He swivels to level a penetrating glare on Soraya. “Andyou! You’re one of her kidnappers, aren’t you? I don’t care if you’re a goddess incarnate, with all that flowing red hair and those curves to die for and?—”
“Simmer down, my knight in shining armor,” I deadpan.
Jake ignores me and wags a finger at Soraya. “You’re on my shit list.”
Then, without another word, Jake links his arm with mine and leads me inside the house.
Soraya’s chuckle reaches me before the closed door cuts it off.
Jake leans against it and thunks his head against the wood.
“Motherfucker. This is absolutely crazy,” he laments.
I spin towards him instantly, my heart racing. “What’s going on? Where are Hale and Gerry? Lissa? Seth?”
A frown touches the edges of Jake’s lips, and he finally pushes away from the door, moving to stand beside me once more. I follow him into the living room and settle on the couch, placing my legs underneath me. Jake sits beside me.
“Look, I don’t know everything that’s going on,” Jake hedges, his tone placating, which instantly makes me uneasy. Someone is only placating if they have bad news to share and is trying not to spook the other person or elicit a freak-out. “There’s a lot that they haven’t shared with me.”
“Tell me what you know.” I lean forward at the same time he does.
“Hale and Gerry are meeting with the Council and a bunch of other important wolves.” He hesitates, clearly debating his next words, before blurting out, “They’re planning on going to war with the Hunters.”
I blink, certain I heard him wrong. “The Hunters? Didn’t Grayson and Ethan tell them what happened during the attack? That it was the vampires behind it all?”
Jake nods stoutly, his frown deepening. “They did. Well, Ethan did. Grayson is staying away from them for the time being.”
“And…?”
“Andddd…the Council insists on fighting the Hunters.” Jake stares at me helplessly, a lock of curly blond hair falling across his forehead. “I know Hale and Gerry are trying to talk them out of it, but it’s not doing any good.” He glances in both directions, as if he half expects someone to be lurking behind one of the curtains or behind the couch listening in on our conversation, and then leans in even closer. “Something really fucking weird is going on.”
I struggle to wrap my head around everything Jake just told me.
The wolves are going to war with the Hunters, despite the attackers being vampires? What thefuck? Why would they do that? Are they insane?
It only reinforces what Soraya alluded to back at the covenstead.
Someone is trying to pit all of the species against each other.
The question is…why?
It doesn’t make any sense, and the more I try to articulate an explanation, the more confused I become. I feel as if I’m staring at a half-completed puzzle, and all that remains are pieces with jagged, sharp edges. No matter how hard I try, I can’t fit them all together.
“I can talk to them. Explain what actually happened,” I say.
After all, I was the one who heard the vampire confess.
Maybe the Council needs to hear the truth from me?
Jake nods, though I can tell he isn’t entirely convinced.
“And Kain?” I ask, unsure of how much information Jake has been given.
But when his face clouds over with a rather familiar darkness, I know he’s heard of Kain’s betrayal.
“Still in the wolfy prison, I think.” Jake shrugs a shoulder, still scowling. “Don’t know. Don’t care. Fuck him.”
I scrub a hand through my hair as my thoughts race in tandem to my galloping heart.
