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She gets in my face. “It’s not a game. I died. Whoever’s killing those shifters? They killed Kiva. We’re talking about people’s lives.”
“I know.” I can’t keep the edge out of my voice. “They ripped Lowell into pieces the same as they did your family. My brother was the only one to accept me unconditionally since I was a… ” The word kit almost falls out of my mouth because my first shift as a kid was how the wolf alpha learned that I wasn’t his son. No, I belonged to the fox alpha who had an affair with my mother, who came from a line as close to royalty as wolves could have. “A pup,” I manage to add without too much of a pause.
Sadie stills, something akin to sadness sliding across her expression before the spark of rage fills it again. “My helping you with the investigation might not prove that Lowell didn’t kill me.”
“You don’t know the whole truth.”
“Neither do you.”
I want to argue but that won’t help win her cooperation. No, I need to de-escalate this situation fast if I have any chance of finding out what she knows or getting my mouth back on hers for another kiss. One that’ll prove she lied when she said our first didn’t mean anything. Not the way her heart’s still racing and my blood’s pumping. I raise my hands in mock surrender. “Why don’t we get something to eat and discuss strategy?”
“Oh no.” She recoils as though I’ve suggested we have sex with an audience of the Nymphs, grumpy Gorgon, and whoever else we left back in the bar. Not that I’d be opposed, but I’d like my dick to stay attached, thank you very much, and she looks like she might be planning to remove it. She jabs my arm again with her pointy, polished fingernail. “I am not falling for the feed a girl and start the mating dance routine. Not for you or any other shifter.”
“Whoa, who said anything about mates?” Me, my wolf chimes in. He can shut the hell up. No matter that the mating bond has me seeing blood red in ribbons around her as though her anger has come to life.
“You kissed me.”
“And you kissed me back.” Okay, I admit, not the smartest comeback. Being with this woman zaps my brain. I swear she sends my thoughts spinning like a tornado coming through hill country.
“Because of the beer Tisia served. Mine had love potion ingredients, and yours came hopped up on virility. The hormone rush? Just a side effect of good kitchen witchery. This wasn’t a crazy fated mates thing. I don’t want you to feed me or bring me gifts or act in any way that wolves do for women they like. Not now, not ever. Clear?”
“Got it.”
“Good.” She blows out a breath that has the loose strands of her hair flying, and my fingers itch to smooth it, but I don’t move. Not when she looks as though she’s about to heft a boulder of worry and I might be the first to get squashed. “What can you tell me that I don’t already know about my murder?”
I don’t rise to the challenge in her go-screw-yourself-sideways tone. “All right, princess.” Who will always be too good for me. She bristles at the nickname, and I make a mental note to use it often. “If Lowell murdered your sister, you, and your entire family before killing himself, how did Hazel’s engagement ring go missing?”
“Because someone from the marshals stole it before the coroner’s office showed up to take the bodies.”
“I arrived first on scene.”
Her cheeks go pale, and she curls her hands into fists before nodding. “You said that already. Go on.”
“Whoever killed them? They took your sister’s ring with them which proves Lowell didn’t do it.” I drop the verbal bomb and wait for the emotional explosion. Three-two-one, boom.
8
SADIE
My garden’s my refuge. Sinking my fingers into the damp earth to work new seeds into the soil, I breathe in the sweet herb scent. There’s no weeding to bother with—the joy of deity level magic in this town.
A swish across the clearing has me looking up. Dottie and her butterfly wings flutter above the lavender blossoms.
“Your garden’s so pretty,” she says.
“Thanks.” I brush my hair out of my eyes. The way Dottie expertly hovers, it’s hard to remember my Fury sister couldn’t fly that long ago without crashing into trees. “Did Coach send you to talk to me?” It’s late afternoon, and I’ve been out here for hours. After finding me kissing Nolan last night, I honestly didn’t think it would take this long for someone to come looking for me.
“Nope. Why? Should she have?” Dottie flaps her big pretty wings and lands on one of the stone lines I’ve created. The garden forms a wheel—each of the eight sections dedicated to a different poison at the center with herbs beyond and rows of wolf’s bane forming the outer ring. “I can stand here, right?”
I treat my garden like a temple. Certain parts can be stepped on, but most can’t. My sisters respect the boundaries. “You’re safe there.”
“You hiding from Coach?” she asks.
“I’m hiding from everyone.”
She moves closer. “Well, now I’m not leaving until you tell me why. Does it have something to do with how fast you left the Hack and Ale last night? Or how pitiful the wolf marshal looked after watching you go?”
I fight the urge to ask her about Nolan or shifters in general, especially not the mating part. Except I need to know her take on whether Lowell could’ve hurt my sister. Dottie and Kiva have both hinted that one mate couldn’t physically hurt the other, at least not intentionally. They both seemed shocked that a wolf would’ve attacked his human. “Nolan said that my sister’s engagement ring was gone by the time he came to our house. So either he’s lying, someone stole it after the murder, or—”
