I took a quick shower and got dressed in the clothes Kara loaned me, grateful that she had set up a breakfast spread in the kitchen along with a fresh pot of coffee—with lots of cream and sugar, thank God. I didn’t really want to call the cackle or even Eloise. Curling up somewhere to hibernate for a few months seemed like the best idea.

Still, though, I wasn’t entirely out of the business of worrying about my family. The suspicion that perhaps Cassidy wasn’t completely innocent of my disappearance nagged at me, and I wanted answers before I just rolled over and let her take the reins. But first I owed my best friend a call.

She took so long to answer I feared she wouldn’t answer the strange number, but eventually a deep voice reached me. “This is Eloise’s phone. How can I help you?”

Benedict, her mate. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. It was probably easier to break the news to him, all things considered. “Don’t hang up. This isn’t a trick. This is Lacey Szdoka. I’m not dead.”

A long silence answered me, then the jokester lion said something to someone in the background before the noise around him changed. I knew he’d moved to a different room before answering. “Keep talking.”

“Something weird happened and the djinn who works for BadCreek took me to a different... place. That’s why everyone thought I was dead. I haven’t told the rest of the cackle yet; I might want to just disappear, but I didn’t want Eloise to think I was really gone. Can you break the news to her?” For some strange reason, a lump formed in my throat. I didn’t like the idea of Eloise mourning me. I didn’t want her to suffer from missing me, but at the same time it was reassuring that at least someone would be sad if I wasn’t in the world.

Benedict didn’t sound like he entirely believed me. “How did the djinn find you?”

“We raided the compound again the night I disappeared.” I tripped over the date, about to say the night before, but I realized I still didn’t know how long I’d been gone. I couldn’t believe a full week had disappeared on me. Maybe if I saw a newspaper, I’d believe it. “Something happened while I was waiting in the woods.”

“We told you to stop doing that,” Benedict said, sounding too much like a lecturing older brother for my tastes.

“I make my own choices, lion,” I said, and some of the hyena queen’s attitude crept into my voice. “And none of those choices have anything to do with your pride. If you don’t want to tell Eloise, I’ll find another way to let her know.”

Benedict grumbled and muttered under his breath, but didn’t answer.

Ridiculous men. I decided to help him along a little. “She’ll kill you if she finds out you knew and didn’t tell her. Besides, do you want her to suffer another minute? Give me a break. Go tell her I’m not dead and I’ll try to come over to see her tomorrow.”

“Where are you staying?”

“That doesn’t matter,” I said. I didn’t need the lions showing up at the bears’ den and making a big deal of things. The moment the hyenas saw the other shifters gathering, they would suspect something was up. I didn’t need the attention. “And don’t tell anyone else, including your brothers. You all are notoriously bad at keeping secrets. I’m not trying to make a big splash.”

“Logan will know,” he said. “And there’s nothing you can say that will change my mind about that. He’ll kick my ass across every inch of this city if he finds out I kept this from him, so do your worst, hyena. You’re not going to scare me more than he does. We’ll be in the city later tonight for the Alphas Council, so the two of you can meet up for brunch or something. Assuming she doesn’t get in the car the second I tell her and try to hunt you down.”

“Thanks. She can call this number if she wants to talk.” I took a deep breath and hesitated, knowing I only procrastinated making the other call.

But Benedict wasn’t the kind of guy who liked to chat on the phone. He muttered another expletive, said goodbye, and hung up before I could reply with a similar swear.

I got up to pace through the apartment, wondering where everyone else was, and tried to be grateful that they left me alone to make the calls. I picked my way through a bagel, taking my time just so I didn’t have to find out whether yet another relative betrayed me, but eventually I couldn’t come up with any other excuses. I needed to hike up my big girl pants and get on with it.

Savannah didn’t answer her phone. That didn’t surprise me, since she didn’t know the number. I paced some more as I stared at the cheap plastic handset and wondered who else to reach out to. There weren’t many people I trusted to keep their mouths shut about me being alive—which was a pretty good indicator that I needed to stay gone, regardless of whether Cass had anything to do with my supposed death.

And she’d still gotten me abducted by the djinn and roped into the deal to free him, even if she hadn’t managed to kill me.

But all of the phone numbers were on my other phone, so I didn’t have much hope for getting another pack member. I dialed Sav’s number again, hoping maybe she’d pick up, and held my breath as someone else answered. “Hello? Who is this?”

“A friend of Savannah’s,” I said, hoping they didn’t recognize my voice immediately. “What happened to her? Who are you?”

“Her sister,” the girl said in a near-whisper. “Savannah is locked up.”

“Locked up? What the fuck for?” I scowled across the apartment, ready to storm the den that second.

Her sister, Geneva, dropped her voice until I could hardly hear. “The new queen is... concerned about loyalty.”

“Is she.” I felt a coldness settle over me. Cassidy was right to be concerned. “Do they know what happened to the previous queen?”

“The new queen said she was killed by the wolves.” Geneva sounded too afraid, even for a time of transition in the cackle. “Who are you?”

I rubbed my forehead and knew I couldn’t just walk away. I didn’t know yet what I’d do, or how involved I’d get, but I wasn’t going to walk away from Savannah being locked up. “This is Lacey. I’m not dead.”

“H-Highest?” she whispered. “What happened? What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry about it yet, and don’t tell anyone that I’m still alive.” I frowned out the window, staring at the city as it started to wake. It was still far too early to be up and about. “I’m going to fix this, Gen. Just hold tight. Is Cassidy planning to go to the Alphas Council?”

She cleared her throat. “That’s what she said earlier. That everything will go on as normal. No mourning period.”

Of course not. What a bitch. I should have fired Cassidy when I had the chance, right after Mom died and I cleaned the rest of the house. Cass said all the right things, though. She’d been very good at blending in until she didn’t want to anymore. “Fine. Like I said, just sit tight. Don’t make any trouble. Try to keep Savannah alive. Don’t lose faith. I’ll try to get everything back to normal tonight. If things don’t go my way, one of the bears will be there to make sure you guys are okay. Just get out of the den and find the bears.”

“Okay, Highest,” she said. Geneva sounded a touch calmer, at least, and more composed. “We’ll be waiting for your return.”

“See you tonight,” I said, and ended the call.

Something was definitely up, if Cassidy feared for her standing enough to arrest Savannah and anyone else who might have asked questions about how I supposedly died. That did not bode well for her being innocent of plotting my downfall. I took a deep cleansing breath, like Sav always told me to do, and centered myself in the universe as I closed my eyes and repeated a mantra she’d made me learn. And still rage bubbled up in my chest and my hands clenched into fists and my jaw ached from grinding my teeth. Those goddamn hyenas.

I headed for the stairs instead of the elevator, needing to burn off some of that rage. Part of the cackle exercised at the bears’ gym on occasion, and I’d heard good things about their boxing equipment. A few minutes on the heavy bag might help calm me down—or at least it would get me warmed up for beating the shit out of Cassidy the moment I saw her.

My eyes narrowed as the hyena pushed to the surface and my vision filled with a red haze. Even if I didn’t want to be queen, I sure as hell wouldn’t let that bitch steal the throne and undo all the work I’d done over the past year. If I left the cackle, it would be on my own terms. I’d walk out the front door with my head held high and know I’d left someone in charge who would take care of the family the right way. I owed them that much.

But still, it would be awfully enjoyable to finally punch Cass right in the mouth.