Alone in the Wild (Rockton #5)(83)

We untangle, and Dalton and Storm rise as I snap off my snowshoes. “What are you doing out and about?”

“There is caroling. It began at ten in the morning. After two hours, my choices were to walk in the forest or begin a quiet but relentless slaughter of the offenders. Knowing the latter would force you to work through the holidays, I chose the former. It is my gift to you.”

“Thanks.”

We start for the town.

Mathias falls in beside me. “Also, speaking of relentless, we must discuss this constant flow of visitors you have unleashed on our peaceful village, Casey.”

“Peaceful?” Dalton says. “Where have you been living?”

“In a town where people do not wander in from the forest and make themselves at home. Your detective is the Pied Piper of the Yukon, leading people to our town with her charming manner and sunny disposition.”

I look at Dalton. “You have another detective?”

“Compared to me, you are pretty damned charming. Not sure about sunny, but people definitely find you less intimidating than me, which just means they don’t know you very well.”

Dalton turns to Mathias. “Yeah, we’ve been doing more outreach since Casey’s been here. Building relationships with the community really wasn’t my strength, apparently. If you’re talking about Tyrone—”

“I’d rather not really. Mr. Cypher has chosen his alias well. I do not know what to make of him, and I have decided he is a puzzle I do not care to solve. The problem is that the procession of strays does not end. I discovered only today that you had a hostile in town. A live hostile, which you promised me for study, and you whisked her in and out without a word to me.”

“You requested a hostile,” I say. “I chose to deny that request.”

“Instead, you give me other strays. A wolf and a feral boy.”

“First, you asked for Raoul. Plenty of people wanted him, and you got him, and therefore you owed me a favor, which you repaid by taking Sebastian, who is a resident, not a stray. Also not feral.”

“He spent half his life being raised by narcissists who treated him as a fashion accessory. Then he spent the other half imprisoned for their murders. He may have learned very pretty manners, but Sebastian is as feral as that half-breed dog, and I have spent six months sleeping with one eye open, wondering which will kill me first.”

I could point out that Sebastian doesn’t live with Mathias, but instead I shrug as we enter town. “Fine. Give me the dog. Our deputy will be thrilled to have—”

“It is too late. Raoul is accustomed to me.”

“Then I’ll take Sebastian back and—”

“He is accustomed to me as well. And it is my duty to monitor him, for the sake of the town. No one else is equipped or trained for such a task.”

“You’re just bitching for the sake of bitching, aren’t you?”

“I do not bitch. I simply point out that you need to stem this flow of strays. You have barely removed one when another takes her place.”

I stop and look at him. “What?”

“You have a visitor. She is in the town square. William attempted to show her the hospitality of the police station, but she is another of your wild things and refuses to go indoors. She is with Raoul and Sebastian. Raoul is guarding her. Sebastian is…” He purses his lips. “I am not certain what he is doing. Perhaps drinking in the rare beauty of this wilderness flower. Perhaps considering the myriad ways he could kill her with maximum efficiency, should she prove a threat. He may be doing both simultaneously. It is Sebastian.”

I pick up my pace, breaking into a jog as I shout back,“Next time, Mathias? Cut the preamble and get to the damned point.”

“That would be no fun at all,” he calls after me.





THIRTY-FIVE


When Mathias says we’ve attracted another woman from the woods, hinting she’s young and attractive, my first thought is Cherise. Yet when I draw close, I spot a small dark-haired figure, one who is younger and significantly more welcome than Cherise. It’s Edwin’s granddaughter, Felicity.

Sebastian is neither gaping at her nor plotting her demise. He’s playing host, pulling out his charm and his manners and his high-society upbringing, telling Felicity a story complete with blazing smiles and dramatic gestures. There’s no flirtation there. Yes, she’s his age and pretty, but if he’s noticed that, he’s tucked it aside, as if it would be rude to see her as anything but a guest in need of hospitality.

As for Felicity …

I remember when I was thirteen, and my mother sent me to finishing school. Okay, it wasn’t called “finishing school.” I’m not sure those exist anymore, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have attended. It was billed as weekly classes for teen girls to learn teen-girl stuff, everything from putting on makeup to protecting yourself online.

I might never have been the most feminine girl, but I was not opposed to learning the secret language of stiletto heels and smoky eyeliner. While the class offered that, it was more like a finishing school, with lessons for privileged young ladies to learn to act like privileged young ladies.

I was privileged. I took private lessons and flew business class—well, unless there weren’t enough seats, and then my parents put April and me in economy, supposedly as a lesson so we’d grow up vowing to get the kind of careers that meant we never needed to fly coach again.