“That’s fine.” Our house wasn’t completely soundproofed, but we’d had it modified so that very little sound escaped from inside. I waited for the back door to click shut. “Aren’t you banned from talking about that night?” I asked Myla, frowning when she shook her head.
“We were told not to discuss it with anyone other than those involved, but it wasn’t an order.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Xen clearly didn’t trust us not to talk about it, but with good reason. If not for his order, I’d have gone straight to Rys with this, if not DCI Thornton.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to keep it between us. The pack wouldn’t have reacted well to the deal my dad made, so an alpha order wasn’t necessary.”
Fair enough.
With that out of the way, Jake and I filled Myla in on our trip to the bar, about our visit to Jake’s dad, and all the theories we’d come up with so far. Her eyes widened as we told her our suspicions.
“By the Goddess, that was probably the last thing I was expecting you to tell me.” She glanced between the two of us. “And a hefty accusation to confront your alpha with.”
“Believe me, we know.” Even with everything Xen had done recently, I didn’t want this particular thing to be true about him, didn’t want to think about him having anything to do with the witches I’d just handed over to the fae, or anyone willing to create magic that messed with a person’s mind. “We won’t do anything until we have solid proof.”
“And how do you propose to get that?” she asked.
“Still working on that part.” I had a few ideas floating around in my head, ones that had come to me while we’d been talking, but I wasn’t ready to voice them yet.
“Well, you need to come up with something soon because my dad is keen for Jake and I to start going out and beingseen.” Her lip curled. “He gave me strict instructions to leave here with our first date planned.”
“Bollocks.” Jake stood and began to pace the room like a caged tiger. “If we’re seen together, people are going to ask questions. We’re going to have to lie.”
“And be convincing about it,” Myla added. “You know what shifters are like.”
This was about the only time I was glad Jake and I hadn’t told anyone about the change in our relationship status. As hard as it would be to listen to Jake tell people he was with Myla, it’d be even worse if I had to admit that we’d also broken up.
“So, where do you want to go first?” she asked. “We can keep it simple, maybe lunch next weekend at Cassie’s? That should keep Dad happy for a week or so.”
Jake paled but nodded. “I guess that works.”
“Right.” She stood and walked over to the window and tapped on it to get Izzy’s attention. “I’ll see you Saturday, Jake. In the meantime, I hope you uncover something that can help us. Message me if you need anything.”
“Before you go,” I said as something occurred to me. Something we’d not thought to ask yet. “Who notified your pack about Faris?”
She frowned. “Xen. Why?”
“Do you know what time that was?”
“No. But I can probably find out.”
“Without your dad knowing?” We couldn’t afford to tip Frost off that we were investigating.
She turned to face me, hands on her hips. “Yes, I think so, but not until you tell me why.”
“Because we never got the opportunity to investigate that night, and if we want to stand a chance of finding out what really happened, we need to start collecting facts.” As many as we could with the limited methods we could use. “It might not be important, but if we can establish a timeline, then…” I held my hands out. “We don’t have much else to go on.”
“Okay.” She took Izzy’s hand when she came inside. “I’ll find out and let you know.”
Jake and I saw them out, then I led him back to the sofa and pulled him down next to me. Resting my head against the cushions, I turned to face him. “What a day,” I muttered.
“I know. I’m knackered.” He yawned, smiling when it made me do the same.
I still had a hold of his hand, his palm warm against mine, and I didn’t want to let go of him. This was nice. The house was quiet, darkness settling outside, the only light in the living room coming from the moon where we’d left the curtains open.
“I’ve missed this,” Jake said, voice soft as he stroked his thumb across the back of my hand. “We used to sit like this all the time.” He lifted our joined hands and smirked. “Maybe not quite like this, but before…” He trailed off, so I finished it for him.
“Before we got together?”
