He’d looked in shock when we’d first arrived, but his face betrayed none of that now. He glanced between me and Jake, expression hard. “You aren’t on duty. This isnota police matter, and you willnotfile a report. As your alpha, I’m ordering you to treat this as pack business. You will not discuss this with anyone other than those involved. No talking, no emails, no texts. Do you understand?”
I curled my hands into fists as I stood, the protest on the tip of my tongue warring against the direct order, because this waswrong. So fucking wrong and every part of me rebelled against it. “Where’s Elliot?” Xen rarely went anywhere without his second in command.
“Not here. This doesn’t concern him.”
Well, fuck. Keeping his beta out of the loop didn’t bode well for us.
Was Xen still pissed off with him about the other night?
“Max?” Xen’s voice was deceptively soft to anyone who wasn’t a shifter, but the power in it almost sent me to my knees. “That means you don’t share it with Gabriel Mason or thatfaeyou now work with.”
He spat the word fae, barely bothering to hide his distaste. I wasn’t exactly sure what he had against them, but he’d made his displeasure clear the moment we’d learnt of Gabriel’s half-fae status. And he seemed to have a particular dislike for Dathal.
I didn’t think he’d ever outright forbid me or Jake from working for the paranormal police, I’d be forced to reconsider my place in his pack if he did, but I was pretty sure he wanted to sometimes.
“Do youunderstand?” Xen repeated, a little more power in his words this time, and my skin crawled at the unpleasant feeling.
“Yes,” I gritted out through clenched teeth that felt just the wrong side of human.
Xen nodded, then focused on Jake. “You want to protect your father don’t you, Jake?”
Jake’s pained whine cut through me and I reached for his hand instinctively. Xen’s gaze followed the movement, but his expression gave nothing away.
“He didn’t do this,” Jake said, his voice strained with the effort to get the words out. Anything other than an acknowledgement of Xen’s order went against every instinct we had.
I had to agree. I’d known John Allen a long time, and even struggling with grief brought on by the anniversary of his wife’s death, he wouldn’t have donethis. I’d stake my life on it.
“I saw him,” Xen said, tone flat. “I got a call to come pick him up, but I arrived too late. I saw him rip Faris’s throat out without the slightest hesitation.”
“He wouldn’t.” Jake shook his head, his grip on my hand tightening.
Xen regarded him, light blue eyes cold and unforgiving. “Are you calling me a liar?”
I squeezed Jake’s hand,hard. Whatever he thought, there was only one answer that Xen would accept right now, and I didn’t want to test what might happen if Jake didn’t give it to him.
“No,” Jake murmured after a silence that lasted a beat too long.
I stood quickly, shoulder nudging Jake’s as Xen came to stand in front of us. “What happened then?” I asked, hoping to deflect the attention from Jake. But I also needed to know how Jake’s dad had come to be unconscious on the floor.
Xen’s gaze returned to John Allen, and something flashed in his eyes, gone too quickly for me to recognise. He sighed. “He was out of control, knocking him out was the only way to restrain him.”
Jake tensed beside me but thankfully kept his thoughts to himself. I wondered if they were anything like mine. Rendering John unconscious seemed excessive, considering Xen could have stopped him using a direct order.
“He was too far gone on aconite to recognise my authority,” Xen offered up, as though he’d read my mind.
I let it go for now.
We had bigger issues to deal with.
“Someone needs to tell Haylen Frost about his beta.” I might not be able to call it in, but there was still the next of kin to inform. “Are you sure we shouldn’t let the paranormal police handle this?”
“This is pack business,” Xen repeated.
“This is Frost’sbeta. He’s going to be fucking furious and he has every right to be.” I met his gaze head on, not backing down even when Xen bared his fangs at me. “At best, he’s going to want compensation.” I swallowed, my eyes drawn to Jake’s dad. “At worst, he’ll want revenge.”
Like I’d said before, the old shifter laws weren’t commonly followed anymore, overtaken by those put in place when the paranormal police had been formed, but they still existed.
If Jake’s dad had committed an unprovoked attack, then Haylen Frost would be well within his rights to demand John’s death as recompense.
