“This is bullshit, and you know it, Bianca,” Hunter exclaims, slamming his hands on the desk between him and Bianca.

“You know as well as we do that she didn’t do this, mom,” Parker says as he enters the office, slamming the door behind him.

“I don’t care what you all believe. I have two witnesses that tell me she did it. Chelsey may not have been well liked, but she is one of my subjects. She’s one of your subjects, Parker. We won’t let this go.”

“What would she have to gain from killing this Chelsey chick?” Kai asks through clenched teeth.

“I’ve been told they were confronted by Mercy already.” Bianca’s gaze cuts into Parker. “They said she was bragging about your relationship with her.”

Parker scoffs. “You know that’s bullshit. You know how Chelsey was, you know that she was the one to confront Mercy. Not the other way around.”

“Mercy couldn’t give a shit about the girls existence,” I add.

Bianca’s gaze flicks to me then back to Parker. “All the more reason to believe that she did, in fact, kill Chelsey.”

Parker runs both his hands through his hair. “How? How is that proof? Just because Mercy didn’t care?”

“Exactly. I’ve told you before, son. All half-demons care for is themselves. They don’t know how to care about others, but you refuse to see reason, and you persist in continuing this idiotic notion that you’ll be together. I can’t imagine the sex is that good,” she sneers. Everyone in the room tenses in anger at those words.

Parker disappears from his spot only to appear beside Hunter, leaning over his mother, a low growl trickling out of his throat. “Do not talk about her that way. I don’t care about how you feel about my being with Mercy. It’s not any of your business.”

Bianca pales and swallows hard. “Even so, she will be detained and questioned. If she’s found guilty, which I strongly believe she is, she will die.”

“Even if she were guilty, you wouldn’t be able to kill her,” I growl. Bianca shoots me a questioning look. “I’ll kill you before you can even spit out the order.”

“You?” She sneers. “You’re just a shifter.”

I grin, but it’s all teeth, and I’m sure looks feral as all hell. “That may be so, but you forget something, Bianca. Shifters are just as fast as vampires, sometimes faster. We’re also able to tear your bodies apart easily. So, don’t push me.”

“Why do you even need to question her,” Kai asks. “She already told you that she didn’t do it.”

“It’s standard procedure to question any and all suspects. She’s the only one we have.”

“And it’s complete and utter bullshit,” Hunter snarls. “If anything happens to her while she’s down there, I’m holding you personally responsible, and respect for you and your son or not, I will kill you.”

She gulps. As she opens her mouth to speak again the door opens, and Parker’s dad walks in, pausing at the sight of the five of us vibrating with rage.

“Well, now. This is an interesting sight,” he drawls. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing, dad,” Parker bites out.

I blink, shocked. I would have thought Parker would try to get his dad on board with setting Mercy free.

“Parker’s pet killed Chelsey,” Bianca says. “She’s currently in the dungeon awaiting questioning.”

“She’s not my pet,” Parker snaps. “She’s a fucking person that didn’t do anything fucking wrong. How many fucking times do you have to be told?”

“Now, son, I’m sure your mom didn’t mean it that way,” Ethan assures Parker in a sickly soothing voice.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Bianca says, examining her nails. “I’ll be going down there shortly to question her personally. Chelsey’s friends want justice for her death. I want justice for it. She deserves it.”

“I never said she didn’t, I’m simply saying that Mercy didn’t do it,” Parker states.

“No matter.” Bianca sighs. “Leave me with my husband. We’ll be discussing things further, and out of a simple courtesy, we’ll keep you informed.”

Her tone brokers no arguments, so the five of us leave the office and make our way to Parker’s room since his is the closest to the office.

“This is ridiculous,” War mutters when the door is closed behind him.

“It is,” I agree.

“What are we going to do if they won’t believe her?” Kai asks.

Parker sighs. “I’ve got a guard that I trust down there with her now to make sure nothing happens to her while she’s down there. There are only a couple of people that I trust here to listen to me instead of my mom and dad.”

“So, she’s safe?” Hunter clarifies.

“As safe as she can be in that itty-bitty fucking cell,” Parker confirms.

Hunter nods then faces the rest of us. “Here’s the plan. War and Kai, you both keep looking for other ways that could possibly save Mercy if it’s needed. I don’t want to rely on just the one spell we have, especially if it’s so volatile. Parker, you keep working on getting your mom to let Mercy go. In the meantime, Talon and I will search for whatever clues we can about the girl’s death and see if we can find out who really killed her.”

Everyone nods and leaves the room besides me and Hunter.

“We going to start with questioning the friends?” I ask.

Nodding, Hunter heads to the door. “That’s the only place we really can start. Then we’re going to see if by any stretch of luck the body is still around and see if we can examine it.”

“Sounds good, boss.”

* * *

It takes us almost an hour to find the girls claiming that Mercy had killed their friend.

Hunter and I pause outside the room they’re in.

“I can’t believe Bianca actually put that freak in the dungeon. Can you believe that?” One of the girls says, a smile clearly in her voice.

“I know. It was totally perfect. I saw them take her down there with Parker, and I’ve never seen him look so furious,” the other says, giggling.

“Bianca’s going to kill her. There will be nothing that Parker can do to stop it. It’s what the bitch deserves,” the first voice says.

“Amelia,” the other hisses, “don’t say that so loud.”

“What, Bridgette? It’s true. Chelsey wouldn’t be dead if it weren’t for her, and Parker would have chosen either Chelsey or one of us when the time came for him to pick a mate. Instead, he chooses a freak that has her own little harem. It’s disgusting.”

Hunter narrows his eyes and opens the door wider before stepping through. I fall in step behind him. The girls stop talking and stare at us, fear written all over their faces.

“Oh, don’t let us interrupt,” Hunter drawls. “Keep going. I want to hear more about what you know about Mercy supposedly killing this Chelsey girl anyways.”

They gulp.

“Now that we have your attention, Amelia, maybe you can tell me why it is you hate our Mercy so much.”

Amelia stutters for a few seconds before taking a deep breath to calm herself. “Because of Parker,” she whispers.

“What about Parker?”

“His mom promised that one of the three of us would be chosen as Parker’s mate,” Bridgette explains. “But then she came along, and his mom couldn’t even get him to look our way again or to even look elsewhere.”

“That’s not Mercy’s fault. That’s Bianca’s fault for promising something that wasn’t hers to promise,” I point out.

Amelia sneers at me. “That’s not what matters anyway.”

“You’re right. What matters is for you tell us who really killed Chelsey. We know that Mercy didn’t do it, so the only other possible explanation we can come up with is that you two are lying.”

Bridgette glares at us. “Fine,” she spits. “We didn’t actually see her kill Chelsey. We found Chelsey’s body and next to it was a note saying that it was Mercy’s fault.”

“And you automatically assumed that it was Mercy who did it? Pointing to herself out of, what? Guilt?” Hunter asks.

“We figured that she had hired someone to take Chelsey out, if she didn’t do it herself. Either way she needs to die too, so it’s not a big deal,” Amelia says with a shrug.

Hunter storms forward and grips her by the throat, pulling her close to him. “It is a very big deal. If Mercy dies because of your lies, both of you will be looking over your shoulder for a very long time.”

“You have no proof,” Bridgette shouts. “No proof of what we’re saying, and no proof that Mercy didn’t do it. So, you’re still in the same boat as you were when you came in here.”

I raise a brow at her. “We may not have proof, but we have enough to convince Bianca to take you both captive until the truth comes out.”