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It felt like hours passed before my tears slowed to a stop, and my body began to burn. Anger. Anger was something I could feel, something I could process. Tangible in the acid crawling through my veins, it pulled my broken pieces back together just enough that I could lift myself off the basement floor and climb back up the stairs.
I knew who’d taken the books and papers Annie had kept hidden. There was only one person with the balls to do it. Adrian. Adrian who had the most to lose by their existence. Just thinking his name sent a seething rage rippling through my muscles. I would kill him for this. I’d figure out a way I could do it without dying myself, and I’d kill him.
My anger carried me out to my car, and I drove blindly out to the Alpha house in silence. Every thought in my head spun around and around, incoherent, and chaotic. My knuckles turned white around the steering wheel and the usually calming scents and sounds of the marina made my stomach churn.
It was no surprise to me that a fleet of cars sat in the driveway at the house. The coward alpha would want as many wolves around him as possible now that he’d openly moved against me. I was the biggest threat to his position. Not that he would admit that.
One car did however catch my attention as I walked up to the front staircase. A black town car, parked especially in front of the stairs. Parked like a guest, ready to leave at a moments notice. A human driver even stood, leaning against the hood, smoking a cigarette.
The man glanced my way and flinched as I glared at him. I turned toward the door and marched inside without knocking. My nostrils flared and I made a sharp right, turning right into the library where Adrian sat staring up at me from behind his desk, a pen in his hand as if I’d interrupted him penning a letter or something else like that.
“Evie, hello.” He sat up straighter and leaned back in his chair. “Is there something I can help you with?”
My lip curled. “Don’t bullshit me, you bastard. Where are the books and papers you took from Annie’s room?”
His lips twitched, and he ran a hand through his greasy hair. “You mean the heretical material we recovered while we were searching for some sight as to where you and Jamie disappeared to?”
“You knew exactly where we were going. We made sure you knew. We made sure everyone knew,” I said through my teeth. “I need those papers.”
He inhaled a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he stood up. “Come with me.”
“What? Just give me the damn papers, Adrian,” I said as he stepped around the desk. “They weren’t yours to take. They were mine. They belong to me. Annie left them to—”
Adrian struck fast, back handing me hard enough that the pain momentarily blinded me in my right eye. My head snapped sideways.
“Come with me, and be silent,” he demanded, attempting to exert his power over me. It shocked me enough that I naturally followed his command and trailed after him, but I did note that his power wasn’t what forced me into compliance. His power had touched me, but it wasn’t controlling me. In fact, it felt more ineffectual than usual.
Together we stepped out onto the back steps, and I jerked to a stop in surprise. The entire pack stood gathered in a semi-circle around the stairs. The mats had been moved back out of the way, and at the center of the circle sat a massive stack of books and papers. The things he’d stolen from me.
“Adrian, what is this?” I demanded, feeling a spear of panic wedging its way through my ribs.
The alpha’s gaze turned murderous. “Be silent and you’ll find out.”
“Is this the one we’ve been waiting for?” An unfamiliar voice asked, stepping from the shadows at the side of the house.
I glanced at her and tensed. She looked a lot like the woman who’d given us a room at the bed and breakfast, but it wasn’t her.
Adrian smiled. “Yes, it is.”
“Good,” the witch smiled, her dark eyes flashing with mischief.
The Alpha chuckled and turned to the pack. “I’m sure you all are wondering why I called you here today. Wondering who this lovely woman is, and who her friends are.”
I watched from the shadows of the door, seething. He’d invited the witches on pack lands. It more than confirmed my suspicions that he was behind all of it. He’d killed my father, he’d killed Annie, and brought monsters down on our heads. But why?
“Well, family, these are witches from our neighboring town of Estelle Falls. For centuries our kind has been at war with theirs. They wanted nothing more than to be left in peace, but they were incited to anger, and the attacks in the woods, the monsters hunting us as we ran across our territory were their attempt at retribution. Why? I’m sure you’re asking. Because of this wolf…” Adrian turned and thrust a finger at me.
“What?” I gaped at him.
“This wolf thought to incite the witches into destroying our family and killing me with a curse that would kill us all. They’ve been working together for months, and before you sits the proof. The blackmail, the hunting logs, the heresy, Eve Corwin has perpetrated in the name of misguided revenge.”
“You’re lying!” I snarled. “You’re the one—”
Pain exploded in the back of my head, and I dropped, falling forward off the stairs. Clutching the back of my skull, I squinted up at where I’d been standing and saw Zach standing their shoulder to shoulder with Dillon.
“Zach? Dillon? I thought—what the hell?”
