What is Shawn getting at here?
“Is it true that your father was close to Talon?”
“Yes,” I reply. “Father was his closest advisor after Grandfather disappeared. I’d stopped coming here a while ago, because Father made it incredibly difficult for me, but he spent more and more time by Talon’s side.”
“Interesting,” Shawn says, sipping his drink. “Do you know what they talked about?”
“I have no idea,” I reply. “I wasn’t involved in any pack business.”
Shawn taps a finger on the table lightly as he thinks, and I take a big sip of the ice-cold drink.
“I really need to talk to those elder folk,” Shawn says. “I want more information on how the town got like this, and why.”
“I understand,” I say carefully. “It’s your right as alpha to talk to whoever you want, but you aren’t going to get much information. Talon protected the town, just like his father before him. There’s nothing else to tell.”
Shawn nods and looks into his glass, tracing a line across the beads of condensation with his fingertip.
“I could tell you weren’t comfortable today,” he says gently.
Panic shoots up my spine. If Shawn knew that I wasn’t being genuine, then there’s a good chance other people—like Father—could see it, too.
“I’m fine,” I say, too quickly. “Everything’s fine.”
“No,” he says. “It’s not. What are you so frightened of?”
Even though he asks the question innocently enough, and he’s all the way across the table, fear blooms in my stomach, rising up to tighten my chest and block my throat.
“Nothing,” I practically squeak.
“Sara,” he says, and his voice is so deep and soothing, I want to let it work on me. I want to give in and be comforted, even if it’s a lie.
“I want you to know, I mean you no harm, and I won’t let anyone hurt you. You aren’t just the luna now. You’re my wife, and that means I will protect you, no matter what.”
I nod slowly, taking another gulp of my drink to dislodge the lump in my throat.
Oh, God, I want to believe him!
The horrible tension in my chest twists as if my heart is constricting. I want to believe that he’s a good man, and he’ll take care of me, but I know, deep down, I can’t trust him.
His people killed Talon and Jess. He came here to take the alpha position, so he clearly wants power. Then he took money for me and married me to bind himself to this pack! Now he asks all these questions about what Talon did and his father, so that he can rule us.
“Okay,” I answer, looking away.
I hear a small sigh come out of Shawn’s mouth, and he takes a sip of his drink to hide it.
“How long since your grandfather died?” he asks suddenly.
I look up at him in shock, not understanding where this question is coming from.
“What? Why?”
“Jackson. He said his father was killed outside the town, and that Talon was probably responsible. How long ago was that?”
“Oh,” I say, thoroughly confused. “About a year, I think. Not that long ago. Why?”
“Just trying to create a timeline,” he says smoothly. “It’s very important to me to understand the history of the pack. Does your father go away much, on hunting trips or anything like that?”
“He used to,” I say thoughtfully. “But not so much anymore. Hunting is pretty sparse because it’s confined to safe zones around the peak.”
