We’d walked past the Bell sisters’ trailer and paused to say hello before Eli finally decided to talk about what his dad had said. His eyes darkened, and I felt the first flickers of panic shift through me.

Was Eli in trouble?

“He wasn’t happy with what I did,” Eli said. He scratched at the back of his head with his free hand. “Apparently, there was speculation Drew’s death might not have been an accident.”

Alarm nipped at my insides as my heart dropped to my toes. We’d been so careful. At least I thought we had been.

We’d made sure to wipe everything off and to put things back. We’d carried Drew to the stairs and cleaned things up. Hell, we’d even burned the rags we’d used to wipe everything down. There wasn’t any evidence left.

Unless…

No. The shirt I’d worn that night was stuffed in the bottom of my clothes hamper. Besides, there wasn’t any evidence on it. My blood stained it, not Drew’s.

“Wait a minute, you said there was, as in there isn’t any more?” I narrowed my eyes while I attempted to force my lungs to remember how to breathe before I had a full-blown panic attack. “Is everything smoothed over now?”

“Everything is smoothed over, but it took a little convincing from my dad’s contact at the station.”

I released the breath I’d been holding. “Well, thank goodness for Dan.”

When we reached Eli’s trailer, I started up the steps to his front door. My pulse continued to throb in my fingertips as I reached for the knob. I needed to chill out. My heart might explode if I didn’t. I stepped inside his trailer and instantly froze.

Eli had purchased his first large piece of furniture—an overstuffed couch. My eyes trailed over the soft gray suede. When had he gotten this? Better yet, how had I not noticed him hauling it through the trailer park in the back of his truck?

“Aw, you’re all grown up now. Look at you, you’ve finally got real furniture,” I teased as I stepped farther inside.

A lopsided grin stretched across his face as he deposited the towels Gran had given him on the kitchen counter. “I had real furniture before. What do you call those chairs outside?”

“Bag chairs. Camping equipment. Not real furniture.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, well they were real to me.”

“When did you get this?”

“I picked it up yesterday,” he said. “And, yes. It does happen to be the first piece of actual furniture I’ve ever bought. I guess I am all grown up now.”

His eyes were on me. I could feel them, but I couldn’t look at him. If I did, he might be able to see how jealous of him I was.

“That’s got to be exciting.” I cleared my throat, hoping to clear away my bitter emotions as easily.

It didn’t work.

Instead I continued to wonder what it must feel like to live in your own place. To purchase your own furniture. To decorate with your own style. Would I ever be able to know what that felt like? Even if I was taking care of my dad?

“It is,” Eli said. “It’s hard, though. Took me forever to pick something out.”

I crossed to the couch and skimmed my fingertips over its smooth surface. “What made you decide to get a gray one?” For whatever reason, I assumed he’d go for something black.

“Because I know you like the color.”

His words surprised me. I opened my mouth to say something, but Eli spoke before I could.

“Sit. Try it out,” he suggested. He stepped to the couch and flopped down, then patted the cushion beside him.

My lips quirked into a small smile as I rounded his couch to sit. It was surprisingly comfortable. The kind of couch you curl up on in a pair of comfy sweats and watch too much TV. My gaze drifted around the trailer, searching for anything else I might have missed he’d added to his space.

“The couch is all I’ve bought,” Eli said, knowing what I was doing. A tiny wisp of unease trickled through my system at him having guessed right about my thoughts. “The towels don’t count.” He winked.

My gaze shifted to the stack. Gran popped into my head, and I knew I shouldn’t be here much longer. One, she was cooking dinner and would have my head if I was late. And two, she probably had a mental stopwatch going since I stepped out the door. If I was here much longer, she’d begin to suspect there was more going on between Eli and me than I cared for her to.

“So,” I said as I smoothed my hands along my thighs while going for a seamless topic shift but not knowing how to create one. “You said things with your dad went good and bad. I’m assuming the bad was the police suspecting foul play before Dan could change their minds.”

“Sort of.”

My stomach somersaulted. “What do you mean?”

“Well, maybe there was more bad than good.” His teeth ground together as his jaw tightened. “My actions earned us a chaperone.”

“A chaperone? Who?”

“Dorian.”

“You can’t be serious. Dorian is so shoved up Sheila’s butt it’s not even funny. How could he possibly chaperone us for anything?”

Eli cracked a smile, obviously liking my mild burst of anger. Or my valid description of Dorian. “I know, right?”

“Seriously though. Dorian isn’t much older than us. I figured when you said your dad gave us a chaperone it would be someone older. Like Mr. Marshall or something.”

“Nope. He chose Dorian.” Eli sighed. “I’m supposed to meet with him later tonight to discuss things in-depth. Dad has filled him in on some details but not everything. Just the basics that he knew before today. He’s been too busy.”

“Dorian’s been busy or your dad has?” I couldn’t imagine what Dorian could be busy with besides sucking face with Sheila. I’d never seen a couple as all over each other as them.

“Both actually,” Eli insisted. “Dorian’s been helping my dad, along with Mr. Marshall and a couple others from the pack.”

I leaned back against the couch, realizing whatever our alpha was dealing with must be huge if he needed to pull in so many members of the pack to help. The desire to ask for more details burned across the tip of my tongue, but I refused to let them slip free. Eli wouldn’t be able to give me details anyway.

“I can see it in your eyes you’re hoping for details about what my dad has been working on,” Eli said.

Was I an open book to him? What the hell?

“No, I’m not.” My words came out too quick to seem believable.

“Yes, you are.” Eli licked his lips. “I can’t tell you everything, but what I can say is that what my dad is dealing with pertains to what we’re dealing with. Sort of.”

He had my undivided attention.

“You know about the deal our pack has with the Caraway witches, right?” Eli asked.

“Yeah, we all know about that.”

It was a simple deal. One that benefited both parties.

We kept vampires out of Mirror Lake, with the exception of the Montevallo vampire family, and the Caraway witches would keep our ceremonial grounds hidden from humans on the night of the full moon each month. It was so we could run freely and host our ceremony without risking being seen.

It was a win-win.

“Then you know the deal is no other vampires besides the Montevallo family are allowed to step foot inside Mirror Lake.”

“Are you saying more have?” I asked as I held his gaze. A shiver slipped along my spine. I didn’t like the idea of bloodsuckers lurking in the woods any more than I liked the idea of Shane’s brothers hunting in them.

It truly seemed as though the woods of Mirror Lake were becoming more dangerous as the days passed.

Eli nodded. “A group of vampires attempted to settle in town just before Glenn went missing.”

“Do you think it’s a coincidence, or do you think both situations are connected to one another?” I wasn’t sure I believed in coincidences, but it seemed as though that was what Eli was hinting at.

“Actually, I do think they are connected. So does my dad. We think it might have been supposed to be a distraction, but we aren’t sure.”

My teeth sank into my bottom lip.

“This might seem shocking to you, but my dad learned Alec’s uncle is involved in some shady dealings with the new group of vampires.” He paused as though allowing me to process what he’d said before pressing forward. “I know nothing I say will make you stay away from Alec, but now that I know his uncle is involved with the vampires stirring up trouble for our pack, I can’t stress enough how careful you need to be while around him.”

I wanted to be mad at Eli for dragging Alec into this, but I couldn’t find it in myself. I knew he was only warning me again because he cared about me. On the other hand, how many times did I have to tell Eli that Alec was his own person? He wasn’t his uncle.

“I get you’re worried about me, but please don’t play the guilty-by-association card again.” The words fell from my lips before I could stop them.

“I’m not trying to, Mina,” Eli insisted. His eyes darkened as his irritation toward me made itself known. My teeth ground together. If someone were to look at us right now, they’d have a hard time trying to determine who was more pissed—him or me. “All I’m saying is now that we know Alec’s uncle is involved with vampires, shady vampires at that, I think you should be more careful when you’re around him. I would tell you to stay away from him altogether, considering what we also know about his best—”

“You better not even go there.” Anger bubbled through my system.

“I’m not saying I am telling you, I said I would tell you,” Eli ground out. “There’s a difference.”

“I’m not sure I like you telling me anything. Alec is a good guy. How many times do I have to say it?” I seethed.

Eli held up his hands. “I’m not having this conversation with you. I won’t argue with you either. All I’m saying is that I want you to please be careful around Alec.”

I crossed my legs, folded my arms over my chest, and bounced my foot. My lips clamped shut, even though there was loads more I could say on the subject. We were never going to see eye to eye on it though so my words didn’t matter.

“What are the vampires doing in town?” I asked, circling back to where the whole conversation started and getting back to the point.

“I can’t give you details on that. All I can say is Alec’s uncle was spotted conversing with them.”

Infuriating. Eli was infuriating to me right now.

“Okay.” I dragged the word out. “What’s the next move? What does your dad suggest we do?”

“He agreed the next step should be checking out Peter’s place, but our chaperone, Dorian, has to come with us. I’ve been heavily advised not to have a repeat of what happened with Drew.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I agreed with Eli’s dad. The worst thing we could do is allow the same thing to happen with Peter. If Peter died shortly after his brother, suspicions were sure to rise. Fingers would be pointed, and I was positive Shane would make sure most of them were aimed in our direction.

Maybe having Dorian come along was a good idea. Hopefully he had a level head in situations like this.

“Okay, so we’re going to check out Peter’s place,” I said, leaving out how much I hoped we would find Glenn there. Getting him back to Taryn was one of my top priorities. It wouldn’t completely ease the guilt I felt when thinking about his disappearance, but it would be a start.

“Didn’t Drew and Shane mention something during their conversation in the woods about Peter having Glenn?” I asked.

“I think so.”

“Then there’s a really good chance Glenn has been at Peter’s place all along.” How in the hell was I just now thinking of this?

“It’s possible but highly unlikely. You saw how quickly they were willing to get rid of Violet. She was supposed to be sent out the next night. If Peter did have Glenn, it’s been too long since he was taken. There’s no way he’d still be there. Heck, he was probably gone the day after we overheard them talking in the woods.”

It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I needed some hope, damn it. “There’s still a chance. You can’t outright discredit my theory.”

“No, I can’t but I don’t want to get your hopes up either,” Eli insisted. “Did you talk to your Gran about Violet? Does she have an idea as to why she isn’t healing properly?”

I deflated at the mention of Violet. Even if Glenn was found, there was no way in hell he’d be any better off than she was. Nausea sloshed through my stomach. He might have been severed from his wolf for good considering how long he was probably devoid of any silver.

“She has a theory, but it’s not good,” I said. “Gran thinks because Violet was left without silver touching her that her wolf has been severed.”

“Oh shit,” Eli gasped. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Me neither, but the bars on the cage we found her in were iron. You noticed that yourself. And she was completely naked when we found her.” I chewed my bottom lip, thinking of how scared she must have felt. “She was left without silver for a couple of days. Gran says her wolf is lost. Their connection has been broken, and all we can do is pray to the moon goddess allows them to find one another again.”

We lapsed into silence. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to become severed from my wolf, and Eli seemed to be equally lost in his thoughts.

“It makes sense. That could be why she hasn’t healed properly yet,” Eli said. He ran a hand over his face.

“Yeah, and I’m not one hundred percent sure her ankle will ever heal after this. It might be a permanent injury, something similar to what my dad struggles with.” I hated it for her. It made me wish we’d gotten to her sooner. That I had done more.

I was there. I should’ve done something to force her back home.

It should’ve been me Drew took. Not her.

“Don’t go down that path, Mina.” Eli whispered, his words soft and sweet.

How was he doing this mind judo trick? Was it something he was doing, or had I really become that transparent with my thoughts? “What are you talking about?”

“I can see the guilt swirling through your eyes. You’re feeling guilty for not getting her out of the woods fast enough. You’re feeling guilty because you know Drew was there the night she was taken because he wanted you,” Eli insisted. He placed a hand on my knee. I stared at it, feeling the heat from him soak through my skin. “Don’t go down that path. It won’t change anything, and it damn sure won’t help.”

“How do you do that?” I whispered.

“Do what?”

“Always know exactly what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling, without me having to say?”

“Easy.” Eli grinned. His tongue snaked out to moisten his lips. “We have a strong connection, you and me.”

We did. I’d felt it repeatedly over the years. Lately, the more I was around him, the harder it was to deny.

Eli’s thumb made slow circles across the top of my knee as his vibrant green eyes continued to bore into me. I licked my lips and held his stare as one thought circled through my mind on repeat: Maybe it was time I let Alec go and gave into what I was feeling with Eli.

My cell chimed inside my pocket. It jolted me from the moment building between us. I stood, my heart hammering inside my chest and ran my fingers through my hair. Eli leaned against the couch and let out a sigh as though he was irritated our moment had been ruined. I started for the front door.

“I should get going.” My voice shook when I spoke. “Dinner is probably ready by now. Gran won’t be happy if I’m late.”

“Yeah. I’m sure.” Eli stood and faced me. I paused at the front door. “Well, I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah, later.”

I disappeared through his front door. Damn, I had a lot of thinking to do. Something big was about to happen back there. I could feel it. There was an energy in the air unlike anything I’d ever felt before. Whatever pull there was between Eli and me, it was getting stronger.

My hand gripped my cell, and I glanced at the screen to see who’d sent me a text. It was Alec.

Of course it was.

Hey. Sorry. Was working on something for my mom. We should hang out tonight.

My stomach dipped. All I could think about was how he was right—we should hang out tonight, but not for the reasons he thought.

We should hang out tonight because it was time I let him go.