The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 54 - Lost and Found

"She's a child," Jace said. "I could never do her harm, but I don't know how to prove that. You would be stupid to take my word for it."

That was true enough. So they would refuse to hand her over, and we would have to go home empty-handed, and then Jace would have to find another way to save Aria. Or so I thought.

"You could show me," Jaz said, after a long moment. "You can lie, but your memories can't."

Jace seemed to be considering it. His eyes were lost in thought, and his jaw had tightened, but he nodded eventually. I knew he was wary about using the link in that way, after what had happened in the prison, but he wouldn't have to be inside her head. Not properly. Even I could impress a memory on a mind-link if I concentrated hard enough.

"He's a tapper," Rhys said in a low voice. A warning. It was the first time he'd spoken in a while.

The rogue woman let her eyes take a lap. "I haven't spent twenty-odd years around your father without learning a trick or two. He can come to the edge of the link, that's all. Any further than that and I'll bring my walls down like a guillotine."

His lips twitched at the corners. It might have reassured him, but it made me infinitely more nervous. Everything I had came from Jace. He could die playing his mind games with this rogue, here one instant, gone the next, and then I would be at the mercy of whoever took his place as Alpha.

But Jace stepped closer to her, to shorten the bridge between their minds. It took only a moment. Their eyes glazed over as they focused their attention inwardly, and I watched on, shifting my weight from foot to foot and hardly daring to breathe. Jace's eyes snapped open again, bright blue and unworried.

"Okay. Now I believe you. That shock was real enough," the rogue said. She paused for a moment, and then she let out a heavy sigh. "The children are eating their lunch right now. When she's done, you can see her. But the decision to stay or leave ... that's still hers to make. You'll wait here."

Even the mention of lunch had my stomach grumbling. And yet I knew they wouldn't feed us. In my family, hospitality had been held in high regard and extended even to strangers. For us, it was one of the mitzvah, a commandment to follow. These women had no such obligations.

"Come and eat with the others," Jaz told Rhys. "You're always welcome at our fireside ... and you look half-starved."

That made him smile, and he went with them without so much as a backwards glance. My stomach grumbled - loud enough that the others looked at me, and my cheeks soon felt warm. The rogues may have gone, but my wolf was still pacing beneath the surface, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. We were still being watched. I'd bet my life on that.

"We're not leaving without her," Jaden said through the link. "I don't care what she says - Aria is coming home, where she belongs."

"Agreed," Jace said.

If they were watching us, they would see us standing here in silence, eyes glazed over, and they would realise that we were plotting something. So I talked aloud while they continued that conversation, telling meaningless stories so all they needed to do was add a few words every now and then. And while I talked, they carried on linking.

"Nine thousand pounds," I said once the planning was over. The first topic of substance that we had touched on aloud. "It's a specific amount. Why not ten?"

Jaden spared me the barest of glances before turning away again and shrugging. "Perhaps that's all they had."

"Yes," Jace said. "Perhaps. In which case, I think we need to take a look at the pack finances. Specifically, who had nine thousand in their bank account that summer."