Chaser snorted, then folded up the brochure. “C’mon, I got us a room at the hotel across the street.”

  “Is that a good idea? I mean…” I glanced back at the man and narrowed my eyes. “If you hadn’t told me what to look for, I wouldn’t have even known.”

  “I took precautions.” He slid his hand into mine, stood, then pulled me to my feet.

  I pretended to know what he meant by that, just glad to walk in the opposite direction of the Halcyon. The whole place had this…vibe, like something wasn’t right. I imagined it was the kind of place that tossed cheaters and gamblers with huge debts out the back door, then kicked them three-quarters to death. I sniffed the air, almost believing I could smell the blood.

  “What about the wards?” I asked. “How do we know where the magic is?”

  Chaser gave me a look and pulled me towards the footpath. “We’ll come back tonight.”

  “Tonight?” I squeaked.

  “Sloane, are you sure you can—”

  “Yes,” I snapped, shutting off the stupid voice inside my head that was feeding my doubts. “I can.”

  “Good, because tonight we’re going inside that hellhole.”

  I swallowed hard as we crossed the street, making for the hotel opposite.

  Inside the Halcyon? I hoped I was ready for that because bravado would not help me face an entire gang of ancient vampires, not one bit.

  Chapter 10

  Chaser

  Our hotel room was a nest of silence in the midst of the bustle of central Melbourne.

  The room was spacious with a view that overlooked the Halcyon across the street, the sheer curtains softening the hard edges of the ominous building. It looked like a spire of hard metal shooting towards the sky, jagged and almost like crystal shards inside a geode of shit.

  I emptied our bags and spread out the contents on the bed while Sloane was in the shower, washing off the grit and grime of the heat outside.

  I folded our clothes into neat piles, then separated all the other bits and pieces. Picking up Sloane’s aviator sunglasses, I was hit with the memory of her demanding five dollars from me at that roadhouse. She’d said, ‘Five bucks won’t emasculate you.’ It wasn’t that long ago, but it felt like years had passed.

  The bathroom door opened, and Sloane padded out, bringing the damp scent of soap with her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, watching me paw through her belongings.

  “Taking inventory.”

  “You did that last night.”

  She sat on the bed next to me, her gaze raking over the neat piles of clothes. She didn’t say anything about me breaching her privacy, so I figured we were even for the time she went through my stuff on the train.

  “We’re going to need to leave quickly,” I explained. “I want to make sure we have everything we need to disappear. We might not be able to return to the pack at first.”

  “Oh…” she murmured.

  “Here.” I pointed to each item and explained what I was tossing and what I was putting in. “We want to keep things light, so anything heavy is out. The hotel toiletries are small, though they’re a luxury, but they will tide us over if we need to be on the road longer than a couple of days. Cash is a given. Spare ammo and a gun each. Burner phones.” I pointed to the mobile phone I’d assembled for her. “And a change of clothes.”

  “You stole the amenities box from the bathroom,” she declared.

  “I didn’t steal anything. It’s complimentary.”

  Sloane was silent for a moment. “This is going to work, isn’t it?”

  I’d thought about it over and over, but the conversation I’d had with Monroe and his dead-end leads had solidified it in concrete. It wasn’t even worth chasing them to begin with. After a century of hunting wolves and infiltrating rival packs for Fortitude, I knew better than anyone that what Monroe offered was less than actionable. All he’d done was confirm what I’d already suspected—there was no other way in. The Halcyon and the Hollow Men, who ruled it, were watertight. Nothing was getting in or out without them knowing about it, and I’d put the old vampire in danger for nothing.

  The only thing left to do was knock on the front door. The plan was simple, yet full of uncertainty. Things could go wrong—that was how life went—but there was no other way. I knew this was what I’d have to do the moment I left Monroe’s diner.

  I just didn’t know how to tell Sloane. No matter what she told me, I knew her courage was hanging by a thread. That’s why she couldn’t know what I was about to do.

  “I need to go out,” I said. “Stay here.”

  I stood and picked up the ‘do not disturb’ hanger for the door.

  Sloane rose to her feet. “Where are you going?”

  “Just to the foyer. I won’t be long.”

  “Why?”

  I ignored her, knowing I was going to pay for it later, and left.

  The Halcyon towered above me, glittering like a steaming turd rolled in glitz and glamour.

  What I was about to do was insane, but I had to walk in and demand a meeting with King. I couldn’t stand before him without anything to offer, so I’d have to sell Sloane out…but I also had to want something in return. It meant I had to tell him the truth about my forced slavery and demand his legion of witches free me from the magic binding me to the werewolves. The wolf for my freedom, or so the ruse went.

  There was no other way.

  Taking out my phone, I dialled Sloane’s burner.

  She answered in one ring. “Chaser…?”

  “Whatever you do, don’t leave the room.”

  “What are you talking about?” she demanded. “Where are you?”

  “I’m about to walk into the Halcyon and end all your troubles.”

  The line rustled. “You can’t be serious!”

  “This is the only way,” I told her. “Monroe’s information is useless. It will never get us close to King, but if I go in there and demand a meeting, I’ll be face-to-face with the bastard.”

  “No. No, you can’t, Chaser,” she said, but her voice wavered.

  “Don’t lose your nerve now,” I murmured. “After all we’ve been through, I know I can do this.”

  She was silent for a few minutes, though I could hear her ragged breathing on the other end of the line.

  “You want to sell me out to infiltrate the Hollow Men?”

  “I see we think alike.”

  “I can’t…” She took a deep breath. “I promised you forever, Chaser. This isn’t forever. So many things could go wrong.”

  “I don’t intend to die, Sloane.”

  “That’s good, but tell that to the casino full of vampires.”

  “We both know the stakes,” I told her, looking up at the tower. “If we want forever, free and clear, we have to end this as soon as possible.”

  “Now or never?”

  “The deeper we get, the tougher it is to get out.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that. My whole life has been devoted to getting out.”

  “Sloane…” I took a deep breath and wished I’d kissed her one last time. “I don’t want you to get any deeper into this.”

  “That’s not your choice to make,” she snapped. “You left without so much as a word. The moment you stand before King and kill him is the moment they turn around and kill you. They’ll never let you leave.”

  “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “But I’m not. This is no better than the plan Marini had.”

  “It is, Sloane. In this plan, only one of us is in danger and death is not a certainty. Don’t forget, I’m still bound by the talisman. They can kill me, but I’ll just come back.”

  “And so will the Hollow Men,” she hissed. “King is just one vampire. Another will step up and take his place.”

  “You’re forgetting something else, Sloane,” I drawled, taking a step towards the Halcyon. “I was one of them. King is the glue that binds the entire organisation together. Without him, it all falls apart.”

  “It sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this. When did you get the time?”

  My mood darkened. “Do you want forever, Sloane? Or for now?”

  “Forever,” she snapped. “Always forever.”

  “Then this is the plan.”

  “Chaser—”

  I hung up, fired off a quick text, then turned the phone off and slipped it into my pocket. There was no turning back now.

  Walking through the crowd, I entered the casino and glanced up at the security cameras as I passed beneath them.

  Behind me, I knew Sloane was looking out the hotel window, trying to spot me in the stream of humans out for a good night…but she never would.

  This is for your forever, Sloane. Don’t forget it.

  I walked across the gaming floor, passing blackjack tables and spinning roulette wheels, reciting my mantra in my mind.

  Freedom, love, forever…

  Every so often, I spotted a plant—vampires with concealed weapons and walkie-talkies, and even the odd woman draped in glitzy fabric encouraging gamblers to put down more money with a flourish of vampiric compulsion.

  I was surprised no one had stopped me. I aimed for the hotel beyond the gaming floor, where I’d approach the elevator and press the button for the penthouse.

  Passing a row of slot machines, I saw a man speak into a walkie-talkie, his gaze following me. I’d been made. Took them long enough.

  Increasing my stride, I spotted the hotel entrance.

  “Stay right where you are.”

  Turning, I saw a male vampire aiming a gun at me. Movement to my left caught my attention, and I glanced at another man who’d pulled another gun. The same happened on my right and behind, until six drawn weapons surrounded me.

  “Don’t move, Mason,” a familiar voice barked.

  I snorted and looked over my shoulder at Holden, another Englishman who’d been turned by King around the same time as I had. He hadn’t changed, apart from his choice in clothing, but vampires rarely did. He was still the same stocky, hard-faced, shaved-headed bruiser I’d met in the first days with the Hollow Men.

  “You shouldn’t have come back here,” he said, stepping in-between the row of guns.

  “I want to see him,” I snarled. “I want to see King.”

  My arms were wrenched behind me. Someone patted me down as a pair of handcuffs were slapped around my wrists, the metal biting painfully into my skin. I felt the magic grab hold of my vampirism and squeeze the strength out of me, but it didn’t seem to dampen the power radiating from the talisman.

  “It’s been a hundred years,” Holden said. “You should have let her go.”

  The casino swarmed around us, the noise fading to a dull roar.

  “This isn’t about her…” I drawled. “It’s about the wolf.”

  Chapter 11

  Sloane

  The line cut out and I cursed. Chaser, you damn fool!

  I stood and began to pace as the phone dinged with a text message. Snatching it up, I cursed again as I read what Chaser had sent.

  If I’m not back by sunrise, go find Gasket.

  I tried to call him back but the line wouldn’t connect, and I hurled the phone into my bag with a cry of frustration.

  If they figured out Chaser was lying, they’d kill him—the talisman wasn’t the same as true immortality. He could still die permanently…or they could use him as bait to lure me out.

  So many things could go wrong and only one thing could go right. I didn’t like those odds.

  I fisted my hands into my hair and tugged. What was I going to do?

  I snorted and rolled my eyes, already knowing there was only one thing I could do. Go after him.

  When the Hollow Men caught him—because it was now when, not if—they would follow his trail here. It meant I had to go against what he thought was right and leave. Now.

  Remembering what he’d told me about having to make a run for it, I pulled his belongings out of his bag and stuffed them into mine.

  Travel light. Only take what was necessary. I couldn’t carry two bags, one was enough.

  I didn’t understand how vampires tracked, let alone what spells witches used, so I pulled everything I could out of the bathroom—even scraped the bin clean—and balled it up into the used towels and shoved it into Chaser’s empty bag.

  Legging it out of the room, I shouldered my bag and scanned for somewhere I could dump his that didn’t look suspicious. I rode the elevator to the foyer, edging into the corner as a group of people got on. I sniffed, but I couldn’t smell anything besides perfume and cologne. Humans.

  When the doors slid open, I let them get off first, and scanned the comings and goings, but I couldn’t sense anything supernatural in the air.

  It’d been three minutes since I got Chaser’s text. I had to hurry.

  Putting my head down, I took the side entrance, skirting around the restaurant and out into a lane. A row of dumpsters sat against the wall, and I flung Chaser’s bag into the first one and kept walking until I reached the road.

  The Halcyon looked even more terrifying in the dark. It was lit up with artificial lighting that would burn human retinas, let alone supernatural ones, but there was still that air of sinister terror I’d felt that afternoon.

  Courage in pain and adversity, I though, using Fortitude’s motto to drive me forwards.

  Keeping my head down, I entered the casino.

  I crossed the gaming floor, spotting several vampires as I went, but none of them saw me.

  I looked around, trying to spot Chaser, homing in on a commotion in the direction of the Halcyon hotel.

  I stopped by a row of noisy slot machines—otherwise known as pokies—and my heart stopped beating.

  I saw six vampires surrounding Chaser with their guns drawn and knew there was nothing I could do. I stood and didn’t even lift a finger. I couldn’t.

  I stood behind the bank of pokies as people on the casino floor walked past the group without even slowing. It was as if they were invisible. The humans couldn’t see the truth of this place and now, I was beginning to understand why the Hollow Men could get away with so much. Compulsion, magic…it was one big web of lies.

  I watched they put handcuffs around Chaser’s wrists and a vampire with a shaved head said something to him. Even with my enhanced hearing, I couldn’t hear them over the noise of the casino. Then they dragged him towards the hotel entrance, the people milling about oblivious to what was happening.

  My heart twisted and a wave of nausea caused my skin to heat. Chaser…

  I kept my head down and left the Halcyon, trying to think of a plan. There was no way this plan was going off without a hitch. I hadn’t met the arsehole, but King was too smart for that. He struck me as the kind of guy who’d thought of every angle, every point of attack, even the one’s Chaser wouldn’t have considered.

  As I stepped out into the warm evening, with the Melbourne nightlife bustling around me, I realised Chaser had just sacrificed himself for me. He knew he was going to die. He knew.

  He was such a bloody idiot.

  Chapter 12

  Sloane

  I walked away from the Halcyon, my entire body trembling.

  They hadn’t even seen me—not once glance, not one shout of alarm. Nothing. The most wanted wolf in the whole country had slipped into the enemy’s lair without so much as a twitch. It was as if I were invisible.

  I twisted the ring Wren had given me around my finger and wondered… Chaser had said there was magic on it. Had it concealed me from the Hollow Men and the wards their witches had cast on the casino? It had to have. There was no other reason why I walked in and out without being noticed.

  That’s it!

  Magic.

  If I had any hope of getting Chaser out of the Halcyon, I needed Wren.

  I sat on a bench by the Yarra River and took out the burner phone Chaser had left me. Hoping the witch had found Gasket, I dialled his number, the line connecting almost instantaneously.

  “Yeah?” came his gruff voice.

  “It’s Sloane. I need to talk to Wren.”

  “Hello to you, too.”

  A tram rumbled past, the driver ringing the bell furiously at a slow-moving pedestrian. I turned away from the street, ducking into an alcove. “Gasket, I’m kind of on the clock here.”

  “Wait.” He paused. “Was that a tram? Where are you?”

  “In the city,” I told him. “Look—”

  “In the city? Sloane, are you mad? The Hollow Men are still after you, and if you hadn’t noticed, we’ve still got renegade wolves out there. If they find you, it’s over.”

  “They won’t find me,” I snapped, hoping I was right about Wren’s ring. “You worry about the renegades, Gasket. The Hollow Men are up to me and Chaser.”

  “And where is our token vampire? Usually by now, he’s taken the phone off you.”

  “Chaser’s done something stupid, and I need Wren’s help getting him out of it. Is she there or not?”

  “Sloane, I know you and Chaser have a thing, but—”

  “Is she there or not?”

  Gasket sighed. “Hang on.”

  She’d made it, after all.

  The phone rustled and I sank into my hair as I waited, my gaze flickering to the Halcyon and the stream of humans walking past.

  “Sloane? What’s wrong?”

  “I need your help,” I replied. “Can you meet me?”

  “I suppose…” Wren’s hesitation was unmistakeable. “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s a situation…” I began, not knowing how much I should tell her. If she knew I planned to infiltrate the casino, she mightn’t come. “Chaser and I were separated.”

  “Oh, I guess I can help you find him, but if you’re in the city—”

  “Flinders Street,” I interrupted. “Across the river by the aquarium. I’ll be waiting in Chaser’s car. You know the one.”