“What?” Jasper and Nessa exclaimed simultaneously, though his voice cracked through the air like a whip while hers was confused.
Dante had been watching over her all this time? She tried to process her feelings on that revelation, but she felt oddly detached from it. He was imprisoned, and clearly his goal hadn’t been to harm her—he had plenty of opportunities over the last few months when she and Murphy were avoiding each other.
Nessa shook her head as another thought occurred. “Murphy would scent him if he was close, wouldn’t he?”
“No.” Angela grimaced, running a hand through her dark hair. “Jason had a lot of scent blockers. I took them after he died and gave them to Dante. He uses those to stay under the radar. Until now. The guilt was too much, so he called Marcus to turn himself in,” she spat out angrily, clearly upset by his decision.
You would be, too, if you were standing in her shoes.
Sighing, Jasper pushed back onto his feet. “This has all been enlightening, but you need to go.”
“Jasper—” Nessa began.
“Murphy is on his way,” he cut in, sending her a long look. “And he’s pissed as hell that Angela’s here. She needs to disappear before he shows up.”
“You told him Angela was here?” Nessa asked indignantly, jumping up from her seat like the damned thing was on fire. It pissed her off that he’d ratted them out, but as quickly as that swirl of anger came, it deflated.
Of course, he called Murphy. What else should he have done?
The wolf shifter quickly pushed to her feet.
“Hell yes, I did, Nessa. Murphy would skin my hide if I didn’t tell him there was a threat in your damned teahouse.” Jasper winced in Angela’s direction. “No offense.”
Angela shrugged. “None taken. I have to get back to my pack anyway.” She moved toward the front door, sending Nessa a beseeching look. “Please, just … talk to your mate. He’ll listen to you.”
“Wait!” Nessa cautiously reached out tentatively, giving the wolf shifter plenty of time to dodge her hand. When she didn’t, Nessa gripped her forearm, giving it a small squeeze of reassurance. “You’re going back there? To your pack? I can help you find a safe place to live where they’ll never find you again, shifter or not.”
It was a tall order, but she’d disappeared before. She still had plenty of money to do it all over again—or to help someone else disappear from a bad life.
The wolf paused, staring at Nessa in stunned silence. Then she cracked a sad smile. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
Nessa’s eyes softened. “Of course, I do.”
She placed her hand over Nessa’s. “I’m okay now. The pack … A lot of the wolves in it were victims in one way or another. Taken from their old packs, their old lives, and made to be less than. When Jason died, all of that ended. The bad wolves were killed or run off, and the rest of us took over.”
This time, when she smiled, her melancholy disappeared. “We have a new alpha now. He’s a kind male. He’s the leader we need after all the horror we endured.”
“So … You’re okay?”
Angela nodded. “I am. Thank you. For asking, and for listening,” she added. Letting go of Nessa’s hand, she said a brief farewell and then hurried to the front door, rushing through it like … Well, like an angry bear was hot on her heels.
If Murphy’s as furious as Jasper claimed, that’s exactly what’s happening.
Jasper and Nessa shared a small, silent moment.
“So Murphy’s really mad?” she drawled.
“Oh, yeah. He might actually murder me when he gets here, so be prepared to clean my blood off the walls.”
“Ew.” Nessa wrinkled her nose. “I’m not cleaning up your mess.”
“Well, if I’m dead then I’m sure as hell not coming back to life to clean it up.”
Nessa snorted, and then paused, her eyes widening. “Wait—can you actually do that?”
His brows rose. “Do what? Resurrect?” He shrugged. “I’ll let you know if Murphy kills me within the next five minutes.”
“Five—” Nessa’s voice cut off as the front door wrenched open, the bell chiming wildly as Murphy burst into the teahouse.
