I don’t reply. My mind is spinning back, thinking over every interaction I’ve had with her since I woke up alone in her bed, to when I saw her with her pale face and her hand red with blood in front of the warehouse.
She already knew. Before Hugo told everyone. I don’t know how she knew, but I know I’m right.
She knew Heathcliff was here, so she’s going to go fight for him.
The question is...why not tell me? Why not tell any of us?
“She shouldn’t have lied and pretended to run,” Addie says.
No, she shouldn’t have. And as soon as I get her back, I’m going to mark her ass for it.
“We would’ve helped.”
I tap my fingers against the steering wheel in thought. “Yeah, but she knows that. So why didn’t she tell us the truth? We’re missing something.”
“I don’t know,” Addie replies with a shake of her head. “But we need to go after her.”
“Not we. Me.”
Addie scowls. “I’m going. She’s my friend, and I’m the one who figured it out! You were over here crying into your steering wheel.”
I shoot her a glare. “I wasn’t crying.”
“Close enough,” she mutters.
“Addie, you really think it’s a good idea to go anywhere near your childhood pack right now?” I challenge. “The same pack that fucking issued a fight or flight order when you were fifteen years old? The same pack that attacked you twice, just recently? No. Not only would that be fucking stupid, but your mates would kick my ass.”
Which is why I texted them, letting them know that they need to come get Addie before she tries to go to Pack Rockhead and get herself hurt.
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can, but it’s still not smart. And we have to be smart when it comes to Troupe Delirium.”
I paid attention to every detail Jetta let slip over the last several weeks, and I know she doesn’t exaggerate. If she went to them to try to save Cliff, and it was too dangerous to tell us the truth about it, then there’s a reason for it. We have to be smart about this. The last thing I want to do is play into Kaazu’s hand and ruin Jetta’s sacrifice by falling into a trap or make things worse somehow.
Another knock on my truck’s window has both Addie and me flinching, and we turn to see Herrick standing there. I have to smother a grin at the fact that she has to face down the mean one.
Addie shoots me a withering look. “You suck, Jericho!”
I shrug, not at all apologetic as Addie opens the door. “Look, before you say anything, I have every right to go help Jetta,” she tells the male.
Her dark-skinned mate stares her down. “You’re not going.”
“Screw you, Herrick. You don’t get to boss me around.”
“I’m not bossing you. I’m protecting you,” he says with a growl.
“You’re annoying me!” she counters.
Herrick scowls at her and then moves to grab her arm, bending like he’s going to throw her over his shoulder caveman-style and cart her off, but she explodes in a fit of feathers, shifting on the spot before he can get a hold of her.
“Shit!”
Her duck comes out in a rage of quacks. Herrick backs up with his hands in front of him as the duck stares him down.
It’s fucking hilarious watching the big, hulking, mean son of a bitch be completely cowed by the sight of a single duck standing in front of him.
“Addie…” he says calmly. “Don’t—”
Her wings flap up before he can finish, and she bolts up into the air, a ferocious quack coming from her throat as she launches at him.
In a split second, her duck is up in his face, and her beak latches right onto his nose.
“Fuck!”
Herrick panics, the duck hanging off his nose like a fish on a hook. She just dangles there, not giving a fuck as Herrick desperately tries to pry her off. The duck isn’t having any of it and just latches on harder, earning another string of curses from her mate. She’s not going anywhere, and Herrick won’t hurt her, even though she’s clamped onto his nose like she wants to see if she can flatten it into a pancake.
I should probably get out of my truck to help the poor guy, but one look at the blood coming from his nose is enough to keep me safely planted in