Page 24 of Secrets and Ruin

“I know, which is why I don’t want to ask her. There are other options. If you and Landon need help getting those three in the car, use the BSA. Put all the food in something and bring it with you. I have everyone else in the pack here. Right now, Fenris is the only person missing.” Heath made one of those thoughtful hums. “Do you smell any magic? That’s the only thing that could knock out one of the moon cursed for two days. Aside from severe injuries, which you said they don’t have.”

“Landon asked me not to sniff too closely at the food just in case, but the room as a whole doesn’t smell like magic. That doesn’t mean anything anymore. It could still have been used.”

“It was still worth a shot.”

“Landon, have you smelled any magic around the condo?” I asked loudly.

“No, but I discovered something,” he said, sounding off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was there.

I walked out of the dining room to find Landon looking at the suitcases. It seemed he’d dragged more out as well, collecting every bag in the entire condo. There were a good number of them.

“What is it?” I asked. I knew Heath was listening intently, so I kept the phone up where it could pick up what Landon had to say.

“No one had their cellphones on them. They left them in different places. Not a big deal. But the security system was also disconnected. Look.” Landon moved to the panel on the wall and opened the door to reveal the entire panel of buttons and the screen where Teagan could set up what he needed when he needed it. “Teagan had it on a schedule. At a certain time every night, it would set itself until morning. Someone turned all that off, so the system didn’t record any open entrance or exit points. People could have walked in and out of this condo all weekend, and we’d have no idea. I was with Dirk when he was setting it up and explained it all to Teagan. Also, he gave Teagan a few ways to turn on or off different parts of it. The cameras were on, but….” Landon pointed up, and I turned to follow. “Someone painted over them. I have a feeling that was done when they were off, and when they came back on, it wasn’t noticed. As for the panic buttons Pa wanted installed….” Landon groaned. “All three were broken. They were pulled out, leaving it impossible for anyone to hit them.”

“How did you figure all that out so fast?” I asked, surprised.

“I know what to look for,” he answered. “Check cameras, check panic measures, look at the security. Easy to do. There’s a reason I was here when Dirk set it up. I chose the camera positions.” Landon shook his head as he turned to the bags. “Now I’m trying to figure out if anything was stolen.”

“Landon, do you have a theory?” Heath asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t like it. It doesn’t seem like it fits. This was intelligent. The timing, the sabotage… It was all too smart.”

“Think about it while you both drive back with our wolves,” Heath said. “Drive safe… but please, get home quickly.”

“We’ll try,” I promised, with Landon nodding.

We hung up, and I texted Bethany to ask for some help, then started throwing all the food into containers with Landon’s help. By the time we were done, I had gotten word from my favorite agent in the BSA, and she was on her way. We waited thirty minutes, Landon finding a cooler for the food in the meantime.

“It doesn’t need the temperature control. It’s been sitting out for nearly two days,” I pointed out. “You could have just grabbed a bag.”

“I don’t want it to start stinking. It already reeks a bit more than my nose appreciates, and that will seal it so your car doesn’t smell.”

“I didn’t even notice that. I was focused on other stuff.” Sighing, I sat down on the couch, looking at the three werewolves we had moved into the living room so we didn’t step on them in the dining room. They looked peaceful, but I was beginning to wonder if they were really okay in their sleeping states. They wouldn’t have eaten in nearly forty-eight hours, and I had no idea how we were going to wake them up. That wasn’t even considering other bodily functions that seemed like they weren’t happening. I didn’t voice any of this, knowing Landon was probably thinking similarly.

It was uneventful in the grand scheme of things. Bethany arrived and was able to talk to the building’s security people when they saw us carrying out our unconscious werewolves. She was good at smoothing things over and didn’t ask questions.

“Let me know if there’s anything the BSA can do to help,” she said as Landon loaded Carlos into the backseat. He was the last one. “Seriously, Jacky.”

“We’ll see,” I said softly. “Right now, let’s just keep this quiet. Can you do that? If the wrong people hear about us having three werewolves drugged in one of their homes, we could end up with a bigger problem on our hands.”

“I can. I won’t make this a report. It doesn’t need to be as far as I’m concerned. No one is hurt or dead. They’re just sleeping. They had a wild party, and you two came to clean up.” Bethany’s smooth explanation of the events reeked of a lie to me, but it didn’t matter. Humans couldn’t smell lies. “But please, if there’s something big coming, a heads-up would be nice.”

“I agree, but no one ever gives me a warning, so it’s not likely I’ll know in time to give you one,” I said, almost smiling. Almost.

She chuckled, but I hadn’t told her just how bad this was, so I didn’t hold it against her. She left, looking back to wave, and I got into the car.

“Ready?” Landon asked, turning it on.

“Let’s get out of here. Teagan liked that condo, you know?”

“Yeah… he’s going to have to sell it,” Landon said as he started driving us home.

11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Once back in my territory, Heath and Shamus were waiting to help get Teagan, Jenny, and Carlos comfortable. We put them in the living room on cots he had for times like this. Too much company for my relatively normal-sized house. I didn’t live in a mega-mansion like the one the pack used in Dallas as a clubhouse. Or like Hasan’s. He had a massive home, an entire estate with wings.

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