Page 82 of New Blood

Violet made a dismissive hand movement. “I’m sure it’s much easier and less exhausting than everything you’ve done so far. I remember when Aunt Clarice was still alive and running the household, she seemed to have a lot of free time.”

Grateful for her encouraging words, Danielle smiled.

“Now, let’s go shopping so you can get used to what it’s like not to have to work all the time. You deserve it.”

45

“Ican explain,” Jude pressed out.

“Yeah, explain it to the Alliance here in Bozeman. We’re sending the jet.”

Before he could protest any further, Hendrick had disconnected the call. The elder had thrown the book at him. The Werewolf Alliance had received an anonymous call that Jude had mated with the lowest-ranking female of the pack instead of with one of the Gallagher women. Somebody certainly hadn’t lost any time to stab him in the back. He wouldn’t put it past any of the Gallagher siblings to have made that phone call.

But he had bigger fish to fry. The jet wouldn’t arrive for a few hours, which meant he had enough time to expose Violet for what she’d done and initiate her removal from the pack. It was the only way to keep Danielle safe.

Shoving his cell phone back into his pocket, he rushed into the house. The kitchen was empty as was the laundry room. The door to the storage room was wide open, and Flora was rummaging through some boxes.

“Where is Violet?” he asked without preamble.

“I don’t know,” Flora replied, shrugging. “Probably in the small study, the one next to yours.”

Without a thank you, he marched to the small study next to his office and ripped the door open without knocking. The room was empty. He walked to his own office, but that too was empty. In the library, he found Wendell and Owen talking. They looked up when he entered.

“Have you seen Violet?”

Both men shook their heads.

“Damn it!” Jude cursed.

“Something I can help you with?” Owen asked.

“No!”

He left the room and headed for the living and dining rooms, where he found Francisco and Austin deep in conversation.

“I need to find Violet,” Jude said.

“Haven’t seen her,” Austin said.

Francisco simply shrugged.

“What’s wrong?” Austin asked. His brother knew him too well.

“It’s Violet. She’s the one who rigged the brakes in Danielle’s car. She tried to kill her.”

Behind him, a loud gasp startled him. He spun around on his heel and saw Flora standing in the open door, her eyes wide in horror.

“No!” she cried out. “Violet would never…”

Jude glared at her. “She did. She was seen at the garage this morning. She had every opportunity to tamper with the brakes.”

“That’s no proof!” Flora protested.

“I have more: she is also capable of rigging the brakes. You said so yourself. She knows her way around cars and can fix them. That means she can also disable them.”

“That’s not true! She has no reason to do that!”

Flora’s face was beet-red by now.