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Crossing to her, Luke gave her a pointed look. “Don’t.” He palmed her nape. “Don’t let him get in your head. It’s what he wants, remember?”
She sighed. “I know, I just … well, I’d like to rip out his spinal cord and shove it down his throat.”
Isaiah pursed his lips, his eyes lit with humor. “It won’t be easy, but we could give it a try.”
“We got company headed our way,” Deke announced, glancing out of the window.
Luke tensed. “Noelle?”
Deke shook his head. “Three males. They don’t seem pissed or anything. They’re strolling over here like they have all the time in the world.”
Soon Embry, Donal, and Antoine entered the cabin. Greetings and a few distrustful glances were exchanged. Well, bush dogs didn’t much trust pallas cats, and these particular pallas cats didn’t whatsoever trust the Sylvan bush dogs right now, so …
Embry gave Blair a shaky smile. “I heard you’d arrived and guessed you’d come to collect your things. I thought I’d come see how you’re doing. You look well. Albeit highly annoyed. Is everything all right?”
“No,” she said. “Not even a little.”
His protective instincts on fire, Luke used his hold on her nape to pull her closer. “Some asshole left territorial markings around the cabin.”
A shocked silence fell.
His inner cat wasn’t so quiet. No, the feline was a hissing, snarling, pacing mass of anger. Well, of course he was. Not only had some son of a bitch marked their mate’s previous home, they’d been inside her bedroom. And now she was not only pissed but freaked—something Luke sensed through their bond. He hated it, wished they hadn’t come.
“Jesus.” Embry scrubbed a hand down his face. “We should have taken the situation more seriously before now. I’m sorry, Blair.”
Luke felt his mouth flatten. That apology had come a little too late, in his opinion. His mate might hold the same view, because she didn’t seem mollified.
Squatting near the wall behind the bookcase, Donal studied the rake marks there. “They were definitely done by a bush dog.”
“I spoke with Gabriel,” Embry announced, his eyes on Luke. “He said he’d already had a conversation with you and one of your cats.”
“He did,” Luke confirmed, sliding his hand away from Blair’s nape as he slipped his arm around her shoulders. “He claimed to not be responsible for the recent goings-on concerning Blair.”
Embry planted his feet. “Yes, he made the same claim to us.” It was evident that the Alpha didn’t have much faith in that claim.
“I believe him,” Antoine piped up. “Not because he’s my cousin and I want him to be innocent, but because Blair’s important to him.”
“That’s why he’s an obvious suspect, considering whoever is doing these things is obsessed with her,” Donal pointed out, standing. “Look, Antoine, I’m not saying I one hundred percent believe that he’s guilty. But I find it difficult to accept that it could be one of our pack. Gabriel knows our land. Knows our people. Knows how to move around undetected.”
Antoine’s jaw tightened. “I still maintain that someone’s using him as a scapegoat.”
“That could well be the case,” Embry said to the Head Enforcer in an appeasing voice. “We’re having him watched,” the Alpha then told Luke. “I’d imagine you are also.”
“Of course I am.” Luke had assigned two enforcers to tail Gabriel wherever the guy went. So far, they’d reported nothing of concern.
“Be warned: he’s as slippery as a cat,” said Donal. “It won’t be easy to monitor his movements.”
“I got that impression from how effortlessly he trespasses on your territory,” said Luke.
Embry rubbed at his nape. “I’ve questioned every member of my pack. None stood out to me as potential suspects. But I’m not ruling out the possibility that one of them is in fact our culprit,” he hurried to add.
Antoine took a step toward Blair. “How’re you holding up?”
“Fine,” she replied. “I just want all this to end.”
“We all do.” Donal glanced from her to Luke. “Your bond is only partially formed. Surprising. I would have thought, given how long you’ve been in each other’s lives, that there’d be no emotional steps left for you to take in order for the bond to fully form.”
Both Luke and his cat bristled at the implication that he and Blair weren’t solid. But he felt absolutely no need to defend his own mating to this male or anyone else. Evidently, never did Blair, since she merely stared hard at the Beta until he looked away with a sigh.
Embry cleared his throat. “Mitch tells me that you seem to be settling in well with Luke’s pride, Blair.”
“It’s my pride now, too,” she pointed out, making Luke’s cat rumble a sound of approval.
A wan smile shaped Embry’s lips. “So it is. I’m still adjusting to that.”
“We have yet more company,” said Deke.
Luke stilled at the sound of muffled voices coming from outside. He recognized both. And they garnered a snarl out of his cat.
