Page 53 of Guardians of the Pack

It didn’t take long to drive to Beaconsfield and park outside the chocolate-box cottage that housed the ogres. I was just climbing out of the car when my phone beeped. I checked the message, half expecting it to be a blasting from Greg, but it was a message from Jess.I’ve got news. I’ll ring shortly. Xx

Curiosity killed the cat, and I have curiosity in spades. I muted my phone; it would be poor form to have her call me whilst I was interrogating the king of the ogres. It was hard to slide the phone back into my pocket, though, and not contact her immediately. Jess was trying to find my biological parents, so ‘I have news’was a big deal for me. I tried to put her message to one side. Krieg was my priority for now.

Bastion landed next to me silently. Normally he hit the ground with a whump. He was in stealth mode.

‘I don’t want him being intimidated by you,’ I explained. ‘Can you make yourself scarce? I think he’ll open up more if it’s just little old me.’

‘And let me guess, I need to be ready to save you if you get attacked?’ He asked drily.

‘Yes, that’s about the measure of it. Does that sound like a good plan?’

‘Sure, and I’ll stop the sun while I’m at it.’ He grumbled drily.

‘I’m notthathard to look after.’

‘It was easier when you had pig-tails,’ he complained. He jumped into the air again, flapping his mighty wings and disappearing into the surrounding trees. I liked the thought of Bastion watching over Jess and I when we were little; as I recall we spent a great deal of time with skinned knees and climbing up trees. Good times.

I didn’t go to the front door and announce my presence, but neither did I try to hide it. I locked the car and went round the side of the cottage to where I hoped Krieg would be feeding his crows.

Bingo. Sure enough there he was, feeding his murder of corvid friends. He looked up as I approached and his eyes darkened. He held up a hand, which I thought was to stop me, then I realised he had ogres hidden amongst the trees as sentries. Oops, I hope they didn’t cross paths with Bastion. Well, at least Krieg had decided not to kill me outright.

I tried to smile as I approached, but I suspect it looked forced. Now that I was there, anger was crackling down my spine. If he’d been honest earlier, perhaps we would be twelve hours further down the line. Perhaps we’d have already rescued Bobby.

‘You know why I’m here,’ I accused.

He quirked an eyebrow at me. ‘Do I?’

‘You do. You know who is kidnapping the children.’

He didn’t deny it, merely turned back to his birds and continued to sprinkle seeds as if my accusations were nothing to him.

‘You said that you wouldn’t take contracts that involved minors. Why is that any different to helping someone who is kidnapping minors? Because make no mistake, omitting to tell me what you know is surely helping them.’

He turned back to me, his eyes hard and angry. ‘Tread carefully, Lucy of the Home Counties Pack.’

‘Why? What are you going to do? Assist in the deaths of more children?’

They say you shouldn’t do a food shop when you’re hungry; maybe you shouldn’t interrogate someone when you’re angry. I knew that I was out of control, but I didn’t care enough to stop. How dare he espouse some level of morality, then go behind my back and conceal the identity of the ones who’d taken the children, taken Bobby?

‘I am not helping the kidnappers,’ he stated finally.

‘By keeping their identities hidden you are,’ I said firmly.

‘I don’t know their identities. I only know of the one who came to the den to negotiate the contract.’

‘And who was that?’

I could see him weighing his response. Finally he said, ‘It was a griffin. And given that you were in the company of a griffin when you came knocking, it hardly seemed sensible to disclose that fact.’

Was he suggesting it was the same griffin? It couldn’t be. I trusted Bastion utterly. Not that I believed that Bastion would never lie to me, but I believed him on this. I wondered if Bastion could hear our conversation from the trees. Probably not, I decided. Nonetheless I covered my lips with a hand in case Bastion could lip read. ‘Are you suggesting Bastion came to you?’ I clarified.

Krieg shook his head and relief washed over me. ‘No, not Bastion. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not involved in some way. Griffins stick together. There are so few of them that they have to.’

‘Do you know the name of the griffin who came?’

‘Of course.’

‘Will you tell me who it was?’

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