'So she danced with this Jim Denton?'
He hesitated and annoyance flashed in his eyes 'I believe so.'
I restrained a sudden smile. So Adrienne wasn't telling Daddy and Granddaddy everything. Good for her. Though I
'I've talked to one other family. They also mentioned their daughter meeting a man who worked on the island.'
'Meeting? What about bedding?'
'That I can't say. But probably.'
'And the women were all wolves?'
He nodded.
Well, we werewolves did tend to get around—especially now it was law that employers couldn't discriminate against us because of the moon heat. Although I did find it surprising they'd bed the human males over the nonhuman. There were too many inherent risks in that sort of choice—although the mere fact that wolf-human half-breeds existed suggested there were plenty who didn't agree with my point of view.
'That doesn't mean they bedded the same man,' I said. 'As I've already said, there's more than one male working on this island.'
'His description matches the one I have from Adrienne.'
So, Adrienne wouldn't give her grandfather a name, but she did give a description? Somehow, I doubted it. There was more going on here than what Blake was saying, 'If you've only talked to one other family, how do you know there are three women missing?'
'I know.' His voice was grim. 'Clairvoyance is a pack inheritance, remember?'
'I don't believe anyone bothered mentioning
Amusement twinkled briefly in his cold gray eyes. 'An oversight, I'm sure.'
Hate swelled up, its bitter taste just about making me gag. 'This
I turned and walked away, as fast as I could. That prickle of awareness told me Blake hadn't moved, and yet his voice reached out across the distance as easily as if he were standing right beside me.
'You will help us, Riley.'
'That impolite response I cast your way earlier still stands.'
'Riley, stop.'
My muscles twitched with the need to obey, but my vampire half was having none of that. It was all I could do not to break into a run to get away from his presence—thought if I thought it would do any good, I probably would have.
'Riley, I'm ordering you to stop right now, or face the consequences.'
'There's nothing you can do to me, Blake. Not anymore.'
I should have known better than to tempt fate like that. I really should have.
'If you do not stop this instant,' he said softly, 'I will kill you mother.'
Chapter Two
I stopped.
How could I not? I might not have seen my mother since we'd been thrown out of the pack at sixteen, but that didn't mean I didn't love her. Didn't mean I wanted her dead.
She was my
I swung around. 'Trust me, Blake. You do not want to go this route. It's a
His smile was arrogant. Confident. 'There's nothing the Directorate can do to me. I'm well within the law to chastise my pack as I see fit. If a pack member dies during meted justice?' He shrugged. 'The law will not intervene unless the event is reported as something more than fair punishment. And no one in this pack will report it.'
'
'And
Yeah, and I knew exactly
I shook my head. 'You really have no idea who you're dealing with, Blake.' No idea
'I want this problem dealt with. Then I will leave you, your half-breed brother,
I shifted from one foot to the other, the need to run fighting with the need to wipe that cold look of satisfaction off his face. The twin desires made my muscles twitch. 'And Konner? What's he got to say about all this?'
Blake's grin was gloating. 'I defeated your grandfather in battle one year after you left. His ashes were scattered across his favorite hunting trail, as he requested.'
I stared at him for a moment, not sure what to think. What to feel.
There'd been no love lost between our grandfather and us, and he'd turned his back on much of the trouble we'd had with Blake and his get. Yet he'd housed the three of us, fed us, made sure we never wanted for anything basic, and had never allowed the games to go too far—except for the one time Blake had thrown me off the mountain. And even then, his hands were tied. Pack rules gave the second-in-command the right to punish as he saw fit—at least when it came to matters of insubordination.
And now my grandfather was dead, killed in a battle for leadership. I closed my eyes, and tried to fight the bloody images that came to mind. I'd only ever seen one fight for dominance in a pack, and it hadn't been pretty. Such fights were always done in wolf form, and almost always ended in the death of the old leader. Such were the ways of our wild cousins, and they had always been ours, too.
And the law allowed it, because it came under the title of religious beliefs and customs.
Which was just another way of sanctifying murder, if you asked me. Unfortunately, no one was ever likely to do that.
'If you've got a list of names, send them to me tonight,' I said. 'I can check them against the island's records.'
'I've already done that.'
'And I intend to redo it, because I may see something that you missed.' I crossed my arms and stared at his ethereal form. 'I don't want you harassing my every step, Blake, or I
'Patrin wants regular reports.'
'I don't give a—'
He held up a hand. 'Yeah, I know. Tough.'
I glowered at him. He stared back. For several seconds neither of us moved, then he sighed and rubbed a hand across his eyes. 'What is your phone number? I'll send you the list of names and whatever other information I have.'
I gave him my cell phone number, and added, 'Have you got any recent pictures of Adrienne?'
'Yes. I'll send a couple.'
At least with photos I could ask around, see if anyone remembered her. See if they remembered who she