“Guess I should’ve used a burner.” With that, Claire punched Mia in the left cheekbone so hard Mia felt something crack. Darkness took her, and she went down hard.
Chapter40
Mia came to with a groan. Her head felt like somebody had used it as a punching bag. She tried to open her eyes, but the light was blinding. Her stomach lurched. Her head thunked against something metal, and she forced one eye open to see she was in a truck. She gulped air and then sat, turning to see Claire driving.
“What... What happened?” Mia asked.
Claire didn’t look her way.
Mia shook her head and instantly regretted it as agony speared her brain. “Where are we going?” None of this made sense. She had to focus. There had been a fight at Seth’s. The Alpha of the Copper Pack had shown up, Mia had gone inside, and then everything had gone dark. “Is Seth okay?” Panic rushed through her, and she reached for the door handle.
“He will be,” Claire said curtly.
Mia’s face felt like it had taken a baseball bat, and she gingerly touched her cheekbone. “What happened to me?” Her memories suddenly came rushing back faster than a heartbeat. Her head pounded. “You punched me!”
Claire gave a half shrug, still in her deputy uniform. “Yeah. I hit you harder than I meant to. I think I cracked your cheekbone. It felt like it.”
“Why? Seth said we should stay there until he gave the order. What are you doing?”
Claire pulled over to the side of the road near a stand of trees. They were still on Volk property but very close to the main road. Claire jumped out of the vehicle, turned, and in one quick motion, grabbed Mia’s hair, yanking her across the seat and out of the truck.
Pain ripped through Mia’s sore ribs and scalp, not to mention her pounding cheekbone. She struggled but was no match for the wolf shifter. “What are you doing?” she gasped.
Claire pushed her to the ground, then picked her up and threw her against a tree.
Mia’s back hit first, and then her head thumped before she dropped to her butt. What was happening? “Claire?” she asked. None of this made any sense.
The deputy stood above her, her hands on her hips. “You know you have to die, right? You deserve to die.”
Not this again. Fury burned through Mia’s already abused throat. She put one of her still-aching hands on the wet, muddy earth and pushed herself to her feet, using the tree for balance. “You can’t honestly think this baby is feral. You’re smarter than that, Claire.”
“I don’t give a crap about your baby.” Claire bared her teeth. “I care about mine. I care about Mandy.”
Mia swallowed, her throat still aching. Her neck was bruised, and the tissues inside her mouth were still swollen. “I’m so sorry about Mandy. I don’t understand...”
“You don’t understand?” Claire exploded, her blue eyes wide, and her hair flying around. “It’s your fault she’s dead. All of this is your fault. If you hadn’t come to town, my baby would be alive. She was sixteen, Mia.”
“I know,” Mia said, sadness slamming into her, making her lips tremble. “I know. She was so young. A sweet girl. But I didn’t kill her. Pete did.”
“And you worked with Pete,” Claire spat. “You deserve all of this.”
Reality smashed through Mia’s muddled thoughts. “Wait a minute.” She shook her head, and her face throbbed. “I deserve all of what?”
“Everything.” Hatred glowed in Claire’s eyes.
Realization slammed through Mia so quickly she swayed. Rodney had spoken with Claire. Many times, according to the phone records. “It was you?”
“Yeah, it was me. You think that moron Rodney was smart enough to do any of this?”
Mia reeled from the news. “Wait a minute, the three women between DC and Seattle. Those poor women. That was you?”
Claire scoffed. “No, that wasn’t me. That was actually Rodney.” She snorted. “He was coming your way after I paid him a little visit and encouraged him. The guy was just waiting for somebody to take control like Robert Delaney did. Such a sad little sack of shit.”
Mia’s mouth gaped. “How did you even know about Rodney?”
“It didn’t take much. Pete had files upon files in his cabin. After he died, before you collected everything and burned it, I read it all. Rodney was in there. I visited him. May have given him a nudge or two. And he started killing—especially since I found those first three victims for him. What a loser.”
Mia’s gut lurched. “What about the victims here? He had an alibi. He was home...”
