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I was neither.

There was a wolf in cheap sheep's clothing wandering around the Lupetto den. I couldn't wait to see what would happen when she was sniffed out and bitten. Before that, I might as well put a little whisper out there and see if it turned into a storm.

"Does Alessandro have anything to do with shipping? My mother owns Lobo Pharmaceuticals. She's always looking for new distribution partners." I waved a hand as though the details bored me. "Cold-chain transport mostly. She has a shipment going out tomorrow night, and apparently half the trucks in the tri-state area aren't certified to carry it."

"Oh. No, Alessandro isn't in shipping."

"Pity. She's been complaining all week about having to send the Lobo trucks out alongside another company's freight. They're taking the interstate north together. Something about the Lobo trucks having federal immunity transponders so they don't get held up at inspection."

I shrugged. "But I don't really understand any of it. Trucks are boring."

"Well, we gotta go," Addie said, looping an arm through mine. "Enjoy the fight with Lex de Village."

Once we were out the door, Astrid sidled up to my other side. "Thank fuck, I can finally breathe. I felt like I was back in a high school gym with that awful perfume."

"And the dress," said Addie. "Who wears Valentina Saint-Clair anymore?"

"Right," agreed Astrid. "So no-season-ever."

"The bag was fake too," I chimed in.

"She sat it on the floor," said Nell. "My grandmother would've had a heart attack."

"She's either a hooker. Or a cop," said Addie.

"Oh, I hope she's not a hooker," I said. "Not with that low a budget."

The other three women cackled. The sound went through me. I'd made fun of people, turned people against one another. But I'd never had a group surrounding me doing it together.

I might have to amend my total annihilation plan a bit more. Not only would it include a haven for Gunnar, but it might just include these women as well.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

GUNNAR

Magnus leaned against the railing overlooking the ring. "We're pretty sure we've rooted out everyone involved in the coup."

"I'm not."

Vidar turned toward me. "Of course, you're not. Because there's no throat you can squeeze."

I ignored him. My brother continued to think he was smarter than me. That was debatable. What I knew for a fact was that I got more results than he did. My manhood wasn't threatened by Vidar.

Below us, humans crowded around the betting stations while Casanova warmed up in the ring. The room was getting louder as more people arrived. People pushed past one another, changing direction without warning; some heading for the bar, others stopping to greet friends before getting swept along by the crowd. No order. No pattern.

I thought about everything we'd uncovered so far. The names, the connections, the scraps of information I'd beaten out of men who'd sworn they knew nothing. We'd been treating each piece like part of a plan, assuming someone had put them all in motion toward the same goal.

But what if we were looking for a pattern that wasn't there? What if the point wasn't to take control of the packs? What if someone just wanted to tear everything down and let the pieces fall wherever the fuck they landed?

"I don't think it was a coup."

Magnus frowned. "Corin literally admitted they were planning to overthrow us."

"That was his plan. Doesn't mean it was the plan."

Vidar sighed. "And what exactly do you think the plan was?"

I looked back down at the chaotic crowd and the staff trying to bring order. The immune system didn't need a general barking orders. Cells responded to threats, sent out signals, and recruited others to fight. Most of the time, that chaos kept the body alive. But provoke enough of a response, and the body could turn on itself. Destroy healthy tissue along with the threat.