SPENCER
Following the map, we drove to the pack border as close to Marcus’s house as possible and then hid the cars as deep in between the trees as we could.
I could feel Finn’s anxiety, and I knew he didn’t like our plan.
“I’ll be fine,” I whispered into his ear as he hugged me. “I promise.”
“I can’t believe I’m letting you go there alone.”
“I’m not alone.”
“You know what I mean.” He pressed his lips to my temple. “I mean without me. If something goes wrong, let me know at once. We won’t be that far from each other so I will be able to hear you.”
“Keep moving north,” Alister said as Mom opened the compass on her phone. “It might take you about ten to fifteen minutes to get there.”
Mom handed me the vial with the oil and I put some of it around my neck, my shoulders, and down my arms.
“We better go,” said Mom.
“Aren’t you going to cloak yourselves first?” asked Finn.
“No. Not before we get to the house. We need to walk fast, and it would be hard to keep the energy focused on the spell right now.”
She led the way, and I followed her.
I didn’t want Finn to worry more than he already did, so I tried to act cool for a little longer. But when I knew he was far enough away not to sense my emotions, I let myself freak out a little before putting my badass hat on again.
“Mom, maybe we should’ve taken the map. Are you sure we’re going the right way? And how do we know which house is his? What if we get in the wrong one and it’s full of people?”
“Spencer, you’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Spitting out questions because you’re nervous. You did it every time we had to run or hide since you were a kid. We’ll be okay, honey. I know what I’m doing. And you’re not a kid anymore, you’re a kick-ass werewolf now, remember?”
“Right. Sorry. Must be an old habit,” I chuckled. “I’m not afraid or anything. I already told you once that it’s my turn to protect you. It’s just this wolf stuff. . . you know? It’s different. New.”
My wolf surfaced and released a low growl.
Mom stopped. “What is it?”
Spencer, is something wrong?I heard Finn in my head.
“It’s nothing. We’re getting closer and my wolf can sense them.” I replied to both of them.
“Well, you’ll have to keep quiet.”
Your wolf knows those are enemies, Spencer,” Finn sounded alarmed. She might act out. You have to keep her under control.
Don’t worry, love. I got this.
After another few minutes, we saw the opening ahead of us. As we got closer, I saw the backyard of a house.
“Is that it?” I asked.
“No. This house only has one story. The alpha’s house would be bigger than that.” Mom glanced at the compass and pointed to the right. “That way.”
We carefully moved among the trees, passed the house, and after a few minutes, another two-story building showed up.
I stopped.
Something about the scent coming from that place felt familiar.
“Spencer?” Mom whispered, staring at the house. “What is it? Do you hear anything?”
“No. It’s the scent.” I inhaled deeper. “It’s like I know it. Which is impossible. The only wolf here who I met before is Eric, but this scent isn’t his.”
Mom frowned, then looked away. “This is the right one.”
We found it.I said to Finn. We’re going in.
Make sure it’s empty first.
I will.
Still looking grim, Mom eyed the house one more time from top to bottom.
“I’ll cloak us together so we can see each other. Come here.” She took both my hands and began chanting. “You know how it works. Stay close and don’t speak,” she said when she was done.
Slowly, and trying not to make any noise, we started walking toward the house.
“I don’t hear anything,” I whispered.
“It doesn’t mean there’s no one inside,” Mom whispered back.
“Mom, what if the door’s locked? How do we get in?”
“We’ll figure it out.”
The two of us stopped and I ran my eyes along the big porch. A few stairs led to a dark wood double door. On both sides of the door, there were big windows, and one of them was open.
“Okay. That’s one way in,” I glanced at Mom, and as she nodded, I grinned. “I’m glad you’re wearing pants and not one of your fancy fitted skirts.”
“Still, we could make a lot of noise climbing through the window. We should try the door first.”
We crossed the yard and when we were about to climb the porch stairs, I grabbed Mom’s arm and pulled her back.
“Wait. I hear a car.”
We backed up to the end of the porch, and seconds later, a topless Jeep Wrangler showed up from behind the trees across the yard, drove in, and stopped in front of the stairs. Sitting behind the wheel was a young woman with jet-black hair pulled up in a ponytail. She turned off the engine, and at the same moment, I heard a faint sound of footsteps coming from the house. The front door opened and a boy around twelve with short strawberry blond hair showed up in the doorway.
“Has it started yet?” he asked, looking at the woman.
“It’s about to. Come on. You’re going to be late for your training.”
“Mom, I’m an heir too,” the boy gazed at the woman. “He could at least tell me what it’s all about.”
“Jackson, get in the car.” When the boy slammed the front door shut and headed to the car, the woman said, “You know the rules. Be patient. It will happen again in five years. Right when you’ll become a wolf. And then you’ll be allowed to know.”
The boy jumped in the seat next to her, and they took off.
“Apparently, they don’t lock the doors around here,” I said quietly.
I glanced at Mom and saw her narrowed eyes follow the car until it took a turn and vanished from view.
“If he’ll still be the heir,” she muttered menacingly under her breath.
What the heck?“Mom?”
“Come on,” she headed toward the front door.
As Mom turned the doorknob, I glanced around to make sure there was no one nearby. Since we were invisible, it would look pretty suspicious if someone saw the door open and close by itself.
We walked into the hallway and stopped. Right in front of us was a living room with dark furniture. In front of a couch facing the fireplace was a bearskin rug. On my right was an oak staircase leading to the second floor.
Mom looked at me and tapped her ear. I listened, but all I could hear was my and Mom’s heartbeats.
“There’s no one here,” I still whispered just in case.
We’re in the house, I addressed Finn, but he didn’t reply. Finn?
“Mom, Finn isn’t answering. I can’t hear him.”
“Of course you can’t. You’re far enough from each other, and you’re in a house under a cloaking spell that’s jamming your so-called signal.”
We took a few steps forward, and my eyes traveled around the room, looking for anything that could be a hiding place for such important items as the scroll and the compass.
Mom examined the shelves, looking behind the books and figurines. I looked behind the paintings, hoping to find some hidden safe, and checked the drawers of the old-fashioned sideboards.
Some inexplicable feeling drove me to the door in the farthest corner of the room. I moved toward it with that same familiar scent beckoning me. The moment I opened the door, a warm wave went through me, and my magical energy pulsed in the tips of my fingers.
“Mom, I think it’s here.”
Mom followed me into the room.
“Do you feel it?” I asked.
“Yeah. There’s definitely magic here.”
With a grim expression on her face, she looked around. At the antique desk and the tall chair behind it, the shelves full of books, the paintings on the walls, and the weapon cabinet in the corner filled with swords and daggers.
“It’s his study.” She approached the desk and picked up a frame sitting in the corner. I drew closer and over her shoulder I glanced at the photograph of the alpha with his smiling wife hugging him from behind, and his son on his side.
“So this is Marcus?” I asked, my eyes fixed on the handsome man who was twenty-nine, thirty at most, with shoulder-length strawberry blond wavy hair and blue eyes.
Mom gave me a curt nod and put the frame down. “We should check every inch of this room.”
It wasn’t only magic, there was some other strong sensation storming through me, drawing me to a painting on the wall behind the desk above the tall chair. Something was telling me it was the compass.
“There’s no need for that. I think I know where it is.” I rounded the desk and tried to take the painting off the wall. It didn’t budge. Then I tried to pull it aside, and when it didn’t move, I grabbed its edge and pulled. It opened like a book, and there on the wall was an iron door. The safe.
“So,” I spread my hands hopelessly. “What do we do now? We don’t know any—” I stopped talking.
“Spencer?”
“Shh,” I raised my finger. “I hear a car. That woman must be back.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll deal with her.”
There was a slam of the car door, then the front door, and I heard heavy footsteps that didn’t sound like they belonged to a woman.
“It’s him. He’s coming here,” I mouthed at Mom.
But it seemed that she heard the footsteps too. She pushed the frame back in place before I finished the words, grabbed me by my arm, and pulled me to the corner between the bookshelves and the weapon cabinet.
With my heart beating in my throat, I watched the door open. The moment the tall man with broad shoulders walked inside, the scent I felt before became much stronger. I was right, it was the alpha. I gaped at Mom, who was looking at him with eyes full of fury and longing at the same time.
Marcus frowned. He stopped, ran his eyes around the room, and sniffed the air. He hesitated for a second, then shook his head with annoyance, and stepped behind the desk.
It seemed that Mom’s oil was working, and he didn’t catch our scent, though if he listened, he would easily hear our loud heartbeats. But it looked like his mind was somewhere else to pay more attention to whatever seemed suspicious to him at first.
Mom and I stared at each other as we saw him pull aside the painting, dial the combination, and open the safe. His wide shoulders covered the content from us, but then he turned around and put a round dark wood box with a glass lid in the form of a dome on the desk.
My eyes widened. I knew it was the compass, and when I looked at Mom, she nodded, biting her lip.
Then Marcus pulled the second object out of the safe. Another wooden box with a glass lid, but in a different rectangular form. The scroll. Then he closed the safe and pushed the painting back to its place.
Horror shot through me as I realized he was going to take them away with him. That would ruin the whole plan and god knows if we would have a second chance to get our hands on those things.
I gaped at Mom, but before I could mouth anything to her, she raised her hand and ran it down, slicing the air between the two of us with the edge of her palm, putting us in separate cloaks. The next second, I was alone under the cloak, but after another one, I could see her again, which meant she had removed her cloak.
Marcus’s shoulders jerked slightly as she appeared before him.
“What the fuck?” He glared at Mom, then ran his eyes around the room. But when he turned his eyes back at Mom, his frown vanished. For a split second, his look softened, and something in that look felt so familiar.
“Miranda?” He pierced her with his blue eyes.
“Hello, Marcus.”