“You know exactly who she is,” he accused, keeping his voice dangerously soft. Declan wasn’t intimidated in the least.
“I know.”
“And you didn’t think I should be informed?”
“She’s human. She’s no threat to us.”
“Her father could have come after her, Dec!”
The other werewolf ground his teeth together but didn’t say anything.
“What is going on?”
He turned to look into her upturned face. That bruised expression was back. He regretted being the one to fill her in. She’d been through a lot in one night. He was fixing to make it worse.
“Declan.” He nodded at him, like he was introducing two strangers.
“I know who he is,” she answered irritably.
“Do you?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Declan. Roberts.”
He saw the moment she made the connection. She shook her head. “No.”
Declan stepped forward, looking sorry as hell this had come up. He definitely would be by the time Anthony was done with him.
“I met your mother once. You look just like her. When our two groups hooked up, I did some digging. I’m Arthur’s younger brother.” He met Anthony’s gaze. “It was obvious she didn’t want to acknowledge any connections with us. You can’t blame me for honoring that.”
“But you didn’t even come to me. You didn’t say a word. Did you know?” she asked Julian. Her voice vibrated with anger and hurt. Anthony took her hand and softly stroked her fingers with his thumb. He wondered if she knew the touch had calmed her.
Julian nodded reluctantly, glancing at Anthony before returning his gaze to Gia. “You haven’t been yourself since we joined with the werewolves. You always made it clear you didn’t want anything to do with Arthur’s family, even their names, so we decided to leave it alone.”
“She should have been told,” Anthony interjected, pinning Declan under his gaze. “And so should I.”
Declan rolled his eyes, and for half a second Anthony was tempted to demonstrate exactly why he was the leader of the Hunters, but reminded himself, forcefully, this was one of his oldest friends. That just made him angry all over again.
“Where’s Sunny?” Gia asked Julian. “I need a last known location and anything else she can give me.”
Anthony felt her withdrawing again, pulling into herself. Under the circumstances he didn’t blame her. He’d make her talk on the drive.
“She’s waiting on the porch.”
Anthony knew she’d probably gone out to avoid the crowded house. She was even more anti-social than Gia.
“Wait,” Declan said when they started to walk in that direction. “I know my brother, Gia. I don’t know what you saw, but there is no way in hell he killed Hattie. He loved her more than anything.”
She stiffened at his side and her eyes were glacial when she turned back to her werewolf uncle. “He loved her to death, Declan. Trust me. You weren’t there. I was.”
“You actually saw him kill her?”
“I saw him covered in her blood. I heard him say it was his fault.”
“That’s not the same as a confession, Gia.”
“Close enough,” she said coldly. With those parting words, they left.
Sunny was waiting, sitting on the porch railing in the farthest, darkest corner. Gia pulled free, and he let her walk away to talk to the woman privately. With his heightened wolf senses, he would be able to easily listen in unless they whispered.
“Where?”
Sunny handed her a slip of paper and without saying a word stood and disappeared around the corner of the house. Gia rejoined him and he held his hand out for her keys. He was a little worried when she tossed them over without any argument. He always insisted. She always argued. It occurred to him that was probably more routine now than from any real objection.
He didn’t speak until they were on the road. “Where are we going?” Since the house was at the end of a dead-end road there’d been only one way to go.
“Gold Falls.” Softly said and he knew why. She’d once told him that’s where she grew up. It wasn’t far, only about thirty minutes if he drove fast. He decided to drive slow.
“Do we know where?”
She laughed, but it was anything but amused. He heard bitterness, anger, confusion. So much emotion wrapped up in one little sound. He reached across the console and took her hand. Lifting it to his lips, he pressed a kiss on her palm.
“It’s gonna be okay, baby.”
It was a promise to her. One he had no idea in hell how to fulfill. He could execute her father. His oaths demanded he execute rogues. But this wasn’t just any rogue. This was his mate’s father. He also had to consider her mental well-being. She might despise the man, might hate him with every fiber of her being, but he was still her father. It might not be today or tomorrow, but at some point she’d be upset about his killing her father.
“No,” she said softly, staring out the passenger window so he couldn’t see her expression. “It’s not going to be okay. It never has been.”
He could hear the unshed tears in her voice. His heart broke for her. “Don’t do that, baby.” He could handle her yelling at him. Could handle the ice queen, too, if it came down to that. But he couldn’t take her hurting, especially when she wouldn’t even let him comfort her. It ripped him up inside.
Chapter Five
For years he was more crazy than sane. Grief could do that to a man. The only thing that had kept him from taking his own life was vengeance. Ironic that they’d circled back to where it all started.
He remembered the day, sixteen years ago, clearly. The day he’d lost everything. He’d gone for a run, come home to find his beautiful Hattie dying. He’d known as soon as he entered his
