Page 57 of Bitter Discord

“Yes, that fits,” she said. “It’s a strong theory.”

“I’m leaning toward a witch able to cover their own scent and the scent of whatever spells they might do,” Jacky said, shrugging.

“Also a reasonable theory. The most important thing is we’re all agreed Arlo isn’t intentionally part of this. Are we?” Zuri looked around the room.

“Of course,” Heath said, nodding. “I’m willing to believe any theory before that. My son brought up something important on the drive here. He’s never killed anyone before, and he’s shown no signs of being the type who would want to do something like this.”

“Good. I can’t speak in his favor because I don’t know him, but what I can do is continue to investigate the werecats here while you three find him and whoever might have him.” Zuri looked at the door. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep them all on the premises once the interrogations are over. They’re only staying right now because they know running would implicate them. Once I know of their innocence, some will tire of being forced to stay in the mansion, while others will want to find Arlo themselves. You might assuage some of them, but not all of them.”

“The sooner we’re finished talking to the werecats, the sooner we can get back on the hunt for him,” Heath said, looking down at Jacky’s phone. He hit play on the recording, letting it play Arlo’s terrified voice. No one in the room was comfortable hearing the young man on the call, but Heath realized what he needed to do. It would make Arlo look terrible to some, but it could save his life with others. He stared at the phone, able to imagine Arlo’s expression.

“Jacky, can we play this for them? Would the BSA have a problem with that?”

“The BSA doesn’t need to know, and if they tried to give me a hard time, they shouldn’t have sent me a copy to do whatever I wanted with… but the werecats don’t know about Arlo being there yet,” she said, her concerns about his idea clear. “I told Zuri, then waited on you.”

“They need to hear him for who he is… a boy in a bad situation,” Heath said, looking up at her. “Not all of them will care, but it might stop a few more than just my words.”

“Or it could implicate him further,” Zuri countered. “Is that a risk you’re willing to take?”

Heath searched Jacky’s expression.

“This entire thing only works if we’re willing to take risks by giving the other side a chance to be better than our base instincts. To give them a chance to get beyond old wounds,” Heath said, keeping his eyes on his fiancée’s. “Isn’t that what we want? To work together instead of immediately jumping to hate and distrust? Willingly give them this information gives them a reason to trust me.” He finally looked at Zuri. “If they can’t trust me after seeing me take a risk for them like this to help show my young wolf’s innocence, they wouldn’t be convinced otherwise.”

“Fair point,” Zuri agreed. “Come on. Jacky and I will lead you in so no one attacks you the moment you show your face.”

21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Icouldn’t believe Heath was about to do this but couldn’t find a reason against it. Zuri had the best argument—it would piss off the werecats downstairs, and they would revolt against the plan because clearly, Arlo had to be the killer. Heath’s argument was the belief some of them would be better than what we expected.

If it wasn’t for that faith in strangers, he and I would have never made it this far. If we couldn’t work together here, then everything I argued about real peace with the werewolves and cohabitating would fail. He was willing to risk something to prove we could practice what we were trying to preach.

Plus, if someone couldn’t tell Arlo was scared and desperate from that recording, they probably weren’t people I wanted to impress or ally with. They would also make it clear they were the ones Heath would need to worry about for the pack.

“Any word from the pack on finding him?” I asked my werewolves as we walked down the hall behind Zuri.

“They’re still doing sweeps of your territory. It’ll take time. I’ve set Shamus and Ranger to run your border to see if they pick up the scent of any supernatural presence. If someone prepared by doing spells before they entered, or maybe we can pick up Arlo’s scent just outside your territory. We’re hoping to find any clue. If we can find where a trail picks back up, we have something to go off.”

“Sadly, Pa and I have to handle the politics of the situation here, or we would help them.” Landon was pissed. He wanted to be doing something, or he just didn’t want to behere.

“I understand,” I said, nodding as Zuri reached the basement door. She waved a hand, and it opened, staying open for us all to start down the stairs before it closed behind us. I didn’t question her use of magic, firmly believing she was doing it as a show of power, and I had no problem with that. We needed our leverage to keep the other werecats under control. She was the one who could do that.

“Can everyone please take a seat?” Zuri asked loudly as we entered. The room was silent except for the sounds of feet shuffling and chairs moving. Once everyone was sitting down, Zuri gave an appreciative nod. “Thank you. Jacky and I know this is a precarious situation, and we’re grateful you’ve allowed us to begin questioning you while we waited for more information.” She threw me a glance, telling me it was my turn.

“Alpha Heath Everson and his second, Landon Everson, have come to talk about the werewolf they haven’t been able to account for.” I was still careful not to use Arlo’s name in front of the other werecats. If they did their research, they could already know there were two members of the pack who were teenage boys. Telling them which teenager it was could be all they needed to find him before we could. I wasn’t willing to take the risk. “We’ll discuss the plan of action with them until we find the young werewolf and the murderer—”

“The boyisthe murderer,” Lonan muttered.

“We don’t think so,” I said, directing that at him. “Not just because he’s a member of the pack. Don’t you think it’s a little too convenient, Lonan?”

“I’ve seen werewolves do stupider,” he retorted.

“I’m sure we have seen many people do stupider,” I said, glaring at him. “But you’re not the victim in this situation, so your opinion and input aren’t necessary. Let me remind you that you don’t get to take the law into your own hands.”

Lonan bared his teeth at me, then leaned back in his seat, relaxing. When he said nothing after a long minute, I hoped that was the end of his nonsense for now.

“Heath and Landon know the pack better than anyone. I know all of them. I see them regularly. I drive the missing werewolf to school sometimes.” I sighed, looking at Heath, knowing he would be able to say more than I could.

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