“Your given name?” Or did she prefer secrecy?
“It’s the name given by folks I help.”
So… secrecy. “You spirit them away?”
“From places like the Mule. Others.” Angel stared at the old man who was kicking dirt to smother the fire. “We found the wreckage that was Sutter. Jodan was a friend.”
“Convince me.”
Stress crossed her face. “If a girl served you tea, she probably flavored it with pine needles, spearmint, and honey. I taught her how to make it.”
I nodded. Waited.
“Burn likes a warm fire, and his back leg jerks when you scratch his belly. The dog doesn’t care for storms. Old Mae has a salve that stinks like a bog. She’ll smear it on you if you’re not careful. Don’t let Adriel trick you into a race. She uses trees like no other. And Jodan… he likes puffing on that old-fashioned pipe.” A ghostly smile, revealing more grief than I expected. “Did any of them survive?”
“The dog,” I said. I didn’t honestly know about the girl who served tea, if she’d run off somewhere. We hadn’t found her in the ruins. She wasn’t in the group we left with Owen. As for Old Mae, Jodan—I let silence be the answer.
“What about Adriel?”
“Safe,” I grunted.
“Good.” She breathed in. “That’s good.” Another tense breath. “When we… guessed what had happened, I took a chance on that old smuggler passage.”
“How’d you learn about it?” Mace’s voice was hard with the interrogation. The woman on the ground pulled the children closer.
I sent a mental order to Levi. He laid down the spear, reluctant to let it go, but only for an instant before ambling toward the two kids. He shrugged out of his jacket. A colorful team logo was embroidered on the back.
“Hey,” he said, squatting down and holding out the jacket. “You could probably use this. It’s kinda cold out here.”
The boy didn’t move, but the girl glanced up curiously. “Is that the ball team bird?”
“Yeah. Nighthawks. Best team in the league.”
“Sometimes Papa liked to watch them.”
A wolf named Pond, one of Levi’s friends, wandered out to join them, casual as he pulled off his own jacket. “I like the Ravens.” He smirked. “Better stats, and that new pitcher they drafted has some fucking speed—” The woman hissed, and Pond dipped his chin. “Sorry, ma’am—some darn speed. Should go all the way to the play-offs this season.”
Levi was sliding his jacket on the girl while Pond helped the boy, zipping them up tight. Some of the shivering lessened. The girl craned her head, trying to see the logo on her jacket, then poked at her brother.
When Levi and Pond took the kids’ hands, the woman protested, and I said, “They’ll be safe. They don’t need to hear this.”
Her eyes widened; in the bright moonlight, I saw the brewing fear.
“What are their names?” Levi asked.
“Raven and Ash.” Her lips trembled. “They’re only babies. Please.”
“You have my promise,” he said. “We don’t hurt little kids.”
She understood what he meant, even though dread shuddered through her. I wished Fallon was here. Women handled situations like these differently.
“No harm will come,” I said. Growled.
The woman glared at me, stark and hateful. “Don’t lie.”
Her answer had my wolf rumbling in my chest. He was impatient, distrusting. Wanting to rip something apart. From where had these refugees run? From what horror, if this female was so quick to challenge us, despite her fear? “Your name?”
“Elana.” No last name. Would it reveal too much? No sense of a pack identity filtered through, other than wolf, and what I picked up wasn’t Alpen, even though they’d come through the passage.
