by RJ Blain
“I wasn’t. I had no idea there was going to be an attack. If I had known, I would have stopped it myself.”
“So, here’s my question—and Sara, please let me finish before you try to rip my face off.”
“I’ll consider it,” I growled. “You stole my show.”
“You’re such a wonderful breath of fresh air,” Richard murmured, smiling at me. “I’m just concerned if I let you go off full tilt on poor Joseph he wouldn’t live to tell his story. At least your temper is far better than Wendy’s. Nothing is quite so terrifying as a hormonal submissive demonstrating dominant traits because she’s grouchy and pregnant. So, let’s get down to business, Joseph. Who lives? Who dies? Sara’ll try to save everyone, and it’ll bring ruin to Seattle’s pack. Who came up with this scheme in the first place, and how did Mr. Watson contact you?”
“It was Arnold,” Joseph said, and with a sigh, he held the back of my hand against his cheek. “He called me a week after we found out Sara had picked Sanders to be her mate.”
“I’m afraid you have it backwards, if my father-in-law is to be believed. Sanders picked her before she became a Fenerec. He was stalking her from the first time he saw her. She just happened to be likewise interested,” Richard replied. “How did Arnold know to contact Mr. Watson?”
“That’s what I’m not sure about. Arnold just said he thought he might know where she belonged and suggested we made sure she got there. All I was supposed to do was tell him where she’d be as soon as I found out.”
“That was before that sorcerer took her?” Richard demanded, his eyes narrowing.
“Actually, yes. I told Arnold what I knew two or three days prior.”
I sucked in a breath. “But wouldn’t that mean this Arnold may have been involved with Mary’s murder?”
Both of the Fenerec stared at me. Richard’s cheek twitched.
“I never even though of that,” my mate’s Second replied, anger and grief souring his scent. “It’s possible. Sanders always made sure someone was keeping an eye on Mary. She was getting older, and he wanted someone there if she needed help. Arnold knew Mary’s schedule. He stood in if one of the other pack members couldn’t be around to watch her. There’s no way to prove it, though.”
“Does Arnold want to be Alpha?” Richard asked.
Joseph shrugged. “It’s possible.”
“Anyone other than Arnold stick out to you?”
“Not particularly. He was always the one who came poking at me to find out if I knew anything, and he would call Mr. Watson if I did. When I told them I had had enough, he stopped bothering me, so I didn’t put much thought into it.”
“And how many times did you speak to Mr. Watson?” Richard stretched his arms over his head. “Were you aware he’s likely the Alpha of a rogue and rival pack?”
“I figured he was a Fenerec, but for the rest? No. It didn’t matter too much to me. You know how we get around daughters, Mr. Murphy. There aren’t a lot of Fenerec bitches to begin with, and precious few of our mates consider the ritual.”
I frowned. “Educate me, Joseph. I’ve seen the ritual once, but I don’t really know much about it.”
Sighing, Joseph leaned in my direction, and at my wolf’s encouragement, I permitted him to rest his head against me. “Under normal circumstances, we interview those wanting to become a Fenerec. If we’re satisfied they mean it, there’s a ritual. When it’s done, either the person lives and becomes a wolf, or they die. There’s no middle ground. It’s not exactly a violent process, but it’s one the puppy has to wholeheartedly accept. If they don’t, the wolf they’re attempting to join with kills them. They try to shift, get halfway there, and the wolf abandons them. They die. It’s unpleasant. We’re careful. Even then, maybe a quarter of the rituals we attempt end in failure.”
“That’s about the same odds as we have in Yellowknife. Our success rate has gotten a lot better since we’ve started using Amber to verify someone’s sincerity,” Richard said.
“Do you males always want your mates to become Fenerec?”
“Desperately,” Richard admitted, lowering his arms to clasp his hands on his lap. “It’s a constant battle when your mate isn’t a Fenerec, too. If Sanders wasn’t a Fenerec, your wolf would be pressuring you to perform the ritual every day.”
“Did you talk to my mother, Joseph?” I demanded.
Sucking in a breath, Richard stared at me. “Your mother?”
“No, I didn’t. She wasn’t mentioned, actually.” Joseph tensed, sitting up straight. “That’s not right.”
“No, it’s not,” Richard said, yanking his phone out of his pocket. He dialed a number. “It’s Richard Murphy. Put me through to Topside.” Richard dropped his feet from the coffee table and straightened. “Sorry for waking you. Do you know where Mrs. Watson is? No? Maybe you should find out.”
Richard hung up and slipped his phone into his shirt pocket. “Sometimes, the easiest way to deal with the Shadow Pope is to tell him what you want and hang up.”
“Nicolina said that about your father-in-law.”
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Yellowknife’s Alpha countered.
“You’re both worried. Why?”
Joseph clacked his teeth together before sighing. “For the same reason we worried about Sanders when Mary died, Sara. Males, especially Alphas, are hit hard when their mates die. When men become Fenerec, their wolves almost always view their wives as their mates. When someone’s mate dies, it’s pretty traumatic. Some Fenerec go wild and have to be put down. Others fall into depression. Some are driven to violence. Sanders had to lean on the pack rather heavily after Mary’s death.”
“Desmond had to come and take over to give Sanders a chance to recover. He didn’t run wild, but they were together a long time, Sara. It hurt him a lot,” Richard explained, rising to his feet to pace around the hotel room. “If your father is a relatively new wolf, he would have been driven to convince your mother to become one of us.”
I felt the blood drain out of my face. “You think my mother’s dead.”
“Not only do I think she’s dead, I believe he’s the one who killed her, and he’s mad,” Richard replied, his hands flexing. “It explains a lot. If his mate died and he learned his daughter was alive and a Fenerec, he’d be driven to get you back, no matter what the cost. I hope I’m wrong.”
Richard’s phone rang, and I trembled as he answered it and held it to his ear. “Once again, sorry for waking you, sir. Can you get someone to look into Arnold’s records and find out when he first made contact with Mr. Watson?”
I didn’t need my nose to detect Richard’s anger in his posture, his one hand flexing and relaxing while he clutched his phone in a white-knuckled grip. I whined.
Joseph nudged me with his elbow. “Don’t set him off,” he hissed at me.
“Okay, sir. Thank you.” Richard hung up, sighed, and shook his head. “According to His Eminence, Mrs. Watson is listed as missing.”
“When?” I whispered.
“How far down does this rabbit hole go?” Richard complained, sinking onto the couch. “She, supposedly, was on a business trip to Seattle with Mr. Watson. That was a month before Mary’s death. He doesn’t know anything else but will see what he can dig up.”
A ping on Richard’s phone caught his attention. Moments later, he sighed, swiped his finger across the screen, and showed us the image.
It was my mother and father together. I didn’t recognize the photograph. Joseph whistled. “If Arnold met with them in Seattle, there’s no way he didn’t know who Sara was. You’re a dead ringer for your mother.”
“Sara’s prettier,” Richard grumbled.
“Arnold probably saw one of the pictures of Sara going around the pack, knew who she was, and contacted Mr. Watson. But why would Mrs. Watson have gone missing in Seattle?”
“Does Arnold know how to perform the ritual, Joe?”
Joseph growled. “He does.”
“How long has A
rnold been a part of Seattle’s pack?” Richard asked.
“Two or three years,” Joseph replied.
“Was he made into the pack or did he petition to join?”
Sucking in a breath through his teeth, Joseph gawked at Richard. “He was looking for a new pack.”
“So, where is he from originally?”
Joseph surged to his feet and spat curses. “I’m so fucking stupid. I should have fucking known. He’s from New York. He has that fucking accent that drives us all nuts when he feels like being an ass.”
“And while he might be from New York, I have a feeling he wasn’t in Kevin’s pack,” Richard said, dialing a new number on his phone. “Let’s find out.”
I hopped up from my seat to stand next to Richard, straining to hear the call. Activating the speakerphone, he held the phone out so I could listen. On the fifth ring, a tired voice mumbled, “What?”
“Hey, Kevin. It’s Richard Murphy. Got a dumb question for you.”
“Do you know what time it is?”
“Get up and answer my dumb question o’clock?” Richard replied.
“Cute, Richard. What’s your dumb question?”
“Has Sanders ever subjugated any of your wolves?”
“Sanders? Hell, don’t give him any ideas, Richard. No, he hasn’t.”
“So you didn’t have a wolf named Arnold in your pack some two or three years ago?”
“No, don’t have any Arnolds in my pack—never have. What’s this about?”
“You have a rogue pack in your turf,” Richard replied with a small smile that sent shivers racing through me.
“Is this related to the sniffing around Liam was asked to do?”
“Sure is.”
“If you come hunting in my turf, Murphy, I want an invite.”
“Deal. Why don’t you set your pack loose and start sniffing around? If you spot them, I’ll ride shotgun for the hunt.”
“You sure do talk pretty, Murphy. I’m going back to bed. We’ll start sniffing around in the morning.” Kevin hung up.
“Do you have any more unpleasant surprises for me, Joseph?”
Wincing, my mate’s Second shook his head. “I hope not, Mr. Murphy.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Desmond was waiting in the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest. Richard closed the door to Joseph’s room and, with a resigned sigh, positioned himself between me and my Alpha. “Don’t you ever sleep?” Yellowknife’s Alpha complained.
Instead of the anger I expected, Desmond grinned. “Wendy wanted frozen yogurt, which apparently is far different from ice cream. She informed me until I managed to get it right, I wouldn’t welcomed back into the room. My daughter enforced my eviction with her gun while your brother laughed. He gets to stay. She informed me I should invite Sara over to share her bounty. I thought you would enjoy a walk to find some frozen yogurt, only to discover you weren’t in the room. Nicolina’s adorable when she’s trying to hide something from me.”
For a brief instant, I burned with jealousy.
Nicolina and Lisa had a mother and a father who loved them. I had a father who wanted my mate dead—and a father who had, unless Richard was wrong, killed my mother in his madness. All my mother had done was obey my father, which had made my running away so much more difficult.
In order to save my mate, my father had to die. All I would have left of my parents would be graves, and one of them would be empty. I burst into tears.
Richard gave me a gentle push in Desmond’s direction. “I will go wake Sanders and recruit Nicolina to acquire frozen yogurt. I’d rather not have to explain this more than once.”
Catching me in a hug, Desmond pulled me to him. “Did you make her cry?”
“No, but I know who’s going to die for it,” Yellowknife’s Alpha snarled, storming in the direction of my room.
“Sorry,” I choked out, burying my face against Desmond’s shirt.
“You have this infuriating habit of apologizing when you haven’t done anything wrong,” he replied. “What’s wrong?”
Before I had a chance to reply, my mate strolled out of our room, and wiggling in Desmond’s hold, I reached for him. Sanders wiped my cheeks with his thumbs before wrapping his arms around me, claiming me from our Alpha.
Richard sighed, leaning in the doorway. “Think Wendy will accept a slight delay? Nicolina wants to hear what’s going on.”
“I think Wendy will completely forget about it, and if she doesn’t, I’ll deal with a few of her bites,” Desmond replied.
I plucked at my mate’s shirt, struggling to control my sobs, but the harder I fought them, the stronger they became.
“Those aren’t ‘I want frozen yogurt and can’t have it right this instant’ sobs,” Desmond pointed out. “I’m going to take a wild guess it’s not the pregnancy hormones talking.”
“I wish. I could deal with those,” Richard grumbled.
“Will you be okay?” my mate asked, ducking his head to nibble on my neck. There was something soothing about the way he pressed his teeth to my skin, and I sniffled, but managed to choke back most of my tears.
“Let us in your room, Desmond, before the various guards decide to come out and shoot us because they think we made her cry,” Richard suggested.
Holding out the key to his room, Desmond arched a brow at Richard. “Lisa would feel bad if she killed her mate’s precious big brother.”
Sighing, Richard grabbed the key and opened the door. “Don’t shoot me, Lisa—and your father’s off the hook for the moment.”
“Richard? What’s wrong?” Wendy’s tone was full of concern.
“Make space on the couch for Sara and Sanders,” he ordered, holding the door open. “Alex, did you bring your gun with you?”
“No, I figured Lisa armed was enough for the both of us. Why?”
Nicolina emerged from our room, pausing to stare at me. She frowned, and my wolf identified the concern in her scent.
Scowling, Richard leaned into the hallway to stare at his mate. “We’re going to go kill some people, Alex. You will need a gun. Nicolina, may I please borrow your gun?”
“Get your own.”
“Richard!” Wendy spluttered.
Sanders tried to herd me into Desmond’s room, but I dug in my heels and hid my face against his shirt. Crying in front of Desmond and Richard had been bad enough.
“It’s more embarrassing if you stand in the hallway,” my mate pointed out. “No one is going to make fun of you, Sara.”
“Stop using logic on me.”
He laughed, once again wiping my tears from my cheeks. “If you want to stand in the hall, we can, but the couch is more comfortable, and I can hold you like you deserve.”
“Fine,” I mumbled, although I didn’t make a move to walk towards the door several feet away.
Sanders’s solution to my reluctance was to pick me up and carry me. “I think you just like when I carry you.”
I did, but instead of answering, I leaned my head against him, taking a deep breath. Worry marred his scent. He dropped onto the couch without letting me go.
Propping his feet up on the coffee table, Sanders adjusted his hold on me and sighed. “What happened?”
“Your mate is a sneaky little bitch and a little too good at seeing the stupidly obvious things we tend to miss because we’re so used to complex intrigue,” Richard said, sitting on the floor next to his brother. “She is what she is, and I wasn’t going to tell her she couldn’t do her part. So, we went to have a talk with Joseph.”
“With Joseph,” my mate echoed, tensing beneath me.
“I’m satisfied she doesn’t hate him. She was a little nervous around him, but relaxed quick enough. I’m satisfied he genuinely didn’t mean her any harm. She was satisfied enough to allow him near her after he figured out she’s pregnant,” Richard reported. “We found out who the primary conspirator is. It’s Arnold. Sara asked Joseph if he had spoken to her mother in addition to her father.”
>
“Shit,” my mate hissed through clenched teeth.
“Mr. and Mrs. Watson went to Seattle a month prior to Mary’s death. Only one of them returned home. Joseph realized Arnold had come from New York, and arrived in Seattle around the time Sara made a run for it. If Mr. Watson is like any other male Fenerec, he likely pressured his wife into also becoming a Fenerec. If he’s rogue-born, it’s possible he wasn’t aware of the risks. So, if I had to make a guess, since Arnold knew how to do the ritual properly, Mr. Watson brought his wife to Seattle and killed her attempting to make her his true and proper mate—as a Fenerec.” Richard drew a deep breath and growled.
Sighing, Nicolina sat beside her mate. “Well. I’ll reconsider my position regarding your use of one of my guns on the condition I get to help.”
“Of course. You’re a better shot than I am. I’ll probably need you to save me as usual,” Yellowknife’s Alpha grumbled.
“Were you on good terms with your mother?” Wendy whispered.
I shrugged. “She did whatever my father wanted.”
“But she was still your mother.”
“But she was still my mother,” I agreed.
“We’re going to put an end to this once and for all,” my mate promised, tightening his hold on me. “And I think my first plan of action is to take care of Arnold.”
“We’ll take care of Arnold,” Desmond corrected.
My wolf’s rage dulled my grief, and her thirst for blood filled me. “I want him.”
My mate’s worry became full-fledged anxiety. “He’ll be dangerous.”
“Not a good idea,” Nicolina stated, staring at me with wolf-yellow eyes. “I know you want him, but let your mate take him down for you. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be the next best thing.”
Sighing, Sanders rested his chin on top of my head. “I’ll find a way so you can help. Don’t listen to the little black pot over there. She went behind her mate’s back and killed herself a pair of sorcerers instead of asking for help a few years ago.”
Nicolina flushed. “Sanders!”
“Give it up, Nicolina. They’ll just start listing every single time you’ve gone and done something absurd,” Lisa said, grinning at her sister. “Knowing Dad, he’ll start with your entire relationship with Richard. Sanders has a good amount of dirt on you, too. You’re not going to win.”