Did Liam think I’d exchanged other messages with Everest? Did he think I’d colluded with him in stealing theSillin?
I shook my head and turnedaway.
22
My elbow was proppedon the armrest in Frank’s car, and my head rested on my palm. “Was Jeb—was he informed that Everest . . . ” I couldn’t finish mysentence.
“He called me for news. Said he was coming, but I told him to stay put. That I’d go tohim.”
Jeb had been doing so much better. Granted the improvement in his mood had been fueled by anger, butstill.
“You honestly didn’t send Everest that text message?” Frank asked after abeat.
I hated that he didn’t trust me. Then again, it seemed like no one besides August trusted me. “I swear I didn’t. Whoever texted him did itremotely.”
Frank sighed. “Did anyone have access to your phone lastnight?”
“Liam did.” However angry I was with Liam, I knew he wouldn’t have sent a message from myphone.
Frank knew it too. After a stretch of silence, he said, “You are your mother’sdaughter.”
I picked my head off my palm. Well,thatcame out ofnowhere.
“Maggie had so much spunk. Drove your dad crazy.” He returned his gaze to the road beyond the windshield, an emotion I couldn’t quite put my finger on eddying over his face. “Drove a lot of mencrazy.”
A lot of men?Geez, I hoped he hadn’t had a crush onher.
He didn’t say a word the rest of the way to his secluded, two-story log cabin a couple miles away from Headquarters. I vaguely remembered going to Frank’s house with my parents when I was much younger—a lifetimeago.
Before getting out of the car, he said, “Be patient with Liam. This is an adjustment period, not only for you, but for him too. Between the stolen Sillin and learning what it means to be an Alpha, he’s under a lot ofstress.”
I bristled. I couldn’t believe he was askingmeto bepatient.
I was about to shut the door when he added, “And, Ness, be careful about pitting Liam against August. Boys, especially wolves, they’re territorialandjealous, and well, I’ve seen this pattern before, and even though the mated pair didn’t end up together, it caused a serious rift in thepack.”
Whoa. Talk about another abrupt subject change.I took the opportunity to ask, “Who werethey?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. They’re all deadnow.”
“All of them?” And here I was certain he’d been part of the unfortunate lovetriangle.
Frank set his gaze on the gloomy forest dipping beyond his house. “I should head to the inn. Jeb’swaiting.”
Just as he said this, a voice I knew oh-so-well rang out in the night. “Querida?” Evelyn was standing by the front door, backlit by the soft glow of Frank’s living room. Her plush robe was knotted tightly around her, and her black hair fluttered around her paleface.
I shut the car door and strode into her openarms.
When Frank drove away, she cocked an eyebrow. “Where is he going at thishour?”
I sighed. “I don’t even know where tostart.”
She pulled me into the house, sat me at the wooden kitchen counter, and warmed water on the stovetop, but then she must’ve decided against making tea, because she dumped the contents, grabbed the carton of milk from the fridge door, and poured some inside the deep sauce pan. While it warmed, she wrapped her hands around my clammyones.
“Tell meeverything.”
And so I did. Well, almost everything. I didn’t tell her about the confrontation back at Tracy’s. It would just make her resent the pack. When I was done with my account, the milk had bubbled over the sides of the pan and hit the flames, making them sizzle. She jolted toward the stove, spun off the gas, and stood there, lips mashed together. After a while, she plucked a wooden spoon from a terracotta jug and skimmed the skin off the warmed milk before dividing it between twomugs.
As she set them on the counter, she took her seat next to me again. I cupped the warm ceramic and lifted it to my mouth, singeing my lips and tongue. I plopped the mug back down, and milk splashed over the rim. Instead of cleaning it up, I dragged my fingertip through the spilled liquid and drew circles over thewood.
