She reached the highway early,but there was a new-model dark SUV idling on the shoulder a little way up the road. When Arden stepped into view, the vehicle started to move, gliding up beside her. Arden tensed, fully prepared to fling herself off the road into the woods if anyone tried to grab her.
The side window lowered, and she could see that Sloan was in the SUV alone. “I’m glad you came, Arden.”
“I see he’s still sending you to do his dirty work. What do you want?”
“We just want to talk. We’re serious about that.”
“Then the plural you,” she said sarcastically, “can get out and talk.”
Sloan turned off the vehicle and stepped out. The bodyguard’s creased suit pants and dark jacket might be rather downscale in Grant’s world, but looked very out of place on the rural highway with the shadows of the trees falling across him. Arden was once again conscious of her dirty and sap-stained clothes, which she still hadn’t had a chance to change.
“So you did follow me the other day,” she said. “You told Grant where I am?”
“Of course I did.”
“He really does own your every last brain cell, doesn’t he?”
Sloan frowned. “He hired me to do a job. I’m doing it. And that’s neither here nor there. We know where you’re living, Arden, and more importantly, we know who you’re living with.”
Ice chilled Arden down to her core. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s a shifter town, isn’t it? No wonder you figured you’d be safe hiding out there. One of the few places Grant would never look for you.”
Arden folded her arms defensively over her chest, trying not to let her teeth chatter with nervousness. “So what? Being a shifter isn’t illegal. It isn’t secret these days, either. Who cares where I am? It’s still none of his business. Unless you plan to drag me into that SUV and pack me off to Grant, in which case I’m calling the police and a lawyer the first chance I get.”
“No, you’re right, being a shifter isn’t illegal. But you’ve got some unusual shifters around there, don’t you?”
The ice that had settled in her core seemed to spread. “What are you talking about?”
Sloan reached back into the SUV with one long arm and took a folder off the passenger seat. “I’m going to show you some pictures.”
“I’d really rather you didn’t.”
Sloan opened the folder, but didn’t take anything out immediately. “I was here during the rain yesterday. Do you remember seeing anything unusual?”
A sudden memory flickered through her mind: that great dark thing passing overhead, nearly invisible in the rainy gloom.
“I have no idea what you mean. I was busy looking for myfriendwho was lost in the storm. Thanks for being helpful with that, by the way.”
“I didn’t know anyone was missing. Are they all right?”
“Yes, but no thanks to you.”
Sloan tipped a large glossy photo out into his hand. “Anyway, I took some pictures that I think you’re going to want to see.” He held out the photo. Arden made no move to take it. “Don’t worry, we’ve got copies. You can keep this one if you like, though you probably won’t want to explain to your new shifter friends where you got it.”
Arden hated the way that her fingers trembled a little as she took it.
The photo was blurry, and had clearly been taken in haste in the middle of the downpour. It was a big dark ... thing? Arden shook her head. “If this is supposed to mean something to me, it doesn’t. Did you take a picture of your hand by accident?”
“I have some more. See what you think of these.”
Reluctantly she took the next set.
With just one photo, it was nearly impossible to work out what she was looking at. But seeing several of them side by side, from different angles, there was no doubt.
“One of your friends turns into a dragon,” Sloan said.
That would be the big secret everyone kept talking around with Declan, then. Her hand trembled again, vibrating the image. “There’s no way you can get that from any of this. Dragons don’t exist, and your photos are a blurry mess.”
