Page 27 of Eclipsed Heart

Good,Bodey countered, but I could already see him loosening his grip on Zeke.

I pushed calm toward him though it was damn hard. I was so angry with Zeke myself that I really wanted to treat him the way he’d allowed me to be treated my entire life.It’s hard, and it sucks, but we’re king and queen now. We can’t be the same people we were two days ago.

This is foryou, not him.Bodey let go then and stepped to my side once more.

Zeke huffed, yanking his shirt down. “If this is how you two are going to rule—by being bullies—”

“You’re right. We won’t resort toyourtactics,” I interjected, not wanting to hear a lecture from him about this.

Snorting, Jack shot me a wink and said, “She’s got you there.”

Zeke scowled, clearly not finding our commentary funny.

Even Miles struggled to keep the corners of his mouth from lifting.

“The real question is: How did the queen’s scouts learn the location of the coronation?” Michael steepled his hands. “Do you have any idea how that happened?”

“Are you serious?” Zeke lifted his brows, taking a moment to scan each of us as we reformed a line. “You have Stevie in custody. She admitted to aiding the queen.”

Samuel nodded. “True. Someone you put Callie in the same home with and who is part of your pack. And we’re wondering how Stevie knew the location to tell the queen.”

It all led back to Zeke, and he was a fool if he didn’t realize we were all aware of that.

Straightening his shoulders, Zeke’s face hardened. “I don’t like what you’re insinuating.”

I smiled sweetly. “We aren’t insinuating anything, just stating facts.” I stopped myself from asking if that was guilt I heard. “You did leave the group to get some air before the coronation.”

“Excuse me if I was upset that a pack member of mine went and got mated without informing me.” Zeke scoffed. “And Queen Kel’s wolves were already in the area due to the coronation dinner.” Zeke huffed. “It’s not a stretch to assume they realized the site would be close by.”

He did have a point, but that didn’t mean they’d know exactly where we were holding the ceremony. There were too many coincidences, so I tried to word my next observation carefully. “True, but they arrived just as the spell started…when it couldn’t be stopped. Their timing was perfect.”

“Well, didn’t someone say the witch who cast the perimeter spell was killed?” Zeke rocked back on his heels. “So there’s no telling how long they were there.”

“Our wolves were running patrols.” Bodey shook his head. “They would’ve seen them.”

“Weren’t our wolves farther out?” Zeke shrugged. “Maybe they pulled into the park somehow and came close by. Our wolves weren’t manning the area around the park because of the perimeter spell. Hell, they could’ve had their own witch on hand, searching for magic and hiding them.”

I clenched my hands, allowing my fingernails to cut into the skin on my palms. I relished the sting because I was going to lose my mind otherwise. My vision began to darken at the edges. All we were getting was thiswhat-ifshit when I’d hoped we’d be able to figure out all the answers. I should’ve known better. After all, Zeke was involved.

I rubbed my temples. “Stevie got there just as the coronation began.”

Miles bit his bottom lip. “As much as I’d like to pin this on someone aiding the queen, I’m not sure if Stevie is the person who did it. If it was her, she learned of it last minute, and Queen Kel’s wolves wouldn’t have had time to take out the witch and then attack like that.”

“Unless Stevie was there before…” Zeke lifted both hands.

“Then that’s what we need to find out.” Samuel placed his hands into his pockets. “Ask her more specific questions to see if she did aid them.”

“Maybe you should bring her home to her pack.” Zeke gestured to his house. “We have a basement we can keep her in. I can force her to talk to me.”

I laughed. He had balls. I’d give him that. The problem was that I could force Stevie to talk to me as well, being her alpha’s alpha, but doing that would only further damage our relationship.

Bodey shook his head. “After you just lost an informant? Not happening.”

A deep snarl rumbled from Zeke. “I wasn’t here when that happened.”

Jack cackled. “That makes it worse. You left your pack unprepared.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Lucas said.

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