“Liar.”
He side-eyed me, and there was something in his penetrating gaze that made my grin crumble like crushed chalk. It was as though he was saying,that makes two of us. Maybe I was reading too much into his expression. Maybe I was only seeing what I wasfeeling.
Whatever it was, I got out of the lake, cool water bleeding down my legs and between my breasts. When I reached the picnic blanket, I sat down and wrung out my hair. Isobel tendered me a towel, which I wrapped aroundmyself.
“Remember those parties we used to throw down here, Jeb?” she said to my contemplativeuncle.
His gaze was fixed to the pines swaying gently around the crystalline body of water. “I remember Nelson tossing me in one night with all my clothes on because I mentioned how pretty youlooked.”
Nelson chuckled, a tad sheepishly, whereas Isobel flushed but smiled as big as herson.
Keeping her gaze trained on August’s back, on the caterpillar-like scar that extended the length of the waistband of his black briefs, she said, “Those were thedays.”
I didn’t ask whether my parents had attended those lake parties. I sensed they had. They’d all grown up together. They’d all splashed around the lake together. They’d all kissed and gotten married and birthed babiestogether.
Shifters were a community, and like all communities, they’d been rattled by tragedy, but somehow, they’d all stuck around and lifted each other up when life had weighed them down. Until my fatherdied.
Would our generation be supportive? Would I one day picnic with August and Matt and their respective wives and laugh about the good olddays?
I hoped so. I hoped I would get what Isobel, Nelson, and Jeb had. I hoped I would get a real familyagain.
26
The week followingEverest’s burial smeared into a long blur. Every day, someone from the pack would bring us breakfast and suggest an activity—a movie, a card game, a walk. At some point, Jeb started to turn people down, and then he stopped coming out of his room altogether, which meant I got to hang out with our visitors and prove I had everything undercontrol.
And Idid.
I ached, but my sadness was tempered by the fact that Everest had dug his own grave, even though I still didn’t understand why he’d done all that he’d done, or why the Creeks had silenced him. Was it for the Sillin, or was theremore?
When Matt dropped by at the end of the week, brandishing a bag of homemade blueberry muffins his mom had baked, I made him sit and tell me what was going on, because I was certaina lotwas goingon.
The blond bear of a man sank down onto the couch, palming the pale stubble on his square jaw. “Julian and Liam have contacted the Creek Alpha to ask for a meeting. She hasn’t gotten back to them yet, so Robbie suggested heading out there to confront her.” He sighed and sat back, hooking one arm around the back of the couch and dropping the other on thearmrest.
I handed him a mug of the minty tea I’d just brewed and sat on the opposite end of the couch, folding my legs beneath me. “Do you think he was killed because of thedrugs?”
“It’s the likeliestscenario.”
“Has anyone spoken to AidanMichaels?”
“Aidan Michaels?” Both of his honeyed eyebrows shot up on his sun-reddened forehead. I guessed he’d been working outdoors this week. “Why would he knowanything?”
“Because one, he had his own business dealings with Everest. And two, he’s made it his mission to know everything there is to know about werewolves. Why would his interest in packs not extend over the Boulder townlimits?”
Matt thought about this so hard his large forehead puckered. “True. I’ll talk to Liam.” He took a sip of his tea. “Or maybe youshould?”
“Noway.”
“Why?”
I set my mug down before I could squeeze the tea right out of it. “Seriously, Matt? You’re asking me why? You werethere.”
“I know, Ness, but we were all under pressure, and between the text and thevoicemail—”
“He should’ve given me the benefit of the doubt. Youallshould’ve.”
Matt chewed on his lower lip. “He hates himself for it, but you gotta understand, that’s Liam. He’s always been a little . . .impulsive.”
Impulsive?“So I’m supposed to forgive andforget?”
