Page 126 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
“Are you sure you have everything?”
She shrugged. “I don’t live here. Remember? My choices are a bit limited. That’s everything I brought and everything I bought while here. My entire life in one bag. Itwouldbe heavier, if someone hadn’t been quite so heavy-handed earlier …”
“You loved it,” I said, giving her a wink as I slung the bag over my shoulder, using my free hand to pull open the door.
“Oh, hello.”
I spun at the unexpected voice, dropping the bag so I had both hands free.
“Uh, pardon me,” said a man dressed in the utility shorts and purple, orange, and black shirt of a parcel delivery man. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just about to knock.”
I relaxed, cursing myself. I’d been so caught up in Sylvie as she came downstairs I hadn’t heard him approaching. Inexcusable. What if this was one of Noel’s people? I couldn’t let that happen again. I had to stay on guard. Alert. All the time.
Vee’s life depended on it.
“Can I help you?” Sylvie asked, stepping past me with a frown at my behavior.
“Delivery for Sylvie Wilson.”
“That’s me.”
“Do you have ID?” the deliveryman asked.
Sylvie produced her license, and after checking it carefully, the courier asked her to sign. Then he produced a single small envelope from a pocket, and handed it to her. “There you go. Have a great day.”
“You too,” she said, staring in confusion at the tiny package.
“What is it?”
“No idea,” she said, tearing it open. “But certainly wanted to make sure it came to me and only me.”
“Yeah.”
She upturned the envelope. Out came a single piece of paper, and a key. I waited impatiently while she read it.
“It’s to my grandmother’s lockbox at the bank,” she said, pocketing it with a shrug. “That’s why the security.”
“I see.”
“Yep. We’ll have to go by there, see what’s in it,” she said, stepping out onto the porch after me and locking the front door.
“We will. Eventually.” I didn’t want to spend another moment in town if I could avoid it. Not yet. It was too easy to be spotted and followed.
“Eventually. So cryptic.” She shook her head as we walked to my truck.
“We’ll be back,” I told her. “After everything is dealt with.”
“The Chained, you mean.”
“Yes. We stopped its push. This time. But it’s still out there, and it won’t stop.”
“It won’t stop coming for me, you mean.”
“Yes.” I chewed on my next comment for a moment and then said it anyway, trying to lighten the mood. “Which is a fact that pains me.”
“What? Why?”
“Because that’s something the Chained and I have in common with you.”
