Page 106 of Midnight of Ashes
I gathered my stuff and followed Easton and Wren out of the classroom. Easton pulled out his phone, frowning at the screen. “Knox said to meet him and the guys in the quad.”
“Okay.” I glanced at Wren. “What do you have next?”
“Photography. Across campus,” she answered as we stepped out into the sunshine.
I caught sight of Cillian, Cáel, and Knox near some tables. They were talking to another guy. He was huge, nearly the size of Cillian. His dark brown hair was almost black and hung long around his shoulders. His eyes were a piercing blue-green, and next to one of them was a tattoo of a knife.
Wren stilled next to me, her body going completely rigid.
I slowed, turning to face her. “Are you okay?”
“I-I have to go.”
She bolted away from us. But it was in the opposite direction of her class.
54
HAYDEN
I watched as Wren wound through students, disappearing at just short of a run. I frowned as I turned back toward the guys, again taking in the stranger.
“Is that your lawyer?” I whispered to Easton.
He barked out a laugh. “Hell no. Our lawyer is in his fifties with a paunch and a three-hundred-dollar haircut.”
That definitely made more sense. “Then, who is that?”
Easton shifted his weight on his feet, losing any sign of amusement.
“East?” I probed.
“It’s Brix,” Maddox said, coming up beside me.
I looked up at him, silently asking for more information.
“He’s a new contact of Cillian’s,” Maddox explained.
“Be honest, Mad. He’s a mercenary. He gets paid to do less-than-legal things,” Easton cut in.
A flicker of nerves took root in my belly. “Why does Cillian need him now?”
Maddox met my eyes. “He and his wolf pack, the Diablos, have been looking into your parents’ deaths.”
“What?” I croaked.
“They have resources we don’t. They’re very good at finding information no one else can,” Maddox said calmly.
“But at what price?” If someone was a mercenary, then they weren’t going to simply do us a kindness.
Easton squeezed my arm. “Don’t worry. Cill is paying them well.”
I hated that, too. I didn’t want Cillian to have to spend more money on me.
“It’s nothing to him, Mo Ghràidh,” Maddox said softly. “A drop in the bucket.”
I nodded, but it didn’t change how I felt.
Maddox placed a hand on my back, gently guiding me forward.
