Page 17 of Eclipsed Heart

Stella tapped her finger against her chin. “But there could be reasons for all of that…couldn’t there?”

“Maybe.” Samuel leaned against the wall beside the fireplace. “For all we know, he could be the person who locked up her magic and blocked her memories.”

There were still so many pieces missing. “So Zeke somehow kidnapped me, blocked my magic, hid me, and treated me like crap.Why?”

Lucas cleared his throat. “Theo was trying to get you to agree to mate with him.”

My stomach churned as Bodey’s anger turned into white-hot rage.

That had been Zeke’s plan—Theo and I mating. But still, nothing made much sense. I would’ve thought that if he’d found me, Zeke would have been enthusiastic and informed everyone that he was a hero.

The room stayed silent as the magnitude of the situation swarmed over us.

Bodey released me and stood. “I’m going to kick his ass.” His jaw clenched as his irises turned nearly black.

That sounded like an excellent idea, so I jumped to my feet.

“Fuck yeah.” Jack pumped his fist. “Let’s teach the old man a few lessons.”

“Slow down.” Michael lifted a hand, stood, and moved to the end of the couch so he could address all of us. “We don’t know the story, so we can’t be reactive. We need to be smart about how we handle this, or we could give Zeke an edge. One we don’t know how he’ll use.”

Bodey’s neck corded. “Besmartabout it? We need to go and confront his sorry ass!”

“Son, I know. We do.” Michael steepled his fingers. “But not tonight.”

Bodey stared at his dad, his anger so palpable that I struggled to breathe. He clenched his hands, his nostrils flaring. “If he did this to her—”

“We don't know that he did,” Miles interjected. “Your dad’s right. We can assume, and we’re probably right, but we can’t be rash. Reacting too quickly could back him into a corner that he’s already strategized for.”

I hated that he was right. My wolf howled in my head, eager for blood, and every cell in my body sizzled. I wanted to torture the prick like he’d done to me my entire life.

“In other words, if we run over there with our pitchforks, he might run away or make things worse for us.” Lucas wrinkled his nose.

“Exactly.” Michael lowered his hands. “There could be a rational reason for his actions. If we confront him with unproven accusations, the tension will weaken us and help the Southwest queen to act against us.”

Bodey laughed bitterly. “You really think there’s a rational reason?”

“There could be something we don’t know.” Michael shrugged. “We can’t just assume. You are king of our territory now, Bodey, which is a bigger responsibility than I ever prepared you for.”

My mate’s head jerked back, and a jolt of shock ran through our bond.

Yeah, I understood that feeling. He hadn’t considered what my new role meant for him. If this situation weren’t so dire, his reaction would have been comical.

I huffed and placed my hand on Bodey’s back. His muscles relaxed marginally under my touch.

“Whether we like to admit it or not, Zeke is smart.” In fact, saying those words hurt my throat. “We’re tired from the two battles last night and today, and Bodey was injured very badly. We need to take the night off and rest. We can head out first thing in the morning.”

“Boo.” Jack gave me a thumbs-down with a smirk. “That’s no fun,” he finished.

Lucas smacked him on the back of the head. “Shut up, man.”

Annoyance flared through Bodey. “My mate is right. We’ll do just that, but I’m going to send five wolves over to Zeke’s pack to keep an eye on things. If something does happen, we’ll know about it immediately.”

Good suggestion. Most of Bodey’s pack hadn’t gone out there today. I straightened my shoulders. “They can search the area and see if they notice anything suspicious. Bodey can get some rest while I talk to my sister and try to get more answers. Then we can head over first thing in the morning to talk to Zeke.”

“Look, I was kidding about booing, but seriously… If he's a traitor, will he still be there in the morning?” Jack arched a brow.

If the queen hadn’t thwarted the coronation, we could’ve been addressing all of this with Zeketonight. “It won’t make a difference now. If he was going to run, he’d already be gone. If he’s there when our five people show up, they can alert us and follow him if he runs.”

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