“My son’s safe.”
“I’m safe, too.”
“And I intend for you to stay that way.”
I sighed. “You’re not going to drop it, are you?”
“Every member of your family would challenge me to a duel if I knowingly let you go off on your own.”
“Don’t say that.” I shuddered at the thought of another duel. Sure, I hadn’t watched Liam and Cassandra’s, but I knew the technicalities of Alpha dueling—it was a fight to the death that ended when the winner ingested the loser’s heart to absorb the Alpha’s pack link. “You do realize I’ve been going off on my own for several years now?”
“Although I don’t mind standing here, discussing your independence, I thought you wanted to have a look around the crime scene before it started snowing.”
“I’m not going to win this argument, am I?”
“It’s not an argument.” He drew the door open and nodded to his black SUV.
I walked over to the car. “What is it then?”
He pulled open my car door. “It’s me reminding you that I’m your Alpha, and as Alpha, I make the safety of my shifters my topmost priority.”
I eyed him as I climbed into the passenger seat. “You swear you’re not singling me out because of my knee?”
“Cross my heart, Nikki.”
Although he sounded truthful, I wondered if he was. After all, others had left the compound. Otherswouldleave the compound. Was he going to trail all of them?
As he pulled out of my driveway, I texted Mom that I was running an errand with Liam and then I called Bea’s cell for a reservation at Seoul Sister, but it went straight to voicemail, so I phoned up the restaurant directly and reserved for two at seven-thirty.
Liam slid me a look as I hung up. “What’s Seoul Sister?”
“A restaurant in town.”
He slid me another look. “What part ofmad wolf on the loosedidn’t you understand?”
I bristled. “Oh, I understood.” I plopped my elbow on the window and squinted at the snow-capped land and green-gray forest. “I have four brothers already, Liam. I don’t need a fifth one.”
Chapter 9
Police tape looped around five tall evergreens, marking off the crime scene. The snow was blemished by tread marks ranging from boots to paws to snow tires, and speckled yellow, brown, and red. My stomach heaved from the coppery scent of blood and treacly reek of gasoline.
Liam’s gaze kept veering from brown to amber-yellow to dark again. I almost wished he’d shift and get some of his moodiness out. After I’d told him I didn’t need a fifth brother, he’d given me the silent treatment, which was fine back in the car, but now it was maddening. I didn’t like when things festered, and things were definitely festering.
I broke a branch from a nearby tree, then ducked underneath the police tape, the nape of my neck prickling as I scraped the trampled snow. I crouched and sniffed, catching tenuous threads of scents—my brothers’, Liam’s. I even caught Grant’s. The only reason I recognized that one was because it had floated around me for two whole years. I didn’t consider them wasted years—I’d learned lots about myself, about relationships, about life—but the manner in which it had ended made me regret having given so much to someone so fickle.
As I disturbed the snow around the blood, I unleashed the question shimmering at the edge of my mind. “Was Storm’s mother your true mate?”
For a long while, Liam didn’t answer. Maybe he wouldn’t tell me. I could always ask Nate.
“No.”
I frowned and looked over my shoulder. “Just your wife then?”
His arms were crossed, the leather sleeves stretched so taut I worried the seams would rip. “We were never married.”
“How come?”
A gust of wind ruffled his hair. “How come you and Grant aren’t together anymore?”
