“The easiest way to get rid of any evidence would have been to burn the place, but that would draw attention, not least because it would probably start a wildfire this time of year,” Karl continued. “I’d have done what they did. No one except Cale’s pack has been near that property in years, and chances are it would be as long again before they were discovered.”
“And law enforcement aren’t going to be interested in shifter-on-shifter violence, while the shifter community are just going to be pleased that a troublemaker like Cale was dealt with before he brought shifters any further into disrepute,” Bryce agreed. “Sincewhyis an open-ended question, I’m going to lead withwho.Colby?”
Colby looked up to find Bryce’s gaze on him. His eyes were hard and grew hostile when he didn’t answer immediately. Colby tried to summon a memory, anything useful. But his mind felt sluggish, like it was waiting to be told what mattered. He hated that—hated how often he looked to Tristan to know who he was supposed to be. He needed to figure that out for himself.
“For fuck’s sake,” Bryce snapped. “Get your head out of your ass andthink.”
“Sorry,” Colby said swiftly, aware that Bryce’s tension was rising by the second. “I don’t know,” he started.
“Well, that’s just fucking perfect,” Christian spat. “About the one way you might be of use, and you’re still a waste of fucking space.”
Colby shook his head as Tristan stopped glaring at Bryce and started glaring at Christian instead. “I was going to say, I don’t know of any shifters we’ve had dealings with that have such a disciplined setup.” He hadn’t been involved in the planning stages, but Nico had often taken him along to deals—just don’t speak and give away how useless you are.
“If it had been a fight, sure, I could give you more names than could be run down in a lifetime, but a planned attack by professionals? I have no idea who Cale might have upset or ripped off who would have the resources to go to those lengths.”
“Resourcesis beginning to sound a mighty dirty word.”
Colby started, and looked up to find Matt standing in the doorway. Bryce made to stand up, but Matt waved him off and took a chair next to Karl. “It seems to me someone in Washington might have a lot of resources, if we’re talking money and connections,” he said.
“Holy shit,” Bryce breathed, staring at him. “When you said firepower, I didn’t think you meant literally.”
“Neither did I.” Matt’s lips twisted. “We can’t close our minds to other possibilities, but it takes someone with money to run a pack or militia like this one, if they’re as good as Karl says they are—and if he says it, they must be good. It’s always possible it’s organized crime even if Colby doesn’t know about it, but then there’s the timing of it. A couple of days after my phone calls meant the top shifters in Washington got to hear about Jesse.”
He looked around the table. “You telling me that didn’t send Cale’s buyer into a panic, wanting to cover his tracks? When he found out that people knew about Jesse, he must have realized he couldn’t simply produce an Argent himself without some awkward questions being asked, and so he got rid of the one person who might lead to him. Or her.”
“No one except Cale knew who the buyer was,” Colby said at last. He didn’t want to draw attention by asking, but no one else was mentioning the obvious question, and he wanted to know. He wanted to understand. “Why—” His voice cracked. He cleared his throat and started again. “Why take out the whole pack?”
“Would you take the chance Cale might have mentioned his name?” Matt asked.
Colby looked down. “I guess not.”
“Nico wasn’t there,” Tristan burst out. “Perhaps he had something to do with it. Perhaps it’s nothing to do with Washington at all. Itcan’tbe a member of the National Council.”
Colby squeezed his arm. He understood his distress, he thought. It was easier to think of it being between rival criminal gangs or packs than someone sitting in an office somewhere and cold-bloodedly ordering an entire pack’s execution.
“How many in Cale’s pack, Colby?” Matt asked.
“Twenty, at last count, including me.” They’d lost some in the attack on this pack, and then there’d been Kowalski, and also Mac, who’d made Cale mad one too many times.
Matt’s clear gaze rested on Tristan. “So that’s every one of them except Nico accounted for. This was no cabal staging a mutiny, and the evidence tells us that’s not what happened anyway.”
Tristan fell silent, his hand tight around Colby’s where it rested on his arm.
Matt looked at Colby. “You have any suggestions about why Nico might have been absent?”
There was no explanation Colby could think of. The only time Nico left the pack was when Cale gave some of them leave. All hewanted to do then was spend money, get drunk, and fuck Colby somewhere new.
Unless… Had Cale been so furious about Nico taking Tristan, only to lose him, that he’d gotten rid of him? Colby’s stomach turned over at the thought, which he couldn’t understand. Though as he worked through how effective a beta Nico was, how loyal to Cale he was, he couldn’t credit it. Cale was volatile, but he wouldn’t get rid of an asset like Nico. There must be another reason.
Oh, God. Colby licked his lips. Something cold and terrified inside him knew the truth before his brain got there. “He may have taken a day or two out, to…”
His throat closed.
“I think maybe he’s looking for me.”
Terror gripped him, deep in his gut. Of course Nico wouldn’t just let him go, not after being made to look like a fool. He’d want to punish him, to prove no one humiliated him and walked away. If he ever caught up with Colby, the consequences would be beyond anything.
He stared down at the battered oak table and tried to breathe. It wasn’t as easy as it had been a minute ago.
