“Depends. Do you have money to burn? I could really use new headphones.”
“You’d spend a hundred dollars on headphones?”
“I like good sound.” She lowered her hand.
“But a hundred bucks?”
“Ever heard of DJ Wolverine?”
“No.”
“Have you notbeen to The Den?”
“What’s The Den?”
She rolled her eyes. “Only the coolest club in the whole of Boulder. I deejay there on Thursdays and Saturdays. DJ Wolverine.” She pointed to herself. “I can’t believe you haven’t been.”
“If it’s Pine territory-”
“It’s neutral territory. The Boulders go there with their little bite-sluts.”
“Bite-sluts?”
“Girls who want to get bitten.” When I frowned, she went on, “Some people still believe that if you get bitten enough times by a shifter, you’ll turn into one.”
I blinked. I didn’t remember seeing any bite marks on the Boulders’ girlfriends.
“God, you really are a total newbie at this. Robbie wasn’t kidding.”
“Robbie wasn’t kidding about what?”
“That you need an education.”
“He told you that?”
She smiled, her teeth glowing so white in the light of the car they resembled pearls. “I’m his baby sister. Robbie tells me everything.”
“You’re his sister?”
She slapped a palm over her chest very dramatically. “I’m offended.”
“That I didn’t know you were his sister? Unlike you, I didn’t study your family tree.”
“What’d they teach you in werewolf school?”
“I didn’t go to…werewolf school.” Was there even such a thing?
She smirked. “Did you fall for that?” Her smirk became a smile. “You did, didn’t you?”
“You’re weird.”
“Says the only female in her pack.”
“That makes me unique. Not weird.”
She went back to smirking.
A light came on in a sleek, wood-paneled cabin at the end of a short dirt drive. I caught movement in the floor-to-ceiling windows that boxed in one end of the house. Liam’s place wasn’t oversized like his father’s but looked pricey nonetheless.
The click of the car doors unlocking made me jump.
Sarah squinted at the shifting, shadowy shape. “You seriously not tapping that?”
“I’m seriously not tapping that,” I said, pumping my door handle. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Yeah. Whatevs.” She flicked her hand. Gold rings set with cut stones glinted on two of her fingers. “Ciao.”
I got out and started walking.
“If you ever get bored”-Sarah’s voice made me spin around-“or have questions about being a she-wolf, you can find me at The Den. Thursdays and Saturdays.”
I gave a short nod. That was…kind. Sadly, kindness made me suspicious. This was the reason behind my detour. I wanted confirmation that Aidan Michaels hadshot my father and an explanation as to why there hadn’t been any retaliation. I twisted back toward the rectangle of glass and wood, moonlit dust blooming around my heels as I approached Liam’s house.
Iwas about to knock when the door opened. Liam had probably smelled me, like I’d whiffed his distinctive musky scent halfway down the drive.
He stood there, a towel riding low on his waist, his dark hair dripping water from a recent shower. Even though he basked in shadows, I noticed that his nose and a large part of his jaw were bruised. The blood was gone, though.
I looked away from his face, focusing on the sharp-lined furniture arranged at ninety-degree angles on a cowhide rug. Liam shifted, his body filling the doorway, surely to block out the sight of his home from my prying eyes.
He crossed his arms. Sinews moved beneath his smooth, golden skin like mooring lines. “What do you want?”
I inched my gaze back up to his face. “Did Aidan Michaels kill my father?”
His expression emptied of its hostility. Clearly, he had not been expecting thatquestion.
“So? Did he?”
Frowning, he said, “I thought you knew.”
“I wouldn’t be asking if I knew.”
Liam’s eyes raked the darkness behind me, which had me twirling around. Was Sarah still there? Before I could turn back to face him, he yanked me inside then released me and shut his door.
“What were you doing at Robbie’s engagement party, Ness?”
My gaze dipped to his glistening, muscled torso before sliding to something safer, something inanimate-a lamp speared into a block of black marble that bowed over the couch’s armrest.
“I repeat, what were you doing at a Pine gathering, Ness?”