“Could be, but Scotty also mentioned the guy is dressed like the decedent, with a full suit and tie. Our mayor doesn’t even wear a suit.” Dad lifts his hand as if to indicate Grayson, who is now standing near Felix and Remy in a pair of dark blue slacks and a white button-up shirt. I have no idea how or when he got here. All three of them are looking in my direction—make that four, including Percival.
It takes me a minute to regain my bearings after looking at them. “Wait, you think it has something to do with this?”
“It would make a hell of a lot more sense than thinking Belinda did,” Dad quips.
I reach for Dad’s arm and pull back a little so he’s forced to look at me. “You can’t go in with assumptions.” I stare right into his eyes, hoping he will see reason. One of his shoulders sags, and I take it as my opening. “Let me talk to him,” I offer.
“Talk to who?” Grayson stalks over with a scowl on his face. Great, he’s pissed again. I thought things were okay when he left earlier. Yeah, it was a little abrupt, but I thought we were good.
“I don’t have time for this,” Dad says before jogging over to his truck and hopping in.
“Damnit! Remy, we need to follow him.” I’m already running to the SUV. Felix shuts the hatch on the back and scoops up Percival. The animal seems about as shocked as I am, but he doesn’t attack Felix for it, so that’s good.
“Where is he going?” Remy demands, starting the car as I slide into the backseat.
“A traffic stop, but I don’t know where.” Felix places Percival on the seat between us.
A little warning would be nice next time.Percival curls into a ball like a cat and settles.
“Sorry, I knew we were in a hurry and just reacted,” Felix offers.
I turn my head slowly to face Felix. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and blinks at me a little owlishly. “You can hear him,” I accuse. There’s no way he responded so perfectly to Percival any other way. “How can you hear him?”
“That’s bullshit, and you didn’t tell me?” Remy looks over his shoulder at Felix with a scowl. “What did he say about me?” His tone is much lighter for the second question.
“Watch the road. I need to make sure Pop doesn’t make a mistake,” I instruct Remy.
Grayson turns so he’s looking right at Percival.
How many men do you consort with?
“Three,” I answer without thought. “I mean none.”
Are humans really so daft? I can smell you all over them, and them on you.If minks can roll their eyes, he just rolled his eyes at me.
“It’s complicated,” I defend.
“Why can’t we hear him?” Grayson asks Remy.
This one’s bond is stronger,Percival replies, but I keep the response to myself, even though I look over at Felix.
With subtle movements so as not to disturb Percival between us, Felix wraps his pinky around mine, looks straight ahead, and tells Remy, “You’re going to lose him if you don’t speed up.”
My head hits the seat behind me when Remy smashes the gas pedal. “This conversation isn’t over,” he states but remains quiet after.
Chapter 18
My brain has too many tabs open.
“Right up there.” I needlessly point to Dad’s truck pulling up behind a patrol car. There’s a black coupe pulled to the side of the road in front of it. The brake lights flare for a brief second before the vehicle takes off, kicking up dirt and pebbles from the shoulder of the road.
Dad, who was already getting out of his truck, hops back in, hits his flashers, and peels out, giving chase to the car. Remy reacts without me telling him to and does the same, while Scotty stays parked on the shoulder of the road.
“Should have told Scotty to tag the car,” I mumble, wishing we had the forethought to disable the electronics with a charm, but you need cause for something like that. Good news is Dad has it now, so as long as he can get close enough, he can send out a spell. Taggers are standard issue on police vehicles, but landing a spell while speeding isn’t an easy thing to do.
“What is he waiting for?” Grayson grabs a hold of the handle near the windshield like he can’t sit still. Seconds later, I feel the disabling spell land. A tiny tremor of a shockwave passes through me, and Grayson jerks his head to the left to look back. Our eyes connect, and it’s like it was earlier at the house. He doesn’t seem angry, and he appears more like the person I used to know.
He blinks after a short second and braces himself as Remy slams on the brakes to park next to my dad. We all sit frozen for a moment until I release Felix’s fingers and announce, “Stay in the car.”
