Page 113 of The Werewolf’s Wrong Mate

Chapter 15:

A Matter of Proof

Ian

I changed shirts because Cassie told me to.

That was the only reason.

Not because Ronan looked at the blood and measured how close I stood to the edge. Not because Sava had already reached for a sedative she would use on Cassie or me, depending on who became the bigger problem first. Not because Lucien had gone pale when we entered the room.

Cassie told me to wash my hands before I came near her.

So I did.

The blood was not mine. That mattered to her. It mattered to Sava, it mattered to the room.

It didn’t matter to the wolf. Blood was blood. Fear was fear. Brenner’s broken voice was still in my ears, dragging one name through his teeth before pain took him under again.

Evelyn.

I stood beside Cassie’s bed with clean hands, clean skin, and violence still sitting behind my ribs.

She watched me too closely.

That was new.

Before, Cassie watched me the way a cornered human watched a knife. Now there was still fear, and there should have been, but there was also assessment. She looked at my face, my shoulders, the space between us, the hands I kept visible at my sides.

She was learning me.

The mark warmed under her bandage. I felt that too. It had begun to open in both directions. I knew when pain took her before her face changed. I knew when she fought panic by making her mouth sharp. I knew when Grant’s letter had touched some old wound and when her silence had cut it cleanly enough to let her breathe.

And once, in the lift, I had felt heat move through her. Only a flash but enough to make me lock my teeth until my jaw hurt.

It had not been only the mark. I knew that. So did she, and that was dangerous.

Ronan stood near the door with Lucien at his side. He had not sat since Brenner was found. He would not sit again until someone bled, confessed, or died. My brother carried stillness like other men carried knives.

“Tell me the rest,” Cassie said.

Her voice was weak, but the order in it was not.

Ronan looked at her. “Brenner said Evelyn’s name.”

“No. Not the part polished for the patient.” She shifted against the pillows and winced before she could hide it. “The actual part.”

Sava opened her mouth.

Cassie lifted one hand. “Do not tell me to rest. I am lying down. This is the resting posture. I am simply doing it with questions.”

Sava closed her mouth.

Ronan watched Cassie for a long moment.

Then he said, “Brenner woke once. He was disoriented, bleeding, and fighting the sedative. He said the gate, then Evelyn, then silver under the east stone. We do not know which parts connect.”

Cassie looked at me. “What does that mean?”