Page 62 of Guardians of the Pack

‘The griffin wants to stop her bloodlust?’

‘That’d be my supposition, wolfie, but she didn’t come chatting.’

‘And the ogre?’

‘She’s hired muscle, nothing more. It was my bad luck to be found by her rather than anyone else. Or perhaps my good luck, because Krieg wouldn’t have been overly forgiving.’

‘And do you know where you were taken?’

‘Sorry, lovey, no. But I recognised the ogre.’

‘Who was she?’

‘It was that pinch-faced bitch strolling around like she was a human, serving drinks and glaring. Even in her ogre form she had the same bitchy look, like she was sucking a lemon.’

I cast my mind back, Krieg had called her something. ‘Gillian?’

Reynard shrugged. ‘I wasn’t getting autographs. If that’s your harridan’s name, then yes.’

‘If we reach out to Krieg with this information…’

‘He’ll kill her for taking an unsanctioned contract.’

‘And we won’t find the kids. Why did James want you to live?’

‘To taunt you. He wants you to know that you’re the cause of all of this. If you hadn’t ripped off his dick then he wouldn’t have kidnapped the kids.’ He looked at my pale face. ‘But that doesn’t mean the witchy wench, the ogre and the griffin weren’t already planning mischief. James doesn’t strike me as the mastermind. He’s a flunky, and a shit one at that. The others think he killed me, but he just did some heavy damage and left me here. That wasn’t in the plan, and it may be their undoing.’

Chapter 22

‘Wemayknowtheidentity of some of the fuckers, but we still have no way to locate them except by contacting Krieg. And that will probably get them all killed without any guarantee that we’ll get our Bobby back safely,’ Reynard groused. I liked that he said ‘our’.

‘We know the identity of the griffin. It’s Charlize, Bastion’s daughter.’

Reynard winced. ‘Shit. Well then, we have our next move. Bastion will be able to locate her. He’s the best assassin there is, and that’s partly because he can always find his mark.’

‘He may be able to find her, but will he help us?’ I asked dubiously. I trusted Bastion and considered us friends, but Charlize was his daughter. Blood is thicker than water.

‘There is that. But for all he’s a murdering prick, he’s a moral one. He won’t let the kids be caught up in this because the risk of them being extinguished is too high.’

When I called Bastion again, he answered with his usual stony silence. ‘Can you come to the mansion? I need you, it’s urgent.’

The dial tone was the only reply. Presumably, he was on his way, but with Bastion you never know.

Greg joined us, bearing a huge platter of sandwiches. ‘Glad to see you looking okay, Reynard. Can you manage some food?’

Reynard glanced dubiously at the plate. ‘Do you have anything vegetarian?’

Greg nodded. ‘Just for you, I’ve got some cheese sandwiches. Is that okay? Or are you vegan?’

‘A cheese sandwich is fine, thanks.’ Reynard pushed himself up to a sitting position and swung his squat legs over the side of the sofa. His feet dangled above the ground like a child’s; he reminded me of Bobby and my heart ached.

‘We’ve made some progress.’ I filled Greg in on Reynard’s capture and the fact that James was a part of it.

He glowered. ‘We should have killed the fucker.’

‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing.’ I sighed. ‘We didn’t know that at the time.’

Why would the sight of your hind be so wonderful?Esme asked, but her tone was subdued.

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