My heart is thudding in my ears as the footsteps grow closer. I instinctively wrap a protective arm around the vampires lying on top of me. Not like that would do anything against a lycan's claws, but whatever.
The voices are also getting clearer, although the words are still unclear, a mismatch of sounds.
A frown creases my brow, and my grip on the vampires' small bodies tightens. Am I imagining things? I feel like one of these voices is familiar.
A little too familiar, even.
"Scott, I think—"
James gets interrupted mid-sentence by a squeaking sound, and the bright light of a flashlight enters the box we've been stuffed in. A vivid pain burns my eyes, but I refuse to close them, not when a face that mirrors mine hovers atop me.
Well, shit.
I stare at my brother, and my brother stares right back at me. Surprise widens his eyes, and I believe I'd have had a similar expression on my face, hadn't it been for the burning light.
Now, the voices are crystal clear.
The tightly closed box had muffled the outside noise. It kept the cold outside, too. I eye the walls. Ah, there are arrays there. No wonder I didn't freeze to death.
"Leader?" An unknown woman asks. "What are you doing? We need to get moving to—"
"Call the rest of the unit back," Bryan says, his gaze seemingly trying to bore a hole into my face. It holds a thousand questions, but he asks none for the time being. "The shopping mall is a lure. This is their agreed location."
"What?"
Lyon's voice resounds, and the next instant, his face appears above me, just beside Bryan's. He blinks, and the shadow of his silver irises shone with conflicted emotions. I can see my reflection in them, and the two kids cuddled against me.
Bryan squints, and I feel like burying myself six feet under. I don't like that look in his eyes.
"Are you alright?"
"Well," I force a smile, "my neck and legs hurt, but I'm otherwise fine. The kids seem fine, too."
I avoid saying too much. James has buried his face against my chest, his tiny fists gripping my coat tightly. He's pretending to either be sleeping or terrified, so I decide to play along.
"Do you need help getting out?"
"Actually, yeah—"
My voice dies off, and my smile disappears.
My brother's appearance had been too sudden, shocking me more than I'd want to admit, and my brain didn't catch the abnormality until now. Considering the angle, Bryan is not sitting in his wheelchair. To look into the box as he's doing, he has to be standing on his own two feet.
***
I'm slouching in the back of an ambulance, wrapped up in a foil blanket, with the two vampires sitting on my thighs. Jonathan is still sleeping peacefully, uncaring about the world, while James is hiding his face in the crook of my neck. He's been awfully quiet.
From my little corner, I observe my brother directing the agents and securing the scene. The box I was in is one that'd been discarded beside a trash bin, making it inconspicuous amid the bags and the other odities.
It's strange to see my brother walk around.
He's been sitting in a wheelchair for far too long.
"Here, drink something," Lyon murmurs, as if afraid to wake the children. He hands me a cup of hot chocolate. I don't have a sweet tooth, but I'll make do. My throat is parched. "When is your husband supposed to arrive again?"
"He said he was on his way." I clumsily sip on the hot chocolate—it's not easy to hold onto it with two kids on my lap. "Thanks for lending me your phone, by the way."
"My pleasure."
I have so many questions that I don't know which one to ask first. I'm not even sure asking Lyon would be the right call, so in the end, I say nothing, and time passes in silence until Bryan waves an agent away and makes his way to the ambulance.
He stands before us, arms crossed, and I can't help but lower my gaze to stare at his legs. He doesn't comment on it.
"It's getting late," Bryan sighs, "so I'm thinking of taking your statement tomorrow. A good night's rest won't do you harm, I believe."
Fair point. The alley is bright only because of the ambulance's rotating beacons and the agents' flashlights. If anything, I should be in my bed right now, lost in dreamland.
"I still have a few things to take care of," Bryan carefully adds, avoiding the subject of his legs altogether. "So, let's talk tomorrow."
Yeah, right. The discussion is promising to be an interesting one. I don't have the energy to have it tonight, though, so talking tomorrow suits me just fine.
A second later, my brother stretches a hand to ruffle my hair, leaving me frozen in place. Uh? Sorry, what?
"Just… Get home safely." He pauses and seems to hesitate. It takes him a few more seconds before continuing, "And thank the kids for me."
Oh, don't worry, I will.
After saying his piece, he spins on his heels and disappears into the alley. A few agents follow behind him.
I sip on my hot chocolate.
"If you have something to say," I glance askance at Lyon, "just say it."
"Oh, no, it's nothing!" The lycan rubs his neck, and I narrow my eyes at him. His ears flatten on his scalp, betraying his guilt. "It's just… No, never mind. Bryan will talk to you about our suspicions tomorrow. And—"
"One of them was in their true form."
I cut him off, observing his reaction. He seems to deflate, the silver of his irises dulling as sorrow wells up in his eyes.
"I see…"
A silence falls between us as Lyon gets lost in his thoughts. I don't interrupt. I don't even know what I can say in this situation, anyway. James might know, as he was put in a similar position in his clan, but he's currently playing deaf.
"Scott…?" Jordan's voice travels to my ears, and I stretch my head out of the ambulance. A smile finds its way on my lips when our eyes meet.
He hurries over, nodding at Lyon in passing.
"The kids aren't with you?"
There are no signs of either of them.
"No, they're with their mother and Lucy," Jordan shakes his head, leaning over to pull Jonathan into his arms. It's a natural movement he's done nth number of times already. "They rushed over after learning you vanished out of the blue."
"I've got a hunch that you're playing with words on purpose here," I accuse without a second thought. "Let me correct your previous sentence a bit: Eve dragged Lucy with her in her rush."
These two were supposed to meet today for Oliver's case. The trial was going well, according to Jordan, but there were still a few hiccups, and Lucy had been brought over as a witness to James's horrifying wounds. Eve had wanted to go over the file with the angel this evening, just in case.
"So?" I raise an eyebrow. "Am I correct in my deduction?"
"More or less, yes."
Jordan lets out an awkward cough, and my lips curl into a grin. He's too calm. He knew I'd be fine, didn't he? I don't comment, though—we have an audience, after all, and Lyon's curious gaze makes it impossible to delve into the matter further.
Ignoring my jelly legs, I force myself to stand up, holding onto James with one arm. That guy has set his mind on being mute, hasn't he? Anyway, I put down the empty plastic cup and the foil blanket on the ambulance floor.
"Well, thank you for the hot chocolate." I stare at the lycan, whose ears are still pressed against his scalp. He looks like a kicked puppy. "See you another time."
And that next meeting is probably going to be soon. I've got a hunch we'll be crossing paths quite a bit in the next few days. But for now, I want to get home and take a warm shower.
Gosh, I'm tired.