Page 25 of Wolf's Claimed Mate
I plastered a smile on my face. “Thank you.” I shrugged. “And, ah, no. The pack left little old me in the dust.”
Vinny shook his head. “They may not have left you as much as you thought.”
I held my breath, trying to still the tremble in my hands. “What do you mean?”
Glancing around, he tapped his tablet screen and showed me the screen. Two instances:Jackson Trent, party of 5from two weeks ago;Darren Garth, party of two.
My heart pounded in my chest. Jackson had come back to Silverlake Valley before I had ever texted him. I had thought my message was bringing him back, but no.
“Jackson booked the room for eleven,” Vinny told me. “But they didn’t arrive at the restaurant until late but he said they’d had to drive a while and got caught in traffic.”
“Who were the five?” I asked.
“Four of the pack, including Jackson and Darren,” Vinny said, curling his fingers in a silently asking gesture. I slipped more bills into his waiting hand. “The other was a girl. I didn’t recognize her. Tall, shapely. Great legs.”
I shut down immediately. “Thanks, Vin. If they come again, report it to Fenrys Randon discreetly.”
“Will do,” he replied. “Take care of yourself, Sash.”
I walked back to Conall, a shaky smile on my face. This time, he didn’t buy my façade as I sat down and finished the last of my wine in one gulp.
“It seems the pack is closing in closer than we anticipated,” I told him.
***
On Saturday morning, I was in a long hoodie falling to my thighs, cycle shorts clinging to my legs, and sat cross-legged in Fenrys’s room, relaying the information. Fenrys was stressed out, pacing, his eyes red as though he hadn’t slept.
“Fen,” Thalia said quietly. She reached for him. While everything was happening, Reina had been put in the care of her grandmother, and I could see the strain it had on both of them to be parted from their baby girl. “Fen, you need rest.”
“What I need is to make sure that pack doesn’t threaten my town.”
“Actually, it’s still Mama Randon’s for now,” Aidan drawled unhelpfully. Dakota elbowed him in the ribs. It felt strange to be in the room with both alphas, their betas, and their mates, unsure of where I fit in.
I sat closest to Conall. His whole body was tightly wired as he glared at Jason.
“Declan got these pictures off social media,” Fenrys said, ignoring both Thalia and Aidan. “So we have Jackson Trent, unknown rank.” I swallowed as he stabbed a pin through Jackson’s picture on the pinboard. “And Darren Garth, assumed beta.”
“I already said—” I began but then bit my lip, waving his questioning look off. “Never mind. I have to head out, but I sent Thalia all the info.”
I was due to meet Jackson himself at the diner.
I stared into his eyes on the picture, piercing blue eyes that held so much love in them once. Now I only saw threat in them. Nausea swept over me.
Conall brushed against me. “Where are you headed?”
He was trying to see if I was following a lead without him again. I smiled. “Work. You were there when I agreed with my landlord that I’d work the weekend shifts, right?” I wasn’t, but it was an easy alibi. I didn’t want anyone jeopardizing my meeting. I’d get more out of Jackson if he thought I wasn’t associated with them, unless he’d seen me around with Conall. It would be easy to feign not wanting to get involved with another pack the way I had with Kato’s.
Thalia eyed me across the room, lifting a brow. Conall shrugged. There was still a tense energy in the air, but he’d told me the night before that he and Fenrys were sorting things outthe wolf way, whatever the hell that meant. Knowing them, they would shift and snarl a little at each and call it a day.Pack politics,I thought, amused.
“Wait,” Fenrys said when I stood to leave. “This friend of yours, Vinny. Is he on the pack’s payroll? Is he likely to report your questions to them?”
I shrugged. “He goes with whoever pays him most.”
But I hadn’t even asked anything. Vinny had offered the information up himself. If he snitched, he would have to confess his own loose tongue first.
I grabbed my bag and headed out, but Thalia caught me on the way out.
“Where are you really going?” she whispered, pulling me away from the pack.
