I thought one of you would be dead by now. Personally, I was hoping it would be you, Kolane. Nooffense.
Plenty taken,Liam grittedout.
Julian walked around Liam to see me. Not that I was cowering behind Liam. I was just too busy gauging the intentions of the Pines to move amuscle.
Ness, darling, I believe we need to have a littlechat.
I searched for Sarah in the lupine faces and thought I saw her, but it could’ve been one of the other females of Julian’spack.
I lost. Sorry,I said, distracted by the flash of teeth from a dark-brown creature. I’d lay my paw in a snare it was JustinSummix.
Sorry? Well, then so am I. Shall I tell Liam what you did, or would you liketo?
Go rightahead.
The brown wolf snarled at me—probably from the lack of respect I was showing his Alpha; I snarled rightback.
Julian remained quiet for so long that I finally looked up at him. He was much more impressive in fur than he was in skin, and yet he inspired no fear inme.
Turns out I didn’t kill Heath,Isaid.
After a long moment, he said,It was Everest, wasn’tit?
It’s none of your business, Julian,Liamgrowled.
An Alpha killer is every Alpha’sbusiness.
My father wasn’t targeted because he was an Alpha. He was killed because he was a cruelman.
That took Julian a long, long second to process. He was still and silent for such a slow stretch of time that I started to think he would never recover from his shock.Perhaps I have misjudged you,Liam.
Hehad.
Like Ihad.
Who will become the next Boulder Alpha then?Julianasked.
Lucas Mason,Isaid.
My answer elicited intakes of breaths and ragged chuffs. I deduced that Lucas wasn’t much admired by the Pines. I shared in their antipathy, but he was Liam’s friend. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as I deemed him to be; or maybe he was, and Liam was blinded by their sharedhistory.
A feminine voice rose above the others.Ness?
Sarah?Iasked.
Sorry. I was chasing after a rabbit.She advanced toward us, her wavy gold fur gleaming with sweat and moonlight.What did I miss?Blood was smeared over her smile. She licked hermuzzle.
Lucas Mason will be sworn in as the next Boulder Alpha,Juliansaid.
No effing way,she said in a low, rumblingvoice.
She stopped beside me, sniffed the air, then sniffed my fur. She frowned, and then her eyes snapped verywide.
Lots of surprises in the Boulder Pack tonight, huh?A wolfish pout-smile flourished over the Pine Alpha’s face.Word of advice, in fur, it is equallypleasurable.
My body temperature soared so fast the air around me surely trembled. Sarah made a noise that sounded like a chuckle. I shot her a death-glare. She was still laughing softly when Julian called heraway.
Julian, why did Everest give you the Boulder relic?Iasked.
