P.S. Oh, and I left you a secret stash of magical potions in a hidden compartment beneath the floorboards in my bedroom.
P.P.S. Don’t bother avenging my death, assuming I was killed, or your parents’, who most certainly were. You have bigger pickles to fry now. I’ll be watching you from wherever I am, and if I can get helpful messages to you somehow, I promise I will.
P.P.P.S. Take good care of her, Cass. I know you’re probably reading over my Evie’s shoulder right now. I entrust you with her well-being, and I know you won’t let me down.”
“That’s it,” Cass concluded, the end coming too abruptly despite the length of the letter.
My eyes peered up at Cass, who for once towered over me from his position standing on the chair. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but drew a blank.
My pink-furred friend flipped the pages back and forth a few times to verify there was nothing more, but that was more than enough. “Well, that’s a motherfucking bomb of a letter, now isn’t it?” he added. “Gran never disappoints, not even when she’s dead.”
I couldn’t have said it any better.
17Angry Alpha
I turned to Brock,who looked like he wanted to disappear. “Did you know about the gate?”
He sighed. “Yes, but I was told it was my family’s duty to protect it. That Belinda was after it, and that’s why we needed her off the land.”
I huffed. “Well, your father is a liar!”
He winced. “My father wasn’t the one who told me. I only found out about the gate when my brother took over the pack. I don’t even know where it is.”
“Oh…” I mumbled, unsure how to feel toward him. I ran a shaky hand through my long hair. “Well, I’ve gotta get in touch with this Willemena Worst character, so she can tell me more.”
Walking into my bedroom, I started packing a bag.
I was a kitsune. Gran might have been murdered. My parents were definitely murdered, and now I was the gatekeeper to the underworld? What. The. Actual. Fuck?
Breathe, just breathe.
“Umm…” Brock trailed behind me. “I’m not sure you should be traveling. Now that we know what you are, Sabine will want to run more tests, and you’re due for another blood transfusion.”
I shot Brock a glare. “No to the tests, but I’ll take the transfusion and then be on my way.” If he thought he was going to stop me from finding out more about what was going on, he was sorely mistaken.
He looked hurt, or annoyed; I couldn’t tell which. “Look, I’m sorry you found out about all of this so suddenly, but you’re carrying our child. You’re a one-of-a-kind kitsune who just had purple magic shoot out of her sword, so excuse me for being cautious.”
I sighed. “The baby will be fine. I’ll be a three hour drive away. It’s a day trip. Can I trust you to keep this cabin standing while I’m gone?” My Gran’s letter had been fraught with warnings about Brock’s pack, but I realized the second the words left my lips that I’d hurt him.
His eyes widened and his mouth pulled into a frown. Everything was worsened by the fact that he still hadn’t put on a shirt. He was like a chiseled sculpture that belonged in the Roman Forum in its glory days, not in my bedroom.
“I won’t touch your Gran’s cabin, Evie. You should know that by now.” His voice was layered with hurt.
Shit.
I crossed my arms, hurt and confused by Gran’s note. “Tell me what your business with the siren was, then.” Something didn’t add up there.
Now it all seemed interlinked, and if Gran was killed, the siren was at the top of my list of suspects. Right under… Brock. No. He shouldn’t be, should he? I gulped. He couldn’t be.
Brock’s gaze shifted over his shoulder, where Cass and Molly were eavesdropping, and pinned them with a look that surely would’ve had his less dominant wolves scurrying.
“Whatever you want to say to me, you can say in front of them,” I challenged.
He ran his fingers through his hair, and I just really wished he’d put on a freaking shirt.
“When my brother was in charge of the pack, he made some kind of deal with her. That she could use the gateway when the time came. At the time of some special full moon, she’d have the power to open it. When I took over, I told her that wasn’t happening, but since she did a favor for the pack, I had to offer her something in return. I made her a very generous offer in cash. She refused. Hence the business deal gone wrong, the night we met.”
My mouth dropped open as rage flooded through me. “You knew I was hunting her, and you didn’t tell me this? She probably killed Gran!”
