Page 12 of Savage Trap

My stomach cramps at this disturbing news, and I feel my wolf pushing at my skin. She’s as vengeful as Arben in her own way, and I know she’s eager to get out and hunt down this new threat. “Who?”

“Well, Phillip Prior, for one. Unless Darius dropped him in a ditch for what he did to his mate, he’s unaccounted for.”

I look at Kelly, who’s staring back at me with wide, angry eyes. There’s no love lost between him and his uncle, especially since he’s been using his mom to keep control of the London pack. “Who else?”

“Only a few others. Your Uncle Miko’s body was never found, for instance.”

“We’re not related.” It’s a sore point, though, because Miko is part of my past when my mom was still alive and I believed there was some good in the Dark River Pack. “But I don’t think he’d say anything. He gave me the key to the cuffs they put on me in the Tower.”

A low rumbling sound comes from my mates at the memory of me up on the stage, cuffed and on my knees while Bisha tried to auction me off to his revolting friends.

“There are two others,” my dad goes on, his hands clenched into fists where they rest on his thighs. “Paige Peters, who was one of Bisha’s mistresses. And a security guard who was working that night.”

I stroke the small scar of my cheek at the thought of Paige. When I was first dragged into the Tower, she hit me so hard her big-ass diamond ring made me bleed. A little while later, she punched me in the face with a pair of knuckledusters, and then kicked me in the head with one of the Louboutins she stole out of my mom’s closet. To say there’s no love lost between us is an understatement. “Gotta say, I’d like to see Paige run into my wolf on a dark night.”

“Not if I get to her first,” Link mutters, his gaze on the tiny scar I’m stroking with my thumb. “I’m covering her credit cards, social media, the works. If the bitch breathes wrong, she’s done.”

I nod, warmed by the fire in his eyes. “As long as I get a punch in, I’m happy.”

“The guard might be a problem though,” my dad says, interrupting our bloodthirsty moment. “He was low level; not a togerët by any stretch of the imagination. But he may have had access to the security cameras in the basement.”

“Fuck.” It’s Link who curses, but we all share a worried look.

When Bisha discovered that Arben was working against him, he had him locked up in the torture chamber in the Tower’s basement. Arben managed to break out, but he wasn’t exactly subtle about it, taking on a rare third form that, for want of a better description, is a monster version of our wolf. Think of an eight-foot half-shift with thick black fur all over his body and a set of steak knife teeth that can snap a man in two.

I watch Link absently rub the monster bite on his throat as he mutters, “There’s no way they got it on film. I wiped everything. If they know something, it has to be from this security guy.”

I huff and rub my throbbing temples. “Who has possibly taken his story to the Wolf of Washington in exchange for protection. Is that what we’re saying?”

“Hopefully not,” my dad sighs. “But we have to consider it.”

I think of the intense man I met downstairs and feel my panic rise. “If Loup has real evidence against us, what’s the worst he can do? I mean, there’s no High Alpha anymore. You guys are peers. Can he still come after us?”

My dad’s eyes gleam with a level of cunning I can’t imagine I’ll ever match. “This is just the first play, sweetheart. He might have the European Liaisons, but we have the council. Or the promise of it. He won’t make a move until he’s certain of the outcome.”

The European Liaisons. I don’t know much about them, except that they operate as ambassadors to the strongest and oldest packs in the world. Technically, they don’t have the authority to challenge a territorial alpha on another continent, but in reality, they wield a lot of power. If one of the European packs has taken an interest in the Tower massacre, Loup probably won’t stop digging until their curiosity is satisfied.

“And don’t forget, we have the eight-foot monster-man,” Rory says with a vicious grin. “I bet that guard is pissing himself to sleep every night, wondering if he shouldn’t just make a run for it.”

We all stare at each other for a while, our bonds humming with a mixture of best-case and worst-case scenarios, until my dad picks up the folder on the table. “There’s been a change to tonight’s dinner plans. With Loup in town, the Alpha of Chicago has to do something formal. That means pack alphas only, I’m afraid.”

I grin, because it’s the first bit of good news I’ve heard for a while. “Great! Then we’ll do room service and have a movie night.”

Kelly’s smile is instantly a mile wide, since we’re halfway through a Peaky Blinders marathon, and an evening with Cillian Murphy and his dreamy blue eyes beats a stuffy political dinner, hands down.

“Not so fast, sweetheart,” my dad chuckles. “Parker Leon has kindly offered to take the younger ones out to a club the pack owns. You’re not the only heir in town, and Warren wants to make sure you’re taken care of as well.”

I chew my lip, my excitement at the movie marathon deflating. But then I perk up again. “Will Nate be going?”

My dad slants me a curious look. “I’m not sure. Why the interest?”

I decide to deflect his question with one of my own, since I’m not exactly sure how to answer it right now. “What do you know about him? Nate gave us the basics, and Link filled in a few gaps. But could he be a threat in any way?”

My dad never dismisses a question, but he doesn’t look troubled by this one. “I seriously doubt it. He’s quiet, keeps a low profile. He’s extremely valuable to the pack from a financial perspective, but I don’t get the sense he mixes with them much. Warren actually asked me to overlook any ‘odd behaviors’ – his term, not mine.”

I prickle all over at that. “Nate’s not odd. He’s actually pretty cool.”

My dad raises a brow at that, but I’ve had enough of debriefing. “Time for a swim,” I announce, my gaze sliding past Cam to Link. I arch a brow at him. “Is the coast clear up on the roof? I’d hate to go all the way up there and have to postpone… again.”

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