“Is leaving her alone with Aunt Tater a good idea?” Luke asks from the opposite side of me.
“Jessica is too upset to leave her room right now.”
“How are you doing?” I ask her quietly.
“Let’s focus on figuring out how to get Shadow back.” She turns toward the big screen.
Deep down, I know she’s worried about Shadow. I want to ask her about Shadow and Jessica, why she never mentioned anything to me since I talk to her practically every day. Then again, we don’t talk about Jessica.
I don’t want to keep pining over a girl I can’t have. That kiss we shared a year and a half ago was the only thing I allowed myself. Secretly, foolishly, I convinced myself that our bond was strong enough to withstand some time and distance. When I returned, I thought she would be waiting for me.
Apparently, she moved on, which still confuses me. I went to that recruit’s room to find her and tell her about Chris’s strategy plan. I stood in the hall, waiting for her, and I saw her kiss that recruit. Then, they left the room, hand in hand. I hid in the darkness of the hall so they didn’t see me. I didn’t expect the aching pain in my heart, seeing her with that kid.
Now, instead of a broken heart, I’m angry. She’s on camera all over the campus, making out with Shadow, who also has been sneaking into her room at night. What the hell is she doing? It’s evident that he cares about her, or he wouldn’t have stepped down from being Young Alpha.
“Stop! Go back a little more. More. Stop. Right there. Do you see it?” Emily asks the rest of the room.
Shakti leans forward in her seat. “Can you zoom in?”
“What the fuck?” Sodie exclaims. He turns to his brother Skunk, who, without another word, vanishes.
“That fucking traitorous bitch!” Shakti cries. “Get Nathan and Anders in here now!” she orders.
Squirrel flashes out of the room.
“Charlie, get Marty!”
Swallowing hard, Charlie stands from his seat.
“Shit,” Luke mutters. He angles his head toward me. “He and Marty are best friends.”
“I don’t understand. What does Marty have to do with the nurse?”
Luke wrinkles his face in disgust. “Mimi is Marty’s mother.”
My eyebrows raise in surprise. “There has to be some kind of explanation for her being there.”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t look good for her. I wondered how they got Jessica’s medical records. I guess…” Luke juts his chin toward the screen, frozen to show Mimi standing in the background. “That answers my question.”
Skunk confiscates the clinic nurse’s notes from her office, including her laptop. Once everyone regroups, papers are strewn across the conference room table as Shakti tears into the chart. Anger and disappointment swirl around her. Someone from their own pack messed with her child. Naturally, she wants blood.
Emily sits between Darwin and Squirrel as she combs through Mimi’s computer. Marty’s hands tremble as he reviews the handwritten notes that Charlie passes to him.
“Duck is bringing your stepfather in for questioning,” Chris tells Marty.
“And Terrell?” the Luna Queen asks, not bothering to look up from the chart notes.
“My stepbrother is currently away at college,” Marty grits out. “I wouldn’t be surprise if you find my mother’s mate already two sheets to the wind.”
Luke leans in. “Mimi’s mate is a useless drunk and a compulsive gambler. In his prime, he was a professional football player in the Northern A territory. According to gossip news, hegot into debt with a bookie and was forced to throw a game as repayment. When the league found out, they fired him, and his reputation was ruined. Since he’s been home, none of his jobs last long. Mimi provides for the family, putting his son, Terrell, through college. She probably also pays for his habits. That’s why Marty never stayed with the guards full-time. The pay for a supervisor’s position at the dairy is more than a lower-tier guard or trainer makes. Shadow must have negotiated his pay so he could come on board.”
“So what happens to Marty’s position now?”
“I don’t need superpowers to know he’s telling the truth. He had no idea his mother was involved.”
“I want her executed for treason,” the Luna Queen sneers.
The King gently touches her arm. “Shakti...”
