33. Mai

"Get out of my sight, Ryan," I said through clenched teeth. "Before I do something that you'll regret."

Ryan laughed, then leaned down and kissed my cheek.

"I'll see you at home later, babe. Be safe." Then he stood up, nodded to Sofia and Wally, and walked out the door.

Taking a deep breath, I watched the door swing shut.

"That looked intense," said Sofia as she came and sat next to me.

"I know!" agreed Wally, fanning himself with his hands. "That boy radiates sexual tension! Are you gonna have hot shower sex with him again tonight?"

A thrill jolted through me as the memory of his slick body thrusting into mine popped into my head, and I swear both Sofia and Wally knew it.

Damn it. I had to get this conversation off me and Ryan before my hormones went haywire.

I narrowed my eyes at Wally. "No more talk about Ryan. What I want to know is what's going on between Sofia and Derek."

Sofia shrugged. "There's nothing to tell."

"Bullshit. Derek always had a thing for you. The Derek I knew would never have shut you down if you came to him with information."

"Maybe you don't know Derek anymore," Sofia said softly.

"Again, I call bullshit."

Sofia sighed, looking past me and Wally to the street outside. "You're not going to drop this, are you?"

"Well, if Mai does, I sure as hell will not!" Wally said. "You've been holding out on us."

"I haven't been holding out. There really isn't anything to tell. About a year ago, Derek discharged from the military. He came back here, and we started to get close. We even went on a couple of dates."

"Oh my God, you didn't?" Wally asked.

Sofia frowned. "Didn't what?"

"Do the nasty with Derek Shaw?"

Sofia sat bolt upright. "I did not sleep with Derek! It didn't get that far. It… it was good. Really good. I thought… I thought he was my…" Sofia shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. We had some dates. Then he ghosted me. Wouldn't take my calls, didn't answer my messages. I thought he was hurt or something. I was on my way to see him, to check he was okay, when I saw him walk out of a bookshop with Shya Little."

My brow furrowed. "Who?"

"Shya Little is the Bridgetown Alphas" daughter," Wally explained. "That doesn't mean anything, Sofia."

"He hugged her. Like really hugged her. Then kissed her forehead. My wolf went nuts. It was all I could do to stay on the road and not jump out of the car and rip his balls off."

"Maybe—"

"Maybe nothing. Derek barely says hello to me anymore, and that's just the way I like it."

"I'm so sorry, Sofia." I reached over and pulled her into a hug.

"Don't worry about me, I'm over it," she lied. "Anyway, enough about me. We have to work out what we're going to do about Brock."

"Brock's not going to willingly spill his guts," Wally said.

"We'll need to follow him," I agreed.

Wally rubbed his hands together. "I can tail him without being noticed."

"And I know some of the Pack members who work with Brock. They might be able to give us some information," Sofia added.

"Good. Let's do that," I said. "But we need to be careful not to get caught. Brock won't be happy if he finds out we're snooping around."

Wally smirked. "Don't worry, Mai. I'm the master of disguise. No one will recognize me."

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Just make sure you're not too obvious. And no trench coats!"

We spent the next hour ironing out the details of our plan. Wally and I were going to follow Brock. Sofia listed the people she thought might have noticed something and those who would be willing to talk to her.

As we left the bar, I couldn't shake off the feeling of unease that settled in my stomach. We needed to find out what Brock was up to, but I hated the thought of putting Sofia and Wally in danger. The stakes were high. A misstep, a moment of bad luck, and we could land in a heap of trouble. My heart twined around the fear of what could go wrong, tugging at the edges of my determination.

"Stay safe," I implored, my gaze locked onto Sofia. "If something feels off, leave it. This is about finding out what is going on, not playing heroes."

With a nod, Sofia pulled me into a hug. "We'll be fine, Mai. You worry too much. Just take care of yourself, okay?"

Sofia slipped into the afternoon shadows as Wally touched my shoulder. "She'll be okay. She's good at talking to people."

I nodded, my gaze lingering on the street Sofia had taken.

"Come on, Mai. My car's over here."

I followed Wally to a dark blue Mercedes and got in the passenger side. As he started the engine, I leaned back in my seat and took a deep breath.

Our plan hinged on Brock being where we thought he was. At this time of day, Sofia had figured our best bet was to wait outside the betting shop on Broadway.

Wally's car was a sanctuary, a bubble of warmth against the afternoon chill. I twisted a frayed thread on the cuff of my jacket. Wally drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in tune to some silent beat only he could hear.

He glanced sideways at me. "So, what's it really like? Being back in the Pack?" He spoke softly, the kind of soft you use when you don't want to startle a fawn.

"I never thought I'd come back here. But now that I am, I'm glad I did," I admitted, eyes flickering back to the betting shop. "I didn't realize how much I'd missed everyone, you know? Jem. Sofia…" The words stalled on my tongue, an unspoken name caught in my throat.

"Ryan?" Wally's smirk was more knowing than teasing. I sighed, the sound escaping me like the echo of a forgotten dream.

"Yeah… Ryan. It's just so complicated now."

Before Wally could respond, the betting shop door creaked open. Brock walked out and slid into his car, a shiny, ostentatious black thing that screamed of overcompensation.

"Okay, Wally, stay cool. We don't want to tailgate him, all right?" I cautioned, my heart sounding a drumroll in my ears as Brock pulled out into traffic, and we followed him.

Wally shot me an incredulous look. "Do you think I learned to drive yesterday?"

"Um—"

"I watch all the police shows, Mai. I know how to tail someone without getting caught."

"Really? ‘Coz he just turned right, Wally."

"Fuck!" Wally slid the car round the corner at the last second, only swerving a little into the oncoming lane.

We were both silent as he picked up Brock's car ahead.

"Do you want me to drive?"

He shot me a look that made his answer plain.

I decided to shut up and let him drive. But after a few minutes, I couldn't help myself. "So, in your head, if there was a ‘Fast and Furious: Werewolf Drift,' you'd be Vin Diesel?"

He laughed. "Damn fucking right, I'd be Vin Diesel. I suppose that makes you Michelle Rodriguez?"

"Well, I do have the attitude," I shot back.

Brock settled into a predictable rhythm, pulling over every few blocks to chat with a passer-by when he saw someone in particular. The conversation was always brief, like fleeting whispers in the wind. I recognized a couple of people but Wally, his senses attuned more to the subtle nuances, confirmed my suspicions.

"They're all wolves, Mai. That one is Harper Creek, the one before that was Dixon Main, and the first person was Elliot Muyat."

My mental notebook filled with faces and names. These were people Sofia and I would seek out later, hoping to unravel Brock's web of secrets.

Brock seemed in no hurry and didn't appear to have a destination in mind. He weaved through the town in a random pattern, heading south down one street, then turning at a junction and going north along the next street. He did this for an hour, slowly crisscrossing the Three Rivers, before stopping outside The Nouveau Table, a restaurant right on the edge of town.

"Looks like he's going in," Wally said, leaning forward so he could get a better view. "You been here before?"

I shook my head. "I didn't even know it existed." My life before I left didn't really involve many eateries.

"It's an upmarket restaurant, this. It's the place to take your date if you want to impress them. Thomas took me once. They make their money with the evening trade. It"s a little early for that, though."

Even so, they were definitely not closed. Brock walked up to the door, and it whooshed open for him. I shrugged and settled back to wait.

It was two hours later, and Brock still hadn't come out. Wally and I perched in the front seats of his car, parked outside the restaurant. People had started to trickle in there in the last couple of hours, but not many. Despite Wally's assurances that this was one of the places to be seen in the evenings, so far a buzzing restaurant, it was not.

"Do you think he saw us? Slipped out the back, maybe?" Wally fretted, a furrow deepening between his brows.

"Well, with your Formula 1 aspirations back there, we might as well have had flashing lights and sirens."

Wally groaned. "I should go in and check."

"No." I shook my head. I couldn't let him put himself in danger. This was all my idea. If anyone was going in, it had to be me. "I'll go. I need you here in case we need a quick getaway—you can Vin Diesel us to safety."

It took me another five minutes to persuade Wally to stay in the car. I didn't want Brock to see us together. It might be useful for our surveillance if Brock didn't realize Wally and I knew each other.

I got out of the car and walked quickly to the door. I wanted it to seem like I knew where I was going and had a reason to be there.

Inside, the restaurant was a mélange of mouth-watering aromas and soft music. The walls were all light mint and pastel blues. Structural posts, large plants, and decorative slat dividers were strategically placed so that each table had a measure of privacy.

I glanced around the mostly empty tables. I couldn't see Brock until I stepped behind a dracaena plant. He was sitting at a table in the back, talking with three unfamiliar werewolves.

The first, a man in his late thirties with a shaved head and trimmed goatee, was glaring at Brock and radiating waves of being severely pissed off. The woman next to him, with her auburn hair cascading around a delicate face, was smiling, yet her cool gray eyes suggested an undercurrent of steel. The third, another man, was dressed as the epitome of a businessman in an expensive suit and striped tie.

"Good afternoon, do you have a reservation?" a waitress queried, snapping me out of my reverie.

"No. I would like to look at the menu. I have a date next week, and I'm trying to work out where to take him," I replied. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Brock's face snap up at the sound of my voice. I kept looking directly at the waitress. I didn't want him to know that I'd seen him. Brock stood up, excused himself from the table, and made a quick beeline for the back exit.

I had a choice now. Brock had pretty much run out when he saw I was here. Why? Because he suspected I was following him? Or because he didn't want me to see him with those other werewolves? I could go back to Wally, see if we could pick Brock up when he went back to his car. Or I could try to find out what was so special about the group here. I said my thanks to the waitress when she handed me a menu, then settled into an empty booth next to the werewolves, pretending to study the menu.

"Why the fuck did Brock just up and leave like that?" the goateed man grumbled, his voice low but carrying a current of unease.

The businessman replied, "Fuck Brock! We came all this way to broker the alliance. I thought Brock had more respect. Or at least that he needed this. I still don't understand what Bridgetown is doing getting involved in this."

If they were from the Bridgetown Pack, they should have been talking to Jem or Hayley, not Brock.

The woman sighed audibly. "It doesn't matter what you think. Our job was to take the meeting and report back to Tristan."

A chill swept over me. This wasn't a casual meeting. If the Bridgetown Alphas were getting involved and taking sides against Jem, then this was more serious than I thought.