Free Web NovelChapter 139: An Unsettling Realization
"Can I try?" Gus asked hopefully. "If I manage to open it and you don’t want it, can I have it? It looks valuable enough to fetch a pretty penny."
"Is money all you can think of?" I wondered. "This is an urn. What if it’s full of ashes?"
"Mostly, along with beautiful women that are not you," Gus added impishly. "And ashes can be thrown away.
I rolled my eyes at his mercenary attitude. "Be my guest then," I said, passing the urn to him.
He caught it with one hand, the other still on the steering wheel. He gave it a cursory glance and raised his eyebrow.
"Oh, it’s actually an urn." Gus winced, but he still tried to pry open the lid with one hand, with limited success.
I narrowed my eyes; Gus was handling silver very well for a werewolf. Lydia couldn’t touch silver without it raising welts on her skin, but Gus was holding this pure silver urn as though it was made of wood.
Of course, that was assuming that it was even silver to begin with. I watched Gus continue to fiddle with it, with no success. In the end, he tossed it back to me with a sigh.
"You can have it back, I guess. It’s not fated between us."
I snorted. "You have a funny way of putting things." ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Then, my eyes caught a flash of light in the rearview mirror. I glanced up― it seemed to be coming from the direction of the house, roughly from the window on the second floor. Thinking that it might be a trick of the light, I looked more carefully, and there it was again!
It was as though someone had either used a torchlight or reflected sunlight with the help of a mirror. The flashes lasted for less than a second, but I knew what I saw.
"Did you see that?" I demanded.
"See what?" Gus asked, flicking his eyes to the rearview mirror. "I only see a lot of trees and the tiny speck that’s the house."
"There was a light! At the window!" I declared.
"It could also be the reflection of the sun off the window panes," Gus said evenly. "Don’t overthink matters. You’re scaring yourself for no good reason."
"I’m not overthinking; I know what I saw," I insisted, crossing my arms as I kept my eyes on the rapidly vanishing house. The upper floor was full of windows, but how was it that light only reflected from one particular window pane?
Utter nonsense.
"If you say so," Gus said, and I sensed that he was saying it more to agree with me than any actual belief on his part. "If there was a light, then I wonder why anyone would show it now when we were already leaving. Were they hoping for visitors?"
Chills crept down my spine when I heard his words. It almost seemed like whoever was in the house was signaling to someone outside of it. Unbidden, Damon’s words loomed in my mind.
Perhaps there were vampires lying in wait all the time, to make a meal out of Gus and me while we fled. My eyes darted around the vehicle, but I could see nothing but passing greenery. Gus was driving so fast that everything was fading together into a long green blur. Yet, I knew from personal experience that a vampire wouldn’t bat an eyelid at such speeds. They might even find it more fun to have prey that tried to escape.
Either that or someone was kept prisoner in that particular room, hoping that a random person would catch their signal and rescue them from their captor― who was also in the house.
Both options were different brands of terrifying, and I could feel my palms sweat as I gripped my seatbelt tightly. Gus drove like a maniac, and I kept an eye out for anyone waiting to ambush us.
I tried to quell the panic rising in me. Blaise didn’t need to feel this sort of negative emotion when he was trying to fight off silver poisoning, and Damon didn’t need this particular distraction either when all his focus should be directed at getting the parts to save Blaise.
Was I overthinking things?
Thankfully, we arrived back at Fangborne’s borders with no trouble. Gus parked his pickup truck and gestured at me to get off.
"Here is where we part, Harper," Gus said. "If I take one step closer, I’m afraid your terrifying alpha might just rend me from limb to limb after he returns from the journey to save his brother."
"Stop wasting time and go," I said, waving him off, ignoring the dramatic way he swooned and sighed as he waved goodbye to me.
Gus was wasted as a rogue; he should audition to become an actor. With his face and mannerisms, he was sure to earn more money in the entertainment industry than he was working odd jobs and robbing people.
"Thanks for the ride! Don’t come back!"
"You hurt me, Harper. I have a feeling we’ll still see each other soon. Our fate with each other hasn’t ended!"
I rolled my eyes again, this time shooing him away.
As Gus drove off and I walked back to House Sirius, I suddenly realized a terrifying fact that caused my footsteps to halt.
I had never told Gus that Blaise was in trouble and needed saving. He only knew Damon was my alpha and he was out getting the parts necessary to fix the machine.
So, how was it that Gus knew about Blaise’s condition? There was no conceivable way for him to jump to this conclusion with the facts he was given― and I was with Doctor Thomas, making sure he didn’t tell Gus about me being Blaise’s mate.
Was he spying on Fangborne? Was he working with vampires this whole time, just like Stormclaw and Ironclaw were before Fangborne laid them to waste?
Suddenly, I needed to get back to the pack house soon. I did not feel safe alone any longer.
