I yawned and tried to speak through it, then repeated what there was no way she could’ve possibly understood. “Where’s that?”
“I’m swinging by to pick you up in ten minutes. Can you be ready?”
I wouldn’t be ready until sometime after noon. “Sure.” I hung up and raced back to my bedroom, then to the kitchen to start the coffee then back to the bedroom to get dressed. I hoped ten minutes meant twenty, but just in case, I took the fastest shower I’d ever had and dressed equally as fast. I didn’t know what one wore to go shifter hunting, but I assumed it involved boots and jeans.
When Esther rang the doorbell, I let her in and finished pouring myself a giant mug of coffee, which I had to drink down with not quite enough sugar, and not quite cool enough, because Esther was giving me a look that said if I wasn’t walking out the door in less than one minute, I wasn’t getting my coffee. Or I might have been wearing it.
Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I left some of the coffee behind, setting the mug in the sink, then followed Esther outside. And this lady…she was quick. I was still flailing about with my purse and keys, while she strode down my porch like she owned the place.
I followed after her to her convertible, where Tabi was again in the rear seat. Both women wore white shirts, slacks, and boots, all upscale which I’d figured. And although I was dressed similarly, my dark hair was a wet mess, and they looked like a stylist had prepared them for a shifter showdown several hours ago. Given the fact that Tabiwasa stylist, that probably wasn’t far from the truth.
“The pack is holed up in an old, abandoned motel one of them owns. Cameron something or other,” Tabi said as a way of greeting.
Well, at least Mr. Wonderful was a property owner. But the words abandoned and holed up did the actual property no favors.
“And what are we going to do when we get there?” I asked, confused and way out of my element.
“Get them to see reason,” Esther said, her words almost a growl.
“And if they don’t?” I asked, my voice a few notes too high.
“We better hope they do,” Tabi mumbled from the back.
“Please just let my daughter be shopping or out for coffee,” I whispered to myself, but the wind tore my words away. I’d checked the app, and her phone was here. It was wishful thinking.
“Why is it just us?” I asked. “Shouldn’t the whole pack be here?”
Esther shook her head. “No. This pack is large enough that even if we were all present, if they decide to get violent, we can’t fight them. Even with you as a dragon. This is something we will attempt to solve diplomatically. I am confident it won’t devolve into blows.” She sure seemed confident. Too bad I wasn’t so much.
I felt lost. Scared. We were driving toward a bunch of shifters who had torn a building apart. Me, who didn’t know how the heck to shift into a dragon, not at will, and these two ladies. As fierce as they were, I couldn’t imagine they could take down bears and wolves.
We can figure that out. As long as my daughter isn’t with them. We can figure everything else out at this abandoned motel.
Racing through town, I wondered what motel we were heading to. Most of the hotels and motels in town were still open, even if they were a little old and raggedy. But when we drove down a street, I’d never paid attention to, at the edge of town, I knew it wasn’t a building I was familiar with.
This place was ahole. A rotten piece of land with a decrepit building that, if it hadn’t been condemned just yet, should’ve been. The pool on the near side was full of green slime. It had to have taken years to build up to such a radioactive color. But the backyard bordered the woods, which, for a bunch of shifters was probably a pretty important location.
Bodies lay scattered outside in various stages of undress. And for a second, I wondered if we hadn’t managed to stumble onto a murder scene, but not many murder scenes had bare-chested college-aged men cooking bacon—by the smell—over an open fire, nor lifting an occasional hand to pour beer into their mouths.
Nah, this wasn’t so much a murder scene as it looked like the aftermath of a frat party gone wrong. There was litter and debris in the forms of trash and broken furniture—including what looked like a barstool from Johnny O’Leary’s—strewn from one side of the property to the other. And the air smelled of smoke, bacon, and pure filth.
Esther the Fearless, as I would from this day forward think of her, stopped her car in the parking lot. Without a word, she jumped out, and I could only stare after her in open-mouthed awe, as she marched until she was in front of a small blonde woman. She might’ve hit one fifty if she was soaking wet, but every pound was muscle. She looked like she worked out.
Tabi stood beside me as I climbed out of the car. “That’s Holly. She’s a fox and the pack alpha.” She sighed. “And my little sister.”
Ah, that was why she was staring Esther down like they were two queens about to have a throwdown. And why Tabi looked at them so forlornly.
Holly was in charge of this place and these disastrous men. But where did Esther fall in that line? Were they equals? Did one fear the other? I couldn’t tell, but I really hoped this blonde would bow to Esther, which would make all of this a heck of a lot easier.
We moved forward, heading toward Esther. Lord, if we were her show of strength, she was screwed. They outnumbered us by at least ten to one, and there had to be more of them because Tilly and Cameron were nowhere to be seen.
And, shocker, they circled us. My fingers trembled, so I tucked them under my arms across my body. Esther and Holly were mid-argument when Tab and I made it to her. “You’re going to get us all killed if you don’t knock your ridiculous stunts off.”
Holly scoffed in Esther’s face and Esther’s jaw clenched.
“Why are you so afraid of the vampires? We have strength. We have speed. And most of us have claws. They only have teeth.” Holly’s followers clapped, cheering her on. “We are superior in every way and what are you worried for, anyway? I already took care of it.”
As Esther shook her head, Tilly walked out of the office of the motel, and I missed everything else they were saying because my daughter was walking through the tall grass, sunshine in her hair, a smile on her face as she held hands with Cameron, the big bad bear from the video.
