“Hello.” I tossed the keys to Wade.
“Andie,” Pascal said. “We’ve heard some alarming news. The head team thinks it’s best to discuss the matter without delay.”
My stomach dropped as I fastened my belt. “Is everything alright?”
“I’m sure it will be, but its best that you’re here.”
Shit.
They knew.
They fucking knew.
“Be there in ten.” I hung up. “To the manor. Shit has hit the fan.”
Wade stepped on it. “What’s she done now?”
“The head team received some alarming news. They must know.”
“We can’t assume that, baby girl.” He sped between the cabins to the nearest major road.
I could. “What else could alarm them enough to ask me to come in?”
“It might not be about you. Maybe a marmot got into the pantry again. Just, please don’t panic.”
Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths while wishing my wolf was more into human politics. I could use her insight right now.
She surprised me by giving it. Fight them all to establish hierarchy. Sniff each other’s buttholes after.
Maybe I’d go this alone.
Crap. Sascha.
I’d have to postpone the damn meets. Just what I needed.
Can you do tomorrow morning?
His reply was instant.
Not tomorrow.
I can meet on Friday for the one minute and four seconds we need.
“Smartass.” I growled, messaging back.
You can do earlier than that.
You’re being selfish.
Strangling my phone, I tried to reset my focus as Wade parked in front of the manor.
“Need me in there?” he asked.
“That will make me look extra guilty. I don’t want to implicate you like that. Meet you at the gathering?”
He kissed me on the cheek, and I walked into the manor to face my doom.
This was what I expected after telling Rhona. I smiled at one of the younger stewards and received a stony stare in reply.
The same happened with Gerry, the trainer, just down the hall.
I was right.
Everyone knew. My heart pounded as I received snub after snub.
The head team had assembled in the meeting room.
I sat. “Someone put me out of my misery. What’s happened?”
Wade was right. I shouldn’t blab everything.
Maybe a marmot did get in the pantry.
They avoided my gaze—all except Nathan who’d appeared around one second from exploding.
Roderick cleared his throat. “Rhona sent a message through the tribe SMS system an hour ago.”
We had that? “It said what exactly?”
“She gave the details of money stolen from the manor to cover a debt racked up before coming to the valley. Your debt.”
I stared, genuine outrage flooding me. “She said what?”
Relief plastered over his face. “We knew it wasn’t true.”
“No,” I said slowly. “It’s true that I borrowed money from the manor—I did so at Rhona’s urging. Ragna left me a large debt that the sale of our house in Queen’s Way didn’t cover by five thousand dollars. I hesitated to take the money, but Rhona assured me borrowing the funds wasn’t a problem. She said that ridding myself of one problem would allow me to focus more on the tribe.”
I couldn’t believe this!
She’d been working against me back then?
“I had a contract drawn up,” I glanced up, “by a tribe lawyer.”
Trailing off, I recalled that the money wasn’t meant to transfer into my account until the house sale recently. I didn’t think anything of the money coming in earlier but looking back Rhona played me well and truly.
Was anything between us ever real?
“That’s certainly a different story from what she outlined,” Pascal said in the silence. “The problem now being that every steward in the tribe has heard the incorrect version.”
Stanley leaned forward. “You shouldn’t have borrowed that money, Andie. It looks bad no matter the angle.”
His words stung extra bad because I’d known that at the time too. “We need to do damage control.”
Nathan glared daggers.
“Do you have something to add, Nathan?” I asked.
“We’ve never had so much tumult with a leader,” he said. “I can’t help but wonder if you’re the right person for the job.”
The others fell silent.
His words were nothing I didn’t ask myself each day. “I don’t know if I’m the right leader for this tribe or not, but if Rhona were in this seat, I wouldn’t spend every waking moment trying to tear her down. Her methods—texts like this—the rumours I’ve heard spreading, her acts of violence in Clay, none of that helps our people. That’s what I know.”
His scent remained the same. Nathan was Herc’s best friend. If he believed me guilty of Herc’s death, nothing I could say would reach him.
Trixie broke the tension. “We’ll need to corroborate your story to convince the tribe. Which lawyer did you use?”
I related the details, and Pascal left to call Neve.
“I need to clear up the truth at the gathering,” I said in the quiet wake.
“I think so,” Roderick said.
“The night before the game.” For fuck’s sake.
Waiting would be worse.
Pascal returned. “Neve is on board. She verified that Rhona was present at the time and that she witnessed the document. She also said that you seemed reluctant to take the funds at the time but did so at Rhona’s urging. She mentioned that Rhona called her and said you’d asked for early transfer of the funds and to amend the contract.”
“I did no such thing.” It must have been directly after she watched the camera footage outside my cabin and caught me out. Or earlier. At worst, Rhona had despised me from the reading of Herc’s will. At best, she started moving against me the day after my confession.
Stanley returned from the window. “Everyone’s here.”
“Do you have bank details for the manor trust?” I drew out my phone.
He consulted his tablet, reading the account number.
I transferred the exact loan amount back to the tribe. I hadn’t closed the mortgage account yet.
Back in the negatives.
Always so close.
“The money should appear in the account within a day.”
“Doesn’t that put you back in debt?” Trixie asked.
“I’d rather be in more debt than be called a liar and a thief,” I answered quietly.
Standing, I smoothed down my sweater and looked at the faces of the head team, reading them loud and clear.
I was on my own.
The trust I’d cultivated with this team was void and gone, and what made me most angry was that accepting the money was stupid beyond reason. No one gave money away like that.
Clearing the debt was too good to be true.
I was a fucking idiot.
I went directly outside, ignoring stewards who abruptly stopped talking at my approach.
Walking through their whispering midst, I caught sight of Wade in terse conversation with Cameron. He peered over and I saw his fear for me.
Yep, that about summed it up.
This betrayal hurts you, my wolf said.
With all that Rhona had done, this was such a stab in the back. She’d offered me the money so sincerely. She knew how sensitive I felt about Ragna’s gambling problem. And now I’d have to convey that to the tribe.
Rhona hit me across the face in Clay, but this was a dagger to the heart.
I climbed the stairs and stood at the mic, studying the sea of stewards.
The head team filed into the front row, and I spotted Neve beside Pascal. At least there was an impartial witness to back me up.
“I was informed less than an hour ago of a text sent out to the tri
be by my sister, Rhona.” She was nowhere in sight, surprisingly. “I haven’t seen the text itself, but I’m told it details funds stolen from the manor accounts to cover my personal debt. I cannot express how hurtful this was to hear. One, because our tribe is still recovering from what happened in Clay and this is another blow to deal with. Two, because the message brings up personal and painful memories of mine that I’d rather keep in the past. And three, because there is some truth to the matter.”
I let their outraged murmurs flow for a minute. “Let me give you an accurate recount of this transaction. You deserve no less, and if I’d known this would be an issue for the tribe, you would have known this long ago.”
There was a downside to having great senses.
As a human, I could feel my heart race and my chest tighten—maybe sweat rolling down my temple. As a Luther, I could hear the pounding beat of the hearts closest to me. I could smell their sweat and sour decay.
I could hear every gasp and mutter and whisper.
“My mother, Ragna Thana, or the woman I believed to be my mother for twenty-one years, died of cancer shortly before I came to this valley in search of her origins. Unbeknown to me, she’d relapsed into her gambling addiction a year and a half prior to dying, and upon her death, I inherited a debt upward of four hundred thousand dollars.”
The gasps weren’t entirely outraged this time.
“I immediately put our house up for sale, hoping this would cover the outstanding amount.”
I detailed the conversation between myself and Rhona and outlined what followed with the lawyer.
“You are about to hear from Neve, the tribe lawyer who oversaw this contract. A copy of this contract will be sent to every steward after this gathering because despite my intentions when accepting this money, I see that my actions weren’t transparent enough, and I know many of you will be disappointed in my conduct. Before this gathering, I transferred the entirety of the loan amount owed back to the manor. From today, a head team member will be granted access to all manor accounts to audit the use of funds by members of the Thana family. I assure you this will never happen again.”
For a lot of them, one mistake was all they’d needed to make up their mind about me.
But one point was crucial.
“We’ve faced so much in recent times,” I spoke. “Most weeks of every year for centuries, we and our ancestors have faced a battle from the outside. More and more, I worry that the actions of a small group in this tribe are creating a battle from within. This is not a plea for that group to stand down. If what I showed them after Clay hasn’t stopped their movement, then this plea won’t work. I’m telling that group, very clearly, that we cannot survive the outside battle if we’re fighting another within. If you’re one of the stewards who knew this text would be sent, and if you’re one of the stewards who shot a real bullet at a Luther and continue to spread rumours about my past, then that’s my message to you. You are going to lose Victratum for us.”
I couldn’t tell if that was enough.
“Before I hand this mic to Neve, a word on tomorrow. Sandstone is a sore reminder of the leader we lost not long ago. Returning there will be a source of hurt and pain for us all. Tomorrow, we show Luthers that Hercules Thana did not die in vain. We fight for him. But we fight the right way. This is my declaration to the tribe that any extreme violence of any kind will result in me immediately forfeiting the grid to our opponent.”
Yep, I was little miss popular today.
“Those who maim and seriously injure a Luther are putting themselves before the wellbeing of this tribe. We will win this game with dignity and a fairness that future tribe members will remember with pride instead of shame. Don’t let your hate for the opponent change who you are—who we are.”
If I had to forfeit tomorrow, then that was me done as head steward. But at least I wouldn’t have blood on my hands.
Forfeiting would put us back at two grids, but if Rhona was smart, she’d ask one of her plebs to take the risk anyway, so she could swoop in to shove me off the throne.
“Neve,” I said in the tense aftermath. “Over to you.”
The lawyer passed me, shaking my hand in a show that nearly brought tears to my eyes.
I was hanging on by a literal thread.
And I had a sick feeling that thread was about to snap.
25
“Phone me back, and I’ll say baby boy once,” I said to Wade’s voice mail.
Since when did he not answer my calls?
I tried his home number. His mother answered.
“Hey, Andie. Wade left for yours a while ago. At least an hour. He’s not there?”
I frowned, peering out the window. “Not yet, but maybe he stopped somewhere.”
“I’m sure you’re right. And just so you know, dear, we’re on your side. Rhona’s treating you horribly, and those of us with sense won’t stand for it.”
I thanked her, trying not to cry again. Hanging up, I pulled on hiking boots that once belonged to Rhona. Maybe I should give them back before she accused me of stealing these too.
Out on the porch, I listened for Wade’s footsteps.
Nothing.
He made the trip in less than an hour usually. A leaden feeling weighed in my stomach.
I grabbed a jacket and jogged down the trail.
Is your Wade in danger? my wolf asked.
Probably not, I replied. Best to check.
He wouldn’t worry me on purpose. Not on a grid day, but also not ever.
“Wade?” I called.
Inhaling, I froze, crouching as the faintest strand of spice reached me. Smell that?
My wolf checked the scent. He’s no longer here. Recent scent.
Fear climbed my throat.
I ran toward the scent and Wade’s salted caramel hit me.
No.
Bursting up the rise, I paused where the scents grew strongest, noting a rusty tang.
Blood. Human blood.
Red smeared the stone at my feet. A low cry fell from my lips as we circled, searching for more.
Wade was wounded.
Not badly, my wolf said.
Sprinting, I chased the trail, surging out of the tree line and onto a dirt road.
The scents stopped.
My eyes fell to the thick tire tread embedded in the soft mud of the roadside.
Blood rushed into my ears, and I gripped my hair. They have him.
Wade is your pack, she answered. We must find him.
I ran back the way we’d come, giving control to my wolf as I turned over the problem.
I couldn’t take his disappearance to the tribe. The news would cause an all-out war and telling anyone what I knew about the black wolf would inevitably lead to uncomfortable questions and the risk of them uncovering my Luther nature.
If I told Cameron, that could put her at risk.
Only Sascha could help.
Panting as I reached the cabin, I called him.
He screened the call and I screamed, nearly hurtling my phone into the trees.
I typed:
This is urgent. Call me back.
Sascha’s name popped up without further delay, and I didn’t waste time.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” he said.
I clenched my teeth against the urge to tear a chunk out of him for avoiding me. “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Wade was taken by the black wolf. He was supposed to be at mine half an hour ago. I found their scents on the rise behind my cabin. The scents stopped at a road. There were tread marks from a truck.”
Sascha’s growl echoed down the line.
“The tribe can’t handle this right now.” I paced on the porch.
A snarl rode his voice. “The wolf is from my pack. He’s my responsibility.”
“Where do we start?” Wade could be anywhere.
“I’ll call a pack gathering. I’ll force the truth from my black wolves.”
Someth
ing he really didn’t want to do.
“I know what he smells like. I can tell you who it is.”
“Outsiders aren’t allowed in pack gatherings.”
“You’ll be a whole lot less popular for bursting into the minds of eighty wolves, Sascha.”
He was silent for a beat. “You’re right. Formality must be put aside. Most of the pack work until four. I’ll call the gathering for then.”
“That’s six hours away!”
“I don’t like it any more than you do, but all black wolves need to be here. No one can be absent, or this doesn’t work, and Wade pays the price for our impatience.”
Tears sprang into my eyes. “He may not live that long. There was blood.”
Sascha swore. “How much?”
“Not much, but he’s injured. This Luther knows what Wade means to me. He’ll hurt him.”
“We’ll get him back, Andie.”
I covered my wet face. “I can’t lose him, too, Sascha. I just can’t take any more of that.”
“I’m here, little bird, and I’m not going to let anything happen to Wade. Okay? I’m going out right now to search for him.”
“I’ll come too,” I said.
“We can’t let this wolf know anything is amiss,” Sascha said. “I need you to stay at the manor today. Until the gathering. It’s normal for me to run between our grids and around the pack lands over the day. No one will think twice about seeing me in wolf form. They will if you’re there.”
I couldn’t sit in stupid meetings all day with Wade hurt. “I can’t just do nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Wade needs you to be smart and calm. Can you do that for him?”
That didn’t feel smart. It felt cowardly and uncaring. But there was logic to Sascha’s words.
“If you find him, please tell me straight away. Tug on the bond like I’ve done,” I whispered.
His voice was harsh as Greyson climbed in. “You know I will.”
Fresh tears spilling over my cheeks, I ended the call.
I couldn’t go to the manor.
I couldn’t.
But I did.
Washing my face, I dressed on the comfortable side of professional in case I had to run on short notice.
Moon Claimed: Supernatural Battle (Werewolf Dens Book 2) Page 26
