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It was more of a test than a legitimate question. They’d stalked me for months. Of course I knew them, and his mate had just been here questioning me. She’d surely expressed her suspicions with him.
“I’ve seen them around. Why?” My voice came out cool for once. Seemed desperation had finally improved my lying skills.
He narrowed his gaze on me, calling me a liar. “No one has seen them for days. Groza has people out trying to track them.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. I hope they’re okay.” In spite of trying to keep my heart rate calm, a wobble crept into my words. Still, he had no proof.
His gaze intensified. “You have no idea what happened to them?”
He was mated to Groza, the alpha of this group. No matter what our relationship had been, it was something altogether different now. Telling him I’d accidentally killed two of the pack was nothing but a death sentence. I should’ve left already. I should’ve grabbed Charlie and gotten out the second I could. Then at least I would’ve had a head start.
“You really think I could kill two men?” I scoffed, as if the idea were ridiculous. A few days ago, I would’ve thought it was impossible.
He tilted his head slightly, tipping me off to my slip before he said a word.
“No one said anything about killing,” he said. “We don’t know if they’re dead, do we?”
Shit. Double triple shit.He’d come here because he’d somehow suspected me, and yet there was surprise in his eyes. He looked off to the side as if trying to realign mentally.
“No. Of course we don’t know they’re dead. It was a poor assumption on my part.” I turned, scrambling for a way out of this situation. “Did you want some coffee? I was just about to make a pot.” Well, that was a dumb move. I hadn’t offered him a civil word in weeks, and now I was going to make him coffee in the middle of the night. I might as well have confessed to murder.
He looked at me, not speaking, as if he didn’t even know me.
I didn’t move. I barely breathed.
There was a yawn behind me, and I jerked around to see who else was in my cottage. Kicks was walking out of my bedroom, shirtless and pants button undone, as if he’d dressed hastily.
He walked over to me, putting his arm around me and pulling me into his side.
“Hey, Duncan. What brings you by so late?”
Duncan’s fists curled as he looked at Kicks, his eyes moving to where his hand was patting my hip.
He didn’t acknowledge Kicks other than a glare before turning his full attention to me.
“If you had something to do with it, I suggest you let me know,” he told me. “If I have to find out—”
“If you have to find out thenwhat?” Kicks’ voice dropped lower, nearly to a growl. “That sounds a little threatening, and I don’t take kindly to threats directed toward Pips.”
“So that’s how it is?” Duncan stared at me as if he couldn’t believe I’d sleep with Kicks, while he was mated to Groza.
I was too stunned to reply—but Kicks wasn’t.
“Yes. That’s. How. It. Is.” His tone was so gravelly and rough, it vibrated through me.
Kicks squeezed my hip. The heat was about to come, and Charlie would be standing right beside me as I got the blowtorch. If Kicks wanted to offer up a shield, I wasn’t going to be the idiot that let her kid get roasted out of pride. He was a full-grown alpha and maybe my only shot of surviving this mess.
I’d once thought Duncan might be the man who would stand beside me, but that delusion had been shattered thoroughly.
Duncan left the cottage, leaving the door swinging open behind him. Kicks went and closed it while I stood in the kitchen, feeling a shiver, and not from the sudden gust of wind from the door.
“Were you serious about having me visit?” I asked as he came back into the kitchen.
“Serious as a heart attack.”
“I don’t go anywhere without Charlie. Ever.” I’d made the mistake of agreeing to that once, and it would never be repeated.
“I wouldn’t ask you to,” he said, his tone implying he wasn’t like other people who had put me in that spot.
