm,” she said, her surprise turning into a soft moan. “This isn’t going to be comfortable.”
