“Bet your last dollar I’m not leaving. You’ve made a mess of everything, just like I knew you would. I warned you this coalition thing was a bad idea, and you see what’s happened.” While he talked, Tobias strode forward, shoved the delegation’s pack aside, and climbed the steps. He halted at the door and glared at Robert and Ari standing in the doorway. “Are you going to get out of the way and let me in or not?”
Robert huffed but stepped aside. Ari made room for the big man to pass and waited to see what developed. Tobias’s presence seemed to suck all the air from the cabin. Even the walls appeared to shrink inward a couple of steps. Or maybe it just seemed that way. Tobias was a large man, but it was his over-blown personality that smothered everything else.
Robert turned to Ari. “Let me introduce Tobias. He’s the alpha of the Chicago wolf pack.” Robert rolled his eyes when only Ari could see. “Tobias, Arianna Calin, the Guardian from Riverdale, who came to update us on the search for Steffan.”
“What progress have you made?” Tobias looked down his nose at her.
Ari studied the newcomer while she decided how to handle this. As Robert had implied earlier, Tobias looked the part of a mobster. Or maybe a loudmouthed car salesman. In any case, she had to get rid of him. They needed to set things in motion within the next three hours. Most importantly, the disinformation they would be spreading had to be believed. That couldn’t happen with Tobias around to observe the truth. She wouldn’t even consider telling him their plans. Even if he wasn’t a suspect, she could already tell they’d never control his behavior or his mouth.
“Sorry, I can’t release information in an ongoing investigation.”
“Nonsense,” he snorted. “If I’m going to clean up this mess, I need to know exactly what you’ve done. Or haven’t done, which I suspect is more the case.”
Ari smiled sweetly. “This case is in the hands of the appropriate authorities. Unless you have information that can help me, you need to return to Chicago.” When he scowled at her, she added, “If you persist, you’ll be interfering with local officials.”
The scowl deepened. “Young lady, I don’t know what you’re up to, but in Chicago, we’re not in a habit of letting others do our job.”
“That’s my point, sir. Finding Steffan is my job, not yours.”
“Humph, we’ll see about that.” He strode over, lowered his massive body into one of the chairs, and looked around expectantly. “If someone doesn’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll be sitting right here for the foreseeable future.”
Realizing she couldn’t get rid of him without shooting him, Ari threw up her hands and stalked out the door. Maybe the wolf leaders would have better luck without her. Lilith and Jena followed. Robert, Warren, and Vita remained behind and engaged in an earnest and sometimes volatile conversation with Tobias. The raised voices carried to Ari and everyone else standing outside, and she didn’t have much hope he’d listen to reason.
“What now?” Ari asked Jena. “Any ideas how we get rid of him?”
“It’ll be tough. Tobias is bullheaded.”
“We have to do something,” Lilith said. “Do you want me to shoot him?”
Jena looked shocked until Ari laughed. “If it comes to that, I’ll shoot him myself. But let’s see if we can think of a better option.”
“I have one idea,” Jena said. “We wanted everyone to believe we’d left here, so maybe we should actually leave. It would be to our advantage for Tobias to report that. In the process, maybe we can figure out a way to lose him.”
“Good thinking,” Ari said. “We should be able to make that work.”
“Awesome,” Lilith agreed. “But where would everyone go? They can’t go home.”
“How do we escape from Tobias and stop him from tracking us down?” Jena added.
Ari grinned. “Oh, I can stop the tracking. Wolves track with their noses, and one of the first things I learned as a young witch was how to make stink spells. His nostrils won’t work right for a week.”
Jena clapped her hands. “I’d love to see that, but I hope I’m far away.”
“You will be.”
Lilith came up with the idea for their escape. “Wolves love to drink. What if we get them drunk enough they have to sleep it off? We’ll all sneak out and then Ari can set off her stinky stuff.”
Jena shook her head. “There isn’t enough beer in Galena to put them under.”
“No, probably not, but I was thinking about a case or two of high-proof Kentucky bourbon,” Lilith said with a grin.
“That might do it.”
Ari listened as Jena and Lilith debated the possibilities. She didn’t have much to add because they knew a lot more about lycanthrope constitution than she did.
“It would work for his pack,” Jena finally conceded, “but it won’t work for Tobias. He’s smarter than he looks. He’d see right away what we were doing.”
“You two figure out what to do about Tobias,” Lilith said, “while I stir up interest in a party and locate some prime liquor. I’m betting it won’t take long.” She winked and strutted away.
Ari suppressed a laugh as she watched Lilith’s hip-swaying approach to the visiting wolves. She didn’t doubt for a moment the lioness could have them swinging from the trees. If Lilith set her mind on anything, it happened. She had a way with men. It might have something to do with the sexy cat eyes and her double-D breasts.
Jena turned back to Ari. “Tobias won’t be that easy. Do you have a spell for him? Maybe a nice vanishing spell?”
“Only if he is a demon. Sorry, inside joke,” she confessed, thinking about last summer. “I think we can sneak most of the group away without Tobias knowing, once we have his wolves out of commission. He won’t care if I leave. Probably encourage it. Your outside staff could leave. The real problem will be the four of you and the guards inside the cabin. We could physically restrain him, if we can’t think of anything else.”
“Oh, we can’t do that. It would cause a permanent feud within the wolf nation,” Jena warned.
“Not if I do it alone. The only wolf pack I have to deal with is Steffan’s, and they won’t care what I do if we get Steffan back.” When Jena still looked worried, Ari said,” I won’t do that unless I have to.”
Jena lifted a shoulder, and they moved on to the details of the escape and where the wolves would go.
An hour later, Ari was back in the cabin, arguing with Tobias about his continuing presence. Lilith and her cases of bourbon were partying with an increasingly inebriated group of Chicagoland wolves. Jena had sought out each of the wolf leaders and made them aware of the modified plan. The only possible snag was ditching Tobias.
While Ari was willing to take the blame for holding him at gunpoint, shooting him in the foot or whatever else it took, the Chicago pack would be outraged. They might take their anger out on the other packs, who had allowed it to happen. At a time when Steffan was trying to bring the wolves together, her actions might be counter-productive.
For the last twenty minutes, Ari had leaned against the cabin wall, watching and listening as the others took turns trying to convince Tobias that his help wasn’t needed. Jena was right. Tobias was smart. He noticed everything that went on around him and heard each nuance in the conversation. But like most people, he had a flaw that made him vulnerable. His was obvious—ego. If she could find some way to use that…
Ari’s smile turned into a grin. She almost laughed just imagining the scene. It should get everyone safely away. Almost everyone.
She slipped outside to make an urgent phone call. When she looked at her message screen, she saw she’d missed a second call from Claris. What could be so important? Whatever it was, she didn’t have time for girl talk. Ari placed her intended call, and as expected, the answer was “yes.” She went back inside and awaited developments.
* * *
It took forty-five minutes for the cavalry to arrive, disguised in the unlikely form of Horatio Jones. He marched up to the cabin door, dressed in a black suit, carrying an expensive leather briefcase, and demanded to see the person in charge.
Tobias lumbered to his feet. “What’s your business here?”
“My name is Horatio Jones. I am here as a representative of Homeland Security.” He looked Tobias up and down. “Are you in charge here, sir? I am authorized only to speak to the person in charge.” Jones’s tone was so pompous, his British accent so pronounced, that Ari had to cough to cover a giggle. She hoped he wouldn’t overplay his part.
She shouldn’t have worried. Tobias was so impressed by the words “Homeland Security,” he was fairly bristling with importance. “Whatever you have to say can be said to me, Agent Jones. I can speak for everyone.” He puffed out his chest. “Happy to discuss the situation with you.” Tobias looked pointedly at the other wolves. “I’m sure Agent Jones would prefer to talk in private. Why don’t you give us a few minutes alone?” Having dismissed them, Tobias immediately turned a beaming smile on Jones and waved him to a seat.
Ari couldn’t believe it was this easy. She’d never expected Tobias to send them away, but what a stroke of luck. When Robert opened his mouth to complain, Ari gave him a hard elbow.
“Don’t you recognize a rescue when you see one?” she whispered.
Robert looked at Jones, then at Ari, his face asking a question. She nodded. The corners of his mouth started to curl upward. Vita and Warren appeared puzzled but followed Robert’s direction when he waved them out the door. Jena met them outside where Tobias’s wolves were passed out or singing on the lawn; the delegation’s wolf pack was already gone.
As the last of the leaders and their guards drove away from the resort, Lilith started the Lexus and waited while Ari stayed behind to release the stink spell: