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I walked out of the pub, hoping that he wasn’t going to follow. No such luck, however, as before I’d gone barely ten steps he was by my side. If he called me kitten again I was pretty sure that I’d have hands wrapped around his throat. Just as it seemed that I was getting somewhere with finding out more about who, or what, had killed John, the last person in the world I wanted to notice me had decided to make new friends. And I was definitely no-one’s kitten.
“You’re a rather prickly person, aren’t you, Mack?”
I ignored him and tried to walk faster. At the very least I could do my best to get to the keep in double speed so that this couldn’t be prolonged for any length of time.
“In fact you’re the least pack-like shifter I’ve come across in some time. You appear to have a stubborn streak of independence that is – unusual - for our kind. ”
I stiffened. Was he going to suddenly dramatically reveal that he knew I wasn’t a shifter after all?
“The thing is,” he continued, “not only do you appear to be absolutely terrified every time I come near you, there appear to be some anomalies in your story. ”
Uh-oh. “What do you mean?” I could feel my heart suddenly beating louder and hoped that he couldn’t hear it.
“You told me, very clearly I might add, that your nickname is Red because you wear red clothes. ”
“Yeah? What of it?” Go for nonchalant, I thought, that’ll work.
“Your boyfriend, well the pack one at least, not the human, told me quite categorically that it was because it was a private joke between the two of you. That when you are, er, how shall I put this delicately? Intimate with him, you blush a particularly attractive pink colour. ”
Forget killing the Brethren alpha, I was going to kill Tom.
“And then, your charming little friend who fought first told me that it was because you have a fiery temper. Which doesn’t surprise me in the least, I have to say. What does surprise me is that at the very least two members of this pack have lied to me. And I will not condone that sort of attitude. Now I could compel them – and you – to tell me the truth, but I’d rather have it voluntarily from you. ”
Now that all else had failed, I figured the truth was about all I had left. It might work, I supposed. “My hair is red. I dyed it. That’s it. ”
“I see,” he said slowly. “And why would you do that?”
I shrugged. “I wanted a change. Girl’s prerogative. ”
“That still doesn’t explain why your friends – and you – lied about it. ”
“It’s, uh, a sore point, to be honest. I’d rather not talk about it. ”
I was tying myself up into circles. I was pretty sure I’d lied more in the last two days than I had in my entire life up till now. I couldn’t think of any good reason as to why I’d dye my hair then lie about it.
“You can trust me,” he murmured, voice silky smooth.
Think, Mack, think. “I’ve, um, always hated the colour. ” Sooo not true. “I was teased about it mercilessly when I was a kid and I’ve been trying to forget that I’m ginger. My friends understand that. ”
“To the point where they would lie to the Lord Alpha about it to protect your delicate sensibilities?”
“They’re good friends,” I replied shortly.
“So, let me see if I can get this straight. You’ve lied about your hair, you’ve lied about the wolf to the human, and the human to the wolf. Can anything that you say be trusted?”
I walked on stiffly. I was starting to get very scared indeed. “I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. John was…he was…dear to me. If I’ve lied to anyone, it’s only so I can find out what happened to him. ”
“I could compel you to tell me everything. ”
No you couldn’t. “I suppose, you could, yes. That’s much what I’d expect from the leader of the Brethren, use brute force to get what you want. Are you going to?”
“You don’t seem to have much regard for us. ” He stared ahead. “It doesn’t matter though, I have no doubt that you’ll tell me the whole truth eventually, one way or another. ” There was a faint mocking edge to his voice.
“You are only here for another twenty four hours,” I commented, tightly praying that he’d not changed his mind.
He laughed slightly. “Yes, but I somehow think our paths will cross again. ”
I bloody well hoped not.
Chapter Ten
By the time we got back to the keep, it was shrouded in darkness. I could hear the buzz of voices from inside, however. Corrigan beside me had thankfully lapsed into silence so I was free to work through my own thoughts. I wondered exactly what the mage was doing. I didn’t know much about how magic worked, to be honest. I knew from my readings on the Othernet that it took years of training to be a mage, and that they often specialised in different areas, such as divining, alchemy, telekinesis and fore-telling. There was a mage academy located somewhere in Kent and powers were generally passed down generational lines. I had a vision in my head of a bald man with a long black cloak holding a glass ball, but perhaps I’d been watching too much Japanese anime lately. It briefly occurred to me that it might help the wizard if I mentioned the shadowy figure in Perkins but there was so little to really elaborate on that I decided to keep that little nugget to myself. He’d probably just end up getting in my way if I revealed what I’d already found out from good old fashioned detective work. Of course that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to know what he himself discovered whilst he was here.
When we reached the oak entrance door, Corrigan opened it and gestured at me. I was somewhat surprised that the ostensible leader of the shapeshifters was portraying himself as a gentleman – and somewhat nervous to have him at my back – but I entered anyway, with him close behind me. As soon as the door closed, Staines stepped up and whispered something in his ear and the two of them went off in the direction of the office. Everyone else was gathered in the hall.
Mackenzie, what on earth is going on? Why were you with Lord Corrigan?
Julia was looking at me with a rather alarmed expression at my suddenly departed companion.
He was just being annoying, I sent back silently. Nothing to worry about.
He might know that I was lying to him about some things but he definitely didn’t suspect that I was human at least, I thought, remembering his utter dismissal of Nick. He had me pegged as a grumpy loner who was living in abject terror of him and the rest of the Brethren. I could live with that. As long as I chose to ignore his portentous comment about our paths crossing again that was.
I took my place in the crowd with the other pack members. Everyone seemed slightly excited and anxious again at the presence of the mage. I could sense a few glances my way and wished I could silently reassure the others the way that I’d reassured Julia. There were times that the limitations of shifters were gallingly unhelpful.
Tom moved up from the sidelines to be beside me. I shot him an evil look before whispering furiously, “You thought you’d tell Corrigan that I’m called Red because of the way I blush when we shag?”
At least he had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. “He put me on the spot. He wasn’t even supposed to be doing my interview – it was the blonde chick. But he barged in during it and fired questions at me. I couldn’t think straight. Something about the way his eyes look through you. ” He shivered slightly.
“What else did you tell him?” I put my hands on my hips, still annoyed.
“He wanted to know why we’d had so few injuries and deaths. I told him that we were just lucky. I wasn’t entirely sure if he believed me. ”
“Well, I told him the truth so it’s probably best if you stop lying to him. ”
Betsy’s voice came up from behind me. “You told him you were human?” She said aghast.
“No, that I dyed my hair, stupid,” I said. “I didn’t have much choice after the things you two had told h
im. ”
“What were we supposed to say, Red?” Tom looked askance. “He’s got this power and he looks at you and you want to tell him everything just to please him. And god knows we can’t tell him the real truth. ”
“He doesn’t suspect anything like that,” I tugged on my ponytail. “He just seems to think that I’m the local lay with a penchant for inveterate lying. Anyway, from now on my hair is dyed because I hate my original colour. Oh, and I’m having an affair with Nick behind your back. ”
Betsy looked rather pleased at that one. I was about to say something that we’d both regret when the office door opened and Staines and Corrigan came out followed by a ridiculously young looking man with a shock of blond dreads. No wonder he’d agreed to come to Cornwall: our mage was a surfer dude.
Corrigan cleared his throat. “This is Alexander Floride, a mage from the city. We will travel to the site of John’s death where he’ll scan it for any signs of what might have occurred. We will find out who killed one of our own. ”
He wasn’t yours, I thought sourly, he was ours.
The blond wizard stepped forward. “Hi there. ” He almost waved. Good lord, was this the best they could do? I realized that he was wearing a Nirvana t-shirt and ripped jeans. He wasn’t even from this decade for god’s sake.
“So, uh, yeah. ” He grinned a toothy smile. “I’m gonna hit the site, do some scrying and tell you what’s what. S’all good. ”
I had to pinch myself to stop from rolling my eyes. I wondered idly if Corrigan was impressed.
Staines spoke up. “We need everyone who was present when his body was discovered to be with us so the scrying doesn’t get mixed up. Get a coat and wait outside. ”
The pack sprang into action. I still couldn’t move fast because of my injury – and I noticed satisfyingly out of the corner of my eye that Anton couldn’t either. Tom gallantly fetched my leather jacket and helped me put it on. It appeared that all of a sudden Cornwall was full of gentlemen. Wonders would never cease.