Page 58 of The Runaway Mate

What witness? What scene? Who the hell was Carson?

I opened my mouth to ask, when Ryan continued, “There’s more. The witness picked up a banknote dropped by the murderer. It had Brock Madden’s scent all over it.”

“Ah-ha!” I said, pointing to Jem.

“Ah-ha, nothing,” Jem replied gruffly. “You don’t even know what we’re talking about.”

Okay, he had a point.

“Did the witness actually see Brock there?” Jem asked.

Ryan shook his head.

“It’s circumstantial at best, then.”

“We also ran into Michael on the way out.”

“Michael?” Jem echoed, his surprise evident. “You okay?”

Ryan nodded, his gaze flicking from mine to Jem’s. “Yeah, but something was off about it. He was alone, and he really seemed convinced that Carson did it. He thinks you’ve lost control of this Pack, and it’s leaking into his territory.”

A tense silence filled the room. I could almost see the gears turning in Jem’s mind.

“Someone’s been feeding him bad intel on us,” Jem said, his voice speculative.

Ryan nodded. “I think so. It would explain why he’s been recruiting—if we had an unstable Pack on our borders, we’d do something about it.”

“Someone’s trying to start a war between our Packs,” said Derek.

A chill ran down my spine at Derek’s words. Jem stared at them. “But why? To what end?”

“And is Brock in on it?” I added.

All eyes in the room turned to me.

“What do you know?” asked Derek.

I repeated my evening for Derek and Ryan.

Ryan walked over to the table. “Two groups: one in the Bridgetown Pack—it might be Michael and Camile, or it might be some of their enforcers—looking to take over the Three Rivers Pack. The other group is in our Pack.”

“We need more information,” Jem stated.

“Sofia is talking to some people, those she thinks might tell her what’s going on. Maybe we’ll know more when she reports in.”

Derek’s head whipped around at the mention of Sofia’s name. “You have Sofia involved in this? Where is she?” he demanded.

“I don’t know. Wally’s tracking her down.”

“Fuck!” Derek dragged a hand through his hand, then looked at Jem.

Jem nodded, and Derek strode out of the room.

“You two should head home,” Jem said, going back around the desk and sitting in his chair. It wasn’t a question.

“But—”

“No, Mai, there is nothing more to say tonight. We’ll know more in the morning when Sofia and Derek have checked in. Be here at eight. We can meet over breakfast.” He looked at Ryan, who nodded.

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