Okay, this is worse than suspicion. She’sneverdone this before, not even the year she let people call her ‘Addie’ without punching them.
"Oh, that was fun," she says, gasping for breath. "You should have seen your face. I needed a good laugh. Is this why people make jokes? Should I make jokes more often?"
What the actual fuck? My mouth drops open as I stare in bewilderment. Her teasing instead of being truly suspicious is good news, but… She’s not acting quite like herself. The prisoner escape must really be weighing on her.
Recovering from her fit, she claps a heavy hand onto my shoulder. "Relax, Wynn. I know you're not involved. Brighton sent theworstdetective to find the fugitive. He's even moreserious than my father. He thinks the timing of things is a little suspicious."
"And what about you?"
She scoffs. "I’m the one who told you to take a vacation in the first place."
"That's true."
"Look, we don’t really understand each other and certainly have our differences, but you'd never betray your pack,” she says without any hesitation. “Even when you disagree, you're loyal."
Ouch. That hurts. It really hurts. Almost as much as an uppercut from one of her impressive fists.
"Besides…" She looks around before lowering her voice. "I think the detective is adouchecanoe.Did I use that right? I heard Bane say it once."
"Um, I don't, I don't even know where to begin," I say faintly.
Adelaide lifts her water bottle and finds it empty. She motions for me to follow her toward the drinking fountain at the other end of the barracks.
"Have you seen the detective yet? He was insistent on talking to you."
"No, I just got back. Haven’t even unpacked.” The words feel hollow and wrong. I try to sound casual as I continue, “You going to tell him I’m here?"
“Nope," Adelaide says, not at all concerned.
Well… not expecting that. It does make some sense, since Adelaide doesn’t seem to be his biggest fan.
"See him when you see him," she continues. "There's no hurry."
"Are you sure about that?"
“He’s been breathing down our necks. Couldn’t they have sent a detective who wasn’t another Alpha? Make the bastard wait.”
The drinking fountains we reach offer some privacy. The distance isn't enough to prevent any determined wolf from overhearing our conversation, but it gives some cover, especially with weights clanging and a group sparring behind us.
“It’s not entirely Harper’s fault,” she sighs. “It's mine. He’s only trying to fix our screw-up.”
"Hey, that's not fair,” I protest.
"Really? A murderer escaped our custody."
"Alleged murderer."
"And we were holding him in cells hundreds of years past their prime when he’d already escaped once."
Okay, that sounds sketchy, but she had every reason to believe the cells were secure. "You had witches fortify the walls. With the same spells that held up against anAlpha werewolf.”
"For all the good it did,” she grumbles. “I should have had the prisoner transported to the jail in Concordia."
It sounds like she's been beating herself up about this. I feel like the worst cousin ever.
“We suspect Maddox made it to the mountains,” she continues. “The fool might have gotten himself killed trying to navigate the peaks since there’s been no sign of him but who can say for sure?” She scowls. “The detective says he isn’t ready to rule anything out yet, whatever the hell that means.”
“Adelaide…” I wish there was something I could do. Something to help her while still protecting Marlow. But I’m not sure there’s enough magic in Concordia to make both those things possible at the same time.
