Page 18 of Protection of the Pack

‘You leave him and his reputation alone,’ she snarled.

It was interesting that she’d become so defensive. There was obviously dirt to find. ‘I won’t fling mud at his reputation. He’s dead, so it serves no purpose,’ I reassured her. ‘But I do intend to find his killer and bring them to justice.’

Cassie eyed me scornfully. ‘You? You couldn’t mete out justice. You’re a tiny waif of a thing.’

I’m not,Esme growled.

She hasn’t seen you,I pointed out. Cassie wasn’t there during our showdown with James. I’d earned some circumspection from those who were, but apparently the news hadn’t spread as far as Cassie.

I smiled, not in a friendly way but more of a queen-bitch smile. ‘I’m built like an athlete and so is my wolf. She’d be more than happy to show you the justice she can mete out…’ I let the threat hang in the air.

Cassie held my gaze for a long moment before she looked down and away. It was a submissive sign and Esme crowed in triumph.

‘Tell me about Mark’s drug habit,’ I continued.

Cassie shook her head. ‘Drugs? He didn’t take drugs. He used steroids a few years ago, but that’s all. He was strong even by wolf standards, so he stopped the steds years ago. Nowadays the strongest thing he takes is paracetamol.’

Marissa smirked, but this time Cassie didn’t catch it. I did. Marissa knew something about the little pink bags of Boost; I’d question her later about that, one on one.

‘Tell me about his naysayers,’ I repeated.

She glared. ‘Mark was Lord Samuel’s enforcer – and Lord Samuel didn’t like getting his hands dirty.’ Her tone was a tad bitter. ‘Mark got his hands and his soul dirty for him.’

I thought of Manners because I was guilty of doing exactly the same thing. Maybe it was the alpha way to give orders whilst sitting pretty up on high? ‘So who had Mark told off recently?’

‘There was the issue with the pups and the dryads, the spat with those vampyrs, and the usual problems with the pipers.’ She reeled the incidents off effortlessly, one after the other.

I didn’t know aboutanyof those things. I hate admitting ignorance and I’d worked hard to increase my knowledge since I’d been turned, spending most evenings in the Samuel library reading up on all things Other. I wasn’t sure all of it was true – gargoyles singing and causing madness in humans, and griffins driven mad by their bloodlust if it were not sated – it all seemed a little far-fetched to me. However, I wouldn’t have been surprised by anything in this crazy realm I’d found myself in.

I knew a little about dryads. They are literally green fingered, green bodied and green faced, varying in shade from eau de nil to dark jade. They have an affinity with plants and trees – hell, they can evensinkinto a tree and become one.

Dryads are classified as ‘creatures’, which means they don’t have triangles on their foreheads like us wolves and they don’t need to go to the Common for a recharge. From what I’d read, they go to a tree to fill up their magical batteries. A lot of dryads work in garden centres, nurseries or as park rangers. Mark was a park ranger; maybe there was something to dig into there, though as far as I knew the werewolves and dryads tended to get along fine.

‘Tell me about the dryad thing,’ I ordered.

Cassie’s look was patronising, her body language suggesting that I should know about it already. Esme growled. I narrowed my eyes a little and the ex started talking.

‘The dryads are based in Black Park.’ Black Park is the pack’s main stomping ground, where we go to run and let off steam in our wolf forms. The mansion has plenty of grounds but they are largely manicured and limited; wolves need miles to roam and there isn’t enough space here for free running. The woods around the mansion are sparse.

‘There have been a few incidents,’ Cassie continued. ‘The dryads requested a meet with Lord Samuel, but he sent Mark instead. Apparently they were accusing some of our younger wolves of straying into dryad territory.’

‘And were they?’ I asked.

She smirked. ‘You’ll have to ask the younger werewolves.’

I couldn’t imagine Mark being particularly diplomatic or tactful, and I wondered why Lord Samuel had sent him. He would surely have poured petrol on any flame .

‘Archie?’ I asked.

‘Amongst others.’

That made more sense; it would be hard for Lord Samuel to appear impartial if the accused was his own son. I doubted he’d have wanted to chastise Archie when they finally appeared to be getting on. From what Jess had told me, Archie had been a drug-taking, indolent lout. He’d only recently stepped up to the plate and been blooded. He ranked twelfth, and he’d steadied once he’d taken his place in the pack.

‘And the issue with the vampyrs?’

‘The Wokeshire clan. Nothing unusual in us having beef with the local vamps.’ Cassie gave me a flat look, like I was an idiot.

‘Sure,’ I said easily. ‘But according to the Connection, we’re all supposed to be playing nicely and getting along like one happy, fuzzy family. So what’s the current issue that sent Mark a-knocking?’

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