“As crazy as it may sound, I wasn’t ready to see him die,” I replied softly.
Liam rested his forearms on his knees, linked his fingers, and stared so hard at his knuckles that a vertical groove appeared between his eyebrows.
After hanging up, I placed my phone face down on the coffee table. “I think it would be in good form for you to attend Julian’s wake, too.”
His gaze jerked to mine. “You do realize they’re all Creeks now.”
“They’re also human. Part human. Anyway, it was just a suggestion. Not an order.”
Slowly, he nodded. “You’re right. I’ll accompany you.”
“Good.”
“So, Sillin, huh? You’re really convinced that’s how she defeated Julian?”
I looked around the bright, clean room with all of its sharp angles and muted colors. Dust motes sparkled in a streak of sunlight. “Any chance your house is bugged?”
“Cole did a sweep of it the other day. No listening devices or hidden cameras.”
“I’m not convinced of how she cheated, just that she did.”
“Then why didn’t Nora Matz signal foul play?”
“Sillin is odorless. If Sandra ground it up into her body lotion-”
“Cassandra.” When I frowned, he added, “You just called her Sandra.”
Right. “Sandra’s what she called herself when she posed as a Red Creek Escort pimp.” I ran my lower lip between my teeth. Three little letters that had hidden her identity from me. I couldn’t figure out if she’d chosen the moniker for lack of creativity or in the hopes that I’d figure out who she was.
“Your theory?”
I picked at the frayed hem of my cutoffs. “She rubbed it into her skin, and when Julian bit her, it made him weaker.”
“But Sillin doesn’t make us throw up.”
He was right, but maybe mixed with lotion . . .
“Besides, wouldn’t it have penetrated her bloodstream?”
“Eventually.” I sighed. “I’d like to test my theory. Is the Sillin here?”
“No.”
“Where did you put it?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Which is?”
“Somewhere safe,” he repeated as though I hadn’t heard him the first time.
I crossed my arms. “Which you’re going to keep me in the dark about?”
“It’s better that I do.”
“Because you still don’t trust me?”
“I trust you.”
“Then why won’t you tell me?”
“Because the Creeks killed Everest over this drug.”
“They killed him because he defaulted on his deal to sell it to them.”
“The Creeks have more money than they could ever use. Especially if you factor in Aidan’s real estate contribution. I may hate the man, but he’s smart at business and has built an empire.” Liam unlinked his fingers and set his palms on his denim-clad knees. “They didn’t off your cousin because of a monetary loss.”
A chill swept over me. So they really need Sillin . . . “And yet you were willing to fight her.”
“I was ready to fight her because I know how the drug works.”
“And I don’t?”
He made a growly sound that had my shoulders squaring.
“I took it for weeks, Liam. When I moved to LA, Mom forced me to ingest it every day to make my werewolf gene dormant.”
“Then you know that once the pills are popped out of their packaging and exposed to air and heat, their effect wears off. That’s why we kept ours in a padlocked fridge.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“So if-and this is a huge if-Sillin was in Morgan’s bloodstream or on her skin, its effect would’ve diminished by the time I got around to fighting her.”
I took in this information, filed it away.
He tilted his head to the side. “You know what baffles me most about all of this? You’re always the first to proclaim that women are equal to men, yet a female Alpha defeats a male, and you’re convinced she cheated? Why is that?”
My arms went lax, but since they were still knotted in front of my chest, they didn’t plummet against the couch. “Julian threw up.”
“Yet his Second-who has absolutely no love for the Creek Alpha-didn’t signal foul play? Either Nora Matz is dumb as shit or you’re smart as fuck.”
I watched his expression, watched it closely to know what his conclusion was.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like you don’t know what I’m thinking.”