Marked Northern Shifters 1

the quad.” She shivered. “But I want to leave. I don’t like it here.”
“The quad. Are there four of them, then?” Please God, don’t let there be more here.
She screwed up her face in thought. “Sometimes.”
Alec didn’t pursue that cryptic answer. Claire’s knowledge was evidently limited. “What else do you know about Liam?”
“He took away a boy. His brother. Gabriel didn’t like that either. He wants the boy back.”
Alec’s mouth went dry. He feared he was hoping too hard for Liam to be a good guy. So he stayed silent while Claire pursed her lips and furrowed her brow.
“I don’t remember the boy’s name,” she admitted finally.
“Was it Ira?”
Her face lit up. “Yes! Do you know Ira?”
“A little.”
“Is he nice? Does he want a sister?”
“I think he might,” Alec said slowly, having no idea. “Claire, do you know why Liam took Ira away?”
She appeared puzzled by the question. “Liam wanted to look after Ira.” She paused, licked her lips. “Do you think Liam would want to look after me?”
“Yes,” declared Alec. “I think he would.”
Her eyes shone.
“But he might not know about you, Claire. So we have to contact him and tell him you’re here.”
She blinked.
“Claire, I know Liam’s phone number.” For stupid sentimental reasons, Alec had memorized that damned phone number on Liam’s business card, and Liam worked out of the house. “I want you to memorize Liam’s phone number and then phone him, okay?”
“I don’t know how to use the phone,” she said in a small voice.
“Okay. What phones are in the house?”
She scrunched up her face, thinking, the question seemed to baffle her. She wasn’t used to questions, Alec guessed.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
Alec wondered just how little she had used modern conveniences. “If there aren’t any, you’re going to have to run away from here and find a phone to call Liam.”
She shook her head. “I can’t phone. I don’t know numbers.”
Christ, she was illiterate. “Okay.” He kept his tone even, though his head was throbbing. He needed to drink more. “Let me think for a moment.” He pressed his hands against his temples.
“I could hide in their truck.”
His head came up. “Where do they drive?”
“I don’t know. They bring back groceries.”
“Okay, good. That’s good.”
“It is?”
“Yep.” He’d forgotten how she craved compliments. “You are so helpful, Claire. Smart, too.”
She squirmed a little under his praise.
“I have an idea, but you’ll need clothes,” he warned.
“Okay,” she said grudgingly.
“Good. So, you hide in the truck, as a girl in clothes. Then you run away when they won’t notice. Can you do that?”
She gave it some thought before stating quite definitely, “Yes.”
“They won’t find your scent or something?”
“I know how to hide.”
He nodded. He’d have to take her word for it. He hoped she wasn’t overconfident, though he didn’t think it her nature. “But there’s a tricky part. Later, when they’re gone, you have to talk to a stranger.”
Her eyes went wide and Alec felt guilty for telling a ten-year-old girl to talk to a stranger. But hell, she was not safe here with creatures who shackled some men and killed others. She deserved better than that.
“You go into the grocery store, after you’re sure they’ve left, and you find a lady with kids.”
“Like a mother?” she asked eagerly.
“Exactly. Like a mother.” Alec took a deep breath. “You tell her you’re lost and you want to call home. Now, she might have a phone and use it, or she might take you to someone else who has a phone. It doesn’t matter. You ask her, or the other person, to phone the number you’ve memorized and then you talk to Liam.”
Claire stared at Alec with big brown eyes and he wasn’t sure she understood. “What if he won’t talk to me?”
“He will,” Alec avowed. Liam had to.
“I don’t know how to talk on the phone.”
“You watch whoever phones Liam, to see how they talk on the phone and you talk like that.”
“Do I shout?”
“No, you talk like you’re talking to me. But you have to wait until Liam says hello.”
“What if he doesn’t say hello?”
It was possible. Liam could be out. Liam could be far, far away. “Then you wait with the woman, then ask her to call again. Or you start over, with a new woman.”
She gnawed her lip, looking uncertain. Alec knew it wasn’t a foolproof plan, but under the circumstances, it was