“Hey Mack Attack!” he called over, with emphasis on the Attack part of my latest irritating nickname.

Lucy craned her neck round his body. “Mackenzie! I didn’t see you there. Are you joining us for the stake-out?”

“This’ll be good,” said the arsehole, stepping out from behind Alex’s protective shield. “This girl is what I meant. Smart, strong and a million times more useful than a human.”

Hah! The irony of his statement wasn’t lost on me. I forced myself to breathe and tried to calm my boiling blood. Alex came closer and wrapped his arms around me.

“What the feck are you doing, dude?” he whispered in my ear.

“You heard what he said,” I growled.

“I’m starting to see why the wolf calls you Red. That temper of yours is seriously scary. If you attack him because he’s an ignorant idiot, all that will happen is the other Brethren will be forced to take his side. Which will make you mincemeat. Now, given all the trouble I went to save your sorry hide last night, I will be very pissed off if that happens.”

I pulled free and looked away. “Fine,” I muttered.

The arsehole came up and stuck out his hand. “Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. There’s been a lot of discussion about you since we arrived. I do hope that you decide to leave this rural hell-hole when all this is done and come with us to London.”

I reluctantly took his greasy palm, and shook it. I will admit that I tried to crush the bones in his fingers at the same time. He pulled his hand away and shook it in mock, or (as I hoped) real, pain.

“Wow, that’s a strong grip you’ve got there, tiger.” What was with all of the cat nicknames I seemed to be garnering recently? My lips tightened and he eyed me curiously. “What’s your were, anyway? You smell kind of funny.”

“Hamster.” It took some force of will to get the word out.

He looked surprised. “Uh, really?”

I shrugged, not trusting myself to say anything else, and walked back to the other side of the portal. He remained there for a second or two, still looking puzzled, until the two other Brethren moved impatiently and he shook himself and took up their positions, along with Lucy. As the first two guards walked towards the trees and back to the keep, he continued to stare at me through the portal. I felt my ire rising again, but Alex put a hand on my arm and made a face. I rolled my eyes at him. Whatever. I sat back down on the sand and started to wait.

Chapter Seventeen

Lucy and the human hater took up the same positions as the previous two Brethren had, and maintained the same stoicism. I was faintly surprised that Lucy was as strict about her vigil as the others had been but guessed that Corrigan’s stranglehold on the Brethren was viciously strong. I, meanwhile, was going to preserve my strength and energy for when something – hopefully Iabartu – finally appeared. I was confident that I’d hear the change in tone as the portal prepared to eject someone long before they actually arrived. Keeping an upright, straight backed, military style stance was a waste of time.

I pulled out a couple of cans of Coke from my backpack and offered one to Alex. He sat down beside me and we pulled the ringtops. I hoped that the Brethren idiot on the other side could hear the satisfying hiss as the carbon dioxide was released although I did feel slightly guilty about Lucy. Then again, given what I’d already discovered about her tastebuds, she probably wasn’t too bothered. Alex sat down next to me and stretched his legs out in front of him.

“What gives, Alex? I thought you weren’t the fighting type?” I asked him, archly.

He took a swig of Coke and regarded me seriously. “Oddly I find myself suddenly invested in what happens in this quiet little corner of England. Not that I’ll be squaring up to any heebie jeebies any time soon, you understand,” he added hastily, “just that I find myself wanting to stick around. You never know when there might be a damsel in distress who needs me to run away in the opposite direction for her.”

I laughed and clinked my Coke can against his then became serious. “What Craw said – about it being my fault that John died. You really think that was true?”

He sighed heavily. “All I know is that the wichtlein definitely thought it was true. And, no, before you ask, I don’t anything about what a Draco Wyr is, other than it must be some kind of dragon.”

“So where do we go from here?”

“We do what we’re doing right now and wait to see what comes out that.” He nodded towards the portal and I was rather taken aback at the confidence in his voice. For someone who was a self-professed non-combatant, he actually displayed a lot of guts.

We sat in companionable silence for a few moments before it occurred to me that I really didn’t know very much about him at all. I could do small talk – at least it might make the time pass by a bit faster. I arched a look over at him. “So what would you be doing if you weren’t here?”

“Nothing much of anything. I spend a vast amount of time in London tracking down lost objects and trailing unfaithful spouses. You’d be surprised at what a fickle bunch the otherworld pop can be.”

“I don’t doubt it,” I said drily. “But you don’t always work for shifters?”

“God, no!” he said. “My services are for hire to the highest bidder. I have to work within the dictates of the Ministry but for the most part I can be employed by virtually anyone. Fae, vamps, trolls, even a unicorn once. I’ve worked for them all.”

“Have you ever worked for a human?” I asked softly. “I mean, an out and out human who’s not a mage or a wicca or anything?”

Alex was silent for a second. “No,” he answered heavily. “I’m afraid I’ve not.”

So there was no-one like me then. I changed the subject. “You look rather, um, young to be doing all this.”

“I might make the same comment about you, dude.”

I acknowledged his point. A plane rumbled softly overhead and we both leaned back and tracked its jetstream through the sky.

“It really is very lovely here,” he commented after it was long gone. “I can see why you are so keen to stay.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “It is lovely. But that’s not why I stay. These guys are my family. Since my mum split, I’ve never had anyone else I could depend upon. But the pack, they’re always there for me. Even though…” my voice trailed off and I looked at the Brethren.

“You don’t get bored?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Of beautiful weather, pristine beaches, lots of friends? Yeah, I get bored. But no-one’s life is ever perfect, Alex. And these last few days have reminded me that living in interesting times isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. I’d give anything to be bored right now, instead of trying to hunt down the vicious murderer who killed my alpha.”

“You think of him – John – like that? As your alpha?”

“Yeah, I do.” I finished off the Coke and scrunched up the can in one hand. “I might not be able to shift, but I feel like a shifter.”

He nodded with a serious expression on his face and lay back in the sand. I traced little figure of eights in the sand and watched the portal with half an eye. The sun was getting hot, but at least there was a cool breeze wafting in from the sea.

Mackenzie? Are you still at the beach?

I sat up a bit straighter. What’s up, Julia? Did you talk to Anton?

Yes. He’s not trying to expose you, dear.

What? I got up to my feet, drawing the Brethren’s attention. I ignored them completely and started pacing. Julia, he had my t-shirt. With my blood.

Hmmm, yes. Well that’s rather interesting, dear.

I scoffed aloud.

It appears that since your fight Anton now has developed somewhat of a …taste for your blood.

Say what?

Julia continued. He’s convinced that it’s good for him. And it seems that he will go to lengths to get more of it.

I was absolutely stupefied. Is that normal? He is turning into some kind of shifter vamp?

That’s not physically possible, dear. I don’t know why he’s decided that you’re suddenly so tasty but he’s certainly still being kept to the geas.

I didn’t know what to say. Could this be some kind of weird ruse that he’d cooked up? Jules, are you sure he’s not lying?

I compelled him. Even though he wishes you were gone from the pack, he was telling the truth.

He’s not sworn to you yet, none of the shifters are. Technically, they all still had the change of alpha get out clause to use as an escape if they wanted to leave.

Actually, he is. He swore on the Way whilst you were out for the count yesterday. Almost everyone did.

Oh. I was surprised. I’d been sure that he’d want to hold out and see if he could get a place with the Brethren. Then I realised what Julia had said. Hold on, ‘almost’ everyone?

Julia, who didn’t swear?

Tom and Betsy.

“FUCK!”

Everyone on the beach was looking at me now. I knew in my heart of hearts that neither of them would ever betray me, geas or no geas, unless compelled to by whoever their new alpha became. But I had a pretty good idea of who they wanted that new alpha to be. Tom had made no secret that he had the burning desire to join the Brethren’s ranks. And with Betsy apparently besotted by him, she’d probably follow him wherever he wanted to go.

How could they be so naïve?

Mackenzie, dear, they have to make their own choices.

Well, what if Corrigan compels them to talk about me?

Unless he specifically asks if you’re human or not, or that they have to tell him every single detail they’ve ever know about you, which I imagine would take several days of telling, then they won’t have to reveal anything about you. And Corrigan has no reason to suspect that you’re human. Are you sure that your anger is less to do with your worry about what they might say and more to do with your friends leaving you?