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‘I’ll bet. I’ve never seen a shift that fast. You’re remarkable.’
I like compliments as much as the next girl, but his voice was distinctly smarmy and his interest in me not even slightly disguised. He was attractive and clearly used to his open leer getting him results.
My polite smile grew strained, and I hoped Manners’ shift would hurry the heck up. I cast around the room and found it had just ended. He met my eyes and read something in them that had him striding over to my side, nudity be damned. ‘That was a great hunt, alpha,’ he said calmly, pulling on his trousers.
‘It was!’ I agreed brightly, resisting the urge to sidle closer to him.
Ace glared at him, Manners glared right back. Esme gave a yip of happiness: two virile males were fighting over her. I had no doubt it was all a show on Manners’ part, but I was grateful nonetheless.
Finally, all the pack members were human and dressed. We locked up the lodge and went back to the cars.
Liam flashed me a grin and a thumbs up as he climbed into his car with Marissa and Seren. Brian gave me a nod that showed begrudging respect, even if there was nothing friendly about it. Ace had brought his own car and Lauren slid behind the driver’s wheel. No one offered me a lift.
I climbed into Manners’ car. The air was stony. Nuts; I’d forgotten he wasn’t terribly happy with me. I was fairly sure that the pack weren’t the only ones who’d get told off tonight.
Chapter 15
Afterafewminutesof silence, I was squirming. ‘Okay, just do it already.’
Manners kept his eyes on the road. ‘Do what?’
‘Tell me off. Go on, I’ll get you started.’ I dropped my voice an octave. ‘‘Lucy, there’s a killer on the loose, and you just disappeared without telling anyone where you were going, and what you were doing. That was irresponsible at best, reckless at worst. You could have been killed and I wouldn’t have even known where to find the body’.’
I returned to my normal speaking voice. ‘But I didn’t know I was going to be gone for hours! Honestly, it was a total accident. Jess hooked me up with one of her dryad friends and I went to go and find out what their beef with Mark was. She told me he’d pissed on the elder tree—’
‘Hewhat?’ Manners interrupted, aghast.
‘He urinated on their sacred elder tree. Even worse, he’d been called there because a few of the pack’s younglings had infringed on dryad territory as a dare, and one ofthemhad pissed on the elder tree. Mark strolled in and made it worse.’
‘Christ,’ he muttered. ‘Mark was an idiot.’
‘Of the worst sort,’ I agreed. ‘He didn’t even know he was an idiot. And that’s not all I learnt about him today. Have you heard of black tourneys?’
Manners turned to stare at me before jerking his eyes back to the road. ‘Tell me he wasn’t into black tourneys.’
‘Hip deep,’ I confirmed. ‘He used to take part regularly, and at least once he took Archie along to see one. At least, that’s what Archie tells me.’
‘Lord Samuel would have skinned Mark alive if he’d known,’ Manners said darkly. ‘This opens up a whole new can of worms. Black tourneys are illegal for good reason. If the Connection gets wind of one, they shut it down and turf the participants into jail, sometimes with a judicious mind wipe. As far as I know, the tourneys only take place in London or Liverpool – but if Mark regularly took part in them, he’ll have killed plenty of people. Restraint wasn’t in his nature.’
‘And the victims may have relatives who wanted revenge.’
‘Enough to torture him with silver,’ he agreed.
‘We need to go see a tourney.’
Manners’ jaw tightened. He didn’t like the suggestion.
‘We can ask questions subtly.’ I pointed out. ‘We’re not going to find out anything here.’
‘I’ll see if I can find out when and where the next tourney is, and we’ll take it from there. In the meantime, there are people I can ask about the tourneys without too many repercussions.’
‘Who?’ I asked nosily.
‘I know a few griffins.’
‘What do griffins have to do with them?’
‘Rumour has it the tourneys are run by one of them, unsanctioned by Shirdal.’
