didn’t want to do this. Squatch ended the call, took the battery from the phone, and put the phone into a signal blocking bag. We’d destroy it before we returned to the clubhouse.
“You are going to kill him?” Brooke asked.
Squatch nodded. I smelled fear coming off the prospect, so thick I stepped upwind of him before I gagged. The other two must have smelled it much worse, but they stayed put.
Brooke turned her gaze on me, and I once again focused on her cheekbones.
“Your owl senses picked up on his duplicity when your brethren couldn’t smell it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Squatch walked to the car, leaned in, and pulled a backpack out. He opened it, retrieved two stacks of cash with rubber bands to keep them together. “Eight thousand dollars in twenties, Brooke. Thank you.”
She looked at the money without moving to accept it, and I worried he’d offended her by so casually using her name. She was an old one, and most of them were big on formality and respect. However, she didn’t seem upset when she met his gaze.
“I have need of him. If you’ll give him to me, I won’t charge you.”
Squatch shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we can’t risk that he’ll be seen. He’s a loose end we need to tie up.”
“I’ll have him out of the country within hours, as I plan to trade him for someone in Europe I wish to free. You have my word, he’ll never show up on anyone’s radar. The vampire I’m offering him to will play with him a few weeks before forcing the coward to fight. My former husband runs a werewolf fight club, where your young wolf will fight to the death in animal form. I don’t expect he’ll last long before he dies.”
No, I didn’t expect he would.
“Remove his memories of us and his handlers,” Squatch told her. “Don’t be gentle. Do this, and we’ll keep our money, plus you’ll think of us as friends of your organization.”
She nodded. “I already consider the bikers to be friends.”
The prospect fell to his knees, his mouth open in a silent scream. Everything about his movements told me he was in excruciating pain. His arms wrapped around his head, and I smelled blood.
He seemed to pass out, and I stooped to look at him. Blood came out his ears. His body was in shock.
“Wake him, please.” I tried to make it sound like a request, but we needed to be certain.
He came to with a gasp, and then started crying. I heard Brooke in my head. He doesn’t know he’s a werewolf. Doesn’t know he can change. This is necessary, so he can’t heal himself.
This told me she wasn’t as strong as Gavin. He could alter memories that wouldn’t come back even if the wolf changed right after. I tried to keep the thought out of my head, but if she was looking at my thoughts, she likely picked up on it.
“Where are you?” I asked the prospect.
He looked around, confused. “The woods. Who are you?”
“What did you do today?”
“I, umm. I guess I went to...” he looked around again. “Why am I not in jail? I don’t remember breaking out.”
Squatch asked some questions, and nodded to Brooke. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, ma’am.”
“It has.” She turned her gaze to me. “A member of my organization will contact you next week. It’s time I rebuilt Club Renaissance.”
The club had been destroyed during the rioting and looting after the battle. “I look forward to speaking with your representative, and I look forward to working with you.”
She tilted her head. “You mean that.” She sounded surprised.
“I look forward to helping you bring your vision to life, ma’am.”
“You may call me Brooke, Frost.”
I’ve been trained in a royal court and I understood this was important, so I bowed at the waist a few inches, looked down a second, to her shoes, showing trust, and then stood and looked just below her eyes again. “Thank you, Brooke.”
“You impress me, young owl.”
And then, just like that, she and the prospect were gone. I looked at Squatch and rolled my eyes. “Let’s clean the interior and get out of here.” He nodded and handed me the handheld vacuum. I leaned into the back and ran it over every square inch of the seat, floor, and the backs and sides and fronts of our seats. If everything went as expected, crime scene techs would never have reason to go over it, but you can’t be