He watched and carefully set off after them when they departed the food court. More shopping on the agenda, apparently. They headed into another department store where it would be easy for him to discreetly keep an eye on them from a safe distance.
Elain’s nerves were on edge. Not that it was a new sensation to her, considering all that had recently happened, but this felt different.
Like they were being watched.
Lina noticed. “What’s wrong?” she quietly asked her.
Elain looked around and shook her head. “Paranoid, I guess.”
He didn’t have a chance to get close to them, or get the Pardie bitch alone. He knew time was growing short.
He’d already ignored three of Rodolfo’s phone calls.
Then the texts started.
Where the hell are you?
He texted him back. I have the Pardie woman in sight, but she’s with the dragon woman and two others. Including a pregnant coyote. He hated coyotes. The very stink of them made his skin crawl.
What? Send me a picture!
Puzzled, Marston studied the text for a moment. With a sigh he waited until the women were close enough he could take a picture of them from a distance and fit them into the same shot. He sent it to Rodolfo.
Within a minute, Rodolfo texted him back. Go somewhere and call me. Now.
Frustrated, Marston replied. But I might lose my chance to get the Pardie woman alone.
I don’t care about that. I need to speak with you. Now!
Marston read the text a second time. Fine. If he wants me to lose her, he can’t harass me for it. Marston returned to his car and placed the call.
“You realize I can’t do my job if you pull me away like this?”
Rodolfo actually sounded pleased. “I don’t care about that right now. How long has that coyote been with them?”
“Today is the first day I’ve seen her. They all returned from wherever they’d gone last night. Their cars were back when I started watching the house this morning. She was with them, so she must have come with them. I’ve never seen her before.”
“Excellent. You can stop following them for now.”
“What? Have you lost your mind?”
“Do not argue with me. I have calls to make. I might not be able to obtain the Pardie woman the way I wanted, but this serves me better. I can use their own Council to force them to hand over her, as well as the coyote.”
“Why do you want the coyote?”
“None of your business!” Rudolfo roared through the phone, forcing Marston to pull it away from his ear. “Go and sit in your hotel room and await my further instructions.” He hung up.
“Bloody bastard,” Marston swore as he tossed his cell phone into the passenger seat. “Who the hell does he think he is?”
Chapter Thirteen
Daniel and Callie showed up at Jocko’s house a few minutes before seven. He smiled and let them in. Daniel’s mouth watered at the delicious aroma of pot roast in the oven.
“Make yerself at home,” Jocko said, waving them toward the living room. “We’ll be eating in a few minutes, but I want to talk with ye first. I’ll be right back.”
They settled themselves in his comfortable living room, where the TV was tuned to a Dirty Jobs marathon on the Discovery Channel.
“What do you think he wants to talk about?” Callie nervously asked Daniel. “Do you think he’s upset about us not saying anything to him when Lina and Elain were up here?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, pet. I’m sure we’ll find out here shortly.” Inwardly, he smiled. At first, Callie had a hard time adapting to life as a human. Well, as human as she could be, considering she was an immortal like her sisters, Baba Yaga and Brighde. When they mated and he marked her, she agreed to submit to him.
So far, that part of life she had easily adapted to.
He slung an arm around her shoulder as they sat on the couch. Placing a kiss on her forehead, he said, “Whatever it is, it is. Relax.”
Jocko returned a few moments later and sat in a chair across from them. “Now, ye know I’m getting along in years, Daniel. I ain’t getting any younger. None of us are.” He looked around the room, then back at Daniel. “In some packs, they pass leadership down the ranks through blood kin. We haven’t done that for a few hundred years now, ye know that. I want to nominate ye as my replacement on the Clan Council.”
Daniel blinked, stunned. “Me? Why?”
“Don’t go on with false modesty, there. Ye damn well know why. That stuff with the dragons, for one. Yer practically kin with ’em. The fact that them damn cockatrice are still on the warpath and ye know as well as I we’re due for another run-in with them anytime now, according to what Lacey and Lina said. And them damn Abernathys. What few blood kin I still have, not a single one of ’em I’d want running the Clan Council. Especially not at a time like this.”
Jocko nodded toward Callie. “Ye got a good mate there, Daniel. A powerful woman in her own right. We need all the strength we can get on the Council. I know a couple of the other members are going to nominate some younger blood to replace them here in the next few weeks. Lacey told us time’s growing short, and we want as much time as we can get for the new leadership to take our places. The dragons are doing the same thing. This is a war from the past that only youth will be able to wage.”
This was a huge responsibility. They had five members on the main Clan Council, and representatives throughout the world who reported to them. Unlike the Abernathy Clan, they’d done away with a single leader to prevent stupidity and stagnation from taking over and running the Clan into the ground.
Much like Rodolfo Abernathy had done to his Clan.
“Wow,” Daniel said. “I’m honored.”
Jocko waved his gratitude away. “Don’t give me that crap. Will ye, or won’t ye? I need an answer sooner rather than later, because honestly? I don’t have another choice in mind.”
He looked at Callie. “What do you think?”
“I think you should do it.” She grinned. “Does this mean I can now blow up cockatrice at will?”
Daniel smiled. “Ah, my vicious little pet. What will I do with you?”
“I can think of a few things.”
“So can I,” Jocko interrupted, “but can we get back to the matter at hand before ye two start going at it like a couple o’ bloody rabbits?”
Daniel nodded. “I’ll do it.”
Jocko clapped his hands together. “Terrific!” He hauled his bulk out of his chair. “Now let’s eat. I’m famished.”
As always, dinner tasted delicious. Jocko’s other passion, besides Clan genealogy, was cooking. He never let a guest leave his table hungry. “The Council is meeting tomorrow morning,” Jocko said. “I’ll be telling them my decision then. Expect a phone call.”
“Wow, that’s…fast,” Daniel replied.
“I told ye, we want to get a new bunch in as soon as possible. Any dickering around could cost us in a big way. I don’t need to tell ye what I mean, do I?”
Daniel shook his head. “No. I know what you mean.”
“Good!”
Callie let out a nervous laugh. “I was afraid you were going to yell at us.”
“Fer what?”
“For meeting with Lina and Elain while you were gone.”
He smiled. “I didn’t say this, but I suspected Lacey had something up her sleeve. It’s not often she tells me to pack a bag and get the hell out of town, but when she does, I listen.” He laughed and winked at her. “I can’t be responsible for something when I wasn’t here, now, can I?”