“We haven’t avenged Heath’s death either,” one of the elders said, and a chill spider-crawled up myspine.
My eyesight dotted as blood pounded against my temples. Would the fact that it had been an accident sway them to spareme?
“I’m not talking about Heath right now.” Keeping my voice steady, even though my lungs felt vacuum-packed, I said, “I’m talking about my father. Why is Aidan Michaels stillalive?”
No one spoke for a painfully long minute. Eric palmed his bald head, and Franksighed.
“Why—” I was about to reiterate my question when James interruptedme.
“’Cause he’s got a detailed file on us, complete with pictures of usshifting.”
“So? Werewolves aren’t a secret,” Isaid.
“Just because a handful of people know about us in these parts doesn’t mean we want the entire world to find out werewolves are real. Do you realize how many crazies that sort of news wouldattract?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “But if Aidan is dead, the file disappears. So it would be a win-win.”
“If he dies, the filegetsreleased.”
“How?”
“He’s made copies, Ness. He’s given it to key people,” Frank explained. “Too many to track down. I’m sorry, but we just can’t riskit.”
I pursed my lips. “Was he punished at all, or did he get off scot-free?”
Frank scrubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “Heath reprimanded him. Told him that if he ever killed again, he’d stop doing business withAidan.”
Heat scorched my eyes. “You’re kidding me. All Heath did wasthreatento end his business dealings?” My voice echoed shrilly against the exposed wooden beams running across the ceiling. “Did he hate my father? Is that it? Did he hate him because he had a girl instead of aboy?”
“Ness…” Frank started, but I held up mypalm.
“I thought Alphas were supposed to put the pack before everything else. I guess I was wrong.” My chest pounded with fierce breaths and fiercer heartbeats. I stalked out of the living room, out of the house like a wild creature, my gaze going in and out offocus.
I needed to calm down, and I needed to do it fast or my body would shift and rip up my favorite shorts and t-shirt,andforce me to enter the inn in my birthday suit—again.
I yanked my phone out of my back pocket and typed Aidan’s name in the search engine. A second later, pages of data on him spewed over my screen. Only one thing interested me though. The minute I found it, I memorized the information, then I downloaded a recordingapp.
I would exact my ownjustice.
Chapter Thirty-One
When night fell,I borrowed a mountain bike from the inn’s private fleet and pedaled the three miles of rough trails that led to Aidan Michaels’s estate. Maybe he wouldn’t be home, but I was a patient person with a desperate need for answers and nothing better to do on a Wednesdaynight.
I couldwait.
Fortunately for me, his palatial glass and stone house was lit up, cutting tall squares of light on the landscaped bushes and peach flagstones tiling the path to the front door. I pedaled harder, checking for security cameras. I was pretty sure I caught sight of several glowing red dots, but that could’ve been my overactiveimagination.
I leaned my bike against the manicured bushes by the front door, then slid my phone out of my bag and turned on the microphone. After carefully placing it back inside my bag, I walked to the front door and punched the doorbell. Like a gong, the sound reverberated against the lofty panes of glass…against the walls of mychest.
As I waited, I licked my lips which felt chapped. Footsteps sounded inside the house, claws skittered on stone, and then a lock clicked and the dooropened.
“Ness!”
Aidan grabbed the collar of his dog and held him back. The dog growled, not at his owner, but atme.
I’d forgotten he had a dog. I swiped my tongue against my lips again, praying he wouldn’t let the hound charge me. I’d have to kick it, and I didn’t like the idea of striking adog.
“Is this about the discount?” heasked.
