Page 96 of Bitter Discord

“They didn’t because Heath talked to them about Arlo, a good young man who wouldn’t do something like this. We freely exchanged information.” I could see why William had come to his conclusion about how this would go, but it seemed he assumed the worst in people while I worked to bring out their best.

This time, I won.

“Yeah, didn’t expect the Alpha to do that, to prostrate himself to a group of werecats and sway them. Killing Mason was a rash decision on my part. I was just so…angrywith him.” William’s nostrils flared, and a growl broke from him like a monster ripping off its chains.

“We interrogated every werecat after the murder. You expected Mason to get away with that? He would have told me everything.”

“I didn’t know you were a witch until he told me that night. He was already a security risk. I made a rash decision, not a wrong one,” William snapped. “I was hoping for chaos. The werecats kill the boy before the pack can save him, and the pack retaliates. Then the family goes for the pack, but Jacky defends them. The family eats itself alive, and all the while… Callahan and Corissa prepare to put the cats down.”

“Why would they?” Zuri demanded. “Rogue werewolves don’t have the protection of the Tribunal werewolves.”

“Children do,” I whispered. “You might not have wanted Arlo, but he was the better choice.”

“The Beta would have been the same.”

“Jacky?” Zuri’s questioning tone meant I finally knew something about two powerful Tribunal members that she didn’t. A piece of knowledge I almost wanted to keep to myself.

“Corissa has a soft spot for the weak among the werewolves. She was enraged to find out about the state of the Russian werewolf pack and even grateful its existence would be over, thanks to Heath and me,” I explained to my sister. “She would have gone after the werecats who killed Arlo in cold blood or Teagan if he had been caught by William.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be found, but after a night of silence and everyone camping at your mansion, I realized people were listening to you. They weren’t going to hunt for him.” William snarled at me. “I couldn’t even commit another murder to rile them up more. I would have continued escalating until they did, but I didn’t expect them to just hide in the safety of the mansion.Pathetic.”

“They could have tried to leave, but they knew I would stop them,” Zuri said, shrugging. “Continue.”

“Last night… I saw the others leave, but not everyone. I knewsomethingwas going on. When Lonan finally left, well after the others, I went to his home to meet him.”

“How—”

“We found cameras on neighboring properties while you were sleeping,” Zuri quickly explained. “He was watching the mansion remotely, disguising them as cameras that belong to other security systems.”

“Ah…” Nodding, I waved for William to continue.

“Lonan explained as we drove to my rental. I was scrambling. He wasn’t planning to go after the kid. He just wanted to leave. The one I relied on the most was…” William snarled. “No one acted the way they were supposed to! No one! It was supposed to work! Werecats and werewolves never get along like this! You weren’t supposed to have any power, damn it!”

“How did Arlo’s trail disappear?” I asked, ignoring the outburst. I knew what I needed to know now. His plan was… a plan, certainly, but he had relied too much on the worst in people.

He was a bit surprised by my sudden change in topic.

“Another spell, a… paste of sorts,” he explained. “I had to refresh it every twenty-four hours. When the boy was asleep, I rubbed some on his chest, and it artificially recreated my Talent but on him. Took months for the witch and me to develop and test.”

“Who is this witch, and where is he?” I asked. “Bruce, I believe he went by with his family.”

“How?” William narrowed his eyes, a low growl building.

“Because your goals align. We killed your father. I killed his family. He knew how to mask the smell of magic. He probably knows how it works. We’d like him to explain it to us.”

William looked at his hands and gave an address. Zuri had her phone out quickly and typed it in. A moment later, our phones buzzed. I checked my phone, only seeing Hisao’s name. I didn’t bother to read the message. I knew what he was doing.

“Twenty-four hours,” Zuri said softly. “He won’t be joining us tomorrow,” she directed to me. “He’s going for the witch.”

“Yeah.” I looked at William one more time, wondering if there was anything I needed from him or wanted. In the end, we prevailed, and he didn’t. We had the information about the witch, and Hisao was handling that.

He stared back, silently telling me if he didn’t die, he would find some way to hurt me and everyone I cared about.

“Good people don’t always win,” I said, leaning close to the bars. “But monsters like younever will.”

“If you weren’t part of the equation, this would have worked,” he replied.

“Maybe… maybe not.” I shrugged. “But you tried against me.”

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