CHAPTER ELEVEN
You’re not listening to me, are you?”
Blinking, Riley looked up from her seat at the breakfast bar. “I am,” she lied.
“Oh yeah?” said Tao, doubt heavy in his voice. “What did I just say?”
She pursed her lips. “I’m still processing it.”
“What exactly are you processing?”
“Let’s not revisit the past, Tao.”
He closed his eyes and banged his empty mug on the counter. “Too early for this shit, Porter. Too early.” Pouring more coffee into the cup, he said, “I was telling you that I found my watch this morning. It was in my duffel. I wonder how it got there,” he added drily.
She stifled a smile. “Very mysterious.” Drinking her coffee, she watched him bustle about the kitchen—checking cupboards, messing with the fridge magnets, and tampering with the juicer. Riley had to smile. He was so used to having all his time taken up by a cute little pup that he just didn’t know what to do with himself. “You find it weird not having to run around after someone.”
Tao’s brow furrowed. “I’m enjoying the break.”
She snorted. “You miss Kye like crazy.”
“Yeah, well, you miss Savannah and Dexter.” He’d heard her talking on her cell phone earlier, known instantly from her soft tone that she was speaking with the kids. Tao wasn’t sure if she realized it or not, but it was a tone she used strictly with them. “You promised to call them every morning, didn’t you?” She was a total softy for those kids, and he found it rather endearing. “How are they?”
“Causing trouble. Hoarding food. Hissing at Greta. They’re upset with me for not coming back when I said I would.” And that made Riley feel like utter crap.
“I aim to find who out who shot at you as soon as possible so we can get the fuck out of here.” Tao’s stomach clenched as she licked a drop of coffee from her lower lip. It hadn’t even been an hour since he’d last tasted that mouth, and he wanted it again. He also wanted to see her lips wrapped around his cock. It was something he envisioned often. Probably much too often, but he decided there were worse things to obsess over, so he didn’t give himself a hard time about it.
“You’re thinking about sex, aren’t you?” Riley could always tell, because his face would be completely deadpan but there would be an intense energy in his eyes that speared her.
“I’m thinking about fucking your mouth, to be exact.”
“Of course you are,” she said drily. “You’re a boy. Boys are delusional.”
He smiled. “You’re not going to let me feel what it’s like to slide my cock in your mouth? That doesn’t seem fair. I go down on you all the time.”
“Oh, I won’t deny you eat pussy like a champ.”
He laughed. “Like a champ?”
“Totally. But you know, over seventy percent of erectile dysfunction cases are caused by having too many blow jobs.”
“They are not.”
“They could be,” she said. “Besides, you really shouldn’t give to receive.”
He crossed to her and pulled her off the stool, sliding his hands down to her ass. “I don’t do it to receive anything. I do it because I like the taste of you.” He loved it. Craved it, even. “It’s addictive.”
“Oh really? What do I taste like?”
He brushed his mouth over hers and replied, “Mine.”
Riley didn’t really know what to make of that comment or quite how to respond to it. As if sensing that, he smiled in amusement. She narrowed her eyes. “You like it when I’m off balance, don’t you?” It was more of an accusation than a question.
“It’s only fair. You shake my balance all the time.”
Hearing two cars pull up outside, she frowned. “If that’s the Phoenix wolves, they’re early.”
“Of course they’re early,” he said, following her to the front door. “They’re worried about you.”
Opening the door wide, Riley found Hugh leading four familiar wolves up the steps and onto the porch. She gave the Beta a quick smile. “Hey, Hugh.”
His smile was a little strained. “Your friends are here. They’ve been allocated the two cabins that border this one. Think you can give them directions when you’re done here?”
“Of course.”
With a nod Hugh returned to the Chevy he’d parked beside an SUV the wolves had rented. The Beta drove off, leaving a cloud of dirt in his wake. One by one the Phoenix wolves filed inside the cabin and into the den.
Dante squeezed her shoulder and clapped Tao on the back. “How are you both doing?”
“We’ve been better,” said Tao. “How’s everyone?”
“Other than anxious for you and Riley, they’re good.”
Jaime wrapped her arms around Riley. “I have to say, I’d like to smack the shit out of whoever tried to shoot you.” Pulling back, she held Riley’s eyes as she asked, “You’re okay?”
“I’m okay,” replied Riley. “I appreciate you coming.”
Makenna hugged her. “Of course we came. The sooner we get you home and away from here, the better.”
“Which, I guess, means figuring out who’s trigger happy and then taking care of the situation,” said Dante, sinking into the sofa.
Makenna raised a finger. “Coffee first.”
“I have one, thanks,” Riley told her. “I left it on the breakfast bar, though.”
“I’ll bring it in with me.” Makenna made her way into the kitchen, and—after inclining his head in greeting at both Riley and Tao—Ryan trailed after his mate.
Taking a turn around the den, Jaime said, “This place is cute. Are the other cabins the same?”
Riley shrugged. “Pretty much, yeah.”
Dante pulled Jaime onto his lap. “How’s your friend, Riley?”
“Weak, but recovering,” she replied, joining them on the sofa.
Jaime’s brows knitted together. “The flock doesn’t have a healer?”
“Nope. My Uncle Max has enough healing skills to accelerate the process.”
“Fortunately for Lucy, Max was there when she was shot,” said Tao, perching himself on the arm of the sofa so that he was beside her.
Moments later Ryan hauled two dining chairs into the den for him and his mate while Makenna carried a tray of coffees. Once everyone was settled, cups in hand, Makenna said, “Now tell us exactly what’s been happening—leave nothing out.”
Riley and Tao told them everything, from the recent shootings and the confrontations she’d had with Cynthia and Shirley to even the small matter of someone’s ripping Tao’s clothes to shreds.
“It’s possible that someone is finishing what Wade started by shooting the people who should have been at the party that night,” said Tao. “But it occurred to me that it’s equally possible that someone’s trying to hurt Riley by hurting the people who are important to her. The bullet that hit Ethan could truly have been intended for him.”
“Another theory is that someone feels that Riley and Lucy let Wade down by not pulling him out of his depression, and now they’re punishing them,” said Dante.
Riley considered that for a moment. “Maybe. We were his closest friends. That would make Shirley the likeliest suspect, but I have to admit that my anger at her could be blinding me a little. I mean, I can’t really imagine her crouched somewhere in the mountains with a rifle. Plus whoever did it has done a good job of evading the Beta and enforcers. Shirley doesn’t strike me as the type who’d know how to cover her tracks so well.”
Makenna tilted her head. “Is there anyone else who would feel that you and Lucy let Wade down?”
“Only his father,” replied Riley. “But he died a long time ago. Wade didn’t have any friends other than me and Lucy.”
“What about the parents of the kids that Wade shot?” asked Jaime. “Do you think the shooter could be one of them, wanting you dead because they resent that you’re alive?”
“None of them seem to feel that way anymore,” said Tao.
“Okay, so let’s go back to the theory that someone could be finishing the job Wade started,” said Dante. “Who should have been there that night?”
“Me, Lucy, Cynthia, Sawyer, and Duncan.”
Ryan looked at Riley. “Do you have personal issues with any of them?”
“You could say that.” Riley told them about her history with Cynthia. “She’s also currently dating—although, honestly, ‘dating’ might be a strong word for it—my ex. Sawyer’s next in line to be Beta, and Cynthia’s always wanted to be Beta.”
“So she could see you as a threat,” said Jaime.
“If Riley still wanted Sawyer, she would be a threat.” Tao was certain of it. “The guy still wants her—even his raven is possessive of her. I think Cynthia’s the type of person who would do what she had to do to ensure she wasn’t knocked off the power ladder.”
“But I’m not sure she’s someone who’d shoot her own sister,” said Riley. “She might not have much time for Lucy or even particularly like her, but she’s still her sister.”
Dante scraped his hand over his jaw. “I don’t know . . . Just because someone’s your sibling doesn’t mean they care for you. Some people just aren’t capable of caring for anyone.”
Knowing that Dante would be thinking of his own brother, Tao nodded. “That’s true.”
“Tell me about Sawyer and Duncan,” said Dante.
Riley took a sip of her coffee. “Sawyer is ambitious, highly dominant, and isn’t rattled by much. Duncan’s very dominant, but he keeps to himself and doesn’t like leaving his territory. Oh, and he’s got personal history with Cynthia. She actually dated him the longest out of all the guys she slept with, and I think she even cares for him a little. She just cares for power more.”
Jaime fiddled with her earring. “Have you ever had any problems with Duncan?”
Riley shook her head. “None whatsoever.”
“This Sawyer guy,” began Makenna, “how long were you and he together?”
Thinking back, Riley said, “Not very long. A few months.”
“Who dumped who?” asked Jaime.
“I ended it,” replied Riley. “But not in a bitchy way.”
Dante drummed his fingers on Jaime’s thigh. “How did he react?”
“About as well as any dominant male reacts to being dumped—it’s a bruise to the ego. But we didn’t have a major fight or anything.” In fact, Riley had gotten the impression he didn’t care all that much.
“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t pissed,” said Ryan, scratching at his palm.
Makenna smiled and touched his arm. “Ooh, you’re going to get money soon.”
Ryan scowled at his mate. “What?”
“If the palm of your right hand itches, it means you’ll get money soon.”
Ryan stared at her. “Tell me you don’t truly believe that.”
She waved a hand. “Fine, be pessimistic.”
“I’m not being pessimistic, I’m being realistic. Try it sometime.”
Makenna huffed. “I don’t know why you insist on thinking there’s no substance in superstitions. I told Riley not to go traveling on a Friday because it brings misfortune, but she didn’t heed the warning and look what happened.”
“You honestly think all this happened because she came here on a Friday?”
Makenna lifted her chin. “I don’t care for your tone.”
“I don’t have a tone.”
Smiling, Riley drained her cup and stood. “I need a refill.”
Tao wasn’t surprised when Makenna and Jaime trailed after her into the kitchen. Or when the sound of a scuffle was quickly followed by the swish of the patio door’s opening and closing. The girls had no doubt dragged Riley outside to interrogate her in private about what was going on between her and Tao. After all, the cabin smelled of sex and he and Riley wore each other’s scents, so there was really no way to hide it.
Dante sank deeper into the sofa. “It’s about damn time you two stopped dancing around each other. Are you going to pretend that it’s just sex?”
“No.”
“Good.” Dante pointed at him. “Don’t mess this one up, Tao.”
“I’m not sure I could if I tried. She mostly just rolls her eyes when I piss her off.”
“Consider yourself lucky. Jaime puts all my CDs in the wrong cases when I annoy her.” And since Dante had an OCD streak, that was akin to a nightmare for him.
“Kenna makes me go shopping,” grumbled Ryan. “Have you ever been shopping with a devout bargain hunter? It’s painful.”
“She took Jaime with her the other day, so I went along,” said Dante. “They kept going all day. Searched every shelf and rack, and had the shop assistants searching the stockrooms for stuff. Once they found what they wanted, they compared prices on websites, found out where the items were cheaper, and then hauled ass there.”
Tao smiled a little smugly. “Riley doesn’t like the mall, she only shops online.”
Dante gaped. “Dude, do not let her go. Like ever. Seriously, a woman who doesn’t like the mall is a gift from God—accept that gift with gratitude and grace.”
Ryan grunted. “Let’s hope Riley will rub off on Kenna.”
Thinking of the times he’d seen Makenna come back from shopping with dozens of bags and a euphoric smile on her face, Tao twisted his mouth. “Yeah, I really don’t see that happening.”
Ryan sighed, grim. “Yeah, neither do I.”
Out on the deck, Makenna slid the patio door closed. “Well? Is Tao good in bed? I have to know.” She held up a hand. “Don’t say nothing happened. You reek of each other.”
“I wasn’t going to deny it,” said Riley. “And, yes, he knows his way around the bedroom.”
Jaime joined her hands. “Is it just sex between you, or . . . ?”
Honestly, it was starting to feel like more than that for Riley, but she simply said, “We agreed to a fling.”
Jaime dropped her hands. “No, this has to be more than a fling. If you mate with Tao, you won’t leave the pack. I like that idea.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to leave the pack and we all know it.”
“Yeah, but mating with Tao would provide me with extra insurance.”
“Do you think it’s possible that you’re true mates?” asked Makenna.
Was she kidding?
“Tao and I don’t suit each other.”
Jaime waved a hand. “Sure you do. Tao’s never had a good relationship. He’s very intense and stubborn, and he can’t hold in his emotions or opinions. It rubs a lot of dominant females the wrong way and leads to argument after argument. But you roll your eyes at his mood swings. You ignore his tantrums. You smile at his insults. You say what you think and give him no choice but to accept it. That’s what he needs—someone who isn’t threatened or challenged by his need to vent. If anything, you find it funny.”
Yeah, she did. “I’ve just never known anyone so easily riled.”
“Although you aren’t an obvious couple, you work.”
Makenna nodded in agreement. “Let’s face it, Riley: you don’t like people getting too close. He won’t stand for that shit, and only someone as determined and hardheaded as Tao could truly cope with that and get through to you. You need someone who isn’t controlling. Tao might be a pain in the ass who shoves his way into your business, but he isn’t controlling—which is rare for a dominant male. He’s also complex enough to hold your attention. Be honest; you have a short concentration span and get bored pretty easily. He’ll keep things interesting.”
Blowing out a breath, Riley sat on the porch swing.
Head tilted, Jaime looked down at her. “You’ve never looked at things that way before, have you?”
“No. Like you said, we’re not an obvious couple.”
“Neither are me and Ryan,” said Makenna. “He doesn’t believe in fate, and I’m as superstitious as they come. I like working with people and helping them. Ryan doesn’t like people, period. But we work.”
“Dante loves control,” said Jaime. “I love doing whatever I want. He’s a total neat freak, and I find order in chaos. But we’re happy.”
Riley leaned back. “But if Tao was my true mate, wouldn’t I sense it on some level?”
“Not necessarily,” said Jaime. “I had no idea Dante was my true mate. I’d known him for years, but I hadn’t sensed it. We both had too many issues jamming the frequency of the mating bond. If you and Tao build something, you might just resolve your own issues. Maybe a mating bond will snap into place, maybe it won’t. It might take imprinting to—” She cut off as the patio door slid open and the males stepped out.
“You girls done gossiping yet?” asked Dante.
Jaime lifted her chin, looking affronted. “We don’t gossip.”
Her mate snickered. “Sure you don’t.”
“So, what now?” Riley asked him.
“You and Tao will stay here while the rest of us question the other people who should have been at the party that night,” Dante replied. “We need to know why they weren’t there, because it’s possible someone didn’t go because they knew what was going to happen.”
“You think that one of them could have put Wade up to it and they’re now finishing the job?” Riley asked.
“Possibly,” said Dante. “We have a few theories that we need to explore.”
“What Wade did was totally out of character for him, but he wasn’t himself back then,” said Riley. “People do strange and even awful things when they’re depressed like that. I honestly don’t think anyone was behind it.”
Dante leaned against the porch post. “You’re probably right, but I’d still like to speak with them. There is still the possibility that one of them is responsible for the recent shootings.”
“They may not talk to us,” said Makenna.
“Sage assured me that he’d tell his flock mates to cooperate with you,” said Tao. “Hopefully, that will be enough to make them do so.”
“Don’t come across as accusatory, or it will put them on the defensive,” Riley told Dante.
The Beta gave her a shark’s grin. “Don’t worry, this isn’t my first round of interrogations.”
“Oh yeah, I know all about your version of interrogations.” He was quite the merciless master at them. “That’s what’s worrying me.”
“I say we split up to do the interviews,” Dante proposed. “Jaime and I will talk to Sawyer, since I think he’s more likely to talk to a Beta, since he’s so eager to be one. We’ll also have a chat with Shirley.” Dante turned to Makenna. “You’re good at getting people to open up, so you go see Cynthia and Duncan with Ryan.”
At Makenna’s nod, Dante straightened. “Then let’s get going.”
Shirley’s cabin was close by, so Dante decided they should speak with her first. Fingers linked with Jaime’s, he made his way to the small building that was almost an exact image of their guest cabin.
Shirley took her sweet time opening the front door. Then she stood in the doorway, arms folded, peering down at them like a princess glaring down at the peasants. His wolf growled.
Still, he offered her a cordial smile. “I’m Dante, and this is—”
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
“I’m sure your Alpha warned you that we would,” said Dante.
Shirley leaned a little toward him. “I’ll tell you what I told him. I don’t believe that anyone from the flock is the gunman. Your pack mate’s original theory is the only one that makes sense.”
“From what I’ve heard,” began Dante, “you’ve always felt that someone manipulated your son into shooting those ravens four years ago.”
Shirley straightened, face softening slightly. “My Wade was a gentle boy. Caring. He didn’t have an aggressive bone in his body. Even if he was depressed, I don’t believe he went through the trouble of finding himself a gun to kill all those people. No way.” She shook her head, adamant. “If it was someone from the flock, it could only have been Riley.”
Dante bit back a growl. Riley was his pack mate, whether she was prepared to accept it or not, and he didn’t like hearing someone make such an accusation about her. Apparently, neither did Jaime, because her hand was clenching his tightly. “Why?”
“Because he let her live.”
She said it as if that were proof. Dante forced himself to speak calmly. “Maybe he let her live because that caring part of Wade reared its head just enough to recognize that, unlike the others, she was his friend.”
Shirley looked away.
“If you’re right and someone gave your son that gun, it could be that they’re now intent on finishing the job. Don’t you want to know who it is? Don’t you want to know who might have done that to Wade?”
Shirley didn’t say anything, but the hostility seemed to slip out of her expression.
“Did anyone spend a lot of time with Wade before his death?” asked Dante.
Shirley sighed, rubbing her temple. “I don’t know.”
“I understand that this is difficult for you,” Dante began, “but I need you to think real hard. Was there anyone who visited him a lot back then?”
“Riley and Lucy.”
“Anyone else?”
Shirley was about to say no, but then her brow creased. “Sawyer came around here a few times, come to think of it. It surprised me, because they weren’t friends. He hadn’t exactly disliked Wade, but he’d always been aloof toward him at best.”
“Do you know what they talked about?” Dante asked.
Shirley shook her head. “Now that I think about it, Wade used to get a lot of text messages back then too.”
“From who?”
“I’m not sure. I’d ask him who it was, thinking maybe he had a girlfriend, but he’d always mumble, ‘No one’ and walk off.”
After a moment Dante nodded. “Thank you for speaking with us.” Still in possession of Jaime’s hand, he pulled her down the path.
“Delightful woman,” muttered Jaime when she heard the door close. “I agree with Riley. Shirley’s pissed and has a major hard-on for Riley, but she doesn’t have that killer’s edge. So where do we find Sawyer?”
Dante kissed her, just because. “Riley called Hugh before we left; he said that Sawyer is patrolling the southern perimeter.”
“Then let’s head that way.”
It didn’t take long to find Sawyer, and he didn’t seem at all surprised or daunted to see them striding purposefully toward him.
Dante stopped a few feet away. “I’m Dante, and this is my mate, Jaime. We were wondering if you had a few minutes to talk. Like it or not, you’re a possible target of whoever went after Riley and Lucy. We need your help to find out who’s behind this.”
Sawyer studied them intently for a minute. “You’re Betas.”
Dante nodded. “We are.”
That fact alone seemed to be enough to make Sawyer drop his guard. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you know of anyone with a grudge against the ravens in your age-group?”
“Only Wade. I’m sure Riley told you what it was like for him growing up.”
“She did,” Dante confirmed. “If someone is targeting the few of you who didn’t attend the party, it would suggest that they feel Wade’s actions were justified and that his job was left undone. It could even be that someone gave Wade a little push in that direction four years ago.”
Sawyer’s look was doubtful. “Shirley believes the latter, but that’s only because it’s hard for her to accept that Wade did what he did. But though Wade was a lot of things, he wasn’t weak. Peer pressure never worked on him. And he was a smart kid. If someone had been trying to brainwash him into doing something so against his nature, he would have seen it.”
“Did anyone seem especially eager for you to be at the party that night?”
Sawyer pursed his lips. “No.”
“Did anyone try to persuade you not to go?”
Sawyer seemed surprised by the question. “Cynthia tried to lure me to her house that night. She’d heard Riley and I broke up.”
Dante’s brow lifted. “Did you go to Cynthia’s?”
“No, I went looking for Riley. She’d already left.”
Dante was quiet for a moment. “You allegedly spent a lot of time with Wade before the shootings. Shirley says she found it strange, since you weren’t friends.”
“Riley was worried about him.”
“You thought helping him would impress her?” asked Jaime. “That it might make her go back to you?”
“Maybe, but then I saw just how right she was to be worried,” said Sawyer. “He’d lost a lot of weight, he wasn’t taking care of his hygiene, and there was no drive in him—no motivation to even get out of bed. And he had all these drawings in his room.”
Dante cocked his head. “What kind of drawings?”
“They were dark and violent,” said Sawyer. “Pictures of demon-type monsters, like something out of a nightmare. He only ever used the colors black and red. I asked him about them. He said the demons talked to him; they wanted blood. I thought he meant his own blood—that he had some kind of inner demon he couldn’t face and he wanted to hurt himself.”
“Did you tell anyone?” Jaime asked.
“I told Shirley. She didn’t see how him drawing dark pictures meant anything was wrong. She said he’d suffered from nightmare disorder since he was a kid and he’d always drawn the things he’d seen in the dreams, that I was making a fuss about nothing.” Sawyer sighed. “I listened to her, and now he’s dead, and so are a bunch of other people. I have to live with that.”
After a short pause, Jaime spoke. “Shirley said somebody used to text him a lot back then. Was that you?”
“Yes,” replied Sawyer. “I liked to check on him, see how he was. I’ll admit it, it started out as me trying to impress Riley. But when I realized how bad his situation was, when I realized how little I’d done over the years to defend this person, I felt like shit about it and wanted to help him.” He shrugged. “But I couldn’t,” he added grimly. “None of us could.”
As she and Ryan reached Cynthia’s cabin, Makenna sighed. She really wasn’t looking forward to talking to this bitch, but it had to be done. Her mostly mute mate certainly wasn’t going to do it, and that was for the best, since he wasn’t exactly a people person. “Please try to refrain from grunting at her. I don’t want to give her an excuse to shut the door in our faces.”
Ryan, of course, grunted.
“I don’t want to be near her either, so let’s just get it over with.” Stepping onto the porch, Makenna knocked on the door.
Cynthia opened it a crack, eyes narrowed. “I’m not answering any of your questions, I have nothing to say.”
“Riley said you’d avoid talking with us,” Makenna lied, “but I said you wouldn’t do anything that would make you look guilty. Not unless you had anything to hide, anyway. Do you?”
Her eyes flared. “No, I do not.”
“But you won’t talk to us,” Makenna pointed out.
Her lips flattened. “I don’t have to.”
“In your position, I’d want to know who shot my sister and see them pay. And I’d accept all the help I could get.”
Cynthia hesitated, seeming torn.
“We just have a few questions.” Makenna’s tone was steady and friendly. “It won’t take long.”
With a sigh of impatience, Cynthia opened the door a little wider. “I firmly believe that the person who shot my sister is not part of this flock. Everyone here likes Lucy.” The latter was said with a note of envy. “We were all scarred by what happened four years ago. None of us would wish to see it happen again.”
“You were invited to Alec’s party, but you didn’t go. Why?”
Cynthia blinked. “I had every intention of going. I was simply late getting ready.”
“Was there anyone who asked you not to go?”
She put a hand on her hip. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“Humor me.”
“Duncan asked me to meet him at the make-out spot near the hot springs. We used to date back then. But I told him I would be at the party and that he should meet me there. I wasn’t going to miss a party like that.”
Makenna heard the lie. “Really? Because we heard differently,” she bluffed, hoping Cynthia might believe they’d spoken with the others first and heard something to contradict her.
Cynthia’s eyes tightened. “Sawyer told you.” She sniffed. “Okay, fine, I invited him to my house that night. I didn’t think he’d want to go to the party anyway, after all the shit that happened between him and Alec.”
“Can you elaborate?” asked Ryan.
Cynthia replied, “He ordered Alec and his friends to ease up on Wade, though I’ve no idea why he cared. They agreed. The next night, they beat the shit out of Wade—Alec was sending a message to Sawyer that he wouldn’t take orders from him. They ended up dueling, and Alec submitted when it became clear he wasn’t going to win. He then apologized, and so did the others. A few nights later, they all went to a bar together. At some point they got Sawyer drunk, stripped him naked, tied him to a tree, and left him there . . . but not before taking photographic evidence. You can imagine how much that pissed off Sawyer.”
Yeah, Makenna could. Dominant males had a proud streak a hundred miles long.
“Of course, Sawyer then practically pulverized Alec when he got home,” Cynthia went on. “It wasn’t the first time they’d gone head-to-head like that, and it probably wouldn’t have been the last.”
“When did that happen?”
“Maybe a month before the party, something like that. They’d settled things by then, but it still surprised me that Sawyer said he would go. I sure wouldn’t have risked getting drunk around them again, in his position.”
“I see. One last thing . . . Is there anyone who might have a grudge against the people of your age-group?”
“Sure. Riley. Oh, I can see that you doubt that. Ask her how many years of her life she spent defending poor Wade. Ask how many years she spent arguing and fighting the people who continued to target him, no matter what she did. Maybe she blamed them all for his depression.”
Bitch. Makenna offered her a grateful smile that she suspected bared a few too many teeth. “Thanks for your time.”
“You’re welcome.” Then she slammed the door in their faces.
Grunting, Ryan herded Makenna to the end of Cynthia’s path.
“Such a sweetheart,” Makenna remarked. “At least she talked to us. Hopefully, Duncan does too.”
Makenna and Ryan headed straight to the eastern border, where they had been told they could find Duncan. He was sitting on a large rock. At the sight of them approaching, he slowly stood . . . like a snake uncoiling. He stared at them with blatant distrust.
Hoping to put him at ease, Makenna smiled as she introduced herself and Ryan. “We’d like to speak with you, if you can spare us a few minutes. Our questions are pretty basic.”
After a long moment, Duncan said, “All right. Ask.”
“Why didn’t you go to Alec’s party?”
“I wasn’t invited.”
She blinked. “Your father is under the impression that you should have been there.”
“I told him I was going,” said Duncan. “Really, my plan was to meet with Cynthia near the hot springs.”
Makenna nodded. “Why weren’t you invited?”
Duncan shrugged. “Probably because Alec had never liked me much. Cynthia dumped him for me, and he didn’t take it too well.”
“Did Cynthia agree to meet with you that night?”
“No.”
“Sawyer says that Cynthia invited him to her house,” Makenna said as sensitively as possible.
“She probably did,” said Duncan, his tone surprisingly even. “Cynthia likes having her cake and eating it too. Back then, she didn’t want to end things with me, but she wanted Sawyer—she’s wanted him for a long time.”
And that clearly hurt him, thought Makenna as pain briefly spiked in his eyes. She couldn’t help feeling a little bad for him. “Do you have any idea who, other than Wade, might have had a grudge against your age-group?”
Duncan shook his head. “No.”
Makenna felt Ryan tense beside her, and she knew why; she’d sensed the lie too. “Duncan, now is really not the time to hold back information.”
He glanced away. “I’ve told you all I know.”
“Is it about Cynthia?”
He exhaled heavily. “Yes, okay. And if I say anything, you’ll point fingers at her.”
“She already has fingers pointed at her, Duncan,” said Makenna. “I know you want to protect her, and I can understand that. But someone shot at Riley and Lucy. They have to be stopped.”
“Cynthia wouldn’t hurt Lucy.”
He seemed to genuinely believe that, Makenna thought. She, on the other hand, didn’t. Blood didn’t always mean anything to people. “Then what’s the harm in telling us why she might have held a grudge against all the others?”
“It wasn’t that she held a grudge.” He rubbed at his eyes. “Look, someone hurt her, okay? Hurt her bad.”
Makenna’s stomach turned, because it was clear by the torment in his eyes just what he meant by “hurt.” She didn’t like Cynthia, but she could still feel sympathy for her. “Who did it?” But Duncan didn’t answer; he just stared over her shoulder. “Answer me this, at least: were they at the party that night?”
“I don’t know.”
“Duncan.”
“I don’t know. Cynthia doesn’t know who hurt her. She woke up near the waterfall. She was soaking wet, like she’d been dunked in it. Her clothes were torn, her mind was fuzzy like she’d been drugged, and she was . . . she was sore enough to know she’d been raped. But she had no idea who’d done it, no memory of anything happening.”
Well, fuck. “When did this happen?” He hesitated to answer, so she gently pushed. “When?”
“Six months before the shootings.”
“Did she tell her parents?”
“No. She was ashamed. Control is important to Cynthia. Whoever attacked her took that away from her that night. The only reason I know is that she showed up at my house after she woke up near the waterfall. She had no scents on her—the water had washed them away. I helped her shower, dressed her in some of my mom’s clothes . . . and then she just left. She hasn’t spoken about it since. She refuses to admit it even happened.”
Working at the shelter for lone shifters, Makenna had met many people who’d been assaulted, and many who denied it because it was really the only way they could cope.
“Now you’re thinking that gives her reason to want all those people dead, that maybe she thought the best way to know she’d hurt the person who’d hurt her was if she took out every one of them.” Duncan shook his head. “There’s no saying for sure that it wasn’t one of the adults in the flock who did it. Besides, she’s blocked it out. She won’t face it, let alone stew enough on it to seek vengeance.”
He did have a point, she thought. “Do you have any idea who might have done it?”
“If I did, they’d be dead.” A mocking glint entered his eyes. “Now you’re thinking I have motive too, right? Who says I didn’t have them killed in the hope that I might have avenged her?”
“Did you?” asked Ryan.
“No,” said Duncan. “But if I’d known who did it, I would have avenged her. She can be a bitch and she gets off on hurting people, which has earned her plenty of enemies, but she didn’t deserve that.”
Makenna would have to agree with that. “I appreciate you answering our questions. I won’t mention anything about Cynthia’s attack to the flock.”
Once she and Ryan were out of Duncan’s hearing, Ryan said to her, “Don’t feel bad for her. She’s an A-class bitch who’s done her best to make Riley miserable.”
Makenna sighed. “I know. I’ve learned that some people are just hateful and negative. You’d think that anyone who woke up to a view like this would be a happy person. I mean, look at all those cacti and rocks and mountains. Bet you see some cool wildlife around here.” She abruptly halted and threw out her arm, barring Ryan from taking a single step forward. “Look, there’s a penny on the floor by your foot. Didn’t I tell you you’d be getting money soon?” She bent to pick it up but then snatched back her hand. “It’s tails side up. Don’t touch it.”
Grunting, Ryan shook his head and walked away.
Makenna gaped at his back. “There’s no need for language like that, White Fang.”
When the Phoenix wolves returned to Riley and Tao’s temporary cabin later, they all settled in the den, where they discussed how the interrogations had gone.
Afterward Tao said, “So, in short, each of them has a reason to have—at the very least—been pissed with the kids who died that night.”
Dante slid his fist down Jaime’s long sable ponytail. “I meant to ask you, Riley, did anyone try pressuring you to not go to the party?”
“They didn’t need to,” said Riley. “I had no intention of going.”
Makenna’s brow creased. “Why did you?”
“Lucy wanted to go, but she didn’t want to go alone.” Riley held up a hand before anyone tried to imply Lucy had had anything to do with what happened. “It can’t be Lucy—she was shot.”
“She could have an accomplice, though that’s stretching things a bit,” said Ryan.
Tao curled an arm around Riley. “You said you wouldn’t have gone at all if Lucy hadn’t asked you.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So it’s possible that people didn’t expect you to be there. Wade might have been surprised to see you.”
Riley swallowed, remembering Wade’s vacant stare. “I don’t think he was feeling much of anything that night, least of all surprise.”
Dante turned to Tao. “What does your gut tell you? I trust your gut.”
“I can’t trust my gut,” said Tao. “I’m too pissed at these people about other things to be unbiased about this.”
Riley had the exact same problem. Although she had no idea what to think, she found herself smiling at each of the wolves. “I’m really glad you guys came.”
Jaime returned the smile. “Of course we came. You’re pack.”