Frostbitten
Page 57

I glanced at Clay.
"Wouldn't surprise me," he said. "But I never heard that."
"I did, back when we were with the Pack. You and Nick had gone someplace, and I had to hang out with the Santos boys. Malcolm was there with their dad and uncle, and they were talking about it, how Malcolm had killed Josef Marsten. Raymond was razzing Malcolm because the boy got away on him."
"Karl?"
"I presume so."
I'd never heard that, certainly not from Karl. It might explain some of his reluctance to commit himself to the Pack, taking orders from a man whose father had killed his own. I'd have to talk to him about it.
"So you've got two kids, right?" Joey said. "Twins?"
I nodded. "A boy and a girl. Three and a half."
"Planning to have more?"
"Right now, two is enough."
Clay nodded as he tore a bite off a giant prawn. "Got too much else going on. Two is good. We can give them all the at-att-enshun… " Clay stumbled over the word, slurring it.
I looked over sharply. He blinked hard, as if struggling to keep his eyes open.
"I guess I'm not the only one who should have had a nap this afternoon," Joey said.
Clay kept blinking, as if he hadn't heard Joey. He frowned, annoyed, and rubbed his hand over his face.
I touched his arm. "Are you okay?"
"He looks ready to crash," Joey said with a laugh. "Too little sleep and too much food. Guess I should have grabbed espresso instead of Cokes. Why don't you go lie-?"
"You, you bas-" The word fell away in a slurred jumble. Clay gripped the table, pushing himself up.
"Clay?" I said. "What-?"
He fell forward. I lunged for him, but he caught himself at the last second, holding the table, swaying, still trying to focus. Joey had stumbled back, out of his way.
"You son… " Clay slurred the rest. His head wobbled, eyes trying to find Joey. "If you hurt her, I swear, I'll hunt you down and-"
He collapsed into my arms. I lowered him to the floor, frantically checking his pulse, finding it strong, then spinning on Joey.
"What did you-?"
Joey wasn't in his chair. As I turned, I felt a prick on the back of my arm.
I wheeled, fists flying up, hitting Joey's outstretched hand. A syringe fell to the floor. I stared at it, my brain swimming, knees buck ling.
"I'm sorry," Joey said.
I crashed to the floor.
 
 
BARTER
 

I WOKE TO the slap of ice-cold air on my face. I tried to nestle under the covers, but couldn't find them. Clay moved behind me. I backed toward him, to snuggle up, keep warm, expecting his arm to go around me, spoon me against him, warm breath on my neck, familiar scent washing over me. But he moved away and shook my shoulder. "Elena, wake up," his voice was distant, distorted.
He kept shaking me.
I pushed his hand off my shoulder. "Tired. 'S cold," I mumbled. "Window's open. Close… "
I stopped. I wasn't in bed. I wasn't even lying down. I opened my eyes, the lids gummy. A blast of bitter wind made me gasp, frigid air filling my lungs, knocking sleep from me.
I was looking at a car window, party rolled down. Forest beyond. Deep, dark forest, the trees so close I could reach out and…
My hands were bound behind my back.
I twisted, looking for Clay. Joey sat in the driver's seat. I was in the passenger side. The backseat was empty.
"Where is he?" I snarled, struggling to get free, realizing I was bound hand and foot. "Where is he?"
"Back at the hotel. They didn't want him."
It took a moment for me to understand, but when I did, I thrashed wildly.
Joey shrank back against the door and waited until I'd figured out I wasn't getting free, and when I did, I said, slowly turning toward him, "You're exchanging me for Noah."
"I have to. That's what they demanded yesterday. I had until tonight to bring you or they'd kill him. That's why I tried to get you to leave. If you'd taken off, they couldn't expect me to do it." A whine crept into his voice, as if this was all my fault. "I tried to warn you off."
"No, you didn't. You made a halfhearted suggestion that we leave town, but you didn't really want us to go. You just wanted to be able to tell yourself you tried and-"
I stopped and scanned the forest. At any moment, Tesler was going to step from the darkness, and I was wasting any chance I had of escape by bickering.
"Did you hear the last thing Clay said to you?" I asked.
Joey didn't answer.
"Do you think that was an idle threat? Knowing Clay, do you really think it was an idle threat?"
No answer, but I swore he went a few shades paler, gaze darting away, lips tightening.
"You remember what Clay did to that mutt thirty years ago? You were there."
"I wasn't-"
"Not at the scene, but around at the time. His friend at the time." When I emphasized the word friend, his lips tightened more. "You know what he did and why he did it. But a whole generation of mutts has grown up since then, a generation that considers that ancient history, and isn't afraid anymore. You know Clay won't accept that. He can't. If they've forgotten, then he needs to remind them. He needs to prove he still deserves his reputation. What better way than to repeat it, only not using a mutt this time… but an old friend who betrayed him."
Joey went white. Then green. Then red, his jaw setting as he swiveled to face me. "You don't need to threaten me, Elena."
"No?"
His eyes met mine, hard now. "No. Why do you think we're just sitting here?"
"Because you're waiting for Travis Tesler to-"
"The meeting place is half a mile away, the meeting time a half-hour from now. I stopped here because I've changed my mind. I can't go through with it."
My gaze went as hard as his. "Bullshit."
"Bullshit? Do you see Tesler? Why would-?"
"You stopped a half mile from the meeting place. Then you woke me up. If you'd changed your mind, you'd have put the car in reverse and gotten the hell out of here, leaving me asleep as long as possible. Instead… "
I trailed off as I understood.