City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

think that the Valerie I knew would have been too enamoured of being called vulnerable. ‘Whatever is going on here,’ I said, ‘it’s clearly out of the ordinary. What we have to find out is if it’s a result of the magic in the atmosphere or if something else is going on. We have to speak to Maggie and find out exactly what she did and why.’

Monroe put his hands in his pockets. ‘And the sooner the better.’

Chapter Seventeen

If anything, Maggie was more cowed and scared than before. Two hulking werewolves, albeit in human form, skulked behind her; Theo, Julian, Monroe and I faced her. It seemed like security overkill to me but I refrained from commenting. I was out of my depth amongst the vampires and werewolves but, if Maggie continued to appear so intimidated, I wouldn’t be able to keep quiet. I reminded myself that, whether he’d drained Valerie of all her blood or not, Philip had been torn to pieces by this terrified woman. There was more to her than fear.

‘Her alpha has been out on patrol since Tuesday and we’ve not been able to contact him,’ Julian said. ‘I’ve got people looking for him now. Until he shows up, I can speak for him.’

Monroe nodded. In an aside to me, he explained. ‘There are seven packs in total. Each one is loyal to their own alpha and individual wolves will ultimately follow their alpha’s lead. But beta wolves will follow another alpha’s lead as well, unless there is conflict across packs.’

‘And some alpha wolves are more powerful than others,’ Julian added. ‘For example, Monroe might not have a pack of his own any more but the other wolves here will still do as he commands, especially in the absence of their own alpha.’

Monroe did have a commanding air about him, even if he winced at Julian’s words. ‘That only happens when I’m not being threatened with eviction from the community,’ he said, with a steely edge.

If Julian was discomfited by Monroe’s words, he didn’t show it. ‘I had to do something,’ he said simply. ‘We need you fit and well.’

Before this descended into a squabble, I changed the subject. ‘Maggie’s alpha must have noticed that she’s missing. Why didn’t he get back here and sort out a search party?’

Julian and Monroe exchanged looks. ‘Each pack serves a distinct unit,’ Julian explained. ‘Although we all live together as a community, and tasks are allocated, each pack is only responsible for its own members’ safety. They’ll have been looking for Maggie but they wouldn’t have come back here to get help with the search.’ He paused. ‘Each to their own, so to speak.’

I stared at them. ‘So if one pack is decimated then what? You just shrug your shoulders and get on with things?’

‘We’ve been through this,’ Monroe said. ‘We have to work on the survival of the whole community, not the individuals. People die.’ His tone was flat. ‘We should all get used to that.’

I knew he was still thinking about his own pack but it didn’t matter. Nobody would survive if we didn’t look out for each other. ‘That’s not how a community works!’ I spluttered.

I thought he would argue with me as he always did, but instead his gaze slid away. ‘You might be right.’

Both Julian and Theo looked at him in surprise. Monroe tutted in dismissal and folded his arms, ending the conversation.

I rubbed my neck and focused on Maggie. ‘Why don’t you start by telling us what has happened over the last few days?’ I said to her. I glanced at the others. ‘Then we can ask other questions to fill in any gaps.’

‘Good idea. And,’ Theo added smoothly, ‘if you don’t tell the truth, I’ll—’

I interrupted him. ‘She’ll tell the truth.’ From Maggie’s body language and submissive pose, I was fairly certain she wasn’t capable of lying, even if she desperately wanted to. ‘Right, Maggie?’

The werewolf nodded. She licked her lips and kept her eyes trained on a spot somewhere to the left of my feet. ‘We all went out as a pack two days,’ she began tremulously. Her accent was pure Essex and it was difficult for me to believe that this was someone who’d viciously clawed away chunks of a vampire’s pale flesh. She sounded like she’d be better suited to downing Prosecco and canapés at a garden barbecue. ‘It was our turn. There’d been trouble with some creatures who’d settled in a street not too far away from here. We were going there before, scouting further afield for any shops or warehouses that still have supplies. I was feeling out of sorts. It was my turn for a bath before we left, but there was blood coming out of the taps so I couldn’t clean. It sounds like a small thing but…’ She sighed. ‘I’d been looking forward to it.’

I glanced at Julian. ‘Her turn for a bath?’

‘We ration water,’ he explained.

I frowned. ‘You know that’s not really necessary. It rains so often that the reservoir is full. Our combined populations aren’t so great that there will be a problem.’

‘Until the taps start bleeding,’ he murmured.

I scowled. ‘We fixed that.’ Clearly, Julian – and the other alphas – were somewhat draconian in the way they ran things. If someone wanted a bath, they should be able to have a damned bath.

Maggie appeared faintly embarrassed by the increase in tension and continued speaking. ‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘we cleared out the creatures. It was a nest of rat-like animals. They stank to high heaven and they were rather vicious. There were several other animal carcasses nearby from their recent kills. It was clear that, if we hadn’t done something to get rid of them, they’d soon have become a problem for us. There were more than we’d anticipated so it took longer than we expected and it was getting dark by the time we got to Yarburgh Street.’

I stiffened. Yarburgh Street was in the south. That was my territory. While