Page 39 of Heartless

“Reed,” Vail said, in a voice that made my head snap up. “It’s very important you tell us how you knew Marnie was here.”

Vail’s words rolled over me, not with power, but with an intensity that made me study her more closely. She really was exhausted. Her hair was lank, her eyes swollen, and I could see the strain in every line of her body. But she was standing taller, too, and there was something about the way Liam was watching her that was different. The Clan Enforcer was the best at what he did because he really could separate his emotions from the job. He had put up with a lot of shit from Jay’s dad when he led the pack, and none of it ever seemed to leave a mark. But now he was watching Vail like she mattered. No, he was watching her like he was invested.

“Where’s Jay?” It was their turn to ignore me, the silence stretching until my stomach tightened into a knot. Something was going on here, and it definitely involved the Clan Alpha. “If he’s here, I want to talk to him.”

Liam folded his arms, widening his stance in a way that couldn’t be misconstrued. “Answer our question first, Alphason.”

“Alright,” I finally replied, keeping my focus on the enforcer. “I figured Marnie would only leave campus in a lockdown if Vail was in trouble. And I’d been feeling something was off for a couple of days. I thought it had to do with Jay, and when he stopped answering my texts, I tried to track his phone. It’s encrypted, but there are ways. It put him in this general vicinity.” I shrugged, stuffing my hands into my jean pockets. “And the cave entrance is rigged with sensors. There was enough new activity to make me suspicious.”

“Sonofabitch,” Liam muttered. “What else is your father monitoring?”

“What isn’t he, would be easier to answer.”

“In these caves, Reed,” Vail said, stepping towards me with her fists clenched. “Be specific. Does he have video? Audio?”

“No. Nothing beyond the motion sensors. They just log every entry and exit.” I caught a flash of relief, before their expressions settled back into wary lines. “Why? What the hell is going on?”

Vail turned towards the others, and I saw that same kind of awareness from Marnie. Whatever was happening, Vail was at the center of it, and was somehow calling the shots. Which was ass backwards, since she was the only omega in the room. To test the theory, I took a deliberate step in her direction, and both alphas immediately closed ranks. And while Liam pulling a gun on me was surprising, the fistful of claws that suddenly appeared on my mate’s hand shocked me down to the bone. “What the fuck?”

“Wait.” Vail pushed past them with a sigh. “There was another Denner attack, Reed. That’s the big secret. Jasper was hurt, and although he’s recovering, we need to give him time to heal before anyone finds out.”

“How bad is he?”

“He’s recovering.”

That’s all they were going to give me? “I need to talk to him.” I took another deliberate step forward. I didn’t think Liam would really shoot me – and Marnie had already sheathed her claws – but it was Vail who shook her head and stepped in my path. “Don’t push this, Reed.”

I help up a hand. “I get you want to keep this secret. And that you think I’ll report it straight to my dad. But this is bigger than what you think.” I thumbed the screen of my phone, which showed a blurry image of a big guy standing at a gas station. “Holland is on the move. He walked off the ice farm yesterday. It’ll take him a few days to get down here, but we can probably expect a formal challenge within the week.”

Liam cursed, and Vail spun on the enforcer. “What? Who’s Holland?”

“The kind of guy you’re trying to keep this from,” I told her. “He was an old buddy of Jay’s dad, and challenged him when he first took over as Alpha Arras. He wasn’t the only one to try, but he’s the only one who tapped out and walked away. Jay exiled him up North. But he’s headed back.”

Vail shuddered, her eyes glued to the image on my phone. “We can’t let that happen.”

“So he’s really hurt,” I said grimly, turning to the Clan Enforcer. “You know there are protocols for this. You don’t have the authority to make decisions about what happens next.”

Liam just nodded in Vail’s direction. “It’s her call.”

I gaped at them all. I got that emotions were running high, and they were all worried about Jay, but he wasn’t just our friend. And this wasn’t just one wolf challenging another. If Holland won, if his cronies rallied around, we’d have war. Because there was no way I was letting that twisted old prick run the Hunter Moon Clan. “It can’t be up to any one of us. This is too big.”

Vail didn’t look convinced. If anything, she looked more determined than ever. “This isn’t politics, Reed. This is personal. You need to join us, or get out of our way.”

I was pissed she’d twist the advice I’d once given her, but I was distracted by something else. As she’d raked a hand through her limp hair, I’d caught a glimpse of a red mark. About the size and shape of a mating bite. “Wait. Back up. Explain why is it your call what happens to our Clan Alpha?”

“Because she’s our Clan Luna!” Marnie exploded, shaking her head at me, like I was dense. But I wasn’t. Because there was no way the bite on Vail’s neck was from a wolf.

***

Vail Marrow was a liar. I knew it in my bones. And because of the fifteen minutes of footage I’d taken from the mineral pool camera, right after the Frost Moon.

She liked to talk about keeping secrets, but I was the one with the evidence. And Cal, too, since the surveillance camera had caught him filming her shift by the pool. There was no audio on the recording I’d intercepted, but he hadn’t acted surprised when she changed. Even though she was in a school of wolves, and had somehow changed into a creature I could only describe as a black panther.

Something I’d planned to interrogate her over, except Cal had kept her on lockdown, and then on the night of Marnie’s initiation, she’d disappeared.

I watched her now as she held court over dinner. She still looked like she hadn’t slept for a week, but she perked up a bit as everyone updated her on their day. We were all sitting at a big table in the communal room, the Arras omegas served up dishes that were as good as anything we’d ever had at the academy. But my stomach was a sour ball of dread, and I couldn’t do much more than push my food around my plate as they talked about Jay like he was a school project they were working for extra credit.

“He’s responding well to the infusers,” the school nurse told Vail. “Definitely on the right track.”

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