Guilty by Association (Judah Black Novels) (26 page)

The locks on the door clicked open. I pressed the release on my seat belt and pulled on the door handle simultaneously and somehow managed to fall out of the car. LeDuc lifted a hand and the door swung closed of its own accord. I stood and managed a few shaky steps backward before he got the window down. “And I really would appreciate it, agent, if you kept this conversation between us. I find there's nothing more unbecoming of a woman than a wagging tongue.”

Andre smiled, rolled the window up and tore out of my driveway, his back tires spitting desert sand all over me.

Initially, I'd resolved to sleep as soon as I got home. I'd been so exhausted before that I had fallen asleep while driving, something I almost never do. After my encounter with
LeDuc, there was no way I could sleep. I had work to do.

I tried again to dig up something on LeDuc but failed miserably so I decided to call the station and see if Quincy had made any progress with the footage and the Jag's plates. I tried the station but got a busy signal. I was turning my cell phone over in my hands, debating whether or not to call Tindall, when my phone rang. “I guess my mind's made up,” I said frowning down at Chanter's number dancing across the screen. “Black.”

“You need to be here,” Chanter said shortly. There was some kind of noise in the background. Whatever it was, it was loud enough that I could barely hear him.

“Yeah, about that. See, there was a bit of a problem with the truck and I can't—”

“Ed will meet you in the Prius,” Chanter said impatiently. “If you have anything that belonged to the boy's father, I suggest you bring it.”

I started to ask if Hunter was okay but the line went dead before I could get the words out.
If you have to ask, then you already know the answer
, I thought and dialed Tindall's cell. It went straight to his voice mail which meant he either had the damn thing off or the bastard was screening his calls. “Detective, Black here. I just wanted to check in, see how Sal was doing in lockup and to check on that footage Quincy's looking over for me. I'm chasing another lead and can't get down there but, when you have a second, ring me back. I have another suspect but I don't want you to move on him, not yet. Not until we know where the kids are.”

I hung up and tore through the house looking for something, anything of Alex's I'd kept. After he died, I sold almost everything he owned to pay for the funeral since we didn't have any life insurance and I still had to take out a personal loan. The only thing I'd kept was the simple, gold wedding band. I should have sold it years ago. It was just a thing but it was a thing that was his. It was all I had. I finally found it in the bottom of a shoe box and tucked it into my pocket.

Outside, someone hit a car horn. I pulled apart the blinds just in time to see a blue Prius roll into my driveway. The front passenger side door opened and Ed stepped out. Daphne remained behind the wheel, leaving the car running.

Ed blinked twice at me when I opened the door before he knocked. “What’s happening?”

Ed's eyebrows drew up. “I think you'd better see for yourself. Chanter told me not to get you upset.”

“I'm already upset,” I grumbled and went out, locking the door behind me. I took the front seat and crossed my arms. “If anything happens to my son...”

“You're sitting in a car with two werewolves,” said Daphne as Ed climbed in. “If I were you, I'd think twice before threatening their alpha.” She turned to me. “If you'd known the truth about your late husband, would you have loved him?”

“Excuse me?” Daphne didn't answer me. She just turned back to the wheel. “That's a damn personal question.”

“It's hard to love something you're afraid of,” she said quietly. “I just want you to understand before you see it. Whoever said love conquers all was full of crap. There are places even a mother's love doesn't go. I need to know before I take you out there how you really feel about us. I've seen one too many mothers, fathers and brothers turn and run, never to be heard from again. Make no mistake, Ms. Black. Harsh words cut deeper than the sharpest knife. I won't let you hurt him.”

My mouth fell open. How could she insinuate that I would ever say or do anything to hurt my own son? But I didn't know what I was walking into, what I would see. And I didn't know if any shred of Hunter would still be left once he Changed. Even if he regained his human form, it was entirely possible that he would want nothing more to do with me or BSI. It wouldn't be the first time such a thing had happened. I didn't want him to have to choose between who he was and who I wanted him to be.

I settled further into my seat and stared straight ahead. “Maybe love isn't blind,” I said. “But it is stupid. Alex was a hard person to love. The way I see it, if I could look past all the boozing, fighting and random disappearing acts he'd pull, what's a little fur on the full moon? So long as Hunter keeps his grades up and doesn't get into fights with anyone who doesn't deserve it, my biggest problem with him is going to be getting him to put the toilet seat down and do his homework.”

Daphne cracked a smile. “I knew there was a reason I liked you,” she said and hit the gas.

A half hour later, we pulled into Chanter's driveway and I was out of the car before it even came to a full stop. Shauna, who was sitting on the front porch, stood when I came barreling up the stairs and stepped between me and the door. She had scratches on her cheek that had yet to see any cleaning or a bandage and her head was a mess of sweat and dark stains. Normally, I would have yelled at her to get out of my way but the condition she was in... It made me think something terrible had happened there.

“How is he?” I asked. I just wished I knew what I was asking about.

The tight muscles in her shoulders relaxed a little when she realized I wasn't there to pick a fight. She nodded but opened the door and said, “I'll take you to Chanter.”

We went through the house and into the big open backyard. Shauna went to a small storage building, leafing through a set of keys on the way. “I'll warn you,” she started, stopping in front of the building. “Neither of them is going to be in a good mood. Tread lightly. Don't assume any position or title of yours is going to stop them from ripping your throat out if you get smart.” I narrowed my eyes and frowned at her. She looked up and shrugged. “Just saying. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have even called you. Sal should be here. Not you.”

“I'm his
mother
.”

“See if that makes a difference on the other side of this door.” Shauna unlocked the padlock over the doors and stood off to the side, gesturing for me to open them. I gave her a doubtful look but she didn't budge.

The metal handle of the door was oddly cool in my fingers, especially given that it was a hundred degree day outside. It should have been burning hot. The door creaked loudly as I swung it open. Inside, I found the contents of a typical shed: hoses, tools, a workbench, gardening shears.
Gardening shears?
I thought and stepped inside.
We're in the desert. What possible use could anyone have for gardening shears out here?
On the workbench, I found sawdust and remnants of cut wood right alongside metal shavings and a few stone arrowheads. As I picked up one of the arrowheads, the shed door swung closed, leaving me in darkness.

“Very funny,” I growled and stumbled back toward the door. “Lead me to an empty shed and lock me in. I bet you think that's hilarious.” I felt the door, searching for an inside handle and found it bare. A small panic worked through me as I considered why a bunch of werewolves would want to lock me in a shed. I mean, not like I'd done anything to piss them off. I swallowed the panic, took a deep breath and kicked the door.

Kicking down a door in real life doesn't work as well as it does in the movies. It always takes more than one kick for me anyways. If the door is solid wood in a good frame like the shed door was, it usually takes a good long time. I was more likely to break my foot or kick a hole in the door before the whole door went down. Luckily, I didn't have to do either. The third time I went to slam my shoe against them, both doors unbolted and unlocked of their own accord and I went falling through them, landing in two inches of snow.

It took me a moment to process what the cold, wet white stuff was while I laid in it. I rolled over onto my back, trying to rub some feeling back into my nose. “There's no snow in the desert.”

“An astute observation,” Chanter's voice echoed sharp and deep off the shed walls and tree limbs hanging over my head.

The snow crunched as I sat up and looked around. At a small fire several yards away sat the man himself in nothing but a pair of ripped up old blue jeans, a lit cigarette in his hand.

I pushed myself up and meandered slowly toward him. As I walked, I sent out some magickal feelers, trying to determine exactly where we were. The place looked familiar, about as familiar as any forested area in the winter, I suppose. It held a familiar air to it, though, an energy that felt both right and wrong all at the same time. Imagine physically walking through an episode of
deja vu
just this side of the Twilight Zone with electromagnets strapped to your back. I was sure I'd been there before though I had no memory of actually ever setting foot inside of a snow covered forest at night. The energy in that forest was astounding, almost electric. Power floated like a fog, free for the taking. The magick someone could work in here would be among the most powerful and frightening I had ever seen. And yet, Chanter had used it to make fire. I could see the dim halo of power shimmering around the flames as I approached, signaling for all who cared to look that they were as natural as Teflon.

I sat down on a tree trunk next to Chanter and rubbed my hands over my arms. “I give up. Where are we?”

“When we last spoke, you asked me about Ways.” Chanter lifted the cigarette, took a long drag and let the smoke out through his nose before continuing. “I was not entirely truthful with you.”

I looked around me, trying to contain my lack of amazement. I'd expected Ways to be much more grandiose, full of swirling lights and rainbows or what not. This was just a big, quiet forest. It was peaceful, really. “We're in one now?”

“Part of one.”

“So, you're telling me there's a forest in my kitchen cabinet?”

Chanter laughed. “A forest, an ocean, a desert or a swamp...There's no way to know without going through. Some are hospitable and you may pass through without trouble. Others...Simply opening them will draw the attention of those who should never be disturbed.”

I watched Chanter smoke for a moment and listened to the fire crackle. The forest was so quiet that I could hear the tobacco burn. “Where's Hunter? What happened?”

“All in good time. There's no rush. This is a realm of memories and spirits. Time does not touch this plane the same way it does our own.” Chanter held his cigarette out to me.

I frowned. “I don't smoke.”

He lowered it and then turned to fish out a liter of Jack Daniel's that he took a swig of before offering it to me. “If you tell me you don't drink, I won't believe you.”

I took the bottle, looking from it to him. “Where is my son?”

Chanter frowned and turned his attention back to the fire in front of him and the cigarette in his hand. “When I asked you to tell me about the boy's father, you avoided my question. It's a difficult thing, to lose a parent. That loss is even worse when that parent took life or death secrets with him to the grave.”

“Chanter,” I said standing. “Where is my son?”

“Sit down and be silent,” Chanter barked sharply in a tone that sent visible waves of power through the air. When the command hit me, I had no choice but to obey. “Now, take a drink.” I did as ordered, though I resisted swallowing until the roof of my mouth began to burn. “So impatient. I see where he gets that much at least. But you should have sought help for him sooner. As it is, this is unnecessarily rough for him.”

A loud sound pierced the night, a howl straight out of the most horrifying nightmare I'd ever had. Chanter raised his eyes and glanced around the tree line nervously. I swallowed and fought against the command he'd issued. The distraction had weakened it but the magick was still plenty strong. “Is...is that him?”

“No,” said Chanter in a voice just above a whisper. “It's the wolf inside of him, fighting to come free. The boy is in a dangerous state now. Now is the first of many choices, the culmination of which decides whether he controls the wolf or the wolf controls him.”

Magick held me fast against the tree trunk, even though I fought it with everything I had. There was no other choice. My mind was clouded with a mother's panic. My son was out in the woods alone at night with a monster that wanted to destroy him. Even if there was nothing I could do, I needed to be with him.

“If his father were here, he could have prepared him for this.” Chanter growled and shook his head.

“Stop talking about Alex. You don't have the right.” Chanter was silent as another cry went up, closer this time. “Why are you here? You promised me you would help him.”

“I told you I would try,” Chanter said calmly. “Had you come to me sooner and given me enough time to build up some trust between us, I might have succeeded. It requires a certain bond of trust, one that we do not yet share.”

I swallowed. “What happens if we do nothing?”

Chanter tossed his cigarette into the fire and leaned forward on his elbows. “Difficult to say. Sometimes, the Change kills. The effort of doing it alone literally exhausts them to death. That, or they don't finish in time and die of blood loss or a ruptured organ. If they manage it, though, they don't often come back. When you are the wolf, you forget human things. The longer you stay a wolf, separated from your human half, the harder it becomes to come back from that.”

“What you're saying is that, if we do nothing, Hunter could die. Worse, he could get stuck like that?”

“Or he could be perfectly fine. Many go through it just fine. Of course, all the ones I've known to do such a thing had a great deal of guidance beforehand from a more dominant wolf of their own sex.” Chanter turned toward me, his forehead glistening. He wouldn't say it but he was nervous. He wouldn't have called me otherwise. “I don't suppose there is another male that Hunter looks up to and would trust with his life? One that understands the Change?”