Page 83 of Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie

“He’s very quick.” Phlox echoed my thoughts.

Sedrick grunted. “Tell me about it. I’ve never met anyone like Phil.” Sedrick’s words overflowed with fondness. “I can’t figure out how I managed without him.” Now he sounded truly perplexed. “It’s like my life started the day he walked into our home.” I didn’t think Sedrick spoke to Phlox and me. I doubted he even realized he said the words out loud.

Phlox and I silently waited while Sedrick’s wandering mind returned. Inhaling deeply, Sedrick’s musing turned deadly serious. “That other wolf is a child from Arie’s pack.” A low, rumbled growl rose from deep within Sedrick’s belly. “He came to the house today. Poor kid looked half-starved and was filthy from head to toe.”

“He just showed up?” Phlox asked, glancing questioningly. “I mean, where’s his home? Did he travel far?”

Rubbing at his beard, Sedrick gave a shallow nod. “Not sure exactly how far, but there’s at least thirty miles between my place and anyone associated with Arie Belview’s pack. Shawn, that’s the kid’s name, traveled in his wolf form. The kid can’t be more than seven or eight.” Sedrick’s bent head shook back and forth. “No one sends a child out like that unless they are beyond desperate. That note was the real deal.”

“The one left at Dusk?” Phlox asked.

“Yeah,” Sedrick said with a sigh. “Things in Arie’s pack have well and truly gone to shit. Or maybe they’ve always been shit and now it’s just gotten to the tipping point.” Sedrick’s growl reverberated and his eyes shown amber. “According to Shawn, Arie’s keeping prisoners.”

“Prisoners?” I asked.

“Pixies?” Phlox asked in alarm.

Sedrick flinched. “No. Worse than that, according to pack law. He’s keeping members of his own pack prisoner…or basically the equivalent. I always wondered how in the hell Arie kept his pack so loyal.” Sedrick huffed. “Shawn’s too young to understand everything, but he knows enough and was told to repeat certain information to me.”

Phlox’s eyes rounded, reminding me of his Pallas’s cat form. “He’s keeping his owner pack locked up?”

Sedrick gave a slow nod. “In a way. Of course, Arie’s dressed it up and put a shitty smelling bow on the whole damn thing. According to Shawn, nearly every family in the pack has someone who’s given thehonorof living in the pack house.”

“Honor?” I lifted a single eyebrow. “I get the impression it is not viewed in such an esteemed light.”

“It’s a way to control the pack. Family is everything to werewolves. We don’t abandon family. Arie found a way to keep his pack members under his thumb and bent to his will. He’s got someone they love close by, living under his roof, punishment near at hand should someone step out of line. That’s why no one in Arie’s pack leaves. It’s why they’re so damnloyal.”

“Only it’s not loyalty,” Phlox said. “It’s blackmail and fear. Sweet goddess above, that is deviously cruel.”

“Arie Belview summed up in only two words. Congratulations, Frost.” Sedrick tipped his head in mock appreciation.

I stared off into the distance, my vampiric eyes easily seeing into all the shadowed nooks and crannies. “And that young wolf, he came to you of his own free will?”

Sedrick followed the direction of my gaze. “His mother sent him. She knows it’s a risk. Shawn told me that Arie has his grandfather, but before his grandad was taken, he told his daughter, Shawn’s mother, to forget about him and get Shawn out.” Sedrick swallowed hard, his eyes pinched, and lips drawn in pain. “I can’t even imagine the guts that took or the sacrifice.”

“She sent him to you.” Phlox’s voice was soft. “She sent him to you to protect.”

Sedrick’s nod was painfully slow. “Looks that way.” He grimaced. “I just hope… Things are a little uncertain. I’ll do my best to keep him safe, but—”

“But the future’s a little sketchy right now,” Phlox finished.

“To say the least.”

The bags in Phlox’s hands rustled as he shifted them. “The Magical Usage Council will want to know about this. If what Shawn says is true—”

“It is,” Sedrick snapped.

“Then it goes against shifter law and won’t be tolerated.” Phlox sounded resolute.

Lucroy’s voice washed through me like cool water. “If it can be proven. Alpha Belview does seem to exceed in the area of deception.” Lucroy walked past Sedrick, coming to stand before me. “I assume the situation with Dusk and our nest is settled.”

“As much as possible,” I answered truthfully. “I believe we have done what we can.”

“And that is the best any of us can hope for. Thank you, Leon. As always, you’ve proven my faith in your abilities is well placed. I could not have chosen a better second.”

Pride consumed me, warming my eternally cool blood. “It was my honor and privilege, my king.” Lucroy and I were rarely this formal. Something in the atmosphere called for the it.

Lucroy’s lips lifted, offering a rare grin. “I am comforted you are here. I did not like the idea of you being so far away and unprotected.”

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