Page 51 of Roaring Flames

“I came,” I tell him blandly, not bothering to beat around the bush. “What do you want?”

“I don’t believe you murdered those females,” Matthew begins, seeming to choose his words carefully.

“I kind of suspected as much when you allowed me to leave.” I lean forward and rest my arms on my legs.

Directly in front of me, a young woman jogs down the trail leading into the forest. She sort of reminds me of Izzy, and apang reverberates through me when I think about my mate. All I want to do is be with her. Hold her. Love her.

My cock jerks to life in my pants at just the memory of her pussy milking it for all its worth.

Fuck.

Now is most definitelynotthe time to get a boner.

“What have you done about Kain?” My voice breaks on that final word, and I reach for the water bottle I always keep with me.

“Nothing as of yet.” Matthew frowns. “We don’t want him to think that anything is amiss.”

The water I’m swallowing gets lodged in my throat. “He’s still out there? At school?”

At Izzy’s school?

Anger traverses through my veins like lava.

He threatened my mate.

Told me he’ll kill her.

And he’s with her right now?

I need to get to her. Protect her. Rip Kain’s throat out?—

“Remain calm, young vampire.” Matthew glances at me out of the corner of his eye before facing forward once more. He, too, seems to be fixated on the jogger opposite us. “Isabella is fine.”

“You don’t know?—”

“I do, actually.” Matthew reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out two gloves. He carefully slips them onto his hands. “But we can’t let him know that we’re onto him. There’s more at play here than you could possibly understand.”

I stare at him in wide-eyed disbelief. “Are you kidding me? How stupid do you think Kain is? He knew I got arrested—hell, he visited me in my cell—and he’ll know that I got released. He’ll assume that I talked.”

A tiny grin tugs up the corners of Matthew’s mouth. “As of now, he doesn’t know that you’ve been released, and we intend to keep it that way…at least for the time being.”

“What do you mean?”

“Kain believes that you were sent away to be…interrogated more thoroughly. Or perhaps he’ll believe that you’re already dead. Who the fuck knows?” Matthew scratches at the stubble lining his jaw. “Which makes you the perfect asset.”

“Asset?” I fucking hate that word. How many times did the Elders refer to me as their greatest asset?

“You’ll be able to do some digging on Kain and the other pack members without them knowing.”

“Kain and the other pack members?” I gawk at him. “You don’t think Kain was working alone?”

Matthew finally turns to face me fully, his expression grave. “I don’t. I believe there’s more at play here than any of us can even comprehend.”

“Kain was working with Hunters. He was?—”

“Was he?” Matthew quirks an eyebrow questioningly. “Have you ever seen any humans with Kain?”

“No, but?—”

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