The Stone Wolf (The Chain Breaker Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg (digital book reader TXT) 📕

disturbance. A lamp rested next to the books, and Gavin sniffed for a moment.

“Are you going to light the lantern?” Gaspar asked.

“Something smells off,” Gavin said.

Gavin looked around. Maybe it was just that Wrenlow’s presence was missing from the room, but Gavin was left with a strange feeling.

He sorted through the large wardrobe, the clothes neatly folded—another of Jessica’s traits. There wasn’t anything near the bed or the side table. Gaspar looked through the books, flipping from page to page. Which left only the desk and Wrenlow’s belongings.

“I always see him working on these books, but I never know what he’s doing,” Gaspar said, turning from one page to the next.

“He keeps notes,” Gavin said. “He likes to keep track of the jobs we’ve done, and of any resources he has.”

“Maybe this has nothing to do with Tristan.”

Gavin held out the paper. “This has everything to do with Tristan.”

“Why would he go after Wrenlow?”

“Because of me,” Gavin said. Gaspar looked over at him, and Gavin shrugged. “Tristan would have wanted to determine whether I’d go after him. It’s part of the reason he caused the trouble in the first place. He would have used everything he could to test my willingness to press after somebody like him.”

“Why would he think you wouldn’t?”

“The problem is that, before all this, he didn’t know if I was willing to go after Wrenlow.” Gavin sighed. “That was part of what he was after in the warehouse if he couldn’t defeat me. I didn’t realize it before now.” He nodded to the stack of books. “Anything there you think might be useful?”

“If the kid were here, I’d tell him that none of this was useful.” Gaspar closed one of the books, placed it on top of the others, and grabbed the entire stack. “But the truth is, he has some interesting observations.” He glanced over to Gavin. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“What are you doing with his journals?”

“I’m going to use them to see if we can come up with anything that he might have been involved with.”

“And I told you this doesn’t have to do with anything he was tied up in.”

“That you know of, but how many of his assets were you aware of?”

Gavin shrugged. “I don’t know. I let Wrenlow run his own side of the operation. There wasn’t any point in digging into what he was up to, especially as he didn’t need me intervening.”

“Didn’t need you? You were the reason he got involved in most of these jobs, so that suggests he needed you quite a bit.”

Was that true?

Gaspar started flipping pages before stopping. “This one was recent. It talks about a fight.” He looked up at Gavin. “He was surprised at how well he did. Gavin said he was proud of me. I’ve never felt better about myself than when he said that.”

Gavin swallowed. Wrenlow had written that about what he’d said?

“I was proud of him,” he muttered. It was hard to get the words out, though he knew they were important. “He’s been training. Getting better. He’s not a fighter, but he fought.”

“I know,” Gaspar said.

His throat was dry, and he licked his lips. “He would have fought.”

“He would’ve.”

Gavin knew what to do. There was only one thing he could do. Push it down. All of it. Emotion wouldn’t serve him now. Tristan had made sure that he knew to put that aside and be ready for what he had to do.

“I need to speak to Olivia.” Gavin nodded to the journals. “Where are you going to store those?”

“Jessica can keep them safe, or we could even have Olivia watch over them if you would prefer,” Gaspar said.

Gavin wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted. At this point, the only thing he needed was to figure out what Tristan was going to do and how much time he had to find Wrenlow.

“You still haven’t said anything,” Gaspar pointed out.

He took a breath, getting himself ready. He would be ready. “What’s there to say?” Gavin asked.

“About what he’s asked you to do. You haven’t really told me anything.”

“It’s a job, like that man suggested,” Gavin said, holding out the paper.

“And?”

Gavin arched a brow at him. “You know what he trained me to do.”

“So it’s that kind of a job.”

Gavin nodded.

“And where is it?”

Frustration surged in him. “That’s part of the issue. He wants me to go to Nelar.”

It would take him from the city.

If Wrenlow were here, there would be no way of looking for him.

Gaspar frowned. “That wouldn’t be too far from here.”

Nelar was north of Yoran, probably a week or more by foot. Less if they took horses. Still, it was far enough that it would pull Gavin away from the city.

“I can have Jessica lock up the room again. And I’ll make sure that nobody else gets inside,” Gaspar said. “We’re going to get the kid back.”

He looked to Gaspar. “Thank you.”

Gaspar nodded. “I care about him too. He’s a good kid. Got a solid head on his shoulders despite who he’s learning from. We’ll get him back, boy.”

Gavin struggled with the lump in his throat.

Tristan had beat that out of him. Why did he fail now?

Because it’s Wrenlow.

They headed down the stairs and back out into the tavern, where Jessica greeted them. She looked from one to the other and turned her attention to Gavin. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “We have to find Wrenlow.”

When he told her what happened, she gasped, covering her mouth.

She cared about him too. There were probably others in the tavern who felt the same way. Gaspar was right. He was a good kid. And Gavin didn’t know how long they had before something happened to him, only that he was going to have to act quickly to find his friend.

She twisted the fabric of her dress for a moment, then straightened. “What do you need me to do?”

Gavin had been worried about who would look after Wrenlow as Gavin left him and snuck off on his own, but he