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He let out a relieved breath, and I knew I’d asked the right question. “Next full moon is in three weeks. I’d like to be here until then. The pack needs me, and it’d be better if you were Irish pack, too. Do you mind moving it up?”
“That’s fine,” I said the words, but I wasn’t sure if I meant them. Not that I didn’t want to have the ceremony, but having it meant saying goodbye to my family. When I left, I hadn’t realized I wouldn’t ever be going home again. Not that I couldn’t go home physically, but it wouldn’t be my home pack anymore. I wouldn’t be a Wayfarer. I’d be an outsider. I’d known, it might have changed the way I left. I could’ve at least brought Max to Ireland with me.
My heart was heavy for a second before I pushed the ache away. This was part of being a female Were. You had to adapt to your mate’s pack. I knew this. The reality was just a little more bittersweet than I’d imagined. “I need to know more about your pack. At home we have files on everyone who is and ever was a Wayfarer. I’m assuming you have something like that?”
“This way.” Donovan led me back into his office. “There’s another set of files in the library, but these have my personal notes. Might come in handy.” He strode to a tall metal filing cabinet and gave it a pat. “Everything’s in here. I’ve got journals about pack business through the years, which you’re welcome to as well. Hazel’s got the accounting, but you can ask her about that.” A little crinkle formed between his eyebrows as if he wanted to ask something.
“What?”
“Didn’t Shannon talk to you about our pack? Give you any hints about who to avoid or who to befriend?”
Whoa. That was a blast from the past. Although it hadn’t been that long since she left St. Ailbe’s, so much had happened that it felt like a million years ago. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that…” Shannon was always a bit prickly, even when we were little, but I’d just brushed off her moods. When Tessa came to St. Ailbe’s, Shannon’s jealousy had given her a particularly vicious edge. Still, it’d hurt when she left school. I hadn’t understood it at the time, but now that I had some distance, I finally got her reasoning a little. “She didn’t come back here?”
He shook his head. “No. Shannon was supposed to report to me when Michael threw her out of the St. Ailbe’s satellite pack, but she broke her bond with the Irish pack and went rogue with the others who left St. Ailbe’s that night. I’ve been planning on going after her, but haven’t had a moment. Since it was only her that left, I figured I’d give her some time to cool off. I’ve a feeling she’ll show up here, eventually.”
Oh, boy. I hated to be the one to break it to him, but the Shannon I knew wasn’t ever coming back to the Irish pack. Not as long as I was here. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“Why?”
Shannon was going to hate me for telling Donovan this, but she probably already did. “When Tessa showed up at St. Ailbe’s, Shannon was upset. She wanted Dastien for herself and couldn’t get over the fact that Tessa was his mate. I tried to calm her down, but it only got worse. After my curse was broken, she wasn’t the same with me either. We’d been friends since we were kids, but suddenly I was her enemy.” I shook my head as I thought back. “The problem with Shannon is that she was never happy. Not since we met when we were kids. She was always upset with someone in her pack. Nothing was ever enough. She was the only one from the Irish pack to come to St. Ailbe?
?s, and when I brought that up, she only said she came because she needed more options for mates. She’s kind of a snob and felt that she was destined to be with some super awesome Alpha.”
“Ah.” Donovan sighed. “I’m not liking where you’re taking this.”
“Me neither. But after the curse, everyone knew you and I were mates. That’s the only thing that changed, and I think she was jealous. Another super strong, amazing Alpha was stolen from her. And since she was more alpha than me, it must’ve really annoyed her. I was lower than her. She should’ve gotten someone first. But that’s not what happened.” I bit my lip as I thought about those last few weeks with her. She’d been pretty hostile to me, and I hadn’t been able to figure out why, after so many years, she’d decided to hate me. “I doubt she’s coming back to Ireland. Not unless she gets really desperate.”
Donovan leaned against the file cabinet, crossing his arms. “She wasn’t on my list of possible mates, if you’re wondering.”
I almost laughed. “No. I wasn’t wondering. I don’t think she even wanted you. She just didn’t want me to have someone better than what she got. Picking a mate was about power and status for her.” I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. Shannon really rarely talked about Ireland. We mostly talked about school, boys, and whatever gossip was going around campus.” I hoped Shannon would be okay, wherever she ended up. I wanted her to find her slice happiness.
I glanced over at the files. “What all do you keep in there?”
Dastien opened a drawer and pulled out a thick book. “This is our roster. It has comings and goings as well as marriages. Those kinds of things.” He put the book back. “Any Were who has ever been in my pack has a file. Some are thin. They might only have records of marriage, their children, or their profession. Others are thicker. Those are the ones who’ve been in challenges. Fights. Any issues with the pack are recorded.”
I gave the cabinet a stare. “Any chance you can narrow it down? Where should I start?”
“Course I can.” He slid open the top drawer and handed me a file. “This covers the top five in the pack. There are more extensive files on each of them in the bottom drawer. I like to keep track of the higher-ups.”
That was normal, but I was looking for something else. “What about any problem people? People who’ve either been in a lot of fights, caused drama, or disrespected your authority. I’d love to look at those files first.”
He froze. “You can’t possibly think that one of my own killed John.”
I did. It felt like the most obvious answer. “Can you rule it out?”
He rubbed his forehead. “I haven’t been back in a while… Maybe over a year now that I think of it. And then it was just for a week or two. It’s been like that going on three or four years.”
Whoa. “So in the last four years, you’ve been home maybe a month or two?” That was way longer than I’d ever heard of an Alpha leaving their pack.
“It’s been busy. I—” He lifted his hands and then let them fall. “I’ve no excuse.”
I reached out to him and grabbed onto his wrist. I was going to ask a hard question, and I wasn’t sure how he was going to take it. “It’s just you and Mr. Dawson who are Alphas and members of the Seven, right? Muraco was never the Alpha of the Peruvian pack?”
“That’s right. Muraco was the second for a while, but since his mate died, he’s let that go.”
“And the St. Ailbe’s pack is just a satellite pack. It’s a secondary pack for everyone there, and it’s only for the school year. And he only just joined the Seven. So really, you’re the only one who has two full-time jobs? And you’ve been doing that for a very long time.”
“Yes. That’d be accurate.”
