Twiceborn (31 page)

We left the main road and turned into the industrial area where The Dress-up Box was located. During the day the smash repair joints, auto-electricians and kitchen showrooms bustled with cars and utes, trucks and work vans, but at night the place was a ghost town. Hectares of empty concrete and silent machinery sat behind locked gates.

We drove down streets containing nothing bigger than a discarded Coke can and cruised past the shop. The emptiness was reassuring. No one was parked out here waiting for us. Of course it also meant our lone white car, cruising down a dead-end street at nine o’clock at night, stood out like dogs’ balls.

Garth turned at the top of the cul de sac and headed back to the shop. A streetlight lit the forecourt and driveway. No lights showed inside.

“Park round the back,” I said.

“Just because we don’t see anyone doesn’t mean there’s no one here,” he grumbled, but he swung into the driveway and parked in the lot behind the shop. When he cut the engine the silence was unnerving. I shut the car door as quietly as I could, feeling conspicuous, and headed for the back door.

Garth followed, gaze darting this way and that, trying to see everything at once.

“Relax, would you? You’re like a kid on speed.”

“Last time I relaxed Leandra got herself killed.”

Guess he had a point. But I suspected the real source of his nerves was something more basic. Wolves were pack animals. Though he’d been exiled from his natural pack, he’d formed a new one in Leandra’s service. Now he was the only one left, without even Luce to guard his back. No wonder the poor bastard felt twitchy.

I unlocked the door and let us in. The click as it latched behind us sounded loud as a gunshot to my nervous ears. Garth’s jumpiness was catching.

Only a faint glimmer from the streetlight out front penetrated the darkness. The racks of clothes formed strange hulking outlines. A hat rack by the counter loomed like some many-headed alien out of the gloom. The familiar smell of mothballs and old fabrics greeted me as I threaded my way through the racks toward the back corner where the Elizabethan selection hung. Garth ghosted along in my wake, his sneakers making no noise on the concrete floor.

I sensed his presence before I saw him but even so I squeaked as a shadow detached itself from the racks and stepped forward.

“Ben!”

I threw myself into his arms. He kissed me hungrily, and I lost myself in the fresh outdoor scent of him, the feel of his lips on mine. He was hard and warm and alive, and I never wanted to let him go.

Garth cleared his throat, and I loosened my grip, coming up for air at last. The faint light coming in the high back windows was enough for my dragon-enhanced vision to make out his beloved face.

“I missed you.”

A smile warmed the dark pools of his eyes. “I missed you, too. Thank God you’re okay—I’ve been so worried.”

“Me too.” I reared back and punched his chest. “What the hell were you thinking, jumping into the fight like that? What happened to ‘self-defence only’?”

He caught my fist and kissed each finger in turn. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“I’m sorry we left you.”

“I’m glad you did. Making a run for it was the smart option.”

Only then did it occur to me that he knew nothing about the Leandra situation. He hadn’t seen me compel Micah or been there for the confrontation with Jason. He was glad I’d escaped for my own sake.

“What happened after we left?”

The fond look on his face turned grim. “Valeria had a bunch of guys with guns stationed around the house to blast anyone who survived the fire.”

I nodded. Micah had shot one of them during our escape.

“Once she was sure no one was coming out, they took off and left Jason to mop up. The leshies made that more of a challenge than he’d expected. It didn’t take him long to decide it wasn’t worth the effort, for a handful of leshies and a couple of strays. Probably figured there was no point taking a bullet and missing all the fun. The leshies were all for going after them—they’re pretty fierce when their blood’s up—but Luce managed to talk them out of it.”

From the corner of my eye I saw Garth grin, and felt my own lips twitch in response. I knew her persuasion skills. Knock a few heads together first, talk later—that was Luce’s style.

“I left then, and got as far as the roadblock. When I saw the car was gone I felt better—I knew you’d gotten away.”

“Why didn’t Luce go too?” Garth asked. “If Alicia’s dead there’s no reason for her to stay.”

“Turns out Alicia’s not dead. Adam was right—she made it to the bunker in time. She waited in there till Valeria had gone. I should have realised when the leshies didn’t go to pieces. By the time I got back she’d appeared and started directing the clean-up operation.”

Poor Adam. He would have been so happy to know she’d survived. I wondered if she even cared he was dead. Ungrateful cow.

“So where did you two get to?”

“We chased Nada to King’s.”

He stiffened in my arms. I peered through the dark, but his expression was unreadable. “King’s?”

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I could feel a goofy smile nearly splitting my face in half. “You’ll never
guess
what we discovered!”

His body was tense as a coiled spring. “What?”

“Lachie.” My eyes stung with happy tears. “He’s alive, Ben! Can you believe that? All this time, he’s been alive!”

He looked down at me. No answering smile, no oh-my-God-I-can’t-believe-it.

I searched his face, the moment stretching into eternity.

“You
knew
?”

I stepped back. Wire hangers squeaked on their racks as I brushed against the clothes. They shifted and rustled like a crowd of ghosts looking over my shoulder. Only Garth at my side felt solid in the dark.

“I’m so sorry, Kate.”

“You’re sorry?” My voice climbed an octave. “You’re
sorry
? All this time—!” My mind couldn’t encompass it. “You bastard.”

I hauled off and slapped him as hard as I could.

No reaction.

I clenched my fists, trembling with rage. My eyes were dry; this fury ran too deep for tears. Leandra stirred inside. Another betrayal. She knew how that felt.

“I
am
sorry.” He took a step toward me, anguish on his face. “Jason came to me that day and said he needed a favour. He said Lachie’s life was in danger. Something terrible had happened and Leandra thought Jason had done it. She was going to kill Lachie to punish him.”

“That’s a lie.” Leandra had never had any such intention.

“I know that now, but I didn’t realise it till too late. He was my friend, or so I thought, and I knew how deadly dragon feuds could be. He told me he was going to fake Lachie’s death so Leandra would have no reason to hunt for him, and he asked me to hide Lachie temporarily till he could take him to board at King’s.

“When I found out he wasn’t going to tell you the truth, I refused. You have to believe me, Kate. You don’t know what this has been like for me.”

What it had been like for
him
? As if I cared.

“That was when I discovered our friendship was only a pretence. He said if I didn’t cooperate he would kill my sister’s little girls. I had no choice.”

“You could have told me.” Garth’s hands closed on my arms, holding me back. “How could you do that to me? And what about Lachie, shoved into a boarding school all alone?” He’d never spent a night away from home. My heart broke all over again to think what he must have suffered. “What did he think was going on?”

He looked away, unable to meet my eyes. “Jason told him you’d died.”

I lunged at him, but Garth had me in an iron grip. My body flushed with a rage so great my skin could barely hold it in. My veins ran with pure fire.

“You
bastard
. All that time you pretended to be my friend, always there for me like some frigging guardian angel.” And hadn’t I fallen for it! Ben, my rock, my saviour. To think only moments ago I’d been all over him like a rash. He’d
slept
with me, knowing our whole relationship was a lie. I spat words as if each one were a drop of poison. I wished they were. “You hypocrite. You couldn’t even give me one little hint?”

He spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “We’re talking about Gemma and Ashlyn’s lives here. He sent a wolf around to rip Gemma’s pet rabbit apart. Left pieces scattered across their backyard. He said Gemma was next if you got suspicious. I couldn’t risk it.

“All I could do was help you in any way I could. I know it’s not enough, but I tried. I sent Lachie presents, and visited him every month, till Jason found out and ordered me to stay away.”

He stepped closer, eyes pleading. “This has been a nightmare. Trust me, you can’t hate me any more than I’ve hated myself. I’m glad you know. I’m so sorry, Kate.”

I stared into his beautiful dark eyes, so sad and guilty, and I felt … nothing.

“It’s not enough.” I shook Garth’s hands off. “I will never forgive you. I don’t care if I never see you again.”

I headed for the door, shoving clothes out of my way. My elbow knocked a wig from its stand and I kicked it under a clothes rack without breaking stride. Garth followed, his face carefully expressionless.

The shrill of his phone made us both jump. He dug it out and answered, then stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“It’s for you.” He held it out, face grim. “It’s Nada.”

Nada! I took the phone as if it might bite me, Ben forgotten.

“What do you want?”

I could hear her smirk down the telephone. “It’s not what
I
want, sweetheart, it’s what
you
want. I have something that belongs to you. What would you do to get it back?”

Leandra surged inside me, but I knew she didn’t mean the channel stone.

“Is he there? Let me speak to him!”

“Uh-uh, not so fast. You can chat all you want in person, after you turn yourself in.”

“Turn myself in to you?” I forced a contemptuous tone, though my heart began to pound and the shadows crowded in on me. “Why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t, your little boy is dead.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“I still think I should come with you.”

Garth didn’t have to add that he thought I was mad; I knew him well enough by now. A muscle jumped in his jaw; his big hands clenched the cracked steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white.

He was probably right too, but I was out of options. I watched the crowds thronging the streets, some dressed to the nines, others sporting crazy hats or face paint. A light drizzle did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm. It was New Year’s Eve, and they’d come to party.

The car inched along George Street. It was eleven-thirty, and the drunks were already out, staggering and swearing their way along the footpaths and sometimes weaving erratically among the traffic. Many of them had probably been drinking all day. Alcohol was banned in the areas around the Opera House and the Domain but everywhere else was a free-for-all, and even in the patrolled areas there were ways to get around the ban if you were determined enough.

My destination was the Toaster, a steel-and-glass blot on the landscape that hulked behind the beautiful sails of the Opera House. A very expensive blot. Still, position is everything in real estate. It was the place to be for a ringside seat to the fireworks on the harbour. Valeria, of course, had a penthouse suite. And tonight, it was the place
I
had to be to stop Nada carrying out her threat.

“Don’t these people have somewhere else to go?”

Werewolves generally didn’t do well with crowds. I didn’t care much for them myself when they made our progress so slow. I checked my watch again. 11:35.

“It’d be faster to walk.” I got out at the next set of lights. Garth gave me a hopeful look, twitchy as a dog told to stay.

“Are you sure—?”

“She said to come alone. I’m not doing anything to upset her.” At least not yet.

I strode off into the crowd with a confidence I didn’t feel. Garth thought the plan was dodgy. Hell,
I
thought the plan was dodgy, but it was the best I could come up with. Letting Leandra out to play was a risk. More than a risk: I felt ill just thinking about it. But Lachie was in danger, and Leandra was my only weapon.

Garth called that madness; I called it being a mother.

The crowds packed in tight around the Quay: anywhere with a harbour view pulsed with wall-to-wall people. I saw party hats and feathers, and everything from evening wear to T-shirts and bare feet. I gathered invitations and suggestions from all sides, some ruder than others. Everyone was out for a good time, but there were just so many people. I threaded my way through, past the ferry terminals, the ice cream vendors and the inevitable buskers. Pushing against the human tide, I could see my destination, its steel and glass hulking above the crowds, but couldn’t seem to get any closer, like one of those dreams where you keep running but never move from the spot.

Overhead a train rattled into Circular Quay station, hardly noticeable above the roar of the crowds and three or four competing sources of music. Barges were moored in the harbour, floating platforms for the fireworks. When the light show started, the massive speakers around the foreshore would pump out a matching soundtrack. I hadn’t been for years; the crowds and the heat always gave me a headache, and Lachie and I liked to curl up on the couch together and watch it all on TV instead. Much more comfortable, and a better view.

Plus you didn’t get jostled by drunken idiots all the time. I pushed on, fighting my way through the crowd.

It was nearly 11:45 by the time I made it to the Toaster, and then I had to wait while the building security checked their lists for my name. The concierge looked nervous, as well he might, with hordes of drunken revellers outside his door. I swallowed hard and tried to hide my own nerves.

The lift pinged and three shifters stepped out, all tall unsmiling men dressed in suits. One was a werewolf and the other two looked like goblins from their auras. Maybe I should have been flattered Nada was being so cautious, but I’d been hoping for a smaller escort. One of the goblins patted me down for hidden weapons, then gestured me into the lift. God knows what the concierge thought of that. None of them spoke.