Page 37 of Wolf Bitten

“Do you know who it was?” I asked gently.

“No.” Jared sidestepped, so he was in front of me and not Raffe. “I don’t have any idea. But this last month, Dave was acting weird, and it wasn’t unusual for him to get angry after taking a call.”

Raffe tilted his head and sniffed, his eyes on Jared’s face.

That was interesting, but it didn’t help us. I felt like an incompetent detective, and I didn’t like it at all. “Can you think of anything else? Any places he’d go or people he’d visit?”

“His parents are dead, and all his friends are here on campus.” Jared shrugged. “But I think he was heading out to meet someone he didn’t want me to know about.”

Keith stepped up next to Raffe, staring Jared down. “I don’t know how he’s doing it, but he’s lying. He’s found a way to conceal the smell.”

Jared grimaced. “And you wonder why I don’t want to talk to you.”

“He’s right.” Adam shrugged from his spot a few feet away on my side of the couch. “You said he invited you to go with him. If he was meeting someone he was arguing with, why would he ask you to come along?”

Dammit. They had a point. But Jared had sounded sincere.

“Why not ask the question instead of accusing me of lying?” Jared wrinkled his nose. “Dave invited me because heknewI’d fed a couple of hours ago. I didn’t need to eat again, and I was already in bed watching por—er, a movie.”

My face flamed. Now, things were awkward. Images I didn’t need to have of him flashed in my mind, and I pushed them away.

Of course,nowKeith laughed. “Are you saying he walked in on you whacking off?”

Raffe shoved Keith in the shoulder hard, and he stumbled into the wall. Raffe bared his teeth and said, “Don’t talk like that in front of mymate. Got it?”

Now, I was looking at the commanding Raffe I’d met on my first day here, but this time, his anger was directed at one of his own and not me. I gritted my teeth. I didn’t like him turning on Keith, which didn’t make sense because Keith made my life hell.

“Mate?” Jared’s eyebrows rose almost to his hairline, and he focused on my hand on Raffe’s arm. “Wait, I thought she was human.” He sniffed, his eyes widening. “You’ve claimed her. Holy shit.”

“Which is why, if you two don’t stop talking about yourmovie, I may kill you.” Raffe’s chest heaved.

“Yeah, okay.” Jared took a step away from me, moving closer to Adam. “Got it. Though, in fairness, he’s the one who took it to the next level.”

“Oh, I know,” Raffe replied, glaring at Keith, who was yanking on the hem of his black polo shirt. “If anyone says anything that might make my mate think of someone else inappropriately, I willhurtthem.Happily.”

I smiled a little then sobered. We were losing focus. “Dave entered your room.”

“Which he forgot to lock,clearly,”Keith added with a smirk.

Raffe snarled, and my blood jolted. Keith was going to keep pushing Raffe. Did hewantRaffe to kick his ass? I didn’t want my mate to lose his cool, especially with his father already upset with him.

I had to fight to keep my smile from spreading. “And he invited you to join him in feeding, knowing you’d say no.”

“Why would he do that?” Adam scratched the back of his neck. “If he knew you’d say no, he could’ve just left.”

Pursing his lips, Jared tapped his foot on the floor. “One time, when he left without saying anything, I went searching for him. He probably didn’t want that to happen again.”

My blood was at a mere jolt, but I could faintly read something coming from him. He was nervous, like he wanted to hide something. From the way the guys were reacting, he was telling the truth. Jared had to be hiding something. “Was he meeting someone that time?”

Jared shook his head. “He wasn’t, but seriously, that’s all I know. He’s probably in the woods somewhere, but you’ve had someone watching me all night, so I haven’t been able to search for him.”

He’d deflected my question, confirming my suspicion, but I doubted he’d be willing to tell me anything specific with Raffe, Keith, and Adam here.

“He’s not there.” Adam clasped his hands in front of his chest. “I recruited two other wolf shifters to help me canvass the woods. We didn’t find him, just a faint trace of his scent that disappeared into thin air.”

Despite my recent entry into the supernatural world, I knew what that meant.

A coven member had covered Dave’s tracks.

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