Page 62 of Furever Loyal
“Canis might be her last name now, Kincaid. But back in college, when I worked on the campaign trail with her, she went by another name.”
“She did? What? What was the name?” he asked, leaning over eagerly.
Haley turned to face him.
“Melanie Girard.”
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“Holy shit.”
Kincaid sat back into his seat.
“This is the proof we need, right?” Haley asked.
“Please tell me the camera got it. We need those pictures.”
“I’m sure it did,” she said, pointing to the camera he’d bought that morning. They’d mounted it to the dash of the SUV and pointed it at the entrance. “It’s set to record and we changed the memory card perhaps an hour ago. It should still have plenty left.”
Kincaid nodded, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. “Amazing. Of course, we still need to get them to admit to it.”
“What, exactly, are we getting them to admit?”
“This is a revenge plot,” he said, slamming a fist into his palm. “It all comes together now. Samuel Girard must be related to Melanie. Based on their ages, I’d have to say either son or nephew. She obviously knew he was a mage and didn’t tell anyone, which is a crime in itself, but she told her mate, who used his own power to come after me, to try and have me both killed and discredited by my House.”
“Can we go after them for that?”
“Sort of,” he said unhappily. “Not the way I’d like to, at least.”
“What do you mean? How would you like to?”
“I’d like to kill the slimy sonofabitch, teach him a permanent lesson about coming after me,” he snarled. “Unfortunately, that’s not feasible.”
“What? Why not?”
He glanced over at Haley, surprised at her question.
“I never said I approved of the action. I just figured you people had some sort of trial, or ability to challenge someone. Ritual combat or something. You’re all old world like that. A duel! That’s what I was thinking of. You’re going to challenge him to a duel?”
“No,” he grumbled.
“Good. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
Strangely enough, she didn’t say the same about Krawll or Laurent. While Kincaid didn’t wish for her to develop a bloodthirsty side, he knew it would be difficult for her to adapt to life among shifters if she couldn’t accept that death was a constant companion for them.
“I wouldn’t get hurt. Not against him. I doubt Laurent has done any fighting in years. Probably a decade or more. His position as Reaver has him in charge of business aspects. He sits fat and pretty in a chair. Still, I can’t touch him.”
“Why not?”
“First, I need proof. Actual proof that they are conspiring against me, and that I’m not working for them.”
“And if you get that?”
He grimaced. “Even then I can’t do anything.”
“Why the hell not? If you have proof he’s guilty, that should be enough, right?”
“He’s guilty of sending me money, yes. There’s no rule against that though. Crimes are on a House by House basis. To Canis, what he’s done isn’t a crime. Because he’s a Title Holder, he’s effectively untouchable. If he was just some lackey, I could go end this already. If I went after him in a fight, Canis as a whole would be forced to respond. It would mean open warfare between the Houses.” He shook his head. “I can’t bring that upon my House, Haley. Not even for my own personal vendetta.”
