Alpha Blood Box Set(62)

I furrowed my brow. “And they think killing Callean will be a good idea? He’s the most powerful guy in the city,” I reminded the group.

“Cranston aspires to be that and probably doesn’t mind getting rid of the competition any way he can,” Luke replied.

“So we do what now?” I asked them.

“Now we see if these costumes fit and hope we can find Callean at the ball before the assassin does,” Luke suggested.

“Master Luke, if I may interrupt, how are we to attend this ball without invitations?” Alistair wondered.

“I can handle that,” Stacy spoke up with a smile. “The notice I saw of the ball was to both my father and me, and it was an invitation for us to go with as many friends as we’d like.” Baker frowned, but Stacy laughed. “Stop worrying. I’m sure we’ll make it through this somehow.”

It was a long twenty-four hours waiting for the ball to come. With some minor modifications, and some tussling about with Baker, the suits fit us all pretty well. The next afternoon found us in our strange clothes and tromping down the stairs of the apartment building. Rick sat in his customary chair with a paper in front of him, and Luke steered over to the desk. “Could you do me a favor?” he asked Rick.

The old man glanced up from his paper and raised an eyebrow. “Depends on what it is,” was his uncertain reply.

“I might have a letter at the station. Do you think you could pick it up for me?” Luke requested.

Rick shrugged. “Sure thing. What’s the name?” he asked him.

“Smithton,” he replied.

I snorted. “Smithton? How’d you think of that?”

He turned to me with a smile. “Your old name and your new name,” he told me.

“If it’s there Ah’ll pick it up,” Rick assured him.

“Thanks.” Luke turned away and we resumed our bright parade out of the building and onto the streets. We received our fair share of funny looks, but the locals treated us as insane and kept their distance.

“What’s this about a letter?” Stacy asked him.

“It’s about that letter we sent to Brier. I’m hoping he’s sent back a reply,” Luke explained to her.

Stacy sighed. “I hope he has better news than we do, but speaking of chores we all have one unpleasant task to do before we leave.”

I frowned and glanced around at the clothed group. Everyone’s face showed a slightly pale tinge to it. “What? What do we have to do?” I asked them.

Stacy pulled a sock from inside the bosom of her dress. It had faint brown stains on the white surface and a terrible odor of sweat and dirt drifted off its cloth. “We have to sniff this,” she told me.

My mouth dropped open. “Um, why?”

“Because Cal is very good at keeping his picture out of everything, so we have to track him via his scent,” she replied.

Luke raised an eyebrow. “How did you get that?” he wondered.

A sly smile slipped onto Stacy’s lips. “I have my ways, but let’s just say we have the same cleaning lady.” She held out the sock. “Now sniff.”

Everyone hesitated. Baker looked between the sock and the holder. “Will that really help us find Callean in a large ball?”

“If you don’t find him you’ll find one of his two bodyguards. They’re around him so much they smell just like him,” she assured him.

With no other choice we each in turn took a sniff of the sock. I was last and stood before the smelly thing with my face twisted in disbelief and disgust. “Two months ago if somebody told me I was going to be standing in a period costume sniffing an old sock to find a gang lord I would have told them they were nuts,” I commented.

Stacy shrugged. “It’s no fun being sane,” she returned.

I sighed and took a quick sniff of the sock. It smelled as bad as it looked and I had to fight the bile rising in my throat. “And it’s not much fun being a werewolf,” I muttered.

“But the dirty part of the job is done, so let’s go,” Stacy commanded.

We grabbed a taxi and, after a lot of tight squeezing, drove through the crummy districts into the high-society ones. The houses on those large, manicured blocks were even more grand than where Stevens lived. These were towering towers of homes built of stone with expansive lawns hidden behind tall walls made of the same stone. Black steel gates kept the curious and the solicitors from walking up the paved driveways to the grand entrances of these imperious homes.

Our destination was one of the grander of these fine old homes. It was as large as a small high school with four floors and a full basement. Wide, tall paned windows looked out on a bustling lawn filled with people dressed in costume and masks, and served by servants impeccably attired in penguin suits. The gates were open to long, black cars that drove up to the circular entrance, dropped off their handsome fair, and left through the exit gates.

Our taxi stuck out like a sore thumb, but we looked great as we dumped out of the yellow cab like clowns from a toy car. After that tight fit our poofy dresses and suits sprang back to life, and Stacy led us up to the double doors that opened to a grand entrance hall filled with masked guests. A short man with a clipboard stood to one side and greeted everyone with a smile. Stacy walked up to him and tapped him on the head. He whipped his head up and glared at her until he recognized her smiling face.

“Miss Stevens, what a pleasant surprise. We were told you weren’t coming,” he greeted her. We didn’t have to ask to guess it was Cranston who told them that.

“I changed my mind at the last moment.” She waved her hand toward the full room. “Is there any space left in there for my friends and I?”

He chuckled. “Always, Miss Stevens. The ballroom is hardly filled and I’m sure with such lovely gentlemen with you you will want to dance to the orchestra.”

“Is my father here yet?” she asked him.

The short man shook his head. “No, Miss Stevens. He said he wasn’t coming, either, and has sent hi secretary, instead.”

She bowed her head. “Thank you.” She brushed past him and we followed her into the crowded entrance hall. A grand staircase led up to the second-floor balcony, and on the left and right were open double doors. The left led to a long dining hall, the right to the ballroom.

Luke slipped up beside her with me on her other side, and Baker and Alistair behind us. “Any idea where Callean might be?” he asked her.

She shrugged. “Anywhere. He likes to dance and I know he likes food,” she replied.

Luke glanced back at the two men. “You two checking the dining hall while we search the ballroom.”

Baker frowned and pulled at his frilly collar. The costume had worsened his usually sour mood. “I don’t take orders from another lord,” he growled.

“There’s a first time for everything, and we need to split up if we hope to find him before Cranston does,” Luke countered.

Alistair stepped up and swept his hand toward the dining hall. “I would be honored to assist you in the search.” Baker, while not one for servants, wasn’t entirely immune to flattery. He nodded his head and the pair strode off for the hunt.

Luke nodded toward the ballroom. “Let’s hope one of us has luck finding him before it’s too late.”

“And let’s hope he’s on his best behavior tonight,” Stacy added.

Luke turned to her with a frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked her.

She smiled and shrugged. “Oh, he just has a reputation for being a womanizer. Even taking other wolves’ mates and never letting them go because he’s insanely jealous. Just that sort of thing.”

Luke’s eyes twitched and he opened his mouth to begin a tirade, but the flow of the crowd shifted. Everyone decided to go into the ballroom, and we were swept into the tide of dresses and frilly shirts. All of us were swept apart and into the ballroom and into a lot of trouble.





22





We twisted and tumbled our way through the crowd and into the ballroom. It was a large, long room the size of half a football field with tables and chairs at our end and the other dominated by a dance floor complete with a small orchestra on a stage. The wall opposite the entrance doors was a long line of large windows with thick, heavy curtains that dragged the floor. This room was almost as crowded as the entrance hall, and with the steady flow in a few minutes it would be. My dress constantly pressed against somebody’s pant leg or another dress, and I was given my fair share of glares and raised eyebrows.

Stacy slipped into the high-society crowd like old pros. She was greeted with warm smiles and hearty hugs, and even Luke found himself recognized by some of the more world-wise guests. He tried to fight the flow of party-goers to get to me, but was stopped in conversation by ladies and gentlemen eager to rub elbows with a lord. I was a nobody, so I was pushed to the far edges of the crowd and spat out like an unwanted playmate. Luke stood on his tiptoes over the heads of the crowd to watch me, and I smiled and shrugged. We’d waste half the night getting to teach other, so I gave him up for lost, at least for now.

Besides, since I was a nobody I had the best chance at finding Callean. Unfortunately, that’s also when I realized I had no idea how to use the sock scent to track the guy. The smell was still in my nose, but so were a bunch of other smells. That meant I could only go off my eyes. The only resemblance I had was from his mother, so I was forced to put her wizened face into my mind as I squished through the crowds looking for him. I went north while my companions were bogged down near the tables. The orchestra played a soft, sweet tune and the dance floor was occupied by a few couples. I hoped I could get onto the stage and catch a glimpse of someone wearing gold clothing.