The Alpha - Joel Abernathy Page 0,44
I suppose I shouldn’t give you too much credit. I know the goth imp with the toy gun had something to do with that.”
Colt froze, looking over at Ronnie. The sour look on his face said he’d heard the remark, but at the moment, Colt was more concerned about the fact that Peter had eyes on them. He’d figured as much when the phone rang, but it wasn’t good that he was acknowledging Ronnie’s presence.
“Don’t worry,” Peter said sweetly. “I don’t mind. You’re more the brawn type than the brains. Tell me, has your clever friend helped you figure out why you’re here?”
“You want Vaughn,” said Colt. “I’m assuming he’s the Plague Doctor who killed our mother.”
Peter was silent for a few seconds. Then he said, “Very good, brother. Very good, indeed.”
“You know, you could have just told me,” Colt said, swallowing his revulsion. If playing nice would better Jason’s odds, so be it. “You didn’t have to do all this shit to get my attention.”
There was something discordant about Peter’s laugh that made it more unnerving than musical. “Trying to appeal to my humanity, Colt? You’ve been in the ghoul world long enough to know better than that.” He gave a disapproving click of his tongue. “I expected more from you by this point.”
“If I bring you Vaughn, that’s it,” Colt growled. “No more fucking around. You give Jason back and then we’ll work out whatever shit there is between us, man to man.”
“How noble,” Peter snickered. “Rest assured, you hold up your end of the bargain and I’ll hold up mine.”
“Where?” Colt asked.
“Ah-ah-ah. You know the rules. You’ve got what you need. I’ll even let your little friend help. Tomorrow, three in the morning. We’ll be waiting.”
Before Colt could respond, he hung up.
“Son of a bitch,” Colt snarled, gripping the phone.
“Easy, big guy. You’re gonna break it,” Ronnie warned, putting a hand on his arm.
Colt relaxed his grip, knowing he was right. He slipped the phone back into his pocket just in case Peter decided to fuck with him again. “Let’s get out of here. No telling who’s watching.”
“I’d be relieved if it was anyone but him,” Ronnie admitted, following him outside and grumbling something about being grunge, not goth.
“Now I just have to find a Plague Doctor who almost killed me two decades ago,” Colt said flatly.
“No, now we have to find the Plague Doctor.”
“No. You heard Peter. You’re already on his radar, which means you’re next on the list of people he can use to make me his puppet.”
“That’s exactly why I’m coming with you,” Ronnie said, as if the decision was his to make. “If he wants me, being holed up in the estate isn’t gonna change that, and he made it pretty clear he expects us both to be there. You really wanna risk pissing him off and having him take it out on Jason?”
Colt stopped in front of his truck, turning to face the younger man. “That’s not fair. I’m not choosing between you.”
“That’s reality,” Ronnie corrected. “And FYI, if you love him, it shouldn’t be a choice at all.”
He climbed into the truck before Colt could argue. Colt grudgingly did the same. The less time they spent outside, the better.
Chapter 18
When every lead Colt pursued on his own turned out to be a dead end, he knew it was time to go to the last man he wanted to ask for help.
Well, almost the last.
Roland was out at his shooting range, as usual. When Colt had failed to contact him by phone or find him down at the station, he knew that was where the older ghoul would be.
Sneaking up on Roland when he had a shotgun in his hands wasn’t a good idea. Actually, sneaking up on him wasn’t a good idea ever. Colt kept enough distance to be safe until Roland spotted him, and he waved.
He could tell from the look of exasperation on the sheriff’s face that Roland felt the same way about his visit as Colt thought about having to make it. They got along for the sake of their mutual interests--and since Roland didn’t really have a choice now that Colt was the Providence Alpha--but they certainly weren’t anything resembling friends.
Colt was grateful for Roland’s training, nonetheless. For what he lacked in charisma, the other ghoul more than made up for in skill and experience. Colt knew he wouldn’t have survived half the shit he had if it wasn’t for Roland’s training sessions.
“It’s my day off,” Roland