A Tangled Web - R.G. Alexander Page 0,49

wrong reasons. Nothing that was going through his mind would sound right, and he knew it. Nothing could.

Kaya sighed when he didn’t respond. “I’ve been in your corner until now, and I believe you meant well by telling the truth, but I really think this might be too much for Dani to take tonight. You can talk about it again tomorrow.”

Dani pulled away from Kaya. “I don’t need protecting anymore.” She smiled gently as if to soften the blow. “But I appreciate the effort.”

Jace laid a hand on Liam’s shoulder. “We should probably call the cops. Wouldn’t want this guy getting away.”

Kaya made a strange sound of surprise. “I, uh, don’t think we have to worry about that.”

Liam turned along with the others, bracing himself to see a corpse instead of a passed-out psychopath, and froze.

“What the hell is that?”

A coyote was stalking Sal’s body, followed closely by a large, gray timber wolf. They barely glanced at the five people standing next to the prone man, but the wolf ducked his head as though embarrassed at being seen. The coyote, however, paused momentarily to look up at Dani.

“Stax?”

Her confusing whisper wasn’t enough to drag Liam’s attention away from the strange sight. He looked on in disbelief as the animals moved in unison to either shoulder, closing their jaws around Sal’s flesh and slowly dragging him backward.

He’d never seen anything like this, but he knew he couldn’t let it happen. No matter how he felt about Sal.

“We have to stop them. Scare them away.” Liam grabbed his pot and moved to intercept the two canines, but Jace and Kaya both held him back.

“What the hell, Jace? Let me go, damn you.”

“This is one of those moments where you just need to trust me, brother. Let them go. Those spirits answer to a higher authority than the cops. If they want him, we need to let them take him.”

“Those aren’t spirits, Jace.” Had he gone crazy? “They’re wild animals. It’s worse than murder if we let him die like that.”

“They won’t kill him,” Kaya said. “At least, I don’t think they will.”

“You’re agreeing with Jace?” Liam said weakly. “Has everyone lost their minds tonight?”

Kaya was rubbing her arms as if warding off a chill. “I’m as surprised as you are, but he’s right. We can’t interfere. He’ll get what he deserves, no more and no less. And we forget this ever happened.”

“I don’t know if I can forget seeing two wild dogs drag a man into the desert,” Bailey said quietly.

Liam turned to her. “Finally, someone is making sense.”

“But he deserves whatever he gets for hurting Dani,” she finished mutinously. “I hope they fuckin’ eat him.”

What was going on around here? He turned back to Kaya. “I respect your beliefs but there is a limit to—”

“Look.” Dani reached for his arm and Liam was so grateful for the contact, he obeyed.

The wolf was still dragging the unconscious Sal into the brush that framed the restaurant. Into the damn desert. The coyote had paused at the edge of the parking lot.

It was staring at Liam when the air around it started to shimmer.

“Oh my God.” Liam dropped onto the graveled parking lot hard, feeling the jar of it from his tailbone to his teeth, but he couldn’t react. He could barely believe what he was seeing.

Stax was standing there. At the edge of the parking lot, where the coyote had been only seconds before. Stax. The man who’d been in his bed last night. The man who’d given him Dani, who’d shared her with him. “Did someone drug me?”, he asked no one in particular. He couldn’t take his eyes off the sight, couldn’t blink.

“That’s what I thought the first time I saw it,” Dani said quietly.

“I should have fucking known,” Jace muttered.

The dark-haired man bowed to Liam and the others respectfully, then Liam heard a voice in his head.

I told Dani you were marked. That I’d be watching if she needed me. Stax smiled. Don’t worry, I promise we won’t eat him.

Liam grabbed his head, looking around to see if anyone else was hearing Stax talk without moving his lips.

Dani was. He could tell by her expression.

You are the only ones, my friends. We are connected now, we three. Know that this isn’t just for Dani’s safety. The man is a spirit thief with a black soul. He steals lives. He killed before he met her. He came home to her with blood on his hands. He planned to kill her tonight,