Page 65 of Hextreme Measures

“Oh, man,” she said. “His only value to the family is who he brings in as a mate.”

Pascal leaned back in his chair, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“He was interested in Angelique from the very beginning,” Ofelia continued. “He wanted her desperately, but she chose Ben. She shut him down and wouldn’t even consider dating him.”

“And who got injured at your party?” Pascal pushed.

“She wasn’t the only one.”

“Of course not, but you said yourself that the attack felt odd because it was so brief. Perhaps that’s because they did what they wanted to do right away.”

Ofelia ran the attack through her mind, trying to remember. “I assumed it was because they were freaked out by the panthers.”

“And that very well may be true,” Pascal conceded. “It’s not the only reason they left, however.”

Ofelia hopped to her feet, ready to charge into battle. Then she remembered she had an army to command, and they couldn’t go out until dark, and sat back down.

“This was always about Angelique.” She slapped her hand to her forehead. “I’m such a narcissist. I thought it was about me.”

“You didn’t say as much.”

“No, but I was thinking it, deep down.” She was rueful when she looked over at him again. “I’m a terrible person. It’s not always about me.”

“Stop that,” Pascal chided, shaking his head. “It is, very often, about you. Why wouldn’t you jump to that conclusion? It was your party.”

“But —”

“Don’t.” He fervently shook his head. “You’re going to make me angry. There was no way you could possibly understand that Biff was at the center of this. You didn’t have the information available to make that leap.”

“You did.”

“Only because I never trusted him either, and I always felt there was something off about him.” Pascal rubbed his cheek. “Whenever I was in the company of the man, which was rare, he never felt right to me. I can’t explain why I felt that way. I just did.”

“I didn’t feel right around him either,” Ofelia admitted. “Recently, I’ve been fighting with him even more than at the start.”

“That’s probably because he has a problem with women in positions of authority,” Pascal mused. “He’s a misogynist, likely because his mother always stressed how important women were to the line. Does he have any sisters?”

“I have no idea, and I’m not calling Jack to ask. Zach could tell me but …” Ofelia trailed off and swallowed the lump in her throat.

“None of that.” He wagged his finger. “Sully is alive. We both know it. There’s no path forward for her if he’s dead.”

“What do you think she hopes to negotiate?” Ofelia asked. That was the only question she still had.

“Off the top of my head, I would say that she’s going to ask you to choose between your best friend and fiancé.”

Ofelia’s expression darkened. “I’m going to kill her.”

“We’re going to have to kill them all.” Pascal looked uncomfortable with the realization. “As curious as I am about banshees who can think their way out of a problem — and that will become more prevalent going forward, since we’re obviously looking at an evolutionary leap — these particular banshees are too dangerous to keep around.”

“If we kill them all, will Angelique be okay?”

“I can’t answer that.” Pascal picked up the book again. “Maybe there are answers in here, though. I’m going to keep reading.”

“What should I do?”

“Contact the Sully family. They’re going to need to get their panthers ready.”

It was something Ofelia didn’t want to do, but it felt necessary to ensure Sully’s safety. “I’m going to hate making this call.”