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Clayton picked up his phone and immediately strode from the room. But not without one final glance back at me. His silver gaze promised retribution. Promised hurt in more ways than I could even imagine.
I crossed my arms and glared back at him. I refused to show him fear, if only because that’s exactly what he wanted.
The strength imbued by the red rage held until my father had left. Then the utter enormity of everything that had happened hit; I began to shake so fiercely that my knees gave way and I would have fallen had Aiden not lunged forward and somehow caught me.
He didn’t lower me onto a chair. He simply wrapped his arms around me and held on tight as I shook and shivered and generally unraveled.
“It’s okay.” His vo
ice was soft—soothing. “It’ll be okay. The worst of it is over now.”
No, it wasn’t, I wanted to say, but the words remained stuck in my throat.
I remained in the security of his arms for a very long time, drinking in his scent and trying to find the courage to step back, to stand once again on my own two feet. To once again gather strength in order to fight on.
Because I would have to, before all this was over
“What we all need is coffee,” Belle said, as she strode in through the door. “And cake. Big slabs of cake.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Monty said. “Where are Ruby and Jenna?”
“They can’t fraternize with witnesses—it could lead to accusations of tainted evidence.” She took a small black device out of her pocket. “They’ve said we should keep this on hand; if we have any further meetings or confrontations with Clayton, we need to record them.”
“Did they manage to record this confrontation?”
“Yes and no. Whatever device the bastards were employing to jam the frequency worked well enough that their recording was patchy.”
“That’s what the silver disk was,” I said.
“Most likely,” Monty said. “Though I’d have thought holding it on their persons would also disrupt their own recordings.”
“Not necessarily,” Aiden said. “There’re jammers that can block specific frequencies, and they’re likely to have set their recording frequency to one of the unblocked ones.”
“Monty,” Belle said, “come and cut up the cake while I make the coffees.”
As he obediently followed, I finally pulled away from Aiden. His grip slipped from my waist but he hovered close, ready to catch me should I go down again. Which was possible, given the utter weakness still washing through me. The red wave had taken a very physical toll on my body, which was decidedly odd.
“Where are Ashworth and Eli?” I said, suddenly noticing they weren’t in the room.
“Following Lawrence and Clayton to make sure they’re leaving the reservation as promised.”
“I’ve no doubt they’ll return to Canberra,” I said. “It’s the whole ‘not coming back’ bit I reckon will cause us problems.”
“Even Clayton wouldn’t go against your father,” Monty said. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“Except that he and Father have had a falling out, remember?”
“Just like him and your mom,” Monty mused. “I wonder if it has anything to do with his odd comment to Ashworth?”
I moved across to another table and sat down. Not just because it was bigger, but because the air didn’t hold any lingering scents, be it their anger or the woody scent of Clayton’s aftershave.
Neither of which you should be able to smell, Belle commented.
I frowned. Since when have I not been able to smell aftershave?
I was fully connected, remember? Trust me, what you smelled and sensed wasn’t normal for anyone other than a wolf. We really do need to speak to Katie and uncover what the hell is going on.
Yes, but not tonight. I haven’t the strength.
