The Alpha - Joel Abernathy Page 0,54

of awkwardness. Vaughn held onto his hand a bit too long, and something about the way he was looking at the younger ghoul raised Colt’s hackles. “My, what extraordinary blood runs through your veins.”

Ronnie gave a nervous laugh and pulled his hand away. “You guys really don’t get out much, do you?”

“Come on,” Colt said, putting himself in between them. He started walking toward the house, Andrew and the others following suit. There was no game plan, but could there ever really be one with a changeling involved? He was putting all his hope on the man who had once been sent to kill him. Life really had a way of twisting the knife.

Colt still wasn’t sure what he was going to do with Vaughn once Peter was gone, but he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

He touched the machete at his side, the handle hidden by his leather jacket. It wasn’t like it was going anywhere, but it made him feel more secure. The thing was practically attached to his hand, thanks to Roland’s training. It had paid off, too.

The closer they drew to the house, the more the strangest sense of déjà vu came over Colt. It was strong enough that it made his head hurt, and for a moment, he thought Peter had gotten into his head again. He looked around and realized the others didn’t seem affected.

New England was pretty small, but Colt knew he’d never been there before. There was no reason. It was just a little patch of farmland out in the middle of nowhere.

It was probably just nerves, he told himself. He wasn’t scared for himself, but there was so much room for shit to go wrong. He had to protect Ronnie and Jason. Even Andrew.

Colt stopped walking only when he realized there was a hand resting on his shoulder. He turned around and saw it was just Ronnie.

“You okay?” Ronnie asked, growing serious.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Colt said, shaking off the strange sensation. Ronnie’s touch grounded him and brought him back to earth. He had a job to do, no matter what mind games Peter thought he could play. Only one of them was walking out of that house, and too much was riding on Colt to let it be Peter.

The house was surprisingly well-maintained on the inside for a property that looked as if it had been abandoned for years. It was a little family home with a narrow staircase and a large living room. The wooden floors were scuffed up from decades of living. There was no furniture, and all the possessions that had once occupied the house had probably been sold at an estate sale long ago.

Colt couldn’t imagine the owners were still alive. The property was obviously somewhat kept up on, despite the overgrowth in the yard, but there was no shortage of abandoned properties just sitting around waiting for a lowball cash offer.

Why this house? There was nothing at all remarkable about it. At least not at first glance. And yet, Colt couldn’t shake the feeling he had somehow been there before.

He listened closely, hoping for any sound or sign that Jason was there. The only thing he heard was a faint dripping sound coming from somewhere in the walls. Probably a leak in the roof, if not faulty plumbing.

Colt raised a finger to his lips and motioned for the others to be silent as he climbed the stairs. He wasn’t sure how Peter was going to react to the fact that they had brought their bargaining chip unchained, but the upstairs was as silent as the rest of the house. Colt checked all the rooms before allowing the others to follow him up.

The only room that had any space sufficient for the four of them to occupy overlooked the backyard and the rusted-out swing set below. The sound of the swing swaying back and forth shot through his head like a bullet.

Colt groaned, lurching forward with his head in his hands. For a split second, the pain was unbearable, and he wouldn’t have been at all surprised to turn around and find Peter standing there with that impish grin on his face. The ringing in his ears finally cleared, and there was no sign of the changeling anywhere. Ronnie and Andrew were both looking at him in concern, and even Vaughn seemed unsettled.

“You didn’t hear that?” Colt asked, looking between them.

None of them answered.

Ronnie finally asked, “What did you hear?”

Colt was still debating