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“I always knew you were smart.” Declan smiled, but his expression changed as he nodded in agreement.
“Three different types of harassment, and one culprit. That is how the wolf feels.”
“I am still having trouble piecing this together,” Taryn said, and Declan hated the sound of hopelessness in her voice.
“You are not alone. Right now, it feels like I have a whole lot of theories with no way to connect any of them. I feel like I’m using wet paper towels to hold my theory together. I had no idea the tracker had been placed. I am, however, gonna make damn sure there are no other trackers, believe me.”
“I don’t get the fire part of it, though,” Taryn mused. “I have a stalker, okay. I get the notes and the tracker. I don’t get the fire. What message could the fire send to me?” Again, Taryn’s voice was tinged with hopelessness, and Declan’s hands curled into fists again.
“Charred grape vines, how does that fit?” she asked. Now, there was simply desperation in her voice.
“The tracker was to track you. The notes were to scare and control you,” he told her. “Fear is a controlling device. The fire was for me.”
“How was the fire for you?” Her voice had risen an octave, and the hysteria in it was obvious to anyone listening. Taryn must have heard the frenzy in her own voice because she took a deep breath before continuing.
“If it was for you, was it to prevent you from harvesting the wine? To make a dent in your profits?”
“The financial aspect was secondary. The primary reason was to show me that I could not be in all places at once. A warning, so to speak, that I can’t protect everything.”
“What are your thoughts on who is doing this?” Taryn asked.
“Right now, the same as yours. I have no idea. If I knew, we wouldn’t be here. I would be shifted and ripping their throat out. My beta thinks there is an angry lover. I am not so sure.”
“I don’t have any angry ex-lovers,” she told Declan. “I certainly don’t know of any jilted wannabe lovers.”
“I am at a loss in that department, too,” he replied. “Let me ask you this, can you think of anyone who would want to stalk you? Some loose cannon trying to get your attention recently?”
“Not that I am aware of, Declan. I don’t like this. I don’t have stalkers.”
“What about someone showing up everywhere you go, calling you, asking leading questions when they get the chance, things like that?”
Taryn shook her head slowly. Declan thought he saw a hint of hesitation in the way her head moved from side to side.
“There really hasn’t been any that I am aware of,” she answered, and he thought she was being honest.
She’s being honest, but something or someone has bothered her recently.
“But let’s be honest. Not everybody wants me as queen, and you know this is true.”
Declan didn’t answer this last comment.
“I have a mixed fan base, babe,” she told him. “I can’t shift. How could a kingdom and population of shifters want a queen who can’t shift?”
“Shifting and not shifting have nothing to do with this,” Declan told her. “Noblegrace is not a kingdom of xenophobes. And even if there were any of those kinds of people here, they wouldn’t stoop to stalking or setting fires. They care about the royal family too much to do that.”
“I want to see the notes,” she said. Taryn’s face was slightly red again. Her eyes were bright and sharp, and her voice was a command.
She is going to be the perfect queen,Declan thought, and he inhaled sharply at the thought of her helping him rule.
“Not a chance,” he went on to say. His voice was curt.
“I am your betrothed. I want to see those notes,” she told him. “And they were meant for me. I have the right to see them.”
“Absolutely not,” he said, he still spoke curtly. “The notes are horrible and filled with the kind of negativity that I would not want anyone to see, let alone my betrothed.”
Taryn didn’t answer right away. Instead, she leaned over and gave Declan another one of those hugs where it felt like she didn’t want to ever let go. The scent of her … wild, herbal, bright, and warm … wafted through the air around him.
Declan knew he’d be able to inhale it forever. He didn’t need air when he was with Taryn. Inhaling her fragrance could keep him going forever.
