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The flickering flame of anger that had been building since I met Angelique’s parents grew into an uncontrollable blaze at the way they poked at Mateo’s pain and insecurities.
My jaw clenched as I grabbed Mateo’s arm, trying to pull him behind me as I reprimanded the Walkers, “That’s enough!”
My words were echoed by Aiden, who came to stand between Mateo and Mr. Walker. “Pack Councilman Walker and Mrs. Walker, you’re harassing my brother and my girlfriend and making very wild and crazy accusations. Please watch yourself. You’re not detectives. Respect yourself and trust the pack’s law enforcement to do their job and find your daughter’s killer.”
“Stay out of this, Aiden. This doesn’t concern you.” Mr. Walker warned. “I’m not leaving this school today without this spy. We all know that she seduced you, Mateo, and even our future Alpha. Seeing how easily you fell for the lousy charms of some pretty girl from nowhere, I don’t trust your judgment. I’m taking her with me today to stay in the pack’s prison until it’s time for her trial with the pack council. She’s going to pay for my daughter’s death and her spying activities in the Crawford Pack.”
“You will do no such thing. You’re both going to walk out of this school that you have unlawfully disrupted right this very moment. And that’s an order from your future Alpha.” Caden’s voice was guttural, but every word that left his mouth was an unbreakable order that sent a thrilling, involuntary shiver of excitement down my spine.
My she-wolf wanted to challenge him, fight a little, and then let him win.
I shook my head to make myself focus, staring as the unreasonable Mr. and Mrs. Walker bowed their heads to Caden. Mr. Walker then stretched out his trembling hands and gave Caden a piece of paper.
With determined steps, they marched away, their gaits rigid, as they left behind a lingering warning: “Don’t relax just yet, Miss Byrne. This isn’t over.”
Caden sighed as their backs disappeared from our view before he turned to me, ignoring everyone whispering and staring at us.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
I nodded, glancing at his concerned face before staring at everyone else in the cafeteria from the corner of my eyes. Some were still seated, some were standing, and some had their arms crossed over their chests. And like I expected, many of them looked downright hostile.
Aiden could also see it as he grabbed my arm and urged, “Let’s get out of here.”
Then we walked out of the cafeteria, all thoughts of eating to assuage my hunger having disappeared from my head.
22
Aurora
Caden, Mateo, and Aiden led me out of the cafeteria to a place where we could speak privately. Along the way, Mateo grabbed my hand while Aiden, who was standing on the other side of me, wrapped his arm around my shoulder and stared at me with a gaze full of concern.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
I squeezed his hand on my shoulder with my free hand, feeling a little numb because of the looks I’d received from Nyra and the students in the cafeteria. “Yeah, um . . .”
“You don’t have to pretend that you are okay if you aren’t. What just happened was awful,” Mateo said, squeezing my hand.
“Yeah. I can’t believe that Nyra just turned on you like that. So much for being your best friend.” Aiden complained, his arms around my shoulder tightening.
I sighed, staring at Caden who was walking in front of us in the hallway and talking on the phone while thinking of the expression on Nyra’s face. “I think someone might have used her to spy on her pack or a pack observer hurt her? Maybe . . . maybe that’s why.”
Caden stopped in front of an office, the same office he cornered me in some time ago, and held the door open for us.
“Yeah, but she could have argued with you later or talked it out with you later, rather than arguing with you in front of the people confronting you,” Aiden said, letting go of my shoulder so he could grab my free hand as we walked in through the door.
Mateo led me toward the guest seat in front of the office desk and sat on the arm of the chair after I sat on it, while Aiden perched on the desk beside me on my other side.
“I just spoke to Ryan now. He said someone saw Nathan bring in the Walkers, so Nathan is probably the one who told them about you being Chief Perez’s suspect. With his father’s connections, it would be easy for him to find out that Aurora is related to the Supernatural Council.” He sighed as he shook the paper the Walkers had given him in the air. “This is a pack council summons for Aurora. The Walkers have managed to get two-thirds of the pack council to agree to invite Aurora before the council to be tried for Angelique’s death and her presence in the pack.”
“I’m going to deal with Nathan. That little . . .” Aiden stood up from the desk he was partially seated on, clenching his fists by his side.
“Don’t do anything to Nathan. Mateo already got him kicked out of the pack enforcers training program, and I’ll add this to his record to make sure he can never join the pack enforcers in training again. I can’t tolerate the existence of a pack enforcer who would stir up conflict in the pack just because of his wounded ego. If you confront him, you’ll startle the snake and his parents will get involved. Let him think he won this round.” Caden said with a grim look, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Have you spoken to Alpha Owen about what just happened?” Mateo asked.
He and Caden exchanged a glance before Caden answered. “I texted him, but his assistant said he was in a meeting. He’ll get back to me when he’s done with his meeting.”
I sighed and pulled my phone out of my bag. “I have to let Levi know what’s going on so he can inform the Supernatural Council and they can prepare for whatever press storm this incident will cause. If I’d known he couldn’t stand apologizing after I won that shooting match, I wouldn’t have accepted Nathan’s challenge. His actions didn’t just blow my cover, they also notified the murderer or murderers lurking in your pack about my existence. This means that whoever it is can run off at any time while we’re still in the dark.”
