Poppy stared longingly at the closed door.
I waited, holding eye contact with the alpha before me.
“This is not a great idea,” Wolfe hissed, finally breaking in the silence. “He’ll kill Poppy and me, then put you in jail for however long he deems it.”
“What is your special gift?” I questioned again.
He stated bluntly, “My wolf form can be as small as a mouse or as large as a house.”
I blinked hard and then peered around the bottom of the doorframe. “Do you think you can squeeze through any of those cracks?”
Wolfe didn’t even look. “No, but I know where I can.”
I made a shooing motion with my hands. “Live a little. Get it done. Poppy and I will wait here for you to open the front door for us.”
The door swung open again.
All three of us froze once more.
Theron crossed his arms, and muttered, “You three are some of the most dumbass people I have ever known. I mean really. I amtwo thousand years old,and my hearing only getsbetter with age. How did I go wrong with you, Wolfe? Did I not teach you well enough? Do you need more lessons from me?”
Wolfe closed his eyes and sighed; his breath brushed against my hair. He straightened and turned toward his king. “You taught me well, Theron. No more lessons are needed.”
The wolf-man sprang at Theron, taking him by surprise.
One well-placed punch to Theron’s left temple and Wolfe was catching his unconscious king before he hit the ground. Wolfe kissed the top of his head, and whispered, “You did teach me well. And I am sorry we’re breaking into your home.”
“He can’t hear you,” Poppy groused, marching inside the king’s home. “Put him on the couch over there. Hopefully, he doesn’t wake up until we’re done.”
My feet were firmly planted to the welcome mat, my chin bobbing up and down. “He’s going to make your death suck ass for that, Wolfe.”
The wolf-man tossed his king over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing. “I know. It won’t be the first time. I was rather unruly in my younger years. He had his hands full with me. But I figured I’d have to do that anyway when he eventually caught us in his house. And he would have found us, there’s no question of that.”
He dutifully placed his king down on the couch and placed a blanket over him to keep him warm and toasty. “Now get in here. We don’t have much time.”
I stepped inside the king’s home, realizing just how deeply I was embedded into their lives, all from one little article published. I shut the door behind me, and respectfully—the only thing I had done tonight as such—locked his door behind us.
Poppy led the way to the basement, all of us rushing through hallways, then eventually descending a circular staircase.
I muttered in unease, “Is there a reason why he has a morgue in his basement? And how far down does this go? We’ve already gone down four flights of stairs.”
Wolfe grumbled, “Don’t ask questions that could get you killed if you had the answers. And be careful, the steps start to get narrower the farther down you travel.”
“That’s not very comforting.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be,” Poppy chimed in from the front of our line. “He’s right, too. Be careful going down. If you knock us all over, and I break this vial, I will kill Your. Scrawny. Ass.”
“Message received.” I placed my hand on Wolfe’s shoulder in front of me just so I wouldn’t fall by accident. “Do you think he hides treasure down here?”
“Shut up, Noelle.” Poppy huffed.
“Fine. I’ll conserve my air since we seem to be heading to the center of the earth.” This was freaking ridiculous.
Around and around we traveled down into the king’s secret lair. My legs started to cramp, and the spinning loops we took made me dizzy as hell. I did stumble, but my tight grip on Wolfe kept me from falling completely. But when ten more minutes passed by, and it didn’t appear we were any closer to the end, my body started screaming at me.
“Wolfe, you’re going to have to give me a piggyback ride the rest of the way. I can’t keep going,” I panted. I slammed hard into his back when the two of them stopped at my words. “Ow. Fuck, are you made of stone?”
Wolfe’s delicious chuckle bounced off the enclosed space, and his hands reached back, warm palms grabbing onto my thighs. “Hop on. I’ve got you.”
