Lycan Legacy - Paladin: Tales of Luna White - Werewolf Veronica Singer (children's ebooks online txt) 📖

“Certainly. I wouldn’t wish to exclude your companions.”

I bit back a comment—she had just tried to get me to abandon them to an army—and gave her my most saccharine smile.

The heavy car glided through morning traffic, taking us to our fate.

22

Surrounded by an injured werewolf, two SEALs still fragrant with explosive residue, a spitting mad teenager bound with flex-cuffs, and a werewolf warrior princess, Lady Birdsong chatted as if we were at a tea party.

“I believe formal introductions are in order,” she said primly. “As I said, I am Lady Birdsong. Her Majesty has appointed me to welcome you.” At my stare, she added, “And to offer you sanctuary.”

“Nice to meet you, Lady Bird,” said Manny. “You have any beer in here?” His eyes were bright with euphoria. I briefly wondered if this was a typical after-action rush or his pain-free personality reasserting itself.

She gritted her teeth at Manny mangling her name, but said, “Beer? At this hour?”

“It’s five o’clock somewhere and I’ve had a hell of a night.”

Another prim almost-smile. “If you open that console, you might find some refreshment.”

Manny popped open the console and grimaced. “All you have is Guinness in a can?” He squinted at the label. “And it’s that crappy alcohol-free stuff.”

“If you dig deeper, you will find some original Guinness.”

“Ah, there it is! Thanks, Bird Lady.”

More gritted teeth from the lady. “You’re quite welcome. Now if you would be so kind—”

Manny popped the can and took a large drink, interrupting our host.

“Ahhh, that hits the spot!” he said.

Then at Lady Birdsong’s glare, he continued in a slightly abashed tone. “Pardon my manners. Would you like a sip, Birdie?” He proffered the open can to her.

“No thank you.” The temperature in the car dropped quickly.

“Anyone else want a beer? They have plenty in here.”

What the hell—alcohol doesn’t really affect me, and it had been a hell of a night. “Sure, Manny, I’ll take one.”

“Mike?”

“Sure.”

“Alice?”

“It’s Alisha!” she replied through gritted teeth. She was trembling with anger, but took a deep breath and added, “Yes, please. I’m very thirsty.”

Manny handed Alisha one of the zero-alcohol cans, then distributed real beer to the rest of us. “Cheers!” he said, finishing off his tall can of Guinness.

I took a tentative sip, tasting the dark brew, which was thick as hot chocolate, redolent of yeast and hops, but chilled to slightly below room temperature. Good stuff, and it would help supply some of the calories I would need to recover.

Lady Birdsong looked at the still-unconscious Logan. “We have a physician who can attend to your friend when we reach the embassy compound. We’ll send him to the medical wing as soon as we arrive.”

I had a premonition of doctors poking and prodding Logan, taking blood samples.

I shook my head and stroked Logan’s arm, sending him more energy. “It looks worse than it is. A day or two of TLC will have him up and about.”

“It will be no trouble.”

“It won’t be necessary,” I insisted. “In fact, I must insist that we not be separated.”

“As you wish.”

I squeezed Logan’s hand and was rewarded with a return squeeze. His eyes fluttered and he took a deep sniff.

“Buh… buh, buh…” he whispered through cracked lips.

“Dad!” exclaimed Alisha. Then she remembered she was supposed to be mad and muttered, “You’re awake.”

“It’s okay, Logan,” I said, ignoring everyone else. “We got you out of there and we’re far away.”

I fed him some more of my stored moonlight energy.

He took a deeper breath, opened his eyes, and said, “Buh-buh… beer.”

Mike nodded at Manny, who immediately fished out another Guinness and handed it over.

I popped the can and propped his head up with my left hand while guiding the beer to his mouth. The can touched his cracked lips and I gave him the tiniest sip possible.

It took a minute, but he got a few good swallows in before regaining enough strength to take the can from my hands.

Leaning forward, Logan blinked blurry eyes. He finished off the beer, smiled at Alisha—a smile which was pointedly not returned—then looked around the limo.

“Luna, you didn’t have to come here. I had them right where I wanted them,” he whispered.

“I know, Logan. But I always wanted to see this part of the world, and Mike wanted to look up an old Navy buddy.”

Logan pulled the towel from around his throat, revealing the ravaged flesh beneath. No wonder he had a hard time speaking. He would have to do a full transformation to heal up from the silver-induced scars.

I turned to Lady Birdsong. “You see? He’ll be up and about in no time. There’s no need for your doctors to care for Logan. He can stay with the rest of us.”

“I want to be separated,” said Alisha. “These crazy people kidnapped me from Prince Abdul’s house, and I want to go back.”

“Stockholm syndrome,” said Manny flatly. “Mike, you remember that woman in Colombia? She ran back to her captors.”

“But you kidnapped me!”

“Tough,” said Manny. “I wasn’t the first.”

Lady Birdsong interceded. “Perhaps we should delay discussion of your status until after you’ve had a chance to rest and eat.” She wrinkled her nose at Alisha. “After all, there’s a lot of confusion out there now. Just agree to be my guest for a bit, then you can go on your way.”

A magician’s non-promise promise. “A bit” could be an hour or a month.

“Okay,” said Alisha, surprising me. If I had made that suggestion, she would have been all teenage petulance. Maybe she still held a grudge over the kidnapping, restraints, and hood? I’ll never understand human teenagers.

We arrived at the British Embassy and drove through a fortified outer gate, which closed behind us. The limo stopped over a grave-shaped pit in the ground between the inner and outer gates, and we waited while a technician examined the underside of the vehicle for bombs.

Invisible fingers of magical force played over our bodies, raising gooseflesh on the humans, but not affecting Logan and me.

Lady Birdsong said, “I’m afraid you’ll have to turn