Page 12 of Heartless

Cal was barely out the door before my dad said, “Vail, would you show me that bracelet, please?”

She handed it over with obvious reluctance, but my dad was only interested in a small engraving near the clasp. “Alana, from Mom,” he read, handing it back with a gentle smile. “I think we can accept this was just a gift from Iris, your grandmother.”

“My grandmother?” Vail looked completely stunned, and an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. It was easy to forget she’d only known about our world for a couple of months, and her family even less. “She’s alive?”

“Yeah,” Jasper said, rubbing a hand across his chin. “Sorry, Vail. Iris Marrow’s kind of a celebrity in the shifter world. I guess it never occurred to any of us you wouldn’t know about her.”

“It’s okay,” she said, pocketing the bracelet, but the way she edged away from us conveyed her true feelings. “I should get going. I have afternoon classes.”

Jay watched her all the way to the door, but it was a very different look than the one he’d given her mate. Something my dad noted with interest. But as soon as she was gone, Jay was all business. “From everything I know about Cyril Long, that wasn’t his usual behavior. I doubt he came all this way just for a proof of life. Or to deliver a bracelet. So what do you think he was really looking for?”

“I’m going off rumors.” My dad’s lips thinned a fraction, the only sign he was about to part with information he’d been hording for some time. “There’s speculation he hasn’t been in retirement, as much as redeployed. Nothing is confirmed, but Iris hasn’t been seen at the Marrow Estate for a number of years. If she’s left for good, it’s possible Cyril has also broken his bond with Jonathan, and taken up with Iris.”

I frowned. I knew Iris Marrow had a reputation as a fierce wolf, but I couldn’t imagine her mate letting her go easily. “If Iris has really left him, could Cyril be watching her on Jonathan’s orders?”

Something my dad had no doubt already considered, but I was curious to hear what he’d decided. “I don’t think so. Iris and Cyril were always close. He was Jonathan’s enforcer, but Iris’ protector. She’s spent a lot of time back on her ancestral lands in England, and her absences align with Cyril’s. I think his allegiance is to her. And I believe the bracelet is likely from Iris. The method of delivery? We have to assume that Cyril was sent here as a warning.”

Jay’s jaw tightened. “To force Vail to go there over Winter Break?”

My dad shrugged. “If it came from Iris, I’d say the opposite. She knows Jonathan better than anyone, after all.” Jay’s eyes flashed, and my dad gave him a careful look. “The Marrow Clan call it the Long Night Moon because they spend it hunting. And I don’t mean for rabbit. I believe it would be extremely dangerous for Vail to be anywhere near the Marrow compound before she’s of age.” He gave us both a meaningful look. “And before she has the formal protection of a mate.”

Jay nodded, but told my dad, “I want a full report on Cyril Long. And anything you have on the Marrows, including any background that could help Vail. And make sure you copy her in, Nathan. Knowledge is her best defense now.” He looked up as Liam, his enforcer, entered the room, and my dad chose that moment to make his exit. I followed, knowing he was far from done, and when we reached his car, his enforcer opened the back door. “Come inside for a moment, son.”

I blanked my face and obeyed, the door closing with the kind of click that said it wasn’t going to open again for a while. But instead of launching into a lecture, he just stared at me. The silence was almost worse. “Are you in love with her?”

It was something I’d been asking myself since I saw the betrayal on her face in the woods. It had wounded me, as bad as any knock I’d taken on the packball field, but it wasn’t like Jay after Hunter Moon. I felt bruised, but he’d been gutted. Changed. After all, he’d put his old man in the ground to keep her safe. “No. I don’t think so. But I owe her.” I took a breath and admitted, “The Wolf Fire you gave me was for Pearl LaRue. She used it to get Vail out of the way. It put an end to her relationship with Jay, and when that turned bad, we discussed an alliance. If things had gone to plan, I would have gone through with it after the Packball Cup. But she found out about the Wolf Fire and she was done.”

“And Callum? What are her feelings for him?”

I huffed. “She avoided him like the plague until he put his mark on her. I guess he offered her something she couldn’t refuse. But you don’t need to hear this from me. You saw plenty in that room.”

“I saw three young males on the verge of an alpha triad. And a female who doesn’t trust any of you.”

Of course he did. My dad had probably figured that out before Vail’s butt hit her seat. “Jay’s set on it. Although, after Cal’s performance – or lack of it – we might be one alpha short.”

“Doesn’t work if it’s not a ring of three.”

I side-eyed him. When my dad started echoing Cyril Long, I knew I wasn’t going to like what came next. “You know what he meant by that?”

“Of course. It’s an Old Pack myth. But leave it for now. You need to focus on keeping the four of you tight.”

I grimaced. And there it was. “You want me to go through with it?”

“I want you to support your Clan Alpha. And earn the trust of his omega.” He tapped a finger on his lips, a sign he was about to one-eighty the conversation. “Marnie Barren. How are plans coming along for her initiation ceremony?”

I squirmed. Carter had been after me to talk about his sister, but I’d been brushing him off. “I’m on it. It’s set for Friday.”

My dad was quiet for a long moment, before he slid the knife in. “You’ve some trust to repair there as well, son.”

Fuck me. He made it sound like I was in the business of screwing with females. But that was something I’d deliberately avoided for years. Messy situations – and hurt feelings – made my skin crawl.

Although when he gave me a look, I suddenly had a memory of him pulling me up at a pack barbecue when I was fifteen. He didn’t like me spending so much time with my friends, instead of mixing with the lower ranked wolves. Marnie had been walking past us, her eyes lowered like she couldn’t hear my dad telling me off. That didn’t stop her from tripping over her feet and sending her plate flying, of course. Seeing her on her hands and knees, I’d wanted to pick her up and shake her, but I’d settled for a Cal-like sneer. Something that had made my dad look at me like I was lower than the dirt she’s almost eaten. “You never know what’s under someone’s skin, son.”

Like an alpha female hiding inside an invisible dud.

I hadn’t bullied Marnie, exactly, but I’d spent a lot of years ignoring her. And when Vail came on the scene and chose her of all females to befriend, I might have pointed some of my frustration in her direction. The worst of which was making her crawl out of Jay’s room when we wanted to interrogate Vail. A dick move, and one I saw reflected in her eyes every time she looked my way.

“She’s one of only six alpha females under thirty with Marshall blood,” my dad told me, as if I didn’t get the same census reports he did. “We can’t afford to have her mating outside the pack.”

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