The Puppet Assassin [TTR sequel]

The Puppet Assassin - Ch 4 [the addition -|- luke]

I turned up the volume on the car stereo, my favourite music blaring out, and switched the car back into manual drive, building up the speed limit. I would tell Garth about his new freeloader when I felt a little more brave.

** **

It was midafternoon when we finally reached the Dublin streets, managing to arrive back in the city just in time for peak hour traffic. I switched to auto and sat back. Dizelde, after finishing all the food I'd bought her, seemed to have fallen asleep. I envied those who could sleep in the car, or even just in public. Unless I knew exactly where I was sleeping, what was in my room and who was in my house, I could not sleep. As son of the previous Cat Alpha, I'd been threatened and bullied enough to lose trust in most people.

"Garth," I said quietly, watching for any movement that signalled consciousness form Dizelde.

He grunted and turned his head towards me. I couldn't see his face clearly while he wore sunglasses but I got the vibe that he was annoyed by my interrupting his nap. I ignored his attitude.

"She can't stay at the pack house," I muttered. He had probably thought all of this through already. I wondered if he knew I was going to ask for him to accept her as a house mate.

"I realised that, Luke. Fletch and Morgan are out of town, Kayli and Liam have no room what with their big heads filling up all the space and there are not many others you can trust."

"Err, yes..."

Before I could say anymore, he continued, "Ask Liam for a safe house."

"Garth," I said firmly, knowing he was trying to get out of it. "I'm not leaving this girl with emotionless bodyguards and annoying questioners. You've got room in that huge place of yours."

"I'm emotionless too," he argued feebly.

"Bullshit. You've got at least... three emotions."

He chuckled reluctantly. "What about that little shit that shares my rent?"

I scratched the fuzz on my chin, a reminder that I hadn't shaved for nearly two days. "First off, Larkin is my age and we're only a few years younger than you. Also, we're both taller than you, so 'little shit' is hardly apt. And the only thing he gets bothered about is a lack of beer in the fridge. And I trust him."

Larkin and I had connected as kids, both sons of different pack Alpha's. My father had passed the job onto me as soon as I had mastered my jaguar form. Larkin's father, the Alpha wolf, was waiting for a time when Lark was slightly more mature. But we both knew the pressure of expectations, even if we had handled it differently, and were good childhood friends. It was my fault that Garth was forced to live with him as a housemate.

"He'll probably try to get in her pants. He'll go anything with female parts and two legs," Garth said bluntly.

I looked behind me sharply, making sure Dizelde was still asleep. "Dude, keep it G-rated. He won't."

Garth raised a brow, looking very serious. "He will."

I rolled my eyes. "Even IF he tried, I'm sure she can protect herself."

"Against a wolf?"

I massaged my temples. "Look, Garth, if I tell him not to, he won't. Especially if he knows she was trained as an assassin. He won't want a mark on his pretty face."

The car pulled into the driveway of my house, the gates automatically opening. I felt instantly smothered as I took in the double storey building, wishing I could just leap up to the balcony on the second floor that connected to my bedroom and find solitude there. But if my council had anything to say to me it would mean that privacy and bedroom wouldn't be found in the same sentence unless it was shouted by me.

I shot a look back at Dizelde, still snuffling in the back seat, as the doors hissed open. "I should've gone straight to your house. I don't want people speculating when they find that I brought her back with me."

"I'll give her the keys, she can walk there. It's only a few houses down," Garth grumbled. I was relieved that he'd given in.

"You can't take her down there?"

He huffed. "Fine, I'll walk her down the road. But you're not going to call Liam before I get back, understood?"

I bristled at his command but nodded. "I'll probably get bombarded by half the pack about the things that have occurred in the last twenty four hours I've been gone."

He smirked, not even bothering to look at all sympathetic, and turned around. "Hey! Kid! Wake up..."

She jolted awake, her eyes widening, at first fearful and wary but then she took in our faces and slowly calmed down, though she didn't relax.

"Garth's going to take you somewhere you can hide out. We're gonna help you, Dizelde, but remember the trust thing. And don't go wandering."

She nodded.

"Right now, I have items of business to attend to but later tonight we're going to talk." I waited for her eyes to meet mine. "And you're going to answer some questions, okay? We can only help you if you help us."

Her lips thinned and she didn't say anything. I couldn't decipher her emotion but she didn't seem reluctant. She followed Garth out the car and back down to the gate. I looked at the house cagily. Ugh, I almost wish I could look around in that dusty, smelly poor excuse of a building rather than face the people I could hear chatting inside the house. I took a deep breath and went to face my harassers.