Page 30 of Knife Volume 2

He had her drive through the parking area, make a left turn, then another left into a section she had no idea was in the compound. He used his phone to open the door, and she drove in and just stopped. There were two stories of cars in here. Hundreds of them, and right off the bat she saw an antique Mustang worth well over 100K if it was factory, and probably two-thirds of that if it was a good restoration. She also saw two antique Porsches, a retro diesel Mercedes, various muscle cars, and what she thought might be an antique Corvette, but it was hard to be sure from the angle.

“Who owns these cars?”

“They mostly belong to club members. The MG is Angelica’s. Bash helped her restore it when she was fifteen, and that’s a story you’ll enjoy hearing, so you should ask her about it.”

“If the entire garage is full of the kinds of cars I’m looking at, there are millions of dollars parked in here.”

He pointed for her to go left. “Spot twenty-seven will be the second aisle, seventh spot. It’ll be painted on the concrete. Thing is, you aren’t supposed to see this until you’ve been given access to be in the back without an escort. Not sure what made Brain decide to trust you, but if you do something with this information — if you share it with any outsider, and that includes talking to the other ol’ladies about it, it’ll be not only my ass on the line, but Brain’s, too.”

She parked and stared at him. “What would happen if… I mean, I won’t say anything, but what would happen if I did?”

He shook his head. “Bad things. It’s important you don’t.”

They entered not far from the hallway with his room, which she only knew because he took her through the maze of it so she could drop her duffel off before they went upstairs and out to the party.

Tuesday had seen the small playground near the woods, but so far, she hadn’t seen any kids.

So she was surprised at all the toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged kids running around, whooping and playing, clearly having a blast.

A bouncy castle was set up near the playground, along with a huge water slide thing, and a whole lot of tiny little kid-sized tables.

Adults were supervising a super-soaker battle with the bigger kids in the woods, while the little ones were having a blast in the kiddie areas with water guns. The adults were enjoying beverages in other areas, though a lot of them were turned so they could watch the kids. A whole lot were near the wooded area, too, watching the super-soaker battle. It appeared the kids needed a little more trigger discipline, because several adults on the sidelines were soaked, and that made Tuesday smile.

Angelica walked to her as Knife headed toward the men.

“Oh good. Since Knife’s here, they’ll be pulling the pig soon. Come with me and I’ll introduce you around.”

She knew the Dragon King and Swan Queen were married, but she’d never actually met them. They seemed really nice, but she wasn’t quite sure how to deal with them. Also, it turned out seventeen of the kids present belonged to them. Her eyes had boggled, and Sophia laughed. “Yeah, we get that reaction a lot, but swans and dragons both come from eggs, so we have big broods.”

Kirsten was there with her men, and she’d met Nathan, King of the Lions, before — but she’d never met Mordecai, and she really had the feeling the rumors about him being one of the Gods of Old might be true.

She knew Gen and Duke had kids, and found it interesting that Gen was with one of them in the play area while Duke seemed to be supervising the older one in the woods. Also, the fact his shirt was soaked was hilarious.

Kenny arrived with Silas, Boone, and Willow — and Tuesday felt the absence of her pack bond like a missing tooth.

And it only made it worse when Kenny pointedly looked away from her.

But Silas smiled, walked to her, and pulled her into a hug that smelled like pack and woodsmoke, and she just sank into his energy, soaking it in. This wasn’t ex-boyfriend Silas hugging her, it was the beta of her old pack hugging her, and she nearly cried in his arms. She didn’t, but it was close.

“I’m sad you left us,” he said against her hair. “But I trust you thought long and hard before you did.” He pulled back and looked at her face. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I think I already did,” she told him.

Boone waited until later, when she was standing near the fence watching the kids wind down from yet another squirt gun battle, and he came to stand beside her. “If you need to come back, I’ll figure out a way to convince Kenny. I can’t promise results, but I’ll try.” He turned from watching the kids to face her, and she did the same as he added, “I truly hope everything works out for you, but if it doesn’t, I’ll do my best to bring you back into the fold.”

“Thank you,” she told him. “I miss ya’ll terribly, but I’d make the same decision if I had to do it over again. True love doesn’t come along every day.”

“No, it doesn’t. Value what you have. I’m happy for you.”

She thanked him, he hugged her, and then he was gone.

And she decided she needed a drink. Harmony was mixing herself a Long Island tea at the bar, but Tuesday thought it felt more like a margarita kind of day, and she loaded the rim up with tons of salt before she poured the ingredients, super heavy on the tequila.

Everyone started buzzing about the pig, and she walked with Angelica and Harmony to the smoker area, where it was clear the men were preparing to pull it. A large stainless worktable had been set up just in front of it, with an awning stretched over it and fans blowing to keep flies and bugs away.

The pig came out of the smoker dark-skinned and falling toward itself, the aroma of perfectly cooked pork wafting out until her stomach wasn’t the only one rumbling.

Knife went to work on it, and she was entranced.