Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(58)

Closing my eyes, I started to work on the bindings on my hands. I had tried to hold them apart to make the loop as large as I could while the Hunter was tying me up so I would have some wiggle room when I relaxed. I was happy to find that this ploy, unlike everything else I had tried tonight, worked. I had a small but significant amount of slack to work with. The rope burned, but I continued my struggle. If I bled, it would just serve as a handy lubricant to grease the wheels a bit. I managed to get the ropes almost down to the first joint of my thumb when I heard something moving in the distance. The sound came from the direction the Hunter and I had entered the woods earlier in the evening. I picked up the pace, working the ropes hard because while I thought the ogre would come from the opposite direction, I’d already had an encounter with a nasty-ass vampire, so I wasn’t taking any chances. These damn woods were more crowded than Ether’s dance floor.

The dogs sat up and thumped their tails happily, barking to let me know that a friend was coming. Shuck ran off to greet whoever was walking our way.

I was happy to see it was one pissed-off werewolf.

“Zoey Donovan.” Neil strode out of the bushes looking incredibly out of place in his perfectly pressed sky blue pajamas and red velvet smoking jacket. He looked like he should be in a Doris Day film rather than walking through the woods looking for a wayward charge. He stood staring at me for a long moment, his slippered feet tapping against the forest floor. I tried to speak, but he gave me an imperious shake of his index finger that told me he needed a moment. After what seemed like forever, he finally spoke. “The funny thing is, of all the things I thought I would see when I caught up with you, this was number three.”

I thought about that. “God, Neil, what were one and two?”

“You don’t even want to know.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared me down with his icy blue eyes. “I’m going to kill you for this.”

“Kill me later. Untie me now.” I said it with a smile because of all the people to come looking for me, he was the best. He could yell at me all he liked if he saved me from being something an ogre had to pick out of his teeth and then chose not to mention the incident to either of my husbands. I was going to owe him big time.

“Oh no, sister.” He stood before me, his face a mask of indignation. “You’re going to stand there because I don’t know who did this to you but I know why. You were intensely obnoxious and whoever tied your ass up got tired of dealing with your shit. My only regret at this point is that they forgot to gag you. It was a serious misstep on their part.”

“Neil, sweetie,” I started, keeping my voice calm because I deserved his lecture. I deserved far more than that, and I hoped he would calm down when he realized I wasn’t going to argue with him.

“I went to get you a nice cup of tea,” he said, stomping his slippered foot and completely ignoring my pleas. “I made Albert get up out of his comfy bed and make you a hot cup of chamomile since you’d had such an awful day. I was going to massage your poor pregnant feet and listen to you tell me all about how hard it is to have two gorgeous, filthy rich men who love you. Do you want to know what I found when I quietly entered your room?”

“You found I had left the building?” I asked because the answer was so obvious but seemed to require a response.

“You were gone,” he said as if I weren’t even speaking. “Oh, you made sure to pull the curtains closed so I spent a good five minutes talking to an empty bed. It was a nice touch. I tried to coax you out by revealing the deepest parts of my soul to you. I had a long conversation about how worried I get about Chad being with the Council and in Louis Marini’s clutches. I worry every day about losing him just like you’re worried about losing Dev. It was a bonding moment for us. Unfortunately, one of us was missing.”

“We need to go, Neil.”

“Do you have any idea how hard Daniel will come down on me when he finds out you gave me the slip? Why the hell would you sneak out on me? You’re a pregnant married lady. You have to stop giving your bodyguards the slip so you can go parading through the woods doing god knows what. Daniel is going to kill me. He’s going to bring in some other wolf to be your guard when Lee isn’t around. How do you think that makes me feel, Z? Are you trying to hurt me? Is this because I left and you died in Vegas?”

“No, Neil.” I never meant to cause turmoil between the two of us. Sometimes Neil was my only touchstone. There were times when I couldn’t talk to Danny and Dev, and that only left Neil. He was my best friend. “I was being stupid, babe. This has to do with me making dumbass moves not with me being angry with you. I don’t blame you for anything. I was just out here because I thought it would save Dev.”

Shuck started to bark and Barghest joined in, but Neil and I were too busy working on our relationship to really pay attention. “Daniel blames me. He blames me for what happened in Vegas. It’s why he won’t talk to me except to bark orders since we came home from Colorado.”

“Danny will come around,” I promised. I meant it, too. Danny had to come around because I knew deep down he cared about Neil. There were years when no one in Daniel’s life had known the truth about him, but he’d trusted Neil and Neil hadn’t broken his trust until Chad had decided to become Daniel’s spy. It was easier for Dev to forgive Neil since he wasn’t as invested in their friendship. Dev had forgiven Neil because he knew it would make me happy. Danny’s feelings about the situation went a lot deeper than that.