The expression on his face told me he was obviously uncomfortable leaving me alone at home. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. I won’t be gone for more than an hour-and-a-half. Okay?”
“Sounds great,” I said, and within ten minutes, I was sitting in the blessed quiet.
Having protection was great, but God, it was exhausting having people around all the time. Sometimes being alone was all a person needed to recharge. I found a comfy spot on the couch and decided to catch up on some reading.
I was three chapters into a new book when my phone rang. I glanced at the screen and frowned. It was the Clearidge policedepartment. A thousand different thoughts ran through my head before I finally answered.
“Hello?”
“This is Officer Turner. Is this Madison Sutton?” The female voice was clipped and professional.
“Yes, what’s this about?”
She sighed and said, “Are you the resident of twelve twenty-three Cypress Lane?”
I hadn’t spent the night in my own house in weeks. After the attack at the bar, the only time I’d been there was when we went to pick up my things to move in with Nico. A week or so later, Nico had Felipe fetch the rest of my clothes. I’d been meaning to have all my other items brought over by movers and get rid of the house. It was pointless to keep paying for it when I wasn’t living there anymore.
“That’s my address, yes,” I said, a small sliver of panic sliding into my chest.
“Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but thirty minutes ago, a fire was reported at this address. The fire department was dispatched, and they are currently working on the blaze.”
My jaw dropped open. My house was on fire? I thought about all my keepsakes and pictures. Confusion swirled in my head. How had this happened?
“Ma’am? Are you there?” Officer Turner asked.
I blinked, realizing I’d been silent for several long seconds. “Umm, yes. How…how did it catch fire?”
“Unsure, Ma’am. That will be for the fire marshal to determine. Your number was given to us by one of your neighbors. The fire department is doing its best to bring it under control, but your neighbors thought you might want to come by. Some items might be salvageable once the fire is tamed.”
“Right,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”
I ended the call without saying goodbye. Fear and alarm warred within me. I couldn’t even think straight as I grabbed my car keys from the kitchen counter and ran out the door. I wasn’t completely out of it, though. Nico would lose his mind if he found out I’d left the shifter compound without an escort, but I needed to get to my house. I tried calling him, but the call went to voicemail. Instead of leaving a voicemail, I sent him a quick text, telling him what happened before I got in my car and drove as fast as I could toward my old neighborhood.
As I passed the guard shack, I waved to Nico’s Uncle Miguel. The look of confusion on his face as I sped by made me feel even more uncomfortable going out alone. I’d become used to having a full-time guard. Even when I went to the grocery store to buy tomatoes, someone went with me. But, I’d told Nico where I was going, and the police and fire department would be there. It wasn’t like I’d be all by myself.
The drive to my neighborhood was strange. It almost felt like someone else was driving my car. The closer I got, the more surreal the trip became. I kept glancing through the windshield, trying to see the streaks of black smoke that would be my home burning.
It wasn’t until I turned onto my street that I realized something was wrong. Terribly wrong. I pulled my foot off the gas when I saw my house. It sat quiet and calm—completely fine. Not a trace or hint of fire. My wolf snarled in the back of my mind.Trap. I glanced around frantically, looking for any sign of the royals’ agents but saw nothing. How could it be them, though? The police department’s number had been on the caller ID.
My phone rang again. I didn’t even look at who was calling. It had to be Nico. “Nico? I screwed up. You need to come?—”
“Young Miss Sutton, this is not your dog.” Viola’s voice was sickly sweet and disturbingly close through the speaker.
“Who…how?” I couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence.
“No worries. We are cleverer than you seem to understand. I know I said you had until the full moon but…oh.” She sighed and chuckled. “I find that I am used to getting what I want when I want it. When my team proposed this plan, I never thought you’d be so gullible. It truly is delightful.”
I heard the screaming of an engine and had just enough time to glance in my rearview mirror. A massive black truck was careening down the street. I never got the chance to scream. As the truck slammed into the back of my car, the world turned into flipping and spinning chaos. Somehow through the sound of crunching metal and shattering glass, I could still hear Viola laughing through the tiny phone speaker.
41
NICO
The crew had done a good job in my absence to keep everything running smoothly, but I needed to stop by more often. No matter how good the crew was, they needed to see me. I didn’t want the guys to think I didn’t give a shit about them.
My head mechanic Blake was working on doing a custom suspension for a nineteen-sixty-four Ford GT40. It was going well, but changing out the double wishbone suspension for MacPherson struts was proving to be a bitch.
“Blake, do we need to reroute the exhaust here to get this to fit?” I asked, pointing to the undercarriage. The car was on a lift, so I could stand up straight beneath it.
