At the next corner, Penn crossed again.
“Did you park all the way over at Mami’s?” Ray wondered, surprised.
“There was nowhere else,” Penn explained, slowing as they reached the plaza and the fountain.
When they passed in front of the fountain, Ray sat on the low stone wall around it. It took Penn a few steps to notice. Ray took out the earplugs as she backtracked, stuck them in his coat pocket with his phone and some caramels.
The concert was still too loud to him, though probably pleasant to human ears. The gentle splash of the water in the fountain was better, to Ray’s. He’d looked the other way for so long, kept his focus on his work and, hopefully, on Cal so much that he didn’t do things like this, sit outside to listen to a fountain, or have a coffee that he actually enjoyed. He hadn’t considered who he was except for what he thought he should be. He hadn’t considered a lot of things.
He didn’t want to thank the person who had done this to him, but there was a lesson in this someplace about the unintended consequences of magic. Maybe the lesson was for Ray, a little too late.
But Ray was tired, and worried, and probably not thinking clearly.
He looked over in the vague direction of the alley where he’d woken up.
“So,” Penn said, and sat next to him.
“So.” Ray inclined his head. “They called Cal and Benny to the scene to lure me there.”
“Probably,” she agreed steadily. “The real question is: how did they get you by yourself?”
“That I don’t know.” Ray exhaled. “They could’ve just asked me to walk with them. I trusted them then, or wanted to seem to. I don’t know if that’s as important as their intent with this. I didn’t tell him,”himmeant Cal, but Penn would know that, “but I don’t think theyonlywanted a were to lose his mate, to cause a scene. If they wanted to guarantee a scene, then they’d make me hurt him. More than just hurt, I think.” But he wasn’t going to speak that into being.
Penn put a hand on his knee. “You would never hurt him.Ray,” she added, shaking Ray slightly when he didn’t answer, “you wouldn’t. And anyway, you have no proof of that. No one sent Cal over to you, remember? He found you on his own. And regardless, the spell didn’t work.”
“It didn’t.” Ray nodded because that was true. “But it also hasn’t been removed. It’s waiting. And I always find him. Right? Ray finds Cal, always and ever. People know that about me if they pay attention, if they’ve heard you joke about it. If they were studying me, or… obsessed with me.”
Penn hissed something under her breath, then said, “Fuck,” loud and clear.
“But,” Ray continued gently, “as Cassandra and Benny said my—the were magic did something. I don’t know how much longer it will last. Fighting it is making me tired. That has to be the reason. I’mtired, Penn. At first, I thought this is how a human must feel after a long day. But this is deeper than that, because it’s worse every day. The food… the coffees… I don’t know how much longer those will work.”
“Then fucking focus,” Penn snapped before taking a shuddery breath. “Cal has made his own enemies. Maybe they wanted to discredit him too, keep him out of the game. I have no doubt of the cruelty of these people, but I do doubt they think any more about fairies than they do about weres. They probably thought Cal would be easy to break.”
Ray surprised himself by snorting in amusement. “He won’t be.” Cal was a good choice for anyone, were or not. “But if I did hurt him, then it likely would happen exactly how they want. It’s an exciting headline: Werewolf Cop Killing Spree. Or, more dramatic, Werewolf Kills His…”
Ray wasn’t going to speak that into being, either.
Penn responded in the tone and manner of a TV pundit. “The village is a place full of degenerates, with chaos in the streets, and perverted, poor humans and beings who cannot be trusted.Predators,” she added pointedly, dropping the act. “You say that enough times…”
“And ‘respectable’ people will allow you to do anything to make it go away.” Ray turned to meet Penn’s stare. “Some want to cause pain. Some are indifferent. And some just want to make money.”
“The village is now valuable property.” The implications of the situation had not been lost on her. “Which company is behind this? Where to look first? We could pick one out of a hat. Or…” Her attention wandered across the street and up the block. “The first place to look might be the one that immediately brings more heat on us. But then again, we are in a time crunch.”
Jokes in the dark times.
Ray followed Penn’s gaze to the building that had been under investigation when Ray had stepped into that alley. He had no idea who owned that building, but it was occupied. There were tenants and probably squatters.
The lot and building next to it, however, were blocked off with a chain link fence that hadn’t been there that day. There was a sign on the fence, too far away for Ray to read, but it probably had either the name of the owners or the security company on it.
Maybe it was the fresh air. Ray felt like he couldthinkfor the first time in days.
“Were there security guards at those places that have burned down or caught fire recently? At the place with the partial collapse?”
“And yet, somehow the properties were damaged anyway and still had ‘suspicious’ types about.” Penn sounded as tired as Ray felt as she reached the same conclusion. “’The conditions in the village are to blame,’ blah blah. You get insurance money and an excuse to tear the whole building down, or kick everyone out and charge more in rent. Fewer and fewer residents remaining to protest.”
“The whole village will have to be prepared. Knowing about it isn’t enough.” As Calvin had said, almost in that very spot, one person could not take on a corporation. Like most things in life, it required a pack, or at least a team. “They’ll have to work together and they’ll need protection.”
“Well,” Penn dragged out the word, thinking something through, “reporters do love you.” She glanced at Ray when he didn’t answer that and her expression changed in small ways, staying resolute but growing sadder. “I did wonder about your sudden decision to get married. I figured there was some other reason than you worrying over your mortality—a practical reason. That’s the Ray I know.”
