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I jolted. Hunter was standing in the doorway. “Jeez, make some noise. How was your trip?”
“Fine. But what the hell is going on here?”
Frowning, I clicked into the next link. “What are you talking about?”
“Evie. Something’s wrong with Nathaniel.”
I looked up, my attention narrowing on his face. Hunter’s expression was livid, and my heart thudded harder in my chest. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, he’s acting strangely. In a way he’s never acted before.”
I told you, a little voice inside my head said.You knew something was wrong.
A chill ripped through me as I watched Hunter. As I took in the concern in his eyes. He was one of Nathaniel’s most trusted people. He knew him better than almost anyone.
“Strangely how?”
Hunter turned and paced, his lanky legs taking him from one side of my office to the other within a few paces. “Nathaniel has always been Alpha, but he’s never wanted a pack that would do everything he said without question.”
I knew that too. It was one of the reasons he’d asked me to help with the kids.
“But I just had a meeting with him, Ryker, Naomi, and Xander. Nathaniel is refusing to listen to anyone who disagrees with him, or even hear any suggestions. It’s not like him. It’s as if he’s becoming…”
“A despot,” I muttered, my head spinning. How had I missed it? How thehellhad I missed it?
The way Nathaniel had spoken to Ryker that first night back. The shock in Ryker’s eyes, and the way Tobias had stared. It was completely unlike Nathaniel not to be open to discussion with his people.
He’d overreacted with my uncle too. The Nathaniel I knew should’ve given Eachann a languid smile and assured him he loved me. Instead, he’d snarled.
Kyla had specifically told me how out of character it was for him to enjoy killing a prisoner.
Not to mention the look he’d given me a few hours ago when he’d seen me talking to Liam. It had been as if he was a stranger.
Because part of him was.
I could feel the blood draining from my face, and I shakily made it to my feet. “That fucking book. He said he was giving it back, and I completely forgot about it. I handed him the backpack and never thought to check in with him. Oh God.”
Hunter frowned. “What book?”
My lips had turned numb. I grabbed my keys and my purse.
I’d fix this. I could fix it. I knew I could.
“Evie. Stop. Explain.”
Hunter stepped in front of me, and I met his gaze, guilt spearing into my gut.
“The book the kids took. The one that was making them invisible. Finvarra let Nathaniel borrow it so he could use it to get into the castle. But he was never supposed to keep it. We all forgot about it. I should’ve taken it back to Finvarra when Kyla and I gave him the sword. There’s a reason Finvarra kept it in one of his random estates where no one could find it. It turns the owner into someone obsessed with power. Shit, it already has him.”
Not only did it have him, but the book would turn him into someone he wouldn’t recognize, until the only solution would be to kill him.
“Evie. Evie.” Hunter’s hands were on my upper arms. “It’s going to be okay.”
“It is.” I attempted to sound confident, but my voice was high and thready. “I won’t let it keep him. I won’t.”
“Shh.” Hunter wrapped me in his arms. He smelled like Nathaniel in a way I knew was the mating bond telling me he was safe because he was pack. I took comfort in him as his low voice rumbled in my ear. “Tell me what you need.”
“I need to talk to Finvarra. He should have expected this, the son of a bitch.”
