with my sister. I can’t. And I won’t tell more lies to get myself out of the hole I dug. I’ll just handle whatever new tactic she tries in the moment and try to talk sense to her.”
“What about when stewards notice she’s not Team Andie?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I’ll deal with that too.”
My phone rang, and Wade snatched it up.
“Unknown, huh?” He slid me a shit-eating grin, light dancing in his grey eyes. “This is Andie’s phone. Oh, Sascha. Hey, boo. No, she’s in bed with me right now. Could you call back? We’re kind of busy.”
I grabbed the phone, trying and failing to glare at him. “Sascha.”
“Is that true?”
“Greyson. None of your business. Why are you calling?”
“We arranged to meet for a Luther lesson.”
I brushed my hair back. “Right. I forgot.”
“Is everything okay, mate?”
“Don’t call me that. Does it have to be tonight?”
“I have a commitment tomorrow that’s come up.”
I listened intently to his gravel-ridden voice for the truth but couldn’t pick it out from his voice alone. I was so deathly tired. “Where and when?”
“I’m free for the rest of the evening. How about the manor?”
“Very funny,” I said a beat too late.
“Ask Wade for directions to Broderick Falls. We close the road there to tourists at sundown. We’ll be alone. I’ll see you in thirty?”
The sooner I went, the sooner I’d be in bed. “Got it.”
Hanging up, I flipped the phone in my palm. “Where’s Broderick Falls?”
Wade’s jaw dropped. “You’re going to the falls where teen pregnancies occur and the back seats of cars are never the same? What on earth are you meeting there for?”
It spoke for my tiredness that I nearly mentioned Luther lessons. “Sascha and I need to discuss the remaining meets.” Bastard picked that spot to put Wade in his place.
His eyes were round. “All the better to bite you with, little bird. Will another meet happen tonight?”
“Dunno. Probably not.” I dragged a heavy jacket out of my closet, selecting dark jeans.
“Don’t bother with underwear just in case,” he said. “It disappears at Broderick Falls anyway.”
This was just a meet up for Luther lessons.
None of that would happen.
Again.
16
Shoving both hands in my jacket pockets, I followed the path to the falls. Did he mean for us to meet at the falls or back where I left Ella F?
I couldn’t detect his scent. A curious spice mixture reached me instead. Very faint. Whatever it was from, the animal was far away. Even faint, the scent made me want to sneeze.
Enemy.
I ignored my wolf. She’d broken her silence earlier, and it seemed there was no return to blissful quiet. She’d made several comments on the way here.
Ahead, water pounded against rock, and behind me, a car pulled up to where I’d parked. Circling, the car left again, probably put off by the gate reading Closed.
A predator pounded from the east through the trees. The weight and tread of the four-legged gait were recognisable.
Greyson.
I craned my head to see the entire plunge waterfall. Beautiful. I’d never seen a waterfall in real life before. Well, Queen’s Way had a waterfall that was about one metre high and dry half the year. And there was a three-step cascade into the Deception Valley town, I supposed, but this looked like a real waterfall.
My first waterfall and I felt separate from the beauty before me. I could appreciate how the mossy oasis might have seeped into my heart once.
A growl filled the clearing.
Glancing back, I cocked an eye at the dark brown wolf. “Greyson. In a mood tonight?”
I’m sure he had some retort, but we could only mind-speak in wolf form.
Hmm, actually. This was the ideal chance to confirm a theory.
Releasing some of my forest calm, my fingernails shot out into lethal claws, fangs sliding down either end of my chin. My vision sharpened and my hearing range burst outward to five times the radius, my smell stronger still. A trickle of energy returned to me, like dipping a foot into a hot bath.
I’d always found it weird that Sascha spoke of personal issues in the hearing of his pack, but with the sheer range of a Luther’s senses, there probably wasn’t another option. It would be impossible to drive twenty minutes away each time a person wanted to have a private conversation. Even the idea of lying to another Luther was ridiculous. Ugh, suddenly, my whole infiltrate The Dens ploy was laughable. They’d have known the minute I re-entered the casino.
You couldn’t drive? I thought hard at the