Although I didn’t appreciate being barked at and ordered around like one of his wolves, I didn’t say anything sarcastic. This was what I was here for. Taking umbrage with his manners could come later. When I wasn’t surrounded on all sides by potential hostiles.
“I ran into her on the bike trail. I think I hit her. She was limping when she ran off.”
“How do you know it’s a werewolf?” A voice challenged from behind the bar. “Could have been a dog.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Brax. I was here to see him. Not the peanut gallery.
He arched one eyebrow.
I sighed.
“This was too big to be a dog, and its eyes had human intelligence behind them.”
“You could be mistaken. Night can be disorienting and all that,” Sondra said, stepping in from the back.
I tensed at the sight of her. I hadn’t thought she’d be here. This wasn’t good, especially since I didn’t know what that man had said to her. If she was being compelled, she was a time bomb waiting to happen.
Brax noticed, his eyes sharpening at my small movement. I forced myself to relax, not wanting Brax to figure out it was Sondra by the river just yet. Something told me I needed more proof than just my word if I wanted to convince him.
“I see perfectly fine in the dark. Vampire, see?” I flashed my fangs at her, my voice sharper than I intended.
“Some vampire,” she snorted. “You don’t even drink from the source.”
“That’s a personal preference.”
“It also makes you weaker than you would be otherwise.”
This from the woman possibly under the compulsion of some guy in a hoody. It was that or she was willfully breaking Brax’s rules. I didn’t know which was worse.
Nothing seemed wrong with her at the moment. It almost made me think she was a willing co-conspirator except for how painful that change had been. It looked like it had been forced on her. I didn’t see her conspiring long with someone capable of doing that just for kicks.
“What else?” Brax asked. He had a strange look on his face, like he suspected something. I gave him my best dumb private look, the one that said I could follow orders but wasn’t too bright if left to my own devices.
He made a sound in his throat that sounded like a scoff and a snort. “I know there’s something else, Aileen. You would have just left a message otherwise.”
I held his gaze. True. I didn’t like that he knew me that well. I guess I should expect it. He was a hunter. He observed everything and formed opinions and assessments that were probably incredibly accurate. They would have to be for him to be a good hunter.
This was the part I didn’t want getting out to the rest of the pack. As much as Brax might think he controlled them, I’d been in the military too long to have faith in his underlings blindly following orders.
He might order them to silence, but there was always at least one person who felt the need to share. Gossip was like wildfire. Once you told one person, it wasn’t long before the rest knew. I really didn’t want it getting back to hoody guy that I’d taken the opportunity to spy on him.
It also didn’t seem wise sharing what I knew with Sondra standing right behind Brax’s shoulder.
There were too many unknowns. The problem was I couldn’t see a way out of giving up my information. The growing impatience on Brax’s face said he wasn’t going to wait much longer before trying to shake the truth from me. He might even refuse to let me leave until I gave up what I knew.
On one hand it would give me a legitimate excuse not to fulfill my contract with Liam, but on the other it would probably cause more tension between the wolves and the vamps. Not to mention I had been in their basement cage before. It had not been my favorite experience.
“Don’t suppose you’d be willing to talk privately,” I said. I didn’t have much hope, but it couldn’t hurt to ask.
A chorus of growls greeted my request. Guess it could hurt to ask.
“Talk,” Brax ordered.
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him what he could do with his orders when the front door flew open, banging against the wall, and a trio of vampires, led by Liam, stalked into the bar.
Chapter Ten
Their faces were set and hard. The male equivalent of resting bitch face.
