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“No, you don’t understand what he’s like. He won’t leave this alone.”
Leah leans back, blowing out a long breath. “Hayley, why can’t we just tell him Toby or Leon did it and leave it at that? Chase will kill them, save Blake the long and boring process of a trial, and then he’ll leave us all alone.”
Leah looks at her sister, eyes bright and expectant, as if this is a perfectly reasonable suggestion. Hayley’s sad head shake and disapproving glare dash her hopes. Leah looks genuinely disappointed, like she thought there was actually a chance her sister was going to agree to let their brother enact some vigilante justice.
“We can’t lead him to Toby or Leon. He’ll ask too many questions, get too close to the truth and then we’ll be back to square one - except we’ll also have two murders on our hands and a very pissed off council breathing down our necks.”
Leah nods along to Hayley’s wise words and I’m grateful at least one Walker seems to think before they act.
“We need council approval to tell him about shifters unless he has a mate,” Hayley explains.
That seems unfair. This isn’t an ordinary situation. There’s the potential that, like Zoe, in the right set of circumstances, he may have a wolf waiting to emerge. Is nobody going to tell him what could come?
The two sisters take swipes at the giant piece of chocolate cake between them and look deep in concentration.
Leah slides another fork in my direction, sighing. “It helps. Chocolate always helps.”
Nothing will help. My headache refuses to go away, and I blame one thing and one thing alone.
“Rex says he’s been in the woods here, watching the place, recording every vehicle that comes in and out, and snooping around the property. They’re talking about moving the full moon run elsewhere because of what happened the last time a Walker went snooping on the wrong night.” Hayley looks pointedly at Leah who ignores the barbed comment. “But if everyone leaves at the same time, there’s no way he won’t be suspicious.”
“Chase is following me too,” I admit reluctantly. “Every time I turn around, he’s there. Watching.” I didn’t want to acknowledge that Chase Walker is getting under my skin, but he is.
He’s good at stalking but his scent is burned into my brain. My bear is hyper-focused on him, waiting for him to show up everywhere we go, and my sensitive nose can pick him up a mile away. But most of the time, he’s sticking much closer than that.
What I don’t understand is why he’s so interested in me, jotting every little thing down in that stupid notebook. I want to snatch it out of his stupid hands and fling at his face.
He seemed to think Cooper and Rex were dodgy. What did I do?
“You? He can’t think you’re the one who attacked us?” Leah looks at Hayley, perplexed. “Maybe he’s not as good at this investigating stuff as we thought and this will all just blow over.”
The silence in response to her question is deafening. Nobody believes Chase Walker will just blow over. He has a plan, a line of inquiry he’s following, and for some reason it involves me. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.
“Can I ask the obvious question? Why don’t you just tell him about your grandfather being King? The council can hardly object to telling the man about his own bloodline, and, surely, it’s better than him working it out on his own.”
Leah and Hayley stare at me like I’ve lost my mind, then at each other, incredulously, before they dissolve into fits of giggles. Leah clutches her side as she laughs so hysterically that I think she’s going to fall off the chair.
“What’s so funny? He deserves to know. Especially if he’s technically a prince or whatever.” Even if he is an ass, I want to add, but I don’t. “I mean, I can feel it. He’s so strong.” Thankfully, neither picks up on the slightly breathless quality of my voice and I chastise myself for being impressed by a man as annoying as him.
Wiping her eyes, Leah straightens and tugs the cake away from Hayley, who took a few sneaky chunks while Leah composed herself.
“All the more reason not to tell him. Jesus, can you imagine Chase with even more power? Knowing our grandfather was the King? It’d go straight to his head.”
Hayley nods emphatically at Leah’s assessment. Having been on the receiving end of his arrogant behaviour, I guess can see that.
“Once, when we were teenagers, mum put him in charge for a weekend. He locked me and Hayley in the basement every time he went out. Prince Chase would be insufferable.” Leah looks horrified at the thought, but Hayley grins.
“That’s because he caught you trying to sneak out with Josh, remember him? The one with the motorbike? He was a good bit older, too. Seems creepy now, looking back.”
I can completely see Leah being the rebellious teen with the bad-boy boyfriend.
“Oh, yeah! I’d forgotten about that. Turns out Josh already had a girlfriend anyway so it was probably a good thing.” Leah sighs begrudgingly. “Okay, maybe Chase had a point, but he always takes it to the extreme. I mean the basement, come on.”
It’s kind of funny, and I’d imagine it was necessary. Leah isn’t the type to take being told what to do lying down.
“I heard someone smashed Josh’s dirt bike to smithereens…”
Hayley laughs at Leah’s wide-eyed expression.
