My shop.

The raw pain of seeing everything I’d built over the last five years torn to shreds cut through my body like a blade. My skin itched, like it was covered in open sores.

I sat in the least lumpy chair in the drawing room, my feet on grandmother’s prized Turkish tea table, and a glass of scotch gripped in my shaking hand. I’d already sent two drams down to fuel my twisting stomach, and the few drops left in my current glass were about to join them.

I hadn’t seen Robbie since I got home. He’d stormed through the house, searching for Rolf. But the big werewolf was still gone. Briefly, I wondered if that was an admission of guilt, but I just couldn’t believe Rolf had done this. He had a lot riding on the successful alliance with Caleb – it just didn’t make sense that he’d risk it all on a senseless act of destruction. Anyway, Robbie had headed out again, probably to look for him, so I guessed we’d find out sooner or later.

If it wasn’t Rolf, then who did it?

There was a knock at the door. I stared at the frowning portrait of Grandmother June above the fireplace, and poured myself another scotch. Maybe if I ignored them, they’d go away.

Knock knock.

Just go away. Please go away.

Why had I even decided to make this place an art house, anyway? The last thing I needed right now was some smelly poet begging for a room.

Knock knock.

Fuck them, they can stay out in the cold. I just lost the first business I built up from scratch, the one thing I loved doing even more than shagging.

“Who didn’t lock this door?” Caleb’s voice echoed through the hall. “Bianca, it’s me. Are you here?”

“Back here,” I called out, swallowing the last of my drink. I had to focus hard to set down the bottle and my glass on the table without dropping them.

Caleb burst through the drawing room, with Eric right behind him. Caleb wrapped his arms around me. “Elinor told me everything. I’m so fucking pissed this happened to you. We’ll get the bastard, I promise.”

“Thanks, mate.” I accepted the hug, grateful I had these guys in my life. At least when you were surrounded by werewolves with super strength, you feel at least a tiny bit invincible.

After a final squeeze, Caleb and Eric sank into the chairs opposite me.

“Elinor and I talked to the police,” Eric said. “They’re pretty stumped. They definitely seem to think it was a wild animal. Of course, they’re connecting it to the creature who sometimes attacks people in the forest.” He gave me a small smile. Every time there was an incident involving shifters in Crookshollow – which frequently involved members of our pack – the police would write it off as a rabid dog or some other kind of animal attack. It was better than them stumbling on to the existence of shifters, but still seemed ridiculous given the facts. In this case, the “Crookshollow monster” was a scapegoat. It meant that the police wouldn’t do any more work into investigating who trashed Resurrection Ink.

“You can imagine the press are having a field day.” Caleb rubbed his temple. “They’re starting to put together all the different incidents. We’re creating an urban legend. I saw a headline in the Crookshollow Chronicle about ‘The Monster of Crookshollow Forest’.”

“Even that woman from the London Underground was hanging out taking pictures,” Ryan said. “I thought she’d have gone back to the city by now.”

“Serenity? She wanted a tattoo first,” I said. “I’ve just got a bit of colouring to finish on her sleeve piece. Although,” I frowned, “I guess that’s not going to happen now.”

“Elinor’s been on the phone with the insurance company all afternoon.” Eric grabbed the scotch from the table and pouring a dram for Caleb and himself. “She’ll have your money in no time, and you’ll be back up and running before you know it.”

“Is Robbie around?” Caleb asked, glancing toward the entrance hall. I thought he looked a little nervous, but then my vision blurred and it was gone. I rubbed my temples. The alcohol was already making my brain all fuzzy. Good. I wanted to erase this horrible day, and if alcohol could get me there, so be it.

“I haven’t seen him since we got back. He thinks Rolf did it, so he’s gone into the forest to try and find him. He was mumbling something about following Rolf’s trail from last night. You should probably send someone after them. Robbie and Rolf have some kind of intense rivalry going on, and I’m not sure how long your alliance will hold up when Robbie’s through with him.”

Caleb and Eric exchanged a look.

“What?” I drowned my glass and slammed it down on the table. “I know Rolf didn’t do it, okay? It would be stupid given your alliance.”

Caleb knitted his fingers together.

“Fuck.” I reached for the bottle. “Do you think Rolf did it?”

Caleb shook his head. “No. Rolf would be risking too much. Besides, he was with me and Irvine and the rest of the pack at Tir Na Nog last night. I can’t say for a fact I watched him every second, but I doubt he would have had time to duck out, trash the store, and get back without anyone noticing.”

I remembered Rolf’s text to me last night. I hadn’t realised the rest of the pack had been there, too. “How come you didn’t invite Robbie and I along?”

“Because Robbie has made it clear he can’t stand Rolf, and I didn’t want it to be difficult for him.”

So Rolf had been telling the truth. Caleb really was losing faith in Robbie. I met Caleb’s eyes, pouring my rage into my words. “I want you to find the person who did this. I want them to pay.”

“The police will—”

“The police,” I growled, “will do sweet fuck-all, and you know it. As you pointed out, they’re gonna pin it on the ‘Crookshollow Monster’ so they can go back to stuffing their faces with doughnuts. I want the kind of justice the Lowe pack dishes out. I want you and Luke and Robbie to get this prick and tear his throat out.”

“That’s what I came here to talk to you about.” Caleb picked up a backpack he’d dropped beside the floor. He pulled a piece of fabric from the bag, and handed it to me. “Do you recognise this?”

I took the fabric in my hands and turned it over. It was a black v-necked jumper, a £1 sticker from the charity shop still stuck to the washing instructions. “Yeah. It’s Robbie’s. Why?”

“We found it at the shop,” Eric said.

I frowned at the jumper, my foggy mind struggling to understand. “He must’ve left it there the last time he came by—”

Eric leaned forward. “Bianca, I was out last night, around midnight, getting some takeaways from the shop across the road from Resurrection. You know how Elinor gets after drinking – she was begging for a greasy burger. I saw Robbie behind the rubbish bins, in his wolf form. He even waved at me.”

“Robbie was there last night? He never said anything about going out.” My head throbbed. The alcohol burned in my veins. All the strings of these clues dangled in front of me, but I couldn’t seem to grab them and put them together. “He must’ve gone for a run in the forest after I was asleep. It is near the full moon—”

“Bianca.” Caleb set his drink down. His face was grave. “Eric and I think … we’re worried that Robbie might’ve done this.”

“What? Why would he have—”

“That’s what we were hoping you might be able to tell us.” Caleb said. “There are only two wolf scents by the shop – Rolf and Robbie. We know Rolf was there getting inked by you during the day, but we have no evidence he was there last night.”

My heart pounded in my ears. It can’t be true. Robbie loves me. He wouldn’t do this to me.

And yet …

Robbie has been so jealous of Rolf. He hated Rolf being at The Prim. He’d been unable to control his shift when he’d seen me kiss Willow, and his rage over Rolf was so much more intense. If he’d thought I’d been giving Rolf a chance, what would he do to …

My heart broke. The pain gripped my chest like a vice, tearing at my skin, ripping through sinew and bone.

Robbie did this. He destroyed my shop. He did this to control me, just like my parents tried to destroy me so they could control me.

“Bianca?” Caleb leaned forward, placing his hand on mine. “Are you okay?”

I should’ve know this was too good to be true. I should’ve seen that it would end with Robbie betraying me and me being alone. No one does anything for love. It’s all about control.

“I have to go,” I whispered.

Caleb reached over to squeeze my arm, but I yanked it away. I tried to stand, but my vision swam, and I lost my balance, toppling back against my couch. Tears sprang in my eyes.

“Stay here with her,” Caleb told Eric. “Call Elinor. I’ll go find Robbie. We need to sort this out—”

Caleb’s voice faded away, replaced by a loud ringing in my ears. The room spun, the drab wallpaper bleeding into a dark cloud that drew up around me like a fog. Strong hands gripped me under the arms as I fell into a void of black despair.