Chapter Twelve
I left Isaac’s to run some errands and treat myself to lunch. Then I drove by my property just to see it. Things were already happening there, and it gave me something positive to look forward to.
As I headed back to Liam’s, Ivan’s phone dinged with a notification. Eager to check it, I pulled off the road into a Starbuck’s parking lot. Excitement coursed through me as I read the message.
Take the box to 1135 Cherryhill Lane. Go after 10p.m. If no answer, leave candy.
Reply when done.
I don’t think my car has ever gone as fast as I made it go to get back to Liam’s. I ran up the stairs to his office and stormed through the door, stopping short when I saw he wasn’t alone. An impeccably dressed woman—an Autumn shifter to be exact—sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Her perfectly made-up eyes landed on me, and her red lips pulled into a slightly amused smirk.
“Uh, I’m sorry. I should have knocked,” I said backing out of the room and closing the door.
Philip appeared behind me as if out of nowhere. “Problem?” he drawled.
“Dammit, Phil, don’t sneak up on me. It’s creepy.” His energy was even harder to sense than Liam’s.
“I know.” He grinned which made him even creepier.
“There’s more to you than meets the eye. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m going to figure it out.”
“I look forward to watching you try.”
He seemed content to let me study him, so I took my time. To the naked eye he looked like any other Autumn shifter. His mahogany brown hair was closely cropped, but his light brown eyes held something I’d never seen before. Maybe it’s the writer in me but something told me he had secrets. Deep, dark secrets. His eyes twinkled then as if he knew what I was thinking. Make that very dark secrets.
“Mr. Fraser is in a meeting,” he said, leaning back against the wall, eyeing me up.
“I gathered that. Stop fucking me with your eyes.”
He shot me a half smile. “It’s hard not to.”
For some reason that struck me as funny, and I laughed. “You’re nothing like you appear.”
He stood straight, arms at his side, a stoic expression on his face. “Is this better? Shall I be the proper manservant?”
I laughed again, shoving him back a little. “No. Please don’t. Just tell Liam I’ll be out back writing. I need to speak with him as soon as he’s done.”
“Yes, madam,” he said with a bow.
“Weirdo,” I said, smiling at his chuckle. I grabbed my laptop from my room and headed outside. It was useless. I was too excited about the message to write anything. Closing the computer, I paced until I saw Liam step outside.
“I am sorry I couldn’t get out here sooner. What’s going on?”
I pulled out Ivan’s phone to show him the message, but it had already deleted itself. “Damn, I lost track of time.” Thankfully, I had copied the message to a note on my phone.
“An address is helpful. I assume you want to go there yourself?”
“Yes.” I shot him a wry grin. “But we have to wait until after ten. It must mean the target won’t be home until then.”
He nodded. “Makes sense.”
“Do we even have the chocolates?”
“Yes. Yuri grabbed them before he left the site. There was an envelope with two syringes full of what must be Bane. There’s enough to paralyze a horse in them.”
My blood ran cold thinking about Stella injecting some unsuspecting person with Wolf’s Bane. How was this even a thing? How could she be involved in this? Nauseated, I sat on one of the patio chairs and stared out at the trees.
“Want to tell me about your conversation with Stephens?” Liam asked, trying to distract me from my depression.