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“Six women?” I ask faintly. “You think he’s the Wolf-Claw Killer?”
I know it. It has to be him.
“So you’re not sure? You’ve arranged for a man to die and you don’t even know what he’s done?”
We know he killed Rachel at the very least, and he wanted to imprison India, to force her to be his mate, his little pack-slave. That is enough for me. He deserves everything that is coming to him.
“Not by my hand!” I say. “I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t want to be responsible for their deaths. You can’t do this to me.”
It’s not by your hand, she says. It’s by my hand. And anyway, you wouldn’t be complaining if it was the Devil Claw Killer. You want him dead. Don’t pretend you don’t. I’m inside your head. I know you.
“That’s different! He murdered my mothers. My adoptive mother and my biological mother. He is a monster.”
Stephen Manners is a monster too, she says. Why should he get off any easier? This is what we do, Diana. Haven’t you been listening to me? I have told you we are the Angel of Death. We are the angel of retribution. Of vengeance. It’s who we are. Stop denying your true nature.
“It is not who I am! Everything you’ve just said is words to me. I don’t want to murder Hank Lowry. I just want him caught. He can rot in prison for all I care. He can suffer there. He can think about what he’s done and repent.”
Repent, she says in disgust. I don’t need him to repent. I need him t
o die. I need to know he’s suffered. Don’t you understand? Can’t you feel how I need it? I would have done it myself if she didn’t offer to pay me so well for letting her do it instead.
“Who?” I say sharply. “Who was gonna pay you?”
The alpha of his pack, she says smugly. Oh she is angry with him. She was so happy when I called her and told her that I had him. Stephen Manners turned into Hank Lowry. A whole new life. A clean slate. But he just couldn't keep his mitts clean. Once a naughty boy, always a naughty boy.
“What did he do?” I ask.
She wouldn’t say, but it made her angry. She is determined to see him dead. She wanted to kill him with her own hands. She and her pack are on the way already, now that I’ve told her where he is.
“Where is he?” I ask urgently. “You don’t understand. Storm was looking for him. Storm will find him. We have to warn him that the pack is on the way. We can’t let him turn up there unprepared.”
Oh stop your whinging, she says unconcernedly. I said you didn’t need to worry about Storm finding out what we did, because if Storm finds Lowry, Storm is as good as dead. It’s better this way. We get to have a clean getaway.
“Are you mad?” I shriek. “This won’t happen. I won’t let it happen.”
What’s done is done, she says.
“No it’s not. It’s not done yet.”
I get my phone to call Storm. She fights me. I feel her resisting in my mind, trying to seize control of my hand. But I am aware of her now, and she cannot keep me from dialing him.
He does not answer, making my heart clench painfully. I leave him a voicemail, asking him to urgently call me back. Then I call Remi. She does not answer her phone either. My heart is racing when I hang up. They must be out in the field looking for Sergeant Lowry. And when they find him the wolf pack might already be there. The whole pack.
The whole pack, says Alys smugly.
“But the pack can’t hurt Storm or Remi,” I tell myself. “They wouldn’t dare hurt Agency people.”
I can feel her shrugging in my head. They probably will, she says. If they get in her way. And you know Storm isn’t the type to get out of anybody’s way. A shame. What a waste of a sweet sweet bod.
“We can’t let that happen,” I say, my voice steely with resolve. I will not let that happen.
It’s probably already happening, she says casually. I only wish I was there to see it.
“It is not going to happen,” I say. “Don’t you care about Storm? Don’t you care about Remi? They’re my friends!”
We’ll get new friends. Better friends. Once we have all the money, we can have as many friends as we like. We won’t be stuck in this sad little life.
“It’s not a sad life,” I tell her. “I like my friends. I like Storm and Remi and Monroe and Leo and Theo and Mozz. I care about them. I’m not going to let you run off somewhere. I’m in control of this body. I won’t let you take my life away from me. I would rather see us both locked up than let you do what you like with my body.”
