Good girl,I imagine Matthias saying.You’ve got this.
“Just tell me what’s going on.”
“Aww, it’s…” he mumbles and sighs.“I got myself in some trouble.I was working for a guy, and some stuff happened, and now I owe him a lot of money.He’s not a good guy, Daisy.”He uses my legal name.
“It’sMaisy,” I correct him, while I scramble to figure out what he just told me.When he was sober, Allen used to get work at casinos.Not the nice ones on the strip but the old ones off strip.Now I’m pretty sure he’s unhireable, except for working for criminals who are running drugs.“Let me get this straight.You owe money to someone powerful.Someone used to getting what he wants.”
Allen nods, and I curl my hands into fists.
Of course, this has to do with money.Even when I was ten, the sperm donor would tell me to ask Daisy for money.Once I gave him my birthday money, but Daisy found out and was upset, so I never did that again.“So what does he want from me?”I’m a manager of a cafe, not a millionaire.
He mumbles something, looking down at the carpet like he’s five and not forty-five.
“I need you to repeat that.”Before he says anything, I know it’s going to be bad.
“He wants to marry you.”
I’m sorry…what?
Matthias
“This is your captain speaking.Please take your seats; we’ll be landing in five minutes,” Teddy calls from the cockpit of the private jet.
I’m sitting rigid in my seat, but Hutch and Canyon scramble to wrap up the card game they were playing on the table.Six of my brothers are with me.Everyone except Everest.He’s refusing to shift to human, so we left him behind to keep an eye on Daisy and the mountain.
The triplets have behaved themselves this whole flight.Even Darius is helping Teddy in the cockpit, without their usual bickering.That’s how I know everyone is taking this mission seriously.
Out the window, Vegas glows.To a tourist, it might look like one giant party, loud and bright enough to turn the night sky into a murky blue.To me, it looks sinister.
Between Wren’s psychic abilities and Kylie and Hutch’s tech abilities, we figured out that Maisy was most likely kidnapped by men working for Allen’s boss, a man who goes by the dubious moniker, Lucky Lou.Kylie’s still digging into him, but he’s a small-time hustler with delusions of grandeur.He probably has something to do with this.
What we don’t know is why Maisy’s involved.It makes no sense.
They pinpointed Maisy’s dad’s apartment.He’s been living below the poverty line on the edges of the city.
That’s where we’re headed.We can’t get there fast enough.I’m grateful I have friends and family who banded together to figure out a good place to look for Maisy.Lana loaned us her jet, and Teddy got us here in record time, but the minutes it takes to land and get to the rental bus seem endless.
I carry my doctor’s bag—I brought my emergency medical supplies, in case Maisy’s hurt.I don’t have a weapon, but I don’t need one.My bear is more deadly than a loaded machine gun.I’m trying to be cool, but it’s taking everything to keep me from roaring and shifting and smashing through the Strip on my way to hunt down Allen.
Mate,my bear reminds me.
We’ll get her,I say.And then I’m going to release the bear.
We all cram into one giant party bus.When Teddy turns it on, neon lights start flashing and club music blasts out of the speakers, but Teddy hits a button, and the music stops.Not even the triplets are in the mood to party right now.
We speed away from the Strip as Kylie calls again.“I got a hit on Allen.Looks like he checked into a hotel near Fremont Street.”
“That’s old Vegas,” Darius reports.“Off strip.”
“Why would he get a hotel room?”Axel asks.“He lives here.”
“Nothing confirmed, but hearsay says that the old casino next door is a known business holding of Lucky Lou,” Kylie reports.
“Take us there,” I say.“To the hotel.”
“Should we split up?”Teddy calls from the driver’s seat.“We can drop you off, and the triplets and I can go to Allen’s apartment to check it out?”
“No.If Lucky’s at the hotel, I might need backup.”Maisy is our priority.
