“To spy, then?”
She wrinkled her pert nose. “I’m not a fan of the word spy.”
“Would you rather I say snoop?” My voice crackled with animosity.
She snapped her head straight. “Aren’t you a little spitfire?”
“How did you reel Everest into your opportunistic scheme?”
“I didn’t. Becca did. The silly girl fell in love.” She took the glass of water someone tendered her way-Lori.
I gave the tall woman beside Cassandra a cursory once-over. All of her was thin and narrow, from her face to her body.
“Thank you, sweet thing.” Cassandra wrapped fingers topped with lacquered burgundy nails filed to a dull point around the glass and tipped it to her bluish lips. “Where was I?”
“Becca and Everest fell in love,” I supplied curtly.
“Right. Becca convinced me Everest was unhappy with the Boulders.” She slanted her eyes to Liam. “That he could be an asset. So we talked, and I brought him on.”
Liam’s body had hardened next to mine as though he were made entirely of bones.
“Everest wanted to have Heath demoted and asked if I had anythin’ on him he could use. Even though Aidan had supplied me with somethin’ your cousin could’ve used”-her gaze slid back to me-“my goal wasn’t to instigate a war between the packs. I told him I’d let him use the girls to dig up his own dirt.”
Even though Liam didn’t react verbally or physically, I sensed the frenzied beat of his heart inside of mine. All of the pack seemed to sense it, because suddenly Frank was wrapping his fingers around Liam’s wrist, and Lucas had squeezed in between Liam and me.
Lori handed Cassandra a plate laden with food and took away her glass of water.
“And whose idea was it to use me as an escort?” I asked.
Cassandra devoured a pig-in-a-blanket in a single bite, then made another vanish just as swiftly. “His. But I seconded it. You were vengeful and desirous of closure. I believed meetin’ with Heath would bring you closure.”
In a way, it had, but I would never ever admit this. I kept my expression blank. The air was so rife with tension that I expected some of the Boulders to shift, but everyone remained in skin.
“Why did you send me to meet Aidan?” He wasn’t by her side and he wasn’t in the crowd. “So I could get closure for my father’s death?”
“No. I did that so that he could get closure. Killing your father was a mistake. A terrible one. He’d been aimin’ for Heath, but I believe you already know that.”
“Doesn’t erase what he did.”
“No, it doesn’t. Except he was tryin’ to help your father, Ness.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talkin’ about something your Alpha should explain.”
She started to turn away, but I called her back. “Mrs. Morgan, why did you have Everest killed?”
“I didn’t have Everest killed. I had him followed.”
“Having him followed got him killed.”
“Extorting money from my pack got him killed,” she lobbed back. “Your cousin was a thief. He said he had access to Sillin, made us pay a substantial deposit for it, and then he never delivered.”
My heart was beating double-time. “What did you need Sillin for?”
She made a sort of guttural sound, halfway between a growl and a sigh. “For injuries. For travel. For my cousin-although now he won’t be needin’ it anymore. And before you go on assumin’ anything, we had no intention of using it as a weapon.”
Like I’d ever believe that…
She shook her head. “An Alpha’s responsibility is to protect the pack at any costs. At least, that’s what an Alpha should do. May I suggest that before you go judgin’ me and mine, you take a good look at your own Alpha.”
Liam’s eyes glowed as bright as the flames I’d imagined licking up the sides of the inn.
With a skein of Creeks trailing her, she finally took off toward the living room but paused by the sliding door, her blue sheath flapping in the gentle breeze. “Oh, and, Candy, I’ll be here for several days. We still have so much to discuss, you and I, so don’t be a stranger.” She flicked her fingers in a little wave, then went to take a seat on one of the couches inside.
Her wolves milled around her, quietly ferrying plates to and from the buffet, gazes roving over us in both curiosity and caution.
The hush that draped over all three packs raised the hairs on the nape of my neck.
“Liam?” I whispered.
He looked everywhere but at my face.
My stomach felt as though a swarm of moths were flapping their little wings against its lining.
“What was Morgan talking about, Kolane?” August asked.
“None of your fucking business, Watt,” Liam snapped.
“If it has to do with Ness, it is my fucking business.”
Without turning around, I said, “No, August. I know you consider me like a sister, but I’m not. So it’s not your business. This is between Liam and me.”
My words stung August. I sensed it in the tremor that crossed through the tether. As he backed away, it vibrated like a flicked clothes string. He didn’t leave the inn, just put distance between us. A lot of it.
I accorded Liam my full attention. “I’m listening.”
A nerve ticked in his temple and another in his jaw.
When he still didn’t speak, I asked, “Would you rather I ask Aidan Michaels to enlighten me?”
“A couple days before he was shot, your father challenged mine for Alpha,” Liam said roughly. “My father said he would kill him, and Aidan caught it with one of the many bugs he’d planted in our homes. After Callum died, when we came for Aidan, the bastard played back the recording. Said he’d play it for the entire pack. Even though Dad didn’t shoot Callum, it made him look guilty. That’s why your father’s death wasn’t avenged.”
The music stopped, replaced by a screechy recording. A voice risen from the dead boomed across the terrace.
“The nerve of Clark! He already stole my mate. And now he wants my pack?” Heath sounded crazed. “The fucking nerve of him.”
Something shattered. Heath had probably lobbed one of his crystal highballs into a wall. I could just imagine the whiskey dripping down the wooden pillar in his cushy home.