“I know,” Caroline agreed. “Things got out of hand.”
There was a huff from Sondra. Caroline shot her a hard look that had the other dropping her eyes to the floor.
Until this moment, I hadn’t realized how much more dominant Caroline was than the other woman. From what I’d gathered, Sondra was in the top five, dominance-wise, of Brax’s pack. It must have been quite the hit to her ego to lose out against a wolf in her infancy. More so, considering Sondra was the one who’d turned Caroline.
It made me wonder what other secrets my friend was hiding.
“I did try to warn you,” Caroline informed me.
I waved at the patch of sunlight streaming in from the door Caroline had left open during her entrance. “It’s the middle of the afternoon.”
What did she expect?
With a frown, I scooted a little deeper into the shadows, eyeing the sunshine balefully. Although sun wasn’t supposed to hurt well fed vampires past their first few years, I’d noticed over the last few weeks that the touch of its rays had grown increasingly uncomfortable despite keeping myself well fed. Already I had welts rising on my wrist and lower arms from where it had touched me.
Thank God Thomas had outfitted the house with self-darkening windows.
Caroline shot me a look like she thought I was being ridiculous but stalked over to the door and slammed it closed. “Happy now?”
I breathed a sigh of relief. So much better.
“Ecstatic.”
“We have strayed from the topic at hand,” Connor murmured helpfully.
Caroline rolled her eyes before sobering. “The barrow was hit last night.”
Next to me, Connor went very still.
Caroline’s gaze was scrutinizing as she focused on me. I kept my face blank, letting nothing show. It wasn’t easy. Caroline knew my tells probably better than anyone. Fooling her had always been near impossible.
“You know anything about that?” she pressed.
I shook my head. “This is the first I’ve heard about it.”
Truth—but it did put Inara and Baran’s behavior into perspective.
I glanced at Connor, wondering what had happened to those two. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on them, but judging from the wolves’ reaction when they hadn’t found anyone in the living room, I was betting they were gone.
He met my gaze calmly, giving nothing away.
With an internal sigh, I looked back at Caroline. “What does that have to do with this intrusion?”
Sondra made an aborted move.
“Don’t.” Caroline cut her off with a sharp gesture. “You have no idea what she’s done for us.”
The two stared each other down, the tension that filled the room making a whine rise to the throat of the taller male.
Sondra was the first to back down.
Caroline stared at her for a second longer before turning her attention to me. “Brax and part of the pack were in the barrow when it was attacked.”
“He was captured,” I guessed.
More than that, I was betting, as I recalled the spell that had tried to ensnare Caroline last night.
No wonder it had felt familiar. Niamh. That’s where I’d encountered that type of magic before. She was a Fae princess who’d succeeded in enthralling many of the local Fae and even Nathan at one point.
