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Raini stilled, balking at that. Her demon, however, agreed with Jolene. “She’s my sister. Which doesn’t mean much to her a lot of the time, I know. Same as I know that she blames me for Dwain being mated and would probably like me to suffer for it. But she didn’t know he was mated until he showed up with Harmony. The boycotting started before that, right?”
“It did,” Harper confirmed. “But Demi also blames you for how she and Dwain are no longer close. I remember how she used to whine that she’d lost her anchor because of you. I know she technically didn’t lose him—he stayed in contact with her over the years—but she lost the closeness they once had; lost the chance to make him love her as more than his anchor. So she probably thought it karma that your own anchor didn’t appear to want you. She’ll have been pissed to later hear that Maddox is in the picture. Maybe even so pissed that she decided to fuck with your life.”
“She might have even hired Dagger Guy to strip you of power,” Devon speculated. “Maybe because, like Dwain himself, she resented that you were able to snare him.”
Raini’s entire being rebelled at that theory. “She wouldn’t go that far. The demon world is a brutal place. She wouldn’t want me completely helpless.”
Jolene hummed. “How long is she away on her cruise for?”
“Three weeks,” Raini replied.
“If need be, I can send Ciaran to retrieve her from the ship and bring her here for questioning,” said Jolene. “But right now, I’m leaning toward our culprit being Dwain. I want to question him first. Ciaran, I’ll need you to teleport to his house and dump his ass in our penal complex.”
Ciaran pushed out of his chair. “It’ll be my pleasure.” With that, he disappeared.
Jolene picked up her drink, her shrewd eyes on Raini. “Have you told Maddox about the boycotting?”
“No,” she replied. “I know he’s my anchor, but we don’t confide in each other about stuff. And I consider this to be Urban Ink business.”
“It is, but you should tell him,” said Jolene. “Maybe one of his demons doesn’t like that you let him halfway into your life—or, more to the point, that he let you halfway into his.”
Raini instantly thought of Marcella, which made her demon snarl. “Maybe.” What had Maddox said? That Marcella didn’t like to give up or back down? Perhaps she still had her sights set on being his co-Prime.
“You’ll also need to tell your parents,” Jolene went on. “They’ll be upset if they later find out you kept this from them—especially if it comes to a point where I have to question your sister.”
Raini groaned. “My dad and my uncles are going to freak. They’ll never agree that the culprit could be Demi. They’ll either blame Dwain or Maddox’s demons, and they’ll want blood. You’ll stop them from doing something stupid, right?”
Jolene arched a brow. “That would require the sort of power no demon on this Earth possesses. Once the Campbell men get something into their heads, there’s no getting it back out.”
Sighing, Raini slumped in her chair. “Yeah, I know.”
Ciaran reappeared, his face a mask of frustration. “Dwain wasn’t at his home, Grams. And get this … I don’t think Harmony even lives there.”
Jolene’s brow creased. “Why?”
“I noticed it had a real bachelor pad feel,” replied Ciaran, retaking his seat. “It rubbed my instincts wrong, because I remember him telling me how much he loved living with Harmony, so I had a look around. There were no pictures of the two of them, no women’s ‘touches’ to the place. And when I checked the master bedroom, I didn’t find a single item of women’s clothing. There was no extra toothbrush, no women’s shampoo, no perfumes or cosmetics lying around—nothing. Now, sure, she would have packed some of her stuff for her visit here, but surely there would have been bits and pieces of hers still in the house.”
Devon blinked. “Why would he say he lived with her if he didn’t?”
“And if they don’t live together, why would he at least not let his mate leave some of her things at his home?” asked Jolene. “It’s possible that she hadn’t wanted to, of course, but I don’t see why that would be.”
Raini narrowed her eyes at her Prime, sensing … “You think they aren’t mates.”
“I think they’re not even a true couple,” said Jolene. “I think he came here and lied his ass off. He had to have known we might at some point realize the boycotting is personal to you, and so he’d also known that we’d then consider him a suspect. He thought if he looked happily mated, no one would think he was behind the things that were happening.”
“I’ll bet that’s also why he wanted you two to ‘clear the air,’ Raini,” said Harper. “He thought if you bought that he held no grudges against you, you wouldn’t consider him a suspect.”
