Free Edged Blade by J.C. Daniels Page A

thief.” He jabbed his splinted hand at me. “And you… you …I’m filing a complaint against you.”
    “I’m quivering,” I drawled.
    “Do it,” Dair said, his voice silky. “And I’ll have you before the Assembly on charges of child cruelty.”
    Maurice froze.
    Megan said, “Alpha, I’m sure Maurice doesn’t realize that locking her in a closet counts as child imprisonment.” She gave Maurice a polite smile, but the look in her eyes said the opposite—she was sure Maurice did realize it…and he didn’t care.
    I was pretty sure of that myself.
    “She tried to run away!” Maurice shouted again.
    “Then you should have let her.” Dair lifted a shoulder. “You’d notified us. We could have tracked her. Instead you chose to manhandle and traumatize her.”
    “If she ran, I didn’t get paid—”
    He snapped his mouth shut, but it was too late.
    Even if he hadn’t spoken, Dair already knew. I knew. I’d known the moment Megan had mentioned a reward. “You don’t get paid now, do you?”
    He waved a dismissive hand. “Megan, see him out.”
    Maurice looked like he wanted to argue, but he followed Megan. Just before she would have opened the door, Dair said softly, “Maurice, I expect to still receive phone calls from you should another young wolf end up in your establishment. You know this.”
    Maurice gave a jerky nod and then he ducked out, moving like his ass was fire.
    I was left alone with Dair.
    “I’ll have Megan issue you the fee.”
    “Don’t.” Jamming my hands into my pockets, I glared at him. “She was a scared kid. I didn’t do that for money.”
    Before he could argue, I asked, “Does that happen a lot? You get calls about kids randomly showing up with no parent?”
    “No.” He blew out a quiet breath and tipped his head to the sky. “No, thank God, we do not. But…it does happen.”
    “How?”
    Intense dark eyes leveled on me. “There are no easy answers to that—and at the same time, the answers are ridiculously easy. My pack is stable. We have few fights outside those for advancement within the pack, but the same can’t be said for others. Travel a hundred miles from here and you’ll encounter another clan where they’d kill their neighbor simply because they didn’t like the man’s shoes. Children are most often ignored in such fights, but then they are left to fend for themselves.” He shrugged. “Sometimes they end up here. Sometimes…they end up dead.”
    He looked away then, weariness seeming to weigh down on him. “That’s simply one explanation. Another…I cannot tell you how many wolves I’ve known who’ve just decided to end it. They leave behind husbands, wives, children, mothers, fathers…”
    My mind flashed back to the day I stood on a cold, steep gorge, only moments away from flinging myself over the side.
    Dair’s voice dragged me back. “Sometimes they see no other outlet.”
    He said nothing else and a strained silence spread between us. Clearing my throat, I rose from the chair. On my way to the door, I swiped my hands down the front of my trousers.
    “Thank you for helping the child, Kit.”
    “No problem,” I said.
    “If there’s anything I can do…”
    I paused, then.
    “Well, yeah.” Slowly, I looked back at him. “How about some information?”

 
     
     
Chapter Six
     
     
    Bed.
    The promise of bed and oblivion awaited me yet again.
    Except…
    I groaned as I remembered.
    Damon.
    He was coming over and my food had been trashed.
    I’d been planning on a big dinner, followed by…well, hopefully sex.
    Once I’d decided to take the child to the wolf den, I’d just ditched the food. The little girl hadn’t wanted to come out of my car—and the car smelled bad now. I don’t think the poor thing had had a bath in weeks.
    I was halfway to my condo before the air cleared and I had another workable menu in mind. It wasn’t red meat, which meant Damon would grumble, but oh well.
    The sun had slid below the horizon by the