Echo Falls (13 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Phoebe ran her thumb along the rim of her mug, her coffee long having gone cold. Liam should have arrived nearly half an hour ago, his absence a sure sign he wanted her nerves strung tight. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, keeping her face carefully blank of emotion. Her hands betrayed her, though, shaking slightly before she wrapped them around the mug. She shifted slightly, taking comfort from the feel of the knives strapped to her ankle under her jeans, her wrist under her jacket and at the base of her spine. She’d had to rig the sheaths so they would stay on her limbs, but that had been easy enough with thick shoelaces strung through the belt holes on the sheaths. Thankfully the weather cooperated enough to make it so her jeans and long-sleeved jacket weren’t out of place.

Knives weren’t much of a plan, but at least they were something. She’d naively thought that bravery would somehow magically open up a plan in her mind to take Liam. Blissfully blank, she’d abandoned trying to think of anything complex in favor of weaponry. For now it would have to do.

She looked around the half-empty café, the place a little too chic and modern to be completely comfortable. At least he hadn’t asked her to meet him at Sophie’s, though she had been surprised he hadn’t. He would have loved seeing her squirm and lie if she saw anyone familiar – especially Elle or Aidan. Aidan hadn’t called again, likely angry she hadn’t returned his first call.
Good
. She couldn’t talk to him when she was in the middle of trying to save his life and his pack.

The weight of responsibility settled in on her shoulders and she scowled at her mug.

Liam walked into the café without looking around and went straight to the counter to order. He looked casual, normal even. No one would guess that he’d murdered four people in this town in the past month, including a well-known, well-liked police officer. No one could see that the woman he would sit down to chat with had concealed weapons because she knew he would murder her, too, the moment he wanted to.

With his order set and paid for, he walked over to her booth and sat down.

He’d been watching her. She shivered.

He studied her and she him, her fear waning slightly at his appearance. He looked tired. His usually well-manicured face looked distinctly disheveled. His short, sandy blonde hair stuck out at odd angles and one or two days of facial hair (she didn’t know for sure as he’d always been clean shaven before) had grown on his face. Dark half-moons under his eyes betrayed many late nights.

For the first time, he looked overworked and overtired, and it did nothing good for her nerves.

She clenched her jaw but kept her gaze locked on his. Her heart slammed in her chest as flashes of memories threatened to overwhelm her again.

“Phoebe.” He reached out to grasp her hands and she pulled hers back, putting them under the table. The corner of his mouth jerked up in the beginning of a smirk. “Are you worried about contaminating me?”

“You’d be
lucky
to be made a werewolf,” she snarled and then pursed her lips, surprised at her bravery. Or insanity.

He didn’t seem surprised by her brazenness or even insulted. In fact, if she were to pick any emotion for his expression, he seemed pleased. He nodded.

“I see your condition has gotten worse.”

Memories flashed again in her mind’s eye, and the wolf came forward to give her strength. The wolf did not consider Liam a dominant force. Not anymore. Not with a pack to support her. She knew him only as the killer of pack mates and thus an enemy of the worst kind. Phoebe’s complicated ‘can’t be a pack member until Liam is taken care of’ didn’t mean anything to her wolf. She just wanted Liam out of her territory.

“Your brother was worse than you, but I can see the family resemblance. Especially when you snarl like he did before I killed him.”

She stiffened and the wolf again gave her steadiness. Her roiling stomach and pounding head somehow seemed slightly less with the wolf’s strength inside her. The strength, the skill and, this time, the knowledge of how to take him down. She would do this.

He cocked his head to one side. “Did you know your eyes go yellow when you start to lose control? You were not that weak when we were together. I gave you strength. Soon you
will
lose control, Phoebe, and you will begin to kill.”

You’re one to talk
, she thought.

“No denials?”

She bowed her head and took a few calming breaths. In a strange way, he was right; she would lose control and try to kill him if she didn’t calm herself. For now, she needed him to believe that she felt as small and afraid of him as always. His underestimating her could be the only real advantage she had against him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice just above a whisper.

He studied her for a few moments. When he spoke next, his voice had changed from pleasant small talk to a darker, threatening tone.

“Good girl. I admire your ability to try to grow a backbone in such a short time, but I do not have time for your spurts of misguided bravery.” He leaned toward her. “The last time we spoke, you begged me to let you live and swore to me that you did not want your illness. It
is
an illness, Phoebe. And here, in this city, we have an incredible opportunity.”

Her head shot up. An opportunity? Of all the possible things she’d thought of happening during this chat, a proposal of an opportunity wasn’t one of them. Still, perhaps this could turn out to be another advantage.

“What do you mean?” she asked and then bit her bottom lip.

He sat back and stared at her, a muscle beside his left eye ticking. “Echo Falls has been left to breed the illness in the population for too long. We had never heard of it before now. But
you
led me here, Phoebe, and I think it was your destiny to do so. You led me here so I can cleanse this place. Here I will make history.”

She grabbed her coffee, preparing to throw it in his glory-obsessed face before thinking better of it. She calmed herself and let go.

Suddenly, he grabbed her hand before she could pull it back under the table.

“You will help me,” he said, his lips twisting into a demented smile. “I have seen you with the alpha male. I have seen the way you look at him like the little mutt you are. You can deliver him to me. After I have killed him, killing the rest will be easy.”

She couldn’t control her reactions enough to keep the shock and anger off her face. He spoke as if he had done this very same thing – destroying entire packs – before. He had a system that called for killing off the alpha male and sending the pack into chaos before picking off the rest of them. And he had seen her with Aidan, looking at him and kissing him. She might as well have put a big ‘alpha male’ sticker on his forehead, for all the good denying it would do her now.

“I am giving you a chance to redeem yourself!” He squeezed her hand painfully, making her squirm. “A chance to make up for the demon you have become.”

She licked her lips. “Redeem myself. You’ll let me live?”

“
That
is not completely up to me to decide, but you will have a much better chance of living if you help me rather than get in my way.”

She looked down at her coffee.
How should I play this? Go along with it and give the pack some warning or just try to run?

Running had always been her answer in the past, but this time she didn’t know if her running would do enough to lure him away. The prospect of ‘cleansing’ Echo Falls practically had him salivating and past experience told her he could find her any time he wanted.

He sighed, tapping his fingertips on the table.

“I do not
need
you to do this. I already know all the filth here and will kill them. I am giving you this opportunity to prove that
you
might be worth saving.”

She shivered at his easy way of talking about killing an entire group of people.

“They are all dead either way. You simply get to decide if their deaths are quick or not.” He reached in his pocket and then placed a card on the table. “You have one day to decide.” He leaned close to her. “If I even begin to wonder if you have betrayed me, I will make sure you regret it.”

He stood up and left, brushing past the waitress bringing out his order.

A full five minutes passed before she stopped playing the short conversation over and over in her mind. She couldn’t get her hands to stop shaking, but at least she had some good news. He hadn’t used any silver powder or anything like that on her. In fact, he hadn’t even been wearing any silver, which was strange for him. He usually had at least a silver ring on. He had also given her time, time she desperately needed if she had any chance of taking care of him herself.

‘Taking care of him.’ She snorted. What a very gentle way of saying she wanted to kill him. Because that is what it would come down to in the end. He would never stop hunting. The police couldn’t do anything either, except hold him for a while and try to charge him for the murders. Not that they likely would. Still, if she needed more time, the police would be an option.

One day. Why did he give me one day? Is it some sort of test?
She frowned and then looked up. A test, or maybe not time for
her
at all. Maybe
he
needed the time. He looked more worn out than she’d ever seen him, so maybe.

Her second advantage.

She had one day to lure him into some sort of trap, a trap that didn’t involve anyone but her. If any of the pack got involved, she wouldn’t forgive herself if anyone got hurt. She couldn’t do that to them.

She needed two things: a trap and for the pack to stay away from her.

Great.

She looked at the card he’d left on the table. Completely blank except for a phone number. No doubt he wanted her to call before her time ran out.

Shoving the card in her pocket, she walked out of the café. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling Liam’s gaze crawling over her skin. She didn’t bother looking around for him; even tired he would never be so sloppy. Breathing deeply, she willed her mind to form a plan that even Liam would never see coming.

Her phone rang and she took it out of her pocket. Aidan again, no doubt wanting to talk about Liam. She bit her bottom lip, her fingers itching to answer. An older couple gave her strange looks as she stood there, staring at her ringing phone.

She shoved the phone back in her pocket while her wolf whimpered.

It’s for the best. Just a little while longer.

“Phoebe!”

She jumped and nearly fell over at the sound of her name called from so close. Spinning around, she saw Elle with Charlotte in her arms, both looking happy to see her. When Elle saw her face, though, her expression immediately changed to concern.

Phoebe looked at the pair and then her eyes widened when she looked at Charlotte a second time.
Crap! Charlotte!

Liam would no doubt take into account that this was yet another time when she had met up with Elle and Charlotte. If he decided they were close friends, he would have no problem with using a child if he needed to.

She all but shoved Elle into the nearest shop, a hardware store with an older man behind the counter. He straightened and sputtered a bit, stunned to have the trio burst into his shop. Phoebe smiled at him apologetically and then looked back out the street. Not satisfied that standing in the shop would do them any good, she urged Elle further inside.

“Is there something I can help you with, ma’am?” the man said, scratching his head.

Elle, who tried to console a now fidgety Charlotte, looked to Phoebe.

“No, I’m sorry. Do you mind if we…” She looked to the door for a few moments before looking back at the man. “…just browse for a while?”

His back stiffened. Pursing his lips slightly, he squinted out at the street, nodded and then looked back at Phoebe.

“You go right ahead ma’am,” he said and leaned forward. “You just let me know if there is anything you need.”

He arched one eyebrow suggestively – in a protective rather than lewd way – and then leaned back. She thanked him and he waved her off, then lifting a remote to turn up the volume of a small television he had propped up on the side of the checkout counter. Phoebe took Elle’s hand and walked a little further away so they could talk privately.

“Just tell me what kind of trouble you are in so we get you out of it,” Elle said. Phoebe had the feeling Elle would have crossed her arms across her chest if she hadn’t been holding Charlotte. “You’re scaring me.”

Phoebe put her hand to her forehead for a moment and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Or Charlotte.” She reached out and stroked Charlotte’s cheek. “I thought someone might be watching us.”

“Why would someone be watching us? Phoebe, what’s going on?”

She almost couldn’t hear Elle over the pounding of her heart. As if the chat with Liam hadn’t been bad enough, she hadn’t expected to put his threat to the test by running into Elle ten minutes later. And she had probably done the exact wrong thing by pulling Elle into the shop, but face to face avoidance wasn’t exactly her strong suit.

How do I fix this?
She rubbed her temples. “Elle, the less you know the better.”

“Don’t feed me that line of bull,” she said, glancing at the shop owner. “Pack don’t keep secrets from pack. What’s going on?”

Without thinking, Phoebe pulled Elle, Charlotte and all, into her arms and gave her a hug. Elle froze a moment and then hugged her back.

“Please trust me,” Phoebe said finally, pulling back. “I need you to do something for me, and I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

Elle pursed her lips.

“You and Charlotte – especially you and Charlotte – need to stay away from me.” Elle opened her mouth to protest, but Phoebe held up her hand. “Just for a day or so. Most of the pack won’t even notice, but you and Will and Charlotte…”

“And Aidan.”

She looked away. “Especially Aidan.”