Alpha Blood Box Set(60)

“By tearing each other to pieces?” Luke argued.

“By getting a good fight going. It eases the muscles and joints in me,” Leonor spoke up. She transformed back and I was forever grateful when I found she was wearing one of those expensive elastic clothes. I wondered if the creepy antique business was really that lucrative. “But now you’ve ruined it and I don’t feel like starting over.”

“That’s all right, Leonor. I think you nearly bit my ear off,” Stacy laughed. “Now about those costumes.”





20





Leonor rolled her eyes, but there was a ghost of a smile on her lips. “You’re stubborn like your father, you know that?”

“And I’d like to think I’m stubborn like my mother, and you know where she got her stubbornness,” Stacy added.

Leonor scoffed. “Probably from that no-good son of mine. He wanted me to go to that ball with him, but I told him he only invited me because it was a masked one and nobody would see my face around his group.”

“Who’s your son?” I asked her.

Leonor waved off the question. “Just some lout who thinks he’s a big shot.”

“What did you say when he asked you about going to the ball?” Stacy wondered.

“I said I wouldn’t go, but that was before I heard you were going. Now I’ll go just to keep you and your friends out of trouble. Especially where my son is concerned.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. “What about your son?” he asked her.

Stacy stepped forward and quickly patted Luke on the shoulder. “It’s nothing, he’s just a little rowdy, that’s all.” She looked to Leonor. “The costumes?” she pleaded.

“All right, all right, just let me get some of these kinks out.” She rubbed her neck and looked at me with a newfound respect. “I must admit this lady’s got a hell of a butt with her head.”

“It’s the hardest part of my body,” I quipped.

“Leonor,” Stacy warned.

“Oh, very well.” Leonor toddled to the overturned chest, righted it, and opened the lid. She rummaged inside and pulled out five parcels wrapped in brown paper. “These should do the trick with those costumes.” She tossed them in front of Luke, who skittered back and growled. Leonor ignored him and went over to a linen cabinet against the wall behind Stacy. It was a wonder it was still standing, though covered in pillow stuffings. She knelt down and opened one of the doors to reveal piles of hat boxes. Five of those were pulled out and tossed in Luke’s direction. “That’s what you’ll need for your ball,” she told us.

Stacy walked over to her adopted grandmother and gave her a big hug. “Thank you so much, Leonor. You have no idea how much we appreciate this.”

“I might get a good idea tomorrow night, but try not to wreck the place,” Leonor requested.

Stacy smiled. “We’ll try, but there’s a lot of trouble around us right now.”

“You mean with those ugly rumors?” Leonor guessed. Stacy glumly nodded, and Leonor waved her hand. “Fiddlesticks. You don’t care about what they’re saying. Just walk your own path knowing you lived it.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Leonor,” Stacy complimented.

“Bah.” Leonor stooped and picked up a handful of pillow stuffing. “Now get out while I fix this mess. Our greeting fights always turn this place upside down.”

Luke nodded down at his ragged clothes over his muscled body. “Could I change before we leave?” he pleaded.

Stacy laughed. “Why not? We wouldn’t want you scaring children with that getup.”

“I’ll second that request,” I chimed in. My borrowed clothes were tatters on my furry form.

“All right, but hurry it up,” Leonor agreed.

Luke and I borrowed Leonor’s bedroom, transformed into our human selves, and dressed in our new clothes. I was glad to have clothes that didn’t smell like wood sap or manure. Mid-change I glanced over at Luke. He had his shirt off and his rippled muscles flowed beneath his tight skin. It was enough to get me hot. Luke paused, sniffed the air, and turned to me with a sly grin on his face. “Focus,” he teased.

“I am focusing, just not on what I should be,” I countered.

“Do you really want to try anything here?” he pointed out.

I glanced around the dingy, dark room with its small, ruffled bed of worn blankets and the floor a mess of dust and hair. “You’re right, you should focus,” I replied.

“Me?” he argued.

“Yes, you. You’re distracting me, now be a good boy and get on your clothes,” I commanded him. He shook his head, but the smile stayed on his lips and we both dressed. We walked out and found Stacy had dressed out there. Some of the place had even been cleaned of the pillow stuffings.

“All right, Leonor, time to say goodbye,” Stacy told her adopted grandmother.

“But I’ll see you tomorrow night?” Leonor asked her.

“Of course, but you better be ready to dance with me,” Stacy teased.

The old woman straightened her small stature and puffed out her chest. “These old bones could dance all night.”

Stacy smiled and gave Leonor a hug. “Good. Until tomorrow.”

“Until tomorrow, Stazia.”

We piled the boxes into our arms and walked out to the alley above the stairs. Stacy led us through the maze back to her apartment, but before we got there Luke sidled up to her. “You haven’t told us why you wanted to go there rather than a costume shop,” Luke reminded her.

“You mean besides for the sane company?” Stacy quipped.

“That’s debatable, but yes,”

“It’s because of Leonor’s son,” Stacy admitted. “He’s pretty important to our plans and I wanted to make sure he was going to that ball.”

“Who’s her son?” I asked her.

“Oh, just Callean,” she revealed. Luke and I stopped and gaped at Stacy. She walked a few feet ahead and turned back to us. “What? Didn’t you know, Luke?”

He shook his head. “No,” he replied.

“I guess that’s the details you didn’t know about Leonor’s story,” I teased.

Stacy shrugged. “Well, he is. Callean’s his father’s last name, but he was raised by Leonor until he was fifteen. Then he went out and made his fortune in the gang world,” she explained to us.

A smile slipped onto Luke’s face. “So this is how you’re going to guarantee he’ll help us rescue your father? Get his mom to convince him or she’ll spank him?” he guessed.

Stacy grinned. “It’s a good angle, but if he’s half as stubborn as his mother then we’ll have quite the battle.”

“Have you ever met him?” I asked her.

“Only once, before my mother passed away. He visited Leonor at the same time we did. At that point he was a mid-level thug for one of the local gangs, so my mother and I didn’t really make his full acquaintance,” she told me. She sighed and ran her hand through her frazzled hair. “But that’s enough talk for now. Let’s get back to my apartment. Leonor’s greeting fights pack a punch, and I could use a lot of comfort food and a long nap.”

Alas, that wasn’t quite how our return trip went. I expected us to wander to the dingy part of town again, but instead Stacy led us to an old, clean residential street with large houses and lawns. At the end I could see a small park surrounded by thick bushes and tall, old trees. She slowed her pace so we caught up to her, and she dropped her voice to a whisper. “We have followers,” she told us.

I half turned to look behind us, but Luke straightened me. “Don’t look. We want them to follow us,” he whispered.

I sniffed the air, but came up empty. “But I don’t smell anyone,” I argued.

“Which guarantees they’re one of Lance’s followers,” Luke replied.

“How many are there?” I asked them.

“Only the one. She must be a scout,” Stacy replied.

“A girl?” I wondered.

“Men aren’t the only ones fooled by Lance’s words,” Luke commented. “Let’s get to the park and-”

“Way ahead of you,” Stacy interrupted him. She quickened her pace and we kept up so we all reached the park in a minute.

Stacy walked through an arch created by the thick bushes and quickly stepped aside. She yanked against her while Luke took the other side and set the packages on the ground beside him. I held my breath and listened as a pair of light-stepping feet hurried after us. A girl of about eighteen rushed through the arch and Luke grabbed her. She screamed, but Luke slapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her behind his bushes. Stacy and I crowded around our terrified captive.

“I’m going to let my hand off your mouth, but one scream and I knock you out cold,” Luke threatened her. He removed his hand and the girl let out a terrified, but quiet, gasp of breath. “Who told you to follow us?” he questioned her.

“T-the Captains,” the girl replied.

“Captains of what?” Luke persisted.

A strange glint of anger slipped onto her face, but in a moment it was replaced by the fear. “Haven’t you ever heard of the Captains of the Alpha Patrol?”