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I took a deep breath and nodded. “Thank you,” I said, quashing whatever arguments I had left.
As I nibbledon the saltine crackers Eli had brought me, the three alphas took turns explaining what they’d learned since I’d been abducted. They’d made some progress; Remus was even able to have some forensic work done on the bullet they’d extracted from Ryan.
“It was laced with silver,” he confirmed, “though with the shot he’d taken, there’d have been no coming back from that even if it was plain.”
I paused, mouth twisting. “So…these Raven Brothers, do you think that’s something they do? You said they kill both humans and shifters, right?”
I looked back at Eli, who’d explained what his contact had uncovered about this veritable pack of hitmen. Frankly, their group was over double the size of the pack I’d been born into, and that in and of itself was a little frightening.
Eli nodded, his brows pressed together again. “It seems quite plausible. Why would they take chances if they specialize in killing other shifters?”
I sighed, reaching up absently to rub at my chest. If they really were the same people who’d attacked my pack all those years ago…
“That makes sense,” I sighed. Maybe I would have been able to heal if I hadn’t been shot with a silver-laced bullet. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered at all, with an injury that devastating. With the fact that I wasn’t able to shift…that I didn’t even want to shift.
The thought of silver made me pause and I reached up to touch my neck. “What about the collars? Is that going to heal?” Another thought flashed across my mind and my mouth went dry. “What about Bella? Every shifter in the compound had one, as far as I know, and she’s so young…”
Remus shook his head. “Dr. Hayes said there was no evidence she wore a collar. He took blood samples from both of you and found no evidence of silver poisoning, so he believes you should heal fully.” He paused for a moment, rubbing his chin. “A small blessing, I suppose, that she wasn’t exposed to that amongst everything else.”
I nodded, relieved to hear there was one less thing to cause the little girl permanent damage. After she had watched what happened to her parents…
I forced the thought out of my head, and closed my eyes before I leaned back against the couch, rolling everything they’d just told me over in my head. It was good they’d madesomeprogress, but…it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t even close to enough. We couldn’tdoanything with the evidence we had so far (if you could even call it that).
“So…what happens now?” I finally asked, looking at each alpha in the room. “I’m sure they’re looking for us.”
Bella was clearly important, and me? I don’t know if I believed Bella’s father that theyfearedme, but it made no sense to leave a witness alive. I’d seen them kill someone. I’d seen the inside of their facility. I could bring it all down if I blabbed to the right person. They’d killed Ryan for far, far less, after all.
“Remus is going to let us stay at his safe house,” Eli said, nodding at his half-brother. “Me, you, and Bella. We thought it would be safest to disappear for a while. There’s no way they’re going to just shrug this off.” He paused. “We can leave this evening, if you’re feeling up to a car ride.”
I shrugged. “As long as I’m not the one driving, I’ll be fine,” I replied. Hell, if I really had to, I could even sleep on the way, though I’d rather not.
The last thing I wanted was to put anyone else in danger — that included Remus’ sons and his mate. Remus might have gotten himself involved in this, but Luna, Ryland, and Rory? They were innocent. I didn’t want to hurt anyone else.
“I’ve already got all my stuff from the condo,” Eli said. “We can go whenever you’re ready.”
“We might as well just go,” I replied, shrugging a shoulder. “I’m going to be sore and tired either way, so no use dragging it out, you know?”
He gave a nod. “Sounds good. I’ll make sure everything we need is packed.”
Remus rumbled and stood as Eli did. “I’ll make sure the car is set,” he added.
As they both walked out of the living room, I stood, walking over to the glass door. I stared out into the yard. Luna was sitting in the grass at the far end of the yard, and everyone was in the shade. One of the twins sat on Fiona’s lap. The other was in Luna’s, and Bella sat next to her, wide eyes focused on the book as Luna slowly turned the page, smiling and pointing something out to the children.
Oh, Bella…I’m so sorry this happened to you. I still had no idea who this girl was. Not really. I’d promised her mother I would keep her safe, and I wasn’t going to go back on that.I’ll keep you safe. And I’ll get justice for your parents, too. If nothing else, I promise you won’t have to spend the rest of your life wondering what happened to them.
That’s the exact reason I’d become a private detective, after all. Even if I couldn’t solve my own parents’ case, I’d be damned if it happened to anyone else.
16
ELI
Remus’ Safe House
Travis County, Texas
It didn’t take us that long to get to the safe house once we got organized and packed. For the most part, Iris’s thingswerealready packed, still in her bags my father had collected from my condo. He had grabbed some things for me, too, and Remus lent me a carrier. Packing for Bella took the longest, simply because she didn’thaveanything. Fiona had picked some things up at Luna’s request, but we had no idea how long Bella would be in our care.
Fortunately, Fiona had also had the foresight to pick up toiletries for the little girl, like a toothbrush and hairbrush. That wouldn’t have crossed my mind until we’d gotten to the safe house and it was time to get Bella ready for bed, or something.That’swhen I would realize she needed more than just clothes.
