Secret Unleashed: Secret McQueen, Book 6 (6 page)

Holden was beside me now, and he shook his head at Sig. “That’s drastic. We said we could avoid it.”

“Avoid what?”

“We said we could avoid it if she played by the rules. I was a fool to believe such an option would work. If Peyton has other rogues working with him, there is no safe place here anymore. When a creature like Grendel can be lured in by Alexandre’s promises, we are left with no other choice.”

“But we caught Grendel,” I reminded them, still not sure what we were talking about. I didn’t like where I thought it was going, though. “I’m not afraid of rogues.”

“If you believe this is something you can talk your way out of by professing how unafraid you are, you are sorely mistaken. There will be no further discussion.”

“But—”

“I’m sending you away.” Sig’s tone was as flat as the skyline in my prairie hometown. “Tonight.”

Chapter Six

I was still saying
no
when we arrived at the council headquarters. The council building was an exact twin to Grand Central Terminal, a huge old train station cloaked from human eyes by layer upon layer of magic, both vampire and otherwise.

The three of us marched through the front doors, and I trailed after Sig like a desperate puppy, my high-heeled boots clacking loudly on the black-and-white tile floor. I hadn’t yet learned how to move with the silent grace of other vampires, but maybe that was something my werewolf half had negated.

Werewolves, as a rule, didn’t need to worry too much about running around in heels.

“You can’t send me away. I’m not a naughty child you can ship off to boarding school.” We were through the big oak doors that divided the main working floor of the council with the lower chambers where the Council Elders and our Tribunal space were held.

Somewhere lower still was a cell where Grendel was bound in silver and would be slowly starved until he was a literal husk of his former self. A vampire couldn’t starve to death, but they could waste away to something far worse.

“Why do you insist on making it sound as though I’m punishing you?” Sig spoke in a quiet, calm voice, which made the slightly hysterical pitch of my own words all the more pathetic.

“It
is
a punishment. You’re forcing me to leave my home.”

“You stupid, ignorant girl. If you can’t understand why it is I’m forced to do this, maybe I should just leave you for Peyton and his minions to discover.”

That made me stop talking.

A warden opened up the door to the Tribunal chamber, and Sig and I entered. Holden was forced to wait out in the hall. After a quick scan of the room assured me we were alone and Juan Carlos wouldn’t be joining this conversation, I continued.

“I don’t see why it’s necessary.”

“Do you want to witness the death of everyone you hold dear? Would you like to see the slow, violent torture of your human detective friends? Your foolish vampire-hunting sidekicks?” At my surprised face he smiled coldly. “Yes, don’t think I didn’t know about your training exercises with Shane and Nolan. If you think there’s
anything
you do I don’t know about, you can put that thought out of your mind right now. I know your every move, Secret. Every borrowed breath you take. Whatever you do and wherever you go, I know.”

Well…that was unnerving.

“And if I know, others can know. There will be those who see the werewolf you love and consider him fair game in luring you out. And do you think one wolf can withstand a half-dozen vampires?” Sig arched a brow, silently demanding I respond to his question, though he knew the answer as well as I did.

“No.”

“No what?”

“No. Desmond couldn’t defend himself against six vampires.”

“If you stay, it will mean his death. Desmond, Mercedes, Tyler, Nolan, Shane. The other wolves you care about. Anyone you’ve ever met is at risk. Do you want them to end up like Brigit?”

There were no harsher words he could have chosen. I didn’t need to be reminded of my blame in Brigit’s death. I knew perfectly well she’d been murdered because of me, and of course I didn’t want anyone else to suffer her fate.

It was a cruel way for him to make his point, but it worked. I sat down in the large wooden throne that served as my Tribunal seat and raked my hands through my wind-tangled curls. “Where do you want me to go?” I asked, conceding his victory.

“We can’t just spirit you away into the night without a reason. The elders would find it suspicious, as would Juan Carlos. And I can’t have you out in the wild without protection.”

“Send Holden with me.”

“A fine job he’s done thus far,” Sig scoffed.

“He would die to protect me, and you know it.”

“It isn’t his dedication I question. It’s his ability to protect you from yourself when necessary. Holden is far too willing to let you risk your own life when
you
think it’s appropriate. While I believe he’ll defend you against external forces, I don’t know if I can make him realize your greatest enemy is often yourself.”

“I think Holden is well aware of how poor my decision-making skills are.”

“If that’s meant to convince me, it is a poor argument.”

“Well, if you’d tell me where you want to send me, maybe I can make a better suggestion.”

“You’ll be going to Los Angeles under the guise of performing a personal request for me. The elders won’t ask questions, and though Juan Carlos will want to know, I’ll impress upon him the importance of having someone I trust look in on my children.”

“Your…children?”

“Yes. You’ll be going to the West Coast Council to ensure my offspring are all in good health. I’ve received reports one of my line has been proving…difficult for them, and you will act in my stead to put him right.”

“One of your kids is being bad, and you’re sending me to
babysit
?”

“Not one of my direct offspring. I haven’t sired a new vampire in some fifty years. No, this vampire is still new—he’s been with us less than a quarter century. An unfortunate situation, really. He went a little mad upon his turning, and he’s had trouble adjusting. I sired his maker, Theo, but it’s a decision I now regret I’m afraid to say. Such a mess.” Sig sat in the chair next to me and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’ve been meaning to look into it for years, but it seems to be coming to a head, and now there’s discussion of putting him down. Without his sire there, it falls to me to care for him, and now by extension it falls to you.”

“Great. So I get kicked out of my city to go keep your nutcase vampire grandson from getting killed by his own council? Is that about the gist of it?”

“I have a feeling you are the perfect person for the job.”

“I’m thrilled. Can’t wait.” I put mock enthusiasm into my words and pumped my fist in the air.

Sig was giving me a strange look, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with my reaction. His usual cool smile was gone, and there was something like concern on his face.

“What?” I dropped my hand back to my lap.

“I hope I’m not making a mistake,” he said.

“Have you
ever
made a mistake?”

“Two thousand years is an awfully long time, Secret. You’d be amazed how many mistakes one can make. You’ve been alive only twenty-three years, and look how many you’ve made.”

Burn.

“You’re so sweet to me.”

“I’m far sweeter than you deserve sometimes. Don’t you forget that.”

“Says the man who once offered to devour my humanity.” I leaned back in the throne, resting my head against the heavily carved wood. “I still want Holden with me. It will make me feel better, and it fits with the cover story. If I’m traveling for the council, it makes sense I’d have an envoy.”

“Very well. If we are to have a party travel with you and we want this to appear as real as possible, I will also select someone to go with you. Someone who will keep
my
interests for you at the forefront of her mind.”

Her?
I didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

“Sig…not…”

“You’ve made your request, and I’ve agreed to let Holden go with you. In spite of knowing full well his emotional—and sexual—attachment to you blinds him to what is right.”

Hearing Sig say
sexual
made my stomach churn. Was there really nothing he didn’t know about me?

“But can’t you pick someone else?” I already knew who he was talking about, and the idea of her joining my travel party didn’t thrill me. He was right, though. She would keep his interests at heart.

“Ingrid will join you. That’s final.”

Ingrid was Sig’s daylight servant. She was bound to serve him for as long as she lived, and in return her lease on life was extended. In spite of how degrading their title was, daylight servants had a pretty sweet deal. They got to stay human, but borrowed the immortality of their master. Ingrid was over seven hundred years old but didn’t look a day over nineteen. Sure, she had to do everything her master commanded, but Sig didn’t seem like a slave driver.

My problem with Ingrid wasn’t her status as a daylight servant, although forced service did weird me out. No, my issue was that she seemed to genuinely loathe me, and I’d never been able to figure out why. A lot of people hated me, and I’d come to accept it, but most of them hated me for a good reason.

Or a bad reason. But at least a
reason
.

As far as I could tell with Ingrid, the only thing she disliked about me was Sig’s affection for me. It was an inverse relationship. The more Sig liked me, the more Ingrid grew to loathe me. He must be very attached to me by now because she was less fond of me than ever. Either that or hating me had become so habitual she couldn’t stop.

“Anyone but Ingrid,” I pleaded.

“I don’t trust anyone the way I trust Ingrid. If you’re concerned she’ll be acting as some kind of spy and reporting your every action to me, I should tell you not to be so paranoid.”

I scrunched my face up and gave him a
don’t treat me like an idiot
expression. “Of
course
she’s going to report my every move.”

“Perhaps she will, but that’s not why I’m sending her. I could just as easily have wardens trailing you the whole way, and the intelligence results would be the same. Ingrid isn’t going along to be your keeper.”

“Then why bother sending her?”

“If hard choices need to be made on
my
behalf, I want her with you. She’ll know where I stand on all matters. I’m trusting you, however, to be the best representative of our Tribunal when you’re there. You are, after all, one of the leaders on the East Coast, and what you do and say reflects on not only Juan Carlos and me, but the entire council as well. Please try to be respectful.”

“Don’t tiptoe around it. Just say what you want to say.”

“Don’t be yourself. Or, if it’s essential you be Secret McQueen while there, could you be the version of yourself that is appropriate for the audience? I know she’s in there.”

“Be Tribunal Secret, not real Secret. Understood.”

“Thank you.”

“Now I have a request for you.”

His response came in the form of one raised eyebrow, which I took as license to carry on.

“You’ve made it obvious enough you know people are out to get me, and those people will stop at nothing to see me dead. While I’m gone, I can’t protect my friends. Tyler, Mercedes and Nolan all belong to me, according to the laws of the council.” I’d declared the three of them
mine
, and much like licking a dessert, it marked them as my possessions. “Since I’m not going to be here to protect them, I’m giving temporary guardianship responsibilities to you.”

Sig grimaced. “That’s not standard—”

“You want me to go to Los Angeles to look after what belongs to you? Then you have to look after what belongs to me. So while we’re at it I want to declare—officially—that Desmond Alvarez is
mine
. As is the entire Alvarez family. Shane Hewitt is mine.”

“Shane belongs to the council.”

“You made a point of saying he’s at risk. If the risk to his life is because of me, that means he’s mine. Not the council’s.”

“Anyone else? Would you also like to lay claim to the entire West Village? Perhaps the whole island of Manhattan?”

“If I could, I would.”

“And what about your wolf king, Lucas Rain? Is
he
yours as well?”

I got to my feet, considering his words. All I had to do was say
yes
. One word and the council would protect Lucas from any vampire forces who might attack him to get to me.

I looked back at Sig.

“Fuck him.”

Chapter Seven

I texted Desmond as I left the council headquarters. There was no way I’d get to see him one-on-one before I was shipped off to the City of Angels, but that didn’t mean I was going to leave without telling him what was happening.

I’d done that once before, and he’d barely forgiven me. If I did it again, I suspected he’d be done with me forever.

Holden would be glued to my side until Peyton was caught. After the earful Sig gave him, I’d be surprised if I got to shower on my own, let alone have some quality time with my boyfriend.