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“He doesn’t seem in the least bit offended that we’d suspect him,” commented Deke. “The only thing he seemed to feel was inconvenienced. The letter and email from Blair’s stalker carry a lot of emotion. I can’t imagine Gabriel writing stuff like that.”
No, neither could Luke.
“I’m not saying we should cross him off our suspect list. It’s just something to consider.”
Yes, it was. Back inside the SUV, Luke clicked on his seatbelt and started up the engine.
“Well?” prompted Blair, riding shotgun.
“He answered my questions, I just don’t know if I believe he answered them truthfully.” Luke gave her a rundown of the conversation. “He seemed genuinely shocked when he learned that the fox shifter he spoke with at the club was the same woman you found dead outside your old home.”
“But you’re not convinced that his shock was real,” she sensed.
“No, I’m not. I’ll bet he’s a very good actor—any shifter who has spent most of their life pretending to be human would have to be extremely good at pretense.” Luke knew that from personal experience.
She hummed. “Valid point. I can tell you that that thing he said about Antoine pulling a lot of pranks as a juvenile was true. But I suspect Donal wasn’t talking about that when he spoke about ‘old tricks.’”
Luke nodded. “He was referring to Antoine’s history of stalking women. Donal probably helped Embry cover it up.”
“Speaking of the pack Beta,” began Isaiah, “don’t be so distracted by Antoine and Gabriel that you dismiss Donal.”
Blair’s nose wrinkled. “He’s a lot older than me. The guy is in his forties.”
“And remains single, yes?” asked Isaiah.
She frowned. “I’ve never known him to date. And though he’s had plenty of bed-buddies, none have ever been from the pack.”
Deke sank back into his seat. “Maybe he’s saving himself for his true mate. Maybe he’s too hurt after his failure to imprint on that Alayna person that he has trouble committing to women. Or maybe he’s focused on you.”
Her shoulders sagged. “I always liked him,” she said, her voice low and sad. “I liked them all. It sucks that one of them is likely stalking me; that I never really knew that particular person at all.”
Luke splayed a hand on her thigh. “I know, baby. I know.”
Finally back in their apartment, Blair roughly shrugged off her jacket and none too gently hung it on a peg near the door. “Today started off fine, but it went progressively downhill.” She fisted her hands. “I still can’t believe that rat bastard tried mowing you down with his car.” She frowned when Luke hauled her close. “What are you doing?”
He nuzzled her neck. She smelled of him, of home, of everything he needed. “Giving you the comfort I wanted to give you earlier but you were too edgy to accept.”
He soothingly stroked her hair, scalp, nape, back, and arms … until the tension finally leached out of her muscles. His cat rubbed up against her, kneading Luke’s insides with his claws, desperate to ease her hurt and anger.
She melted against Luke. “Do we take the hit and run as a sign that he finally sees you as something other than a person I’m pretending to be mated to? I mean, he wouldn’t otherwise seek to hurt you, would he?”
“I’d say I’m no longer a background character in his fictional world. I’m, at the very least, a secondary character now.”
“One he’ll try to kill off,” she added, her voice slightly guttural. “I always knew there’d be a few hiccups when we finally mated. I never imagined we’d be dealing with a situation like this.”
Luke wrapped her ponytail around his fist and gently tugged so that she’d let her head fall back. “I can feel you starting to get riled up all over again. How about we shove everything other than us out of our heads for a little while? It won’t be easy, no, but we need it. And maybe we can spend some time working out why our bond hasn’t fully snapped into place yet. I don’t get it.”
She pulled a face. “Me neither. I really thought it would happen after we offloaded all the crap we’ve tried protecting each other from all these years.”
“No more secrets in your closet?”
“None. What about you?”
“There’s nothing I’m keeping from you.” He swept his hand down her back. “It could be that …”
“What?”
“Fears can act as blocks. Maybe you fear that you’ll lose Noelle for good once you and I are fully mated.”
“Actually, I’m more hopeful that it’ll force her to accept defeat and maybe she’ll then get her shit together.”
Huh. Well there went that theory. “In that case, I don’t know what could be jamming the frequency of the bond.”
She splayed a hand on his chest right above his heart. “We’ll work it out eventually. I guess, in the meantime, we just have to be patient.”
