The phrase was automatic, too many years running too many schemes. Luckily, none of them seemed to be paying attention to the fact that it was an odd way of phrasing the question.
“I’ll probably tell my master,” Theo said. “But Jack is a good guy. I don’t think he’ll say anything to the others.”
“Same,” Coral said. “Lily doesn’t gossip.”
I couldn’t help the next question. It had been something trapped in my throat ever since I met Jay.
“You really call them your master? I thought that was something old school. Jesaiah and Leon both said it, but I didn’t know the rest of you did too.” I frowned at Theo.
The wolves looked uncomfortable, even Jay shifting on his feet. Only Nia seemed unaffected. Finally, Theo shrugged.
“It’s just a word.” He pulled a pair of gloves out of the pocket of his pants, tugging them on. He wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Hey. You chose this too.” Coral was in my face, drawing all attention away from Theo. Her nose twitched, smelling me. “Even if the ice prince only screwed you once, you stillchoseto come here.”
Anger simmered under her expression, a flash in her eyes that was nearly a threat. My hackles rose, and I almost took a step forward, ready to show her exactly who was the alpha in this situation.
But that wouldn’t get me anywhere. If I’d fought every single person who had ever looked at Declan wrong, I would have been killed before Declan finished his morning piss, and I would have deserved it.
“Listen, that came out wrong. I’m so used to what they call us, you know?Dog. Mutt. Where’s your master?That kind of thing. I guess I’m just not used to how things look here.” The words were mostly true. I had been called Declan’s dog so many times that the insult had lost all meaning.
Coral looked at Theo, and his face softened. So that was how it was. She was a fierce one, the one that had always protected him when they were under the church’s care. He was the soft one because she had given him the space to be.
“I don’t know. I don’tlikeusing it, but what else are we supposed to call them?” Theo played with the Velcro of his glove, dragging it open and closed. “Jack doesn’t think of himself like that. But…”
“You always wonder where you would be if he hadn’t picked you up?” I was firing in the dark, trying to see what fit.
Theo turned to me, his eyes wide. He nodded.
I knew exactly where I would be if Cade hadn’t picked me up, and unfortunately for both of us,heknew exactly where I would be too. I wondered if Declan was keeping a place open for me on his wall, if I was going to be the prize trophy.
Nia cleared her throat. She looked at me with a long, unblinking gaze. Strangely, even though she hadn’t said a word, I knew exactly what she wanted.
“Hey, thanks for this. We’ll have to get together soon. But I should probably get back and wait for Cade.” I gestured vaguely toward the stairs.
“Are you sure?” Jay asked. “Usually, the cook puts out a meal for us. We don’t get to eat during formal dinners.”
I waved him off. “I’m fine.”
The three of them turned, heading in the same direction as the rest of the wolves. I turned to Nia.
“Where did you stash him?”
* * *
She had stashed him in the same small reading room that I had been ambushed in. I wasn’t sure where she had gotten rope, but she’d tied Keith tightly to a chair. His eyes were wide, and sweat ran from his temples to his chin, dripping down onto his pants.
Nia closed the door behind us with a definitive click. Keith went pale, his breath coming in short gasps.
I sat across from him, leaning forward so my forearms rested on my knees. He inhaled sharply. “Keith, what I can’t figure out is who else is paying you. Because Petrona, Sonja, and Brett were all in the room. So who were you listening for? Who else wants to know the intimate secrets of House Bartlett?”
With the whites of his eyes visible, he looked so much like prey that the predator inside of me wanted to tear out his throat while he was weak. He opened his mouth a couple of times before swallowing. “I won’t tell you anything.”
“Interesting word there,” I said, my tone low and dangerous. “Won’t. It’s not can’t, so that means that no one put any magic on you that compels you to keep it a secret. It’s not even a denial that thereissomeone else paying you. Someone outside House Bartlett.”
“I spoke wrong,” Keith said. “There’s no one.”
“See, I just don’t believe you.” I placed my hands on the armrests on either side of Keith’s body and sniffed him. “You know what you smell like, don’t you?” I leaned in close, whispering in his ear. “Fear.”
