Chapter 59-1
Troy
Claim
It was just before dawn when I saw the figure sneaking from my house toward the wooded
backyard, although sneaking was probably not the right word for it. Claudine would never stoop so
low as to sneak somewhere, but she was alone, and that was suspicious.
Since Kiana had only left a few moments ago to observe the autopsy, my hackles immediately
went up. Claudine was following the same path she took.
Following her scent.
I waited a few more moments to make certain that no one was meant to be following her, and then I headed in after her. She was doing nothing to hide her trail, but she seemed to be walking straight
toward the infirmary.
Straight toward Kiana.
Before she could breach the other side of the woods, I picked up the pace and easily caught up to her. Before I could touch her, she whirled, closed her hands around my throat and tried to pin me to
a tree.
I was bigger than her, but Claudine’s power was still impressive. When she realized it was me, she released me and growled. “Why are you following me, Troy?”
“Why are you following my mate?”
“Your mate?” Her eyes glowed yellow as she sniffed. “Ah. That is her scent. I knew I was following something, but I hadn’t paid that much attention to it. Her scent is odd. I should have known.”
“So you weren’t following her?”
“Of course not,” Claudine snapped. “Why would I need to follow your mate? What would she even be doing up at this hour?”
“Taking a walk. She likes the quiet of the morning. You?”
Claudine’s eyes narrowed. “Same.”
“Without any of your guards? There might be a killer wolf running around.”
Her eyes sparkled. She might be hiding something, but she liked the game. “We’re all killers, Troy. There aren’t many who could take me on here and survive to tell the tale.”
“More than usual,” I pointed out, myself included. I glanced in the direction she was headed.
WED
r
1/2
<Chapter 59-1
“You’re heading toward the infirmary. Are you hurt?”
Claim
“I thought I might speak to your healer about something. Did you send your mate to check up on
the dead witch? You must trust her to give her so much responsibility.”
I nodded my head. “I’ll walk you the rest of the way, and maybe before we get there, you’ll tell me
the truth.”
“There is so little distrust among us packs, I do not know if we will ever come to an agreement,” Claudine sighed dramatically but fell into step next to me. “Do you really think we are at risk? Taking on a few witches is one thing, but taking on the four packs of the mountains?
Who would do such a thing?”
“You forget how big the rogue population is, Claudine. They outnumber my pack.” It bothered me how many wolves no longer wanted to be part of a pack. Nearly every week, I had a juvenile come to me and petition to leave the pack. To leave the mountain. The more wolves that intermingled with the human world, the more of a chance that we would be discovered.
“But to take on the mountain, they would have to choose a leader. The very nature of a rogue wolf is that they want to be alone,” Claudine pointed out. “Although, I suppose it does happen from time to time that a wolf isn’t given a choice when they’re exiled from a pack.”
Her voice softened just a little, and I realized I was an idiot. Claudine wasn’t out here to see Kiana.“ How did you know that he was in the infirmary?”
“Hmm? Who?”
“Don’t play dumb, Claudine. You’re still trying to see Finn even though I haven’t given you permission. I’ve kept his injuries a secret. How did you know that he was there?” When she didn’t answer right away, I grabbed her arm and whirled her around, “We aren’t playing games anymore. If I have a security risk, I want to know about it.”
Comments
C
LUCK DRAW >
Vote
98
OON
