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“Not here,” the bald man interrupted. “You know the Puppeteer’s rules. You never know who could be listening.”
Ash rolled her eyes. The fools hadn’t so much as looked up toward the balcony when they arrived, nor had they scented her presence, but now they worried about operational security. She silently crept back from the edge and out of sight in case they finally did realize they were not alone. Their conversation returned to football, annoying her even further. She had a call-name at least now. That was something.
Twenty minutes after the two men finally left the gym, Ash returned to her cabin. She turned on the television, cranking the volume up, followed by playing a white noise video on her laptop. Only then did she pull out her phone and call Evie.
“Well, hello, Miss Alpha.” Sarcasm rang in Evie’s tone.
“It isn’t like I planned it,” Ash said. “Mate bonds are unpredictable.”
“Mate bond? Damn, Ash. We’ll have to pull you out. You can’t be objective with a mate bond to the target of the investigation.”
Ash expected as much. They might have been the best of friends, but Evie put the job first. Had Ash been in her place, she would have thought the same. It was true. Her objectivity was compromised, but that wasn’t the whole story.
“I think he’s being framed,” Ash said.
“Oh, you don’t think your mate is the big bad wolf? Come on, Ash. You barely know the man.”
Again, Ash expected her friend’s disbelief. As she shared what she overheard in the gym, Evie’s tone shifted.
“I don’t know,” Evie said when Ash finished her story. “The Puppeteer? You don’t exactly have any proof. They could have been talking about anything. Maybe it’s a nickname for a football player.”
“I have enough to take it to Mason.”
“Take it to Mason?” Evie repeated. “What are you going to tell him? ‘I was sneaking around listening to some of your pack’s conversations secretly and overheard this.’ He’ll be more suspicious of your actions than the men you overheard.”
“I could always tell him the truth.” Ash braced for the response.
“Are you crazy! You want to tell the target of our investigation, the man you have a mate bond with, that you came to his pack under false pretenses to spy on him?”
Again, Ash would have found herself agreeing with her best friend in nearly any other situation. The absolute worst thing an undercover agent could do was come out as an undercover agent. At the very least, it compromised the investigation. At worst, and often more likely, it ended in the agent’s death.
“That mate bond isn’t just going to go away,” Ash said. “At some point, he’s going to have to know the truth. He could help us find the actual culprit also. Whoever is doing it is trying to frame him.”
“Or he is guilty, and you’re about to tip him off to the investigation,” Evie countered.
“And I trust you and the council to avenge me if that’s true.”
“Not funny,” Evie replied.
True. It wasn’t. Ash didn’t even laugh at her own joke, but she’d already decided on a course of action. She’d either prove or disprove Mason’s innocence soon enough. She hoped she knew the truth already. If she were wrong, things would get messy.
EIGHT
MASON
Crime scene photos, notes, and news clippings covered the desk in Mason’s office as if it were the corkboard of a conspiracy theorist. He leaned his leather chair back, hoping the distance would offer perspective, maybe show him the connection he was missing.
“Was this the point of it all?” Mason muttered to himself. “Turn me paranoid until I jump at shadows? Almost makes me wish I’d never become the alpha.”
It was an idle fantasy at best, unworkable in reality. He’d have bristled under the leadership of a lesser wolf. Still, his eyes drifted to the wall, always in the direction of Ash’s cabin. Yes, if he hadn’t claimed the pack, he’d have had more time with her.
Mason slammed his eyes shut and shook his head to banish that line of thinking. He opened his eyes to the murder board on his desk … multiple attacks on rivals with witnesses claiming his pack’s involvement. The last was the worst, in broad daylight in front of human witnesses. That brought the council into this mess.
That latest wrinkle might become the straw that broke his back. For all their talk of procedure and process, as far as Masonwas concerned, the council cared far more about keeping the supernatural secret than finding the actual truth.
As urgent as the attack issue had become, staring at the accumulated evidence hadn’t offered a single new lead, not even a crumb. Mason leaned back in his chair again, closing his eyes after everything littering his desk started blurring together.
A knock sounded on his door. Mason jumped to his feet. He’d left it open but hadn’t heard anyone approaching. His startled wolf calmed to see Ash standing in the doorway. She met his eyes, face flat as her hand dropped to her side.
