Austin crouched on his knee and held one of my braids between his fingers. “How did you know to come here?” he asked Prince, but his crystal-blue eyes never looked away from me.
“I have a scout,” Prince replied, pointing up at a red-tailed hawk perched in a tall tree. “That’s not in violation of your territory; you don’t have control of the sky.”
“Why did you feel the need to have someone on my place?” Austin asked apprehensively, looking over his shoulder.
Prince considered this and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. “I made an agreement to help find the man who took her. We knew he was back in the city, but once again, lost his trail.” Prince tipped Maizy forward and closed the rip in the back of her shirt. “You should take care to keep this mark covered,” he said in a low voice. “They sell makeup which will camouflage it for a young child who doesn’t understand the dangers.”
He shared a private look with Austin and I crawled over and brushed my hands through her hair. “You okay, Maze? Bad guys are gone now and won’t be coming back ever again.”
“Why did he do that?” she asked in a sad voice. “He hurt you.”
“No, honey. He missed. See?” I showed her my arm. “Don’t you worry about me, little Maze. I’ve got that big-sister magic going on.”
“Magic?” she asked.
“There are very bad men in this world, child,” Prince began. He grasped her attention as she looked up into his pensive eyes—one sapphire and one brown. “But there are also men who will protect you. Always remember that, and surround yourself with only those you trust. You are but a fragile human, and there are things in this world you can’t comprehend.”
Maizy suddenly hopped off his lap and went inside the house. Austin finally sat down beside me, stroking my back.
“That advice goes for you too,” Prince said, lowering his sharp eyes to mine. The hair he once had in a tight ponytail now fell free across his shoulders. “I hope whichever pack you choose, you keep the little one with you. She is a special child.”
“I’m aware of that,” Austin said. “She’s staying with me. As long as her mother wants to remain with my pack, then she’s welcome to, even if Lexi goes her own way.”
Denver appeared, pulling a white T-shirt over his head as he walked barefoot across the hot gravel in a pair of jeans. He stopped, bent over, and brushed the soles of his dirty feet.
Prince stood up and slowly stepped off the porch. “My work is done here; the fiend has been brought to justice. I hear you’re moving,” he added, looking over his shoulder. “You still have my alliance. Let me know if you run into trouble with any of the packs out that way. I have pull.”
He strode away with the confidence of a man who had been leading a pack for decades, if not longer. As he passed Denver, Prince showed respect for his bravery by touching his shoulder as he looked down at the corpse.
“My hero!” Maizy cried out, bounding toward the two men.
Denver grinned from ear to ear, but the light in his eyes dimmed when Maizy ran up to Prince and smothered him with a hug. Prince patted her head as she waved for him to squat down to her level. Denver stepped aside and turned his back, wiping the dirt off his jeans.
I went to say goodbye to the man who saved my sister’s life.
“You all right?” I asked Denver.
He shrugged off my question and messed with his blond hair. I was about to hug him when he bent over and brushed a few pebbles from the bottom of his foot.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Maizy open her tiny hand and say, “Shhh.” She placed a small, glittery stone in Prince’s hand. A diamond.
“What’s this?” he asked, watching it sparkle in the light.
“That’s for my ring, silly.”
“What ring?”
“The one you’re going to give me when I grow up.”
Prince furrowed his brow and I stooped down to her level. “Maizy, where are the rest of these?”
“I hid the treasure,” she declared.
“Tell me where they are, honey.”
“I don’t want the bad guys to get them.”
This was going nowhere. Maizy once hid a bag of licorice I brought home from the store. She refused to tell where, even when mom took away all her dolls and movies as punishment. We found the candy seven months later inside a pair of old loafers in the hallway closet. A trail of ants led us to the scene of the crime.
Prince rose to his feet and stared at the diamond in the palm of his cupped hand. “Here,” he finally said, extending his arm toward me.
“No!” Maizy cried.
Tears sprang from her eyes and he immediately palmed it and bent over. “It was only in jest,” he said with a warm smile. She pouted, as if he had made fun of her. “I promise to keep your treasure safe and return it to you someday, little one. You have my word.”