We watched from the other side of the two way mirror as Jules and Sean walked a very pissed off Yvonne into the small interrogation room that Jules had "borrowed" from the human sheriff. Apparently, Jules either had friends in high places, a very good badge counterfeiter, or the luck of the Irish, because the Sheriff hadn't flinched about any of us being there.

I was behind the glass with Peter. He would be taking notes while I studied her body language and watched the proceedings while I downloaded all the data from her phone to get anything that my worm may have missed. Alpha Mikael was already sitting there when she was walked in.

She took one look at the Alpha, and cringed. She whipped her head toward Jules. "No! I don't want to talk to him! He threatened to kill me if I broke the shunning! I cannot be here! I tried to tell you that when you kidnapped me! I will be eviscerated for being in his presence, don't you understand that? My brother is an evil, megalomaniacal psycho with narcissistic and homicidal tendencies! Why do you think I've been on the run? I haven't had a good night's sleep since this whole ordeal began!"

Jules shoved her into the chair across from Mikael, then walked around and took the seat beside the Alpha. Sean stood directly behind Yvonne, obviously on guard duty.

Peter snorted at her performance, which made me grin more than her little bad acting job did. Normally such a quiet little buttoned-up beta, Peter sat there in his navy blue and mint green argyle sweater vest with a jaunty little navy blue bow-tie to match. The mint green shirt he wore beneath was firmly buttoned all the way to his chin, and his navy khakis had a nice crisp pleat down the center.

Yeah, I liked Peter. He was a fascinating little man with a big protective streak. Liam had told me over dinner a few nights ago that Peter had a mate who was an omega. His mate was a cousin of Alpha-Mate Taylor. They had recently adopted an infant and five year old twins. I was pretty sure that those cubs were the reason for the sparkle in Peter's voice the past few months when I'd spoken to him.

I looked back over at Yvonne, amazed at the disparity between her and the Alpha. She was a tall, voluptuous redhead alpha-bitch. She reminded me a lot of Jessica Rabbit, to tell the truth. Well, if Jessica Rabbit had a thing for leather. Seriously, dominatrix much? She wore thigh leather boots that had been dyed purple. A black leather mini-skirt that just barely covered her lady bits and its matching vest were all she wore. The vest was cropped above her navel and cut so low her tits were overflowing like Dolly Parton's would be if squeezed into a C-cup bra. It was both awful and mesmerizing at the same time.

She tossed her long auburn hair back over one shoulder. I could see the familiar gleam of my great grandmother's necklace with its glowing stones as it rested again her milky flesh, the mark of a mating scar barely showing next to the chain. She wasn't sexy, though, she just looked cold, evil, and psychotic. That milky flesh of hers looked like marble, for all the warmth that it exuded.

She looked over at herself in the two way glass, rather than looking at her brother. It was eerie how the glass worked like a mirror to her but to me it was if she were looking me in the eyes. I would never want to make eye contact with those dead eyes. Her lips were painted over with shiny lipstick in a lovely shade of hooker red.

Mikael, on the other hand? He looked like an overgrown surfer boy. At seven foot tall, he was huge even by bear standards. His shoulders were broad, but in proportion to his height. The flowing, shoulder length blonde hair and easy smile combined to give him a laid back vibe, despite the powerful aura of alpha juju that poured off the man. He was the most powerful alpha that I'd ever met, and one of the kindest.

Right as I was thinking that, he made me jump as he slammed a large hand down on the table in front of his sister. The way she cowered, and even how Jules was tilting his head to present his neck, told me that Mikael had unleashed a flood of alpha power into the room.

Peter smiled next to me and said softly: "It never gets old to see the Alpha do that. Look at her, she is unable to move, yes? And she thought she could replace him? Please."

I leaned to hear a little better. Alpha Mikael was talking.

"What is the matter with you, Yvonne? People have been killed, thanks to your fucking tantrum of a so-called war. Good people! Our people. Did you not think of them? You say that you want me dead so that you can take my place, and yet you would maim and murder the very people that you seek to lead? My goddess, Yvonne. I don't understand why you would do this. I know that we had different carrier parents, but we share a sire. How could you attempt to kill your own brother, Yvonne? Explain this to me, please. I do not understand. What changed you from the sweet child that I remember into a crazy person who would do these things."

She turned to look her brother with a cold sneer. "You, Mr. Perfect, are NOT my brother! Your father was good enough to leave that little tidbit of information in a fuck you letter to me. After he died, it was delivered to me with my inheritance. Do you know how much the great Alpha left his only supposed daughter? One fucking dollar. You want to know to what changed me, Mikael? There you go. Mystery fucking solved. So, you planning to kill me here in front of the humans, or what? Because if you need time to wrestle with your guilt while you find your sac and alpha up, I could use a smoke break."

Mikael was looking at her with a sorrowful gaze. She snapped her eyes back his way. "You aren't surprised. You knew that we aren't blood, didn't you? Huh. No wonder you had no problem shunning me."

"That's not true at all, Yvonne. Shunning you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But I couldn't allow you to kill an unborn cub, or torture that poor omega for another second. It is our duty as alphas to protect our omegas, and yet you beat and tortured that dear man. I shunned you despite my love for you, Yvonne. Not because I quit caring. And yes, I was aware that you weren't my father's cub. You look exactly like the man that your mother worked for when my father started dating her. He was lonely after my carrier dad passed, and your mom was there. None of that is your fault, and for my father to tell you like he did was reprehensible.

“But Yvonne, I cannot stop this, you do realize that, right? It is my duty as Alpha to dispense justice. I cannot let my affection for the childhood memory of how you once were to intrude and block the reality of who you've become now. There is no way you can apologize for the deaths that you have caused in this community. This is why you will be put to death. It is our way, as you well knew when you embarked on this farce of terror."

Yvonne's lips curled back into a feral sneer. "I didn't ask for your forgiveness, Alpha. And if you want to talk deaths, what about my people? Don't tell me that you weren't behind the perfectly coordinated fires that took out that entire chain of my command. See? You’re just as two-faced as your old man was, Mik."

Alpha Mikael drew himself up to his full height. "There is no comparison, Yvonne. You attacked omegas, and children at home in their yards. We retaliated and took out paid mercenaries. There is a difference. Now, I am done talking for now. You will stay here until we have a place ready for you, probably a few hours. There will be a guard on the door, so don't try anything."

Without waiting for her response, Mikael jerked a chin to Jules and Sean. The three of them left the room, leaving her alone in the locked room. Peter stood and said: "Come on, omega. There is nothing to see here. Let us go have a break, yes?"

I grinned and got up to follow. We saw them clustered at the end of the hall, and rushed over to greet them. The rest of what came next went by in a blur. We all moved into a conference room to discuss where Yvonne could be moved.

Looking over at Jules, I asked him how he got to use the sheriff's station. I really was impressed by the trick. He looked at me blankly when I told him my suspicions, then laughed. "Dude. No. My secret is kindness. The sheriff is a nice guy and I always treat him with respect. This is him returning the favor."

Before I could respond, the sheriff ducked his head in. "Your suspect forgot these, who wants to take responsibility for them? Or should I use the station lost and found?"

We took one look at the silver and moonstone jewelry, and everyone jumped up at once. Peter took the jewelry and discreetly passed it to me, while Jules and Mikael went to find out how she'd escaped from this jewelry, a locked room, and a sheriff's department full of witnesses.

The room went quiet when they heard me ask Peter who had left the claim bite on her alpha-gland. All four heads spun my way, and Mikael quietly asked me to clarify.

"When she first sat down, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and I was able to observe her neck and shoulder. I saw the scar of a mating bite on her alpha-gland."

The sheriff came in right then holding up a small black flash drive. "Here we go, gentlemen. My secretary came back from lunch a minute ago. She said that your suspect left with her husband. A nice man with long black beard. He walked out past her, so she had no reason to assume that he wasn't on the up and up. I've got the security footage so that you can get a look at him."

We all looked at each other grimly, each of us already knowing who we'd see on the security feed. Sure enough, once it loaded, there they were. Fucking Tommy. Lying bastard had wormed his way in, and now we knew where his loyalties lay.

Peter was the first to comment. "Am I the only one to find it weird that Yvonne has apparently taken a permanent mate with another alpha?"

I spoke up grimly. "You all know of my distaste for Tommy, I'm sure that my mate has shared it with you. This is good, though. Because of my mistrust for him, I placed a tracker on his phone the day after I discovered he worked for my mate. And we have her phone, yes. But I have no doubt that she will replace it. I have all of her information, I can send her a new email with the worm in it once I see on her account that a new device has been purchased."

"In the meantime, I know where to start looking now that I know that Tommy is her partner. No wonder she was welcome with the wolves. He probably has ties there. I will find them for you, and we'll do this again. This time, we'll know to look for him."

Jules nodded with appreciation. "Okay, Fingers. What do we do first?"

I looked around at the four weary faces. "First, we get out of here and go find our mates for a decent meal. Then, I'll start working while you guys start making plan B. And C. And D. And as many others as you need until we have a plan for every circumstance. Basically, take a break while I get to work. We'll re-group when Jules calls the meeting."

Jules nodded his agreement. He sighed and said: "That's great except for one thing. One of us needs to come back to your place and go through his room."

I nodded. "Okay, I guess the two of us are working tonight then. You can go through his shit while I sift through his online information."