“Care to update us?” Sloane beat me to the punch. “No one has been answering our calls or texts.”
That was news to me, but I couldn’t say I was shocked to learn she had been nosing around for intel.
“Did you reach out before now?” Rían leaned forward, catching my eye. “I only saw one message.”
“I didn’t want to bother you,” I mumbled, wishing Sloane hadn’t forced the matter.
To be the one who initiated contact felt needy when he was so busy, and no one liked that in a partner. But I couldn’t always wait for him to act first. That wasn’t fair either.
Ugh.
Who knew learning phone and text etiquette for dating would prove so stressful?
“I don’t have your number,” Sloane volunteered, “but Liam ignored me.”
“Ana, can I talk to you alone?” Rían rose with a groan of exhaustion. “Please?”
Liam stole my spot as soon as I stood, no doubt guaranteeing Sloane didn’t slink off after us.
Goldie wasn’t the only eavesdropper in the house. Though, really, he was just as bad about listening in.
Part of the maguri job, I was sure he would claim, but it appeared to be more a familial trait.
With the front of the house full of enforcers, I aimed for the backyard and waited to hear what Rían had to say.
“I should have updated you earlier and not left you in the dark.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I went on autopilot and followed the usual procedures. I didn’t think to contact you, and that’s on me.”
“I’m not acting out, if that’s what you think.” I struck a nerve within myself just mentioning it. “This was always the plan. Though last night did urge me to expedite it.” I rubbed my forehead. “I do wish you had let me know if you caught the guy, but it’s a tough spot you’re in. I’m still a Sartori, and that makes me a security risk. I get that. I agree with that.” At his crestfallen expression, I tried to lighten the mood by teasing him. “I didn’t expect you to add me to the enforcer group chat yet, you know?”
“Those are concerns.” He did me the favor of not denying the link was worrisome. “For the others.”
The caveat popped my eyebrows higher on my forehead, but I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear it.
“To be clear, they’re not worried about where your allegiance lies. Only how far Sartori will go to get what he wants. Including interrogating you. They don’t know you as well as I do yet, or they would understand you don’t break. You’re too strong.”
“I was also given the pack princess treatment, so don’t flatter me too much.”
“No princess I know has ever been left at the mercy of her peers to get beaten within an inch of her life. Repeatedly. Without your dragon, you were little more than human. You survived that. This? This is nothing to someone as brave as you. The others will realize it too.”
Heat burned behind my eyes, a certainty he knew much more about my past than I had confided to him. But his choice to allow me to tell him my story in my own time mattered more to me than anything Liam or the others might have uncovered because it meant he cared enough to let me make my peace before he was invited into the conversation.
“How much can you tell me?”
“The suspect got past the enforcers, but we’re not sure how he entered or exited Fayne’s yard without someone noticing his scent wasn’t clan. With so many guards, it’s curious he moved through the party without drawing attention to himself.” He hesitated. “When did you first notice him?”
“He bumped into me.”
“You didn’t see him before then?”
“No, but I’m no expert on the clan roster. I was in system overload. I wouldn’t have paid him any attention if our collision hadn’t almost tipped the tray out of my hands.”
“Hmm.” He stared at the grass under his feet. “He made direct contact then.”
“Does that mean he was using some type of concealment charm to blend in?”
“Perhaps.” A pucker gathered across his brow. “Anything else?”
“Sloane arrived after he left, so I was distracted when he invited himself into our conversation later. She might have noticed more, since she was facing his direction, but I can’t sayeither way.” I hated that I had missed such a critical detail. “I thought there was something familiar about him, but she identified the scent before I put my finger on it.”
