Chapter 58

“Take these.” Adrian hands me the keys to his car. “I just left behind a storm, and the council wants to meet briefly. Phillip will take me home.”

“Are you sure? Now doesn’t seem like a good time for meetings.” I say as I take the keys.

“Yes, I won’t be long, but I don’t want you here any longer than necessary. I’ll be right behind you.” He assures me and presses his lips to mine in a quick kiss before he walks away to where several people wait for him.

I walk to the car and climb inside. I’m about to press the button to start when the door is jerked open and a strong arm grabs me and yanks me from the seat. I scream and throw my fist hard to connect with a jaw.

The man grunts and lets go, clutching his face with surprise. “Damn! I’m glad to know at least that you can throw a punch, but is that any way to thank me for saving your life?”

Adrian’s Beta rubs at his jaw and I place my hands on my hips. Anger and frustration bubbling to the surface.

“And how, pray tell, was scaring the daylights out of me and yanking me out of the car saving my life?” I demand.

“I’ll show you.” The Beta motions under the car. I don’t know much about cars. Anything really. And yet, even I can tell that the mechanism attached underneath doesn’t belong there. For one it’s duct taped. For two, it’s blinking.

I swallow hard. “What is that?”

“Well, see this?” He reaches up to show me some wires and lines that I suspect aren’t supposed to be loose. “Those are your brake lines.” He says.

“I take it they aren’t supposed to look like that.” I muse.

“Nope. Someone cut them. Once you hit something, that little thing there, is supposed to make the car catch on fire.” He explains as though we were having a casual conversation about how the engine ran.

“So, someone tried to kill me.” I say simply and the Beta looks at me with worry.

“It would appear so.”

Adrian POV

I look down in the yard from the window of my study. Lily and Grace sit on a blanket in the yard. Grace is painting on a sheet of paper on her easel. Lily reads a book. They look so at peace and relaxed, but I know it’s a lie.

Lily is shaken up after finding the car sabotaged to kill her, and likely me since I was supposed to be driving and sitting right on top of where the fire would have started. I want to believe my son wouldn’t try to kill me, but I wouldn’t put it past that fiancé of his.

“Where is the assassin now?” I ask my Beta who stands behind me.

“He’s at the office. In the basement. He can be dealt with later. Our hacker found the research and money trail on Vanessa and Glenn’s computers. They hired him.”

“I want to see him. I need to hear it from him.” I say, “Right now.”

Half an hour later, I’m at the office. Standing before a human, tied to a chair. He looks pretty rough, and I know the werewolf beside me is probably responsible.

“Who hired you?” I ask simply. The man just scoffs.

“Do not test me.” I growl. The wolf bangs against its bars, threatening to burst out. “You almost killed my wife today. You are lucky to be breathing still.”

“You think you’re the first person to threaten me? I’m a professional, man. Kill me or let me go, but I don’t give up my clients. I have some integrity.”

The human is brave, I’ll give him that. But he doesn’t know what he’s dealing with. He’s already been beaten, so I know pain won’t compel him to give me what I want. I’ll have to give him a nightmare instead.

I allow the best to come forward just a little. I watch as his face, so brave and stoic before, morphs into one of fear and disbelief.

The lines on my face deepen, my eyes go yellow, and the power of the Alpha surges as I lean over the man snarl in a voice more animal than man. “Give me their name.”

He swallows hard, staring in shock at my half wolf face and stammers “Glenn. His name was Glenn. Some woman was with him. Blonde, his daughter I think.”

Then in the time span of a coin flip, my face changes back and the wolf is confined to its cage. Thought it isn’t happy about it. I would love to destroy this man, but he’s only the hired assassin. He isn’t the problem.

Besides bodies are a pain to get rid of and we don’t know who would miss him. He likely wouldn’t tell anyone about what he saw and even if they did, no one would believe him. The way he’s staring, he hardly believes it himself.

“Get rid of him.” I instruct my Beta. “Make sure he wakes up with a hangover.”

The alcohol might even make him forget what he saw, or think he hallucinated. Regardless, no one will believe it when they smell the liquor on his breath.

Lily POV

After Grace is put to bed and I’m sure she won’t wake up again to a nightmare, I head down the hall to Adrian’s room and knock on the door.

He answers quickly and lets me inside before he covers my mouth with his in a heated kiss.

“We need to talk.” I say against his mouth, and he sighs heavily, but pulls back a little though he keeps me tight against him. “Someone tried to kill us today.”

“They did, but I took care of it.” He assures me.

“Who was it?” I ask, a little hurt that he didn’t say anything earlier.

He must see that because he presses a kiss to my forehead. “I was going to talk to you about it tomorrow. After you had gotten some rest. We found the assassin. He gave us the names of who hired him.”

“Who was it?” I ask, though I fear I already know the answer.

“Glenn and Vanessa.” He answers and I don’t feel at all surprised.

What I do feel is a frustrated exhaustion. I pull away from Adrian and run my hands through my hair. I can’t hold still and I start pacing across the room.

“I can’t do this anymore, Adrian.” I insist. “This has to end. I’m tired of constantly looking over my shoulder.”

“I know.” He says, worry and sympathy creasing his brow. “It won’t be long now, I promise. This is going to end soon. I promise.”

“How soon?” I insist.

“Three days.” He answers, and I blink at the direct response. “In three days, there will be a meeting of the council where I will present my evidence to have them punished for their crimes. Then it will all be over.”

“Three days.” I repeat and he nods.

“Three days.” He assures me and draws me back to him.

“I’m scared, Adrian.” I confess, “They’ve already come after Grace and then they tried to kill us.”

“I know.” He says and kisses me softly. “I will do anything to protect you and Grace. Three days, Lily. Then it will all be over. I promise.”

I believe him, yet there’s a small part of me that is still worried.

“Okay.” I finally say simply because I can’t think of anything else.

He must know that I’m still concerned and anxious, because he just leads me with him to the bed and lays down next to me, holding me tight until I finally drift off to sleep.