Chapter Fourteen
Lachlan
Chloe’s hand clutched my leg, her nails digging into the flesh beneath the denim of my jeans.
I barely even noticed, too shocked by Miss Emma’s words.
“Sh-sh-shot?” Chloe stuttered. “Darrell shot them?”
The older she-wolf nodded, sniffling into a tissue she tugged out of her pocket. “Yes, child. Shot with a hunting rifle. He knew he was too weak to win a challenge against your father. Even if he got lucky, your mother would have turned right back around, challenged him, and torn him limb from limb. So he killed them as a human would.”
In the shifter world, if a wolf used any weapon against another, it was the gravest insult. Claws and fangs, the weapons nature bestowed upon us, were the only acceptable way to fight one another. Guns and knives might be used when fighting vampires or other supernatural creatures, but not against other shifters.
“Do you have proof?” Chloe asked, her words barely a growl in the back of her throat.
Miss Emma shook her head, tears trickling down her cheeks, dripping onto her shirt.
If she had been able to offer physical evidence, we could have taken it to the Tribunal and Darrell would be removed as leader of the pack and imprisoned.
“But I know who does,” she whispered.
“Carter,” Chloe breathed.
Miss Emma nodded. “He knows everything his daddy does. And he watches more than Darrell thinks. I’m not sure what his plan is but I know that he has one.”
“But will he talk to us?” I asked when Chloe fell silent.
Emma’s eyes shifted to me. “I think so, but there are eyes and ears everywhere in this town. If you’re not very, very careful, word will get back to Darrell and he’ll snatch up Carter before you can get what you need.”
“I thought the pack members hated Darrell?” Chloe questioned. “Why would they turn us in?”
“Fear,” I answered for Emma. “They’re afraid of what he’ll do to them or to their children. They wouldn’t dare go against him in case he found out.”
Chloe snarled. “Then how do we convince Carter to give us what we need?”
“He’ll come to you,” Emma interrupted. “When the time is right. He and I talked last night at the picnic.”
“I wish I could trust your word, Emma, but I’m not sure I can,” Chloe stated.
It was the first time I’d heard her drop the prefix from Emma’s name. The older she-wolf noticed it too and winced.
“Who do you think contacted your grandmother, Chloe MacArthur?” Emma asked indignantly.
“You were the anonymous tip?” Chloe seemed incredulous.
Emma shook her head. “No, not back then. I was still too scared. It was Carter. He wasn’t in the position to challenge Darrell at the time, but he knew what was happening and hoped your grandmother could stop it. Unfortunately, that business with the Faction prevented you from investigating and Sophia couldn’t leave her pack.”
Chloe’s head bowed. “I’m sorry, Miss Emma. This situation has thrown me for a loop. I’m beginning to wonder who I can trust.”
“You’d be stupid not to wonder,” Miss Emma replied. “And I know you’re not.”
Chloe’s eyes snapped up and Miss Emma froze. “Yes, but I’ve known Darrell all my life. As did my parents. Just like I’ve known you all my life.”
“I would never harm you, Chloe,” the older she-wolf stated. I could smell the truth in her words and I knew Chloe could as well.
“Thank you, Miss Emma,” Chloe murmured.
“Tell Carter we wish to speak to him,” I instructed Emma, getting to my feet and bringing Chloe with me. “As soon as possible.”
Emma rose from her chair, nodding as she did. “Of course.”
“Lach, I want to talk with Miss Emma a little more,” Chloe began.
“No. We’ve been here long enough for a pleasant visit with an old friend. They’re watching us and they’ll get suspicious if we stay too much longer.”
“He’s right,” Emma agreed.
Chloe exhaled, but didn’t argue, probably because she knew I was right. “Fine, but I would like to see you again soon, Miss Emma,” she insisted.
The older wolf came forward and hugged Chloe tightly. “I would like that too, Chloe.”
I gritted my teeth over what I was about to say because I hated to keep the women separated when they obviously cared so much for each other. But it still had to be said.
“I’m sorry, Emma, but I think you and Tom need to leave the town for a little while. A few weeks at least. You’ll be safer if you aren’t in immediate reach.”
Chloe shot me a sharp glance out of the corner of her eye but still kept her mouth shut, a first since I’d known her.
But Emma wasn’t going to let it go. “Lachlan, I think Tom and I will be perfectly safe here—”
“Like Nadine and Matthew MacArthur were?” I asked.
She fell silent and didn’t respond.
“Is there somewhere you can go that won’t make them suspicious?”
“My oldest daughter is about to have her third pup. It’s been a complicated pregnancy. They’ll understand if we have to leave to help her,” Emma answered.
“Then make your calls and arrangements. Tell Carter to find a way to get in touch with us.”
Chloe and the older she-wolf hugged again, and then they both plastered bright smiles on their faces and made a big show of saying good-bye on Miss Emma’s front porch. Chloe managed to keep her expression chipper until we left the city limits, and then she scowled fiercely.
Before she could cut loose and call Darrell Whelby every foul name she could think of, I asked, “Do you think Carter was the wolf that left that note?”
She stared out the window as the open fields whizzed by. “I think it’s very likely,” she stated cryptically.
“What will you do if he gives you proof that his father killed your parents?”
Her head swiveled slowly toward me, the expression on her face one I’d seen just before we battled the Faction. She looked fierce, cold, and frighteningly beautiful. An angel of death waiting for her moment to claim those who she deemed worthy of punishment.
“I’ll send it to the Tribunal,” she replied. Just as I began to relax, she continued, “Then I’ll rip Darrell’s fucking heart out.”