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Keaty threaded his fingers together and rested his chin on them, looking thoughtful. “No, death doesn’t seem right, does it? Does he have a reason for thinking that? Any specific enemies who might make a target of someone he loves?” He arched an eyebrow at me. First I thought he was implying I might be responsible for Kellen’s disappearance, until it dawned on me he meant something else entirely.
“You think I might be at risk?”
“If someone is targeting those close to the king, you’d be an obvious liability. ”
This time I snorted. “You’re getting rusty, Spade. It made the national news when Lucas stood me up. It’s a fact universally acknowledged, to quote Jane Austen, that he doesn’t give a single flying fuck about me. ”
“I don’t think Jane Austen ever said flying fuck. ”
“The point. You’re missing it. ”
“I never miss the point, Secret. You tend to ignore it. ”
“Keaty, I think you just put the ouch in touché. ”
He rolled his eyes. “Where do you think the girl is?”
“Working on her tan and ignoring her phone. My dream holiday. ”
“And it’s not out of the realm of possibility for a girl with her…reputation, to vanish without word. ” He was trying to politely say, Slutty party girls aren’t known for being bastions of responsibility.
“Lucas says it’s the first time she’s run off without answering his calls. ”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but was she not, um, Team Secret after the wedding debacle?” He made air quotes around Team Secret, and I fought the urge to laugh in his face. I was trying to build bridges here, when I was naturally predisposed to burn them down.
“Yes, she was on my side. ”
“Maybe she’s ignoring his calls to punish him. ”
Well, damn. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Hadn’t it been precisely what I’d done?
“She isn’t answering any calls, though. ”
“Have you tried?”
“I…” Of course I hadn’t yet tried the most obvious thing.
“Give me your phone, please. ”
I obliged and handed my cell to him. He dialed Kellen’s number from my phone book and turned on the speakerphone. We stared at each other across the desk as it rang three, four, five times with no answer and then a click. “Hey, bitches, you’ve reached Kellen. Leave me a message, or better yet, why aren’t you at this party?” Her voicemail message ended with a girlish giggle.
Keaty and I continued to watch each other, both our faces impassive. His attention was heavy as I said, “Hey, Kel, it’s Secret. Call me back, please. Your pain-in-the-ass brother is looking for you. ”
My partner hit the end button and slid the phone back across the desk to me. “Are you worried?”
“No,” I lied.
“Then back to my first question. Does he have any enemies?”
“He’s a werewolf king, a billionaire and an asshole. Of course he has enemies. ”
Keaty turned to the laptop in front of him and deftly typed something, his fingers flying over the keyboard with an alarming speed for a man I’d thought hated all technology. “I don’t see any hostile takeovers, bad business dealings or anything that would suggest this is corporate. Could it be Callum?”
My uncle, Werewolf King of the South, hadn’t been a big fan of my marriage to Lucas, nor did he think the younger king could handle the territory he had. This had been made abundantly clear when he’d tried to steal some of our land and people. That territory dispute was what Lucas had been dealing with instead of showing up to our wedding.
Callum had also been the one to force our hands and push us into the werewolf marriage ceremony. My uncle wasn’t my favorite person by far, but I did believe he cared about me in his own weird, twisted way. He also wasn’t the type to mix humans up with werewolf business if he could avoid it.
“Kellen isn’t a werewolf. Callum wouldn’t touch her. It would be bad for his image. ”
