I was feeling more than just a little tension from my fellow pack mates. I needed to clear things with Rikki first. Vapour's plan had entangled Walt and her, and there was no way I could tell what I knew without revealing their family secret. I had no intention of betraying Rikki's trust, which put me in one hell of a tight spot.

Wilder and I were working the interior this shift so we headed straight through to the river to leave off the horses. I had spent hours on the ferry making sure Rikki was safe, and I hadn't seen even a trace of Vapour's ghouls. But before we’d even passed over the Wynter border to the river, we could sense that something was going on. I kicked Barq into a gallop, and we exploded through the Wynter mist and out onto the riverbank. Both Catch and Rikki were holding up torches trying to keep back a half dozen ghouls.

Catch heard us ride up. He swung around so fast, the torch flew from his hand. The flames brushed against Wilder's horse. Chino, a red roan stallion known for its temper, shot straight up on its back legs. Wilder had not anticipated the flaming torch or Chino's reaction. He slid straight down the horse's back and hit the ground with a hard thud.

"Fuck."

Chino brought his front hooves down dangerously close to Catch. The goblin jumped out of the way, accidently pushing into Rikki. She dropped her torch and stumbled right into the grasp of one of the ghouls. Her feminine scream could not be missed. Catch looked more than confused. Thankfully, Wilder was still busy recuperating from his fall.

I dropped down off Barq's back and grabbed the torch that Catch had thrown. "Duck," I yelled at Rikki as I headed straight toward the ghoul. Flames licked at its hollow eyed face. It threw its arms up in fear. Rikki broke free of its grasp.

Wilder recovered and between the two of us, we managed to scare the ghouls back with the torches. They howled in anger and fled over the river, the long, tattered tails of their garments dragging along the murky surface, as they raced back to Vapour's realm.

Wilder stomped back to Catch. The goblin backed up. "I'm sorry, Wilder. I didn't mean to scare Chino. You know how sensitive that horse is." He spoke fast and used his arms to block the fire from his face. "Don't set me on fire."

"Stop, you idiot." Wilder grabbed Catch's arm and shoved the torch in his hand. "I'm just trying to hand this back to you. Now go fetch my horse, and I'll try not to think about you every time my ass aches tonight."

Astonishingly, Rikki's disguise was still solidly in place. She dropped her voice down. "Guess you won't be wagging that tail much tonight, eh Wilder?" It was a perfect imitation of her father's Trex voice, and it was something he would have said. We'd all grown used to Trex's wry sense of humor. But Rikki could see that Wilder wasn't amused. She quickly added in her thrashed tone. "Thanks, Boys. Not sure why those ghouls were bugging us. Must have been bored."

Catch scooted off to grab Chino's reins. Cisco and Goliath, Rafferty and Zander's horses, were still in the paddock, which meant their pack hadn't left Wynter yet.

"Where the hell is Paygon, that dimwitted Cyclops?" I asked. "He needs to get those fucking ghouls under control."

Catch's small dark eyes gleamed my direction, which meant he had some juicy goblin gossip. He was huge on gossip. He hurried back from putting Chino in with the other horses. "Didn't you hear, Max? Feenix and Paygon had a big, angry fight about a week ago. That's why you haven't seen Paygon for awhile. That's why those ghouls are messing around down here. Feenix accused his brother of being lazy and worthless ever since Stryker took out his eye. It's true really. You know you need both eyes for depth perception." Catch pointed a long crooked finger at each eye to illustrate.

Wilder grunted in frustration. "So where the fuck is Paygon, you weasel?"

"Paygon accused Feenix of losing control of the realm because he was always spending too much time with the nymphs and not minding the shop, so to speak. Paygon tried to tell him something strange was happening outside of the underworld. Feenix got mad as hell and sent his brother to Cashel's realm to help in the fields."

Wilder looked at me. "Never thought I'd find myself on Paygon's side, that's for damn sure."

Catch caught the exchange. "Yeah? Is it true then? Is something going on out there?"

I snuck a sideways peek at Rikki. Her head was turned my direction.

"Don't you worry your squashed little head over it, Catch." Wilder motioned for us to leave. "Let's go, Max. I was already in a bad mood to start and now I fucking need to tear something to shreds. Wraiths are a good place to start."

Wilder turned to go but then stopped and looked back at the quiet, little ferryman in his black hood and veil. "Trex, anyone ever tell you, you scream like a woman? Seriously, buddy, that was fucking weird." He shook his head and walked away.

Catch took hold of Barq. I took a quick detour to walk the ferryman back to the dock.

I leaned down. "That one counts. I'll collect my payment later. Preferably, in my bed, and more preferably, with you naked. Then you can tell me your information and I can tell you mine because things are getting really fucking weird out in the mortal world." There was no one around, so I took a second to reach my fingers under the veil.

Her soft, warm breath caressed my fingers as I brushed them across her lips.

"And stay away from those damn ghouls, ferryman."