I’m not sure why I don’t believe her. “You’d tell us if there was, right?”
She doesn’t look at me, her voice flat. “Right. I’m tired, Jake. Can we talk about this tomorrow?”
“Sure.” I ruffle her hair one more time before I stand. “Want me to bring you anything?”
She shakes her head, already digging around in the drawer of stuff she’s kept here for years. This house was a haven for the Rivers kids long before Theo finally moved in. “I’m fine.”
Everyone keeps saying that. But I don’t believe a word of it. “Call if you need anything. Theo will be downstairs.”
Theo has his head in his hands when I stop in the kitchen doorway. “I need to go out. I’ll be back in a bit.”
He only nods.
The diner is closed when I drive past. I slow and then pull in at the sight of Max’s truck parked up outside.
He jerks when I rap on his window, rolling the window down. “What are you doing here?”
I take in his face. “What areyoudoing here?”
He groans. “I came to see if Kennedy needed a ride home.”
“I take it that it was a no.”
He sinks down in his seat, muttering something I don’t catch. The tips of his ears look red. “What?”
A hand waves. “Look for yourself.”
I step back in confusion, looking around the truck. And then I see it. “She slashed yourtire?”
My lips begin to twitch, and he points. “It’s not fucking funny. She shouldn’t be walking on her own. But she was angry enough that I didn’t want to make it worse. I swear to fuck, she’s a punishment for every prank I ever pulled as a kid.”
He doesn’t sound angry, though.
I tilt my head to my own truck. “Jump in. I was heading up there anyway.”
“Why?”
I fill him in as I pull out and start driving. Max runs a hand over his face. “Fucking hell. That – that can’t be right. Nia’s wrong, Jake. Or maybe it is just a project, and we’re just reading into it.”
I’m praying he’s right. “But it would explain things, maybe. Her scent, for one.”
“We would have known if she had feral tendencies.” Max taps his fingers on his knee in his agitation. “We would have seen it. And it would have been picked up before, when she was a kid. She’d be in a Center. They don’t just let ferals walk around.”
Even the thought of it sends a pulse of repulsion through my chest. Kennedy doesn’t belong in one of those places. She’s too bright. Too vibrant. Too full of fucking life to be locked away.
They put them down like animals. My throat begins to close up, my hands tightening on the wheel. “They moved around a lot.”
And Rick Traylor is hardly the type of parent to get her help, if he even knew. “But we might be wrong.”
Please, God, let me be wrong.
We pull up to the trailer. Lights are still on, and I glance at Max. “We’ll need to be careful.”
Because if she is, we don’t want to trigger anything. I don’t know if us being her mates would even make a difference.
Max bangs on the door. I brace as it swings open, but it’s only Rick. He blinks down at us. “Long time no see, boys.”
I’m already glancing around him, but I can only see a strip of their small living space. “Is Kenny here?”
