“Mika had a huge beef with Coach. Or rather his father did.”
Coach? My Coach, as I thought of her. “Come on, spill.”
Bardoul lowered his voice. “It had to do with money.”
Channon explained that Kendric was traumatized after Mika died, but he was also scared to return to Sombertooth, fearing a confrontation with Coach.
I grabbed a cushion and pressed it against my chest, and we all leaned forward as Bardoul whispered that Kendric said Coach was siphoning off money during the building of the new sporting facility.
“What?” Nausea like I hadn’t experienced since I was pregnant had me in its clutches.
“She headed the planning committee and she’s overseeing the project,” Channon added.
“Mika’s dad was one of the project foremen. He found out that she was swapping poor-quality rebar instead of what they were supposed to use.” Bardoul was whispering. “She did the inspections, and the results of the strength tests were only seen by her, no one else on the committee or the head of construction.”
They added that the dad shared the information with his son, and Mika said his father was going to confront Coach.
“But then Mika died.”
Oh my gods, what had we stumbled into? I hadn’t seen Coach as much this semester as I used to because of my pregnancy, but I recalled that day after archery practice when she and Professor Shaw had their heads together.
Phelan got up. “Listen, this is serious, and I know you can all keep a secret because you haven’t blabbed about Rawling, but you cannot tell anyone about this. Promise?”
“Promise.”
Everyone hugged and they left, and Phelan locked the door.
“What the fuck did you and your friends fall into, Rawling?”
THIRTY
RAWLING
“Where are you going?” Phelan caught me as I raced out of the classroom and almost bumped into him.
“Forgot my laptop.” I’d assumed the pregnancy brain I experienced when carrying Eira would have cleared once she arrived, but it hadn’t. My head was still foggy at times.
“I’ll get it for you.”
“Nah, I got this,” I yelled over my shoulder because I was almost glad that I’d get to see and kiss Eira again.
I raced up the stairs three at a time, thankful I was no longer lugging my bump, and I swerved around Zev and some of his Sable Hounds brothers. Giving birth to Eira had given me renewed energy, and so many of the minor inconveniences of life at Sombertooth no longer bothered me. They were as inconsequential as the weather. As long as Eira and Phelan were in my life, nothing else mattered.
They swore at me as I skirted them. Fuck them and their group. There were whispers Atticus was out of favor with the rest of the Sable Hounds for being overpowered by Jack’s bear and having a latent brother. I wished I could climb up the turret and yell that I’d fooled the lot of them and that I was human.
Charging into the infirmary, I yelled to Scottie that it was just me and I wasn’t staying. He’d been caught in traffic this morning, and Mrs. Ardilla had stayed with Eira until he arrived. There was no answer from the bedroom, and the stroller was near the door, so he hadn’t taken our daughter for a walk.
My heart rate chugged up a notch. Hugging the laptop to my chest, I raced into the bedroom. It was empty. My heart was no longer cantering but sprinting.
With shaking hands, I pulled out the phone and tapped outWhere are you?
Scottie’s response was almost immediate.You told me not to bother coming today.
I gripped my belly that was threatening to throw up my breakfast. My brain had forgotten I needed oxygen, and after not taking in air for however long it was, I instructed it to breathe. But the ragged sound of air rasping and choking in my throat mirrored my emotions.
“Eira!” I screeched as pain wrapped its tendrils around my body and shook me until my teeth rattled.
My feet were stuck to the floor. Someone had glued them to the wood as I tried to heave one leg up and then the other. But there was no glue or nefarious plan to keep me in place. It was my brain unable to process that my daughter was gone. Someone had deliberately kept Scottie away from Sombertooth.
