“Youdidn’t kill any of them.”
“What I did killed them.”
“Not Lori. A close-minded shifter killed her.”
Bea reached over and wrapped her hand around mine, skin as cold as snow. “You’re such a sweetie, Nikki, but I’m a big girl. I take full responsibility for my actions. Those deaths—all of them—are on me, and I will spend the rest of my life attempting to make up for them. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll find a way.” Her mouth parted, then shut, and she eyed the door. “Nate’s coming.”
Her senses were so acute she could map out everyone’s whereabouts within a ten-mile radius. We’d tested this a few times already with my brothers. They’d run off to a random corner of our ten-thousand-acre gated property, and once immobile, they’d phone us up and Bea would focus on them.
She’d never been wrong.
Not once.
The realm of Liam’s grasp was five-times broader, but Bea’s remained impressive.
A full minute later, my brother walked in, brushing the snow from his boots on the bristly doormat. He didn’t seem surprised to find me with Bea. Probably because I’d been visiting almost every day, bringing my tablet along to work beside her as she read a book or flipped through TV channels. Often, Adalyn joined us. On rare occasions, Mom stopped by. But where Ads was always ecstatic to hang out, Mom was a tad more cautious, a mix of fear and blame mitigating her mood.
“Hey, Pinecone,” Nate chirped, pulling out the chair beside Bea’s.
Her hand slipped under the table, probably to grip his. I suspected the engagement ring in my parents’ safe would be brought back out very soon.
“You’re in a chipper mood.” My gaze swung between the two of them, and then down to Bea’s left hand, which remained atop her book. I half-expected a diamond to twinkle back at me, but her long fingers were bare.
Nate leaned forward, brown eyes sparkling. “Because Liam didn’t shoot down my idea.”
Bea’s eyes widened. “He didn’t?”
“What idea?” I asked.
“Roping Bea into the pack by linking her to him. If he can communicate with her, then that would mean she has lycanthropic magic, even if she can’t shift. And if she has werewolf magic, then he’d consider letting her roam free. Well, through the compound.”
My heart took off like a flock of geese at the sound of a gunshot. “By linking her to him, you mean through a blood pledge?”
Nate nodded so enthusiastically it tossed a lock of hair into his eyes.
“What if her blood poisons him, or transforms him into . . . into what she is?”
“It won’t.”
His conviction didn’t temper my apprehension. “How can you be so sure?”
Nate and Bea exchanged a long look followed by a long smile. “Because she and I . . . experimented.”
“Experimented?” I shrilled.
They both turned toward me.
“What do you meanexperimented?” I was trying to wrangle back my annoyance. Especially since my brother seemed like his usual self, if not more high-spirited.
“You didn’t tell her?” he asked Bea calmly.
“I was waiting for you to do it.”
He settled back in his chair, still holding onto her hand. “A week ago, I tasted Bea’s blood.”
“Why?” I exclaimed. “Why would you do that?”
His broad smile chipped. “Because I was trying to understand what she’s become.”
