Page 13 of Wanted 3

I scowled. “I was going to say dangerous."

“What is this?” Leonard stood at the kitchen door looking at his wooden chest, his narrow face angry, his clipped voice harsher than I've ever heard him. “Who opened this? How?”

I didn’t have time for this. “We’re sort of dealing with an emergency—”

“This is important,” Leonard cut me short.

The fact that he’d interrupted me clamped my mouth shut. Leonard was always the gentleman, so polite.

“I did,” Jeremy surprised me by saying. “I heard them whimpering. They wanted to play.”

“Them?” I asked, on edge and still clutching my knife in my sweaty palm.

Leonard’s brows rose to his hairline.

“What has happened?” The Count’s cool baritone sliced through the tension in the room.

“Vlad!” I exhaled in relief, the death grip on my knife loosening as I rushed to him.

He pulled me into an embrace, his arms encircling me. I breathed in his scent—an intoxicating blend of old parchment, sandalwood and smoke—and it calmed my racing heart.

"The boy has released the Shadows," Leonard said.

"How is that possible?" Vlad asked, his chest rumbling as he spoke.

"There is only one explanation," Leonard replied, his voice filling with wonder.

Vlad inhaled and lifted a curious brow in Jeremy’s direction. “Fascinating. The Shadows choose so few.”

I reluctantly pulled away from Vlad's embrace. "What are the Shadows?" I asked. "And could they help defeat someone who was high on troll blood?"

Vlad stiffened, his gaze landing on me. "Why do you ask?"

"Remember that bog troll I told you about?” I asked in turn. “The one Don was keeping prisoner?"

Vlad nodded, waiting patiently for me to continue.

"Well, I went to his house to find the blackmail videos he took, and the troll was gone. Then I went home—"

"That was not wise," Vlad interrupted, his jaw muscles tensing. “I cannot protect you during the day. Not in this world."

Whoa. Okay, there was a lot to unpack in that casually thrown out sentence. Not in this world? What other worlds were there? Another question to add to growing list once we made it out of this mess.

“I couldn't just sit around doing nothing. I needed to collect dirt on my dad so I can get proper custody of Jeremy," I explained.

Vlad's eyes narrowed, but he didn't respond, so I continued.

"While I was there, my dad showed up. With the bog troll in tow. I'm assuming he got him from Don's house. Anyway, the troll was chained up and made a deal with my dad for his freedom."

The Count snorted. “They’re disgusting creatures. And their magic is weak, short-lived. Con artists, the lot…for the most part.”

My dad’s glowing eyes begged to differ. “He offered a vial of his blood for his freedom.”

The Count tensed beside me, and I glanced at Jeremy to see how he was handling this. He wasn’t paying attention and seemed distracted by something on the floor. When I glanced at his feet, I noticed black shadows curled around his ankles, like puppies.

“What?” I gasped.

Leonard followed my gaze and his jaw dropped.