Page 102 of Mortal Shift
“I could ask you the same question,” I replied as he reached up. Best to go on the offensive, right?
“You could,” he said, eyeing me coldly, “but I’m not supposed to be on a moon hunt right now. With Cole.”
I swallowed. “Yeah, there’s that.”
“So why aren’t you?”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” I crossed my arms and scowled at him.
Ling coughed behind me and I twisted just slightly to look at her from the corner of my eye. She gave a tiny but meaningful nod in Jax’s direction, and I raised a questioning eyebrow, because really? Jax? But she just repeated her nod and I turned back to him, exhaling heavily. This plan sucked. But it was, in fact, the only one we had, which made it the best one we had. It still sucked, though.
I mean, Jax.
He hated me on a good day. And this was not a good day. But Ling was right, he was loyal to Cole, which meant there was at least a chance he’d on our side.
“Either of you want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked, looking from me to Ling and back again.
“Really not,” I said, and Ling shot me an exasperated look. “But she thinks I should.”
Jax glanced at her, narrowing his eyes.
“And who are you?” Then he held up a hand and shook his head. “Never mind, doesn’t matter. What’s going on, Cali? And where’s Cole?”
“Yeah, that’s the thing,” I said. “He’s in trouble, and I think I need your help to get him out.”
“What kind of trouble?” he asked, squaring his shoulders and looking up and down the corridor like he was expecting to find some kind of ninja vampire hiding in the shadows.
“Cool your heels, Leroy,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Not the kind of trouble you can fight your way out of.” Then I paused, considering, and amended, “Probably.”
I turned to Ling for confirmation and she just shrugged. That was fun news. Fighting sounded pretty tempting right now, even if I was outnumbered and outgunned.
“Cole’s been arrested,” I told Jax.
“What? What the hell for?” His brow knitted and he stalked a step closer. “Did you do this?”
“Get your head out of your ass, Jax. Oxygen deprivation is making you more idiotic than usual. If I was behind this, would I be trying to help him and telling you all this?”
“You might.”
“You can’t possibly think I’m that stupid.”
“Maybe.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and I glared at him, wondering if smacking some sense into his thick skull would work, or if I’d just hurt my hand.
“Fine,” he conceded, dropping his arms. “You’re dumb, but you’re not that dumb.”
“Why, thank you so much,” I said acerbically. “So if you’re done throwing around ridiculous accusations…”
“If it wasn’t you—” He cut off as I fixed him with a glare, and raised his hands. “Okay, it wasn’t you. So who was it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Some guy from the council showed up and arrested him. Said he attacked Thaden.”
“Fucking vampires,” Jax snarled, which pretty much summed up my feelings exactly, but wasn’t in the least helpful right now. “Probably provoked him.”
“I don’t think he did it,” I said.
“Who the fuck cares if he did it?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the people who are going to put him on trial? Think, Jax.”
