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“Then the question is, who would have not only had the means to procure the blade, but the motivation to punish her for using it? For this person to have hunted her for so long, it is clearly personal. My first guess would be a family member.” Harsh light cut across his face as the sun began to set.

“You think her own flesh and blood has hunted her for years, forcing her to abandon her husband and daughter?”

He shrugged. “It is not such an unusual concept. A mere rival would have given up long ago. As I said, this is personal. What did you learn from the celestial woman this morning?”

“You mean you weren’tspyingthen?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I learned of the fae plot shortly before my arrival to thwart them.”

I smiled. “Ooh, I like having something you don’t know.”

His eyes darkened. “Do not play games, Eva.”

“Why not? You always do.” Grinning, I turned and sauntered back toward the tavern, brushing against his dark magic as I exited the bubble of privacy he had afforded us.

Normally Braxton was the one to cheer me up, but messing with Sebastian did the job quite nicely. I still had a sick feeling in my stomach, but I needed to move forward. After so many years of searching, I was finally getting answers. That’s what was important. At the end of our road, was the truth.

And I would continue barreling toward it, letting the chips fall where they may.

16

I walked backinto the tavern to find the alpha of the Willowthorn pack had taken my empty seat. The food had arrived, along with another round of beers.

I stayed just inside the doorway for a moment, fighting a grin as I watched Elena squirming in her seat. She probably had no idea what to expect from the alpha werewolf, and I had a feeling he was taking advantage of that.

Quite the prankster, was old Harry.

Sebastian appeared just behind me. “Now that you’ve learned all you can, we should go.”

“No more pressuring me about the oh so secret information that I have and you don’t?”

He sighed heavily. “I imagine you won’t be able to keep it to yourself for long.”

I laughed. “We’ll see, but either way, we can’t go yet. The local alpha has welcomed us to his table. Gabriel might be willing to be rude, but I imagine Elena will try to observe protocol.”

He moved to my side, observing the stout man seated at our table. His curly, gray streaked brown hair was unkempt, falling past his shoulders, though not quite as long as his beard. Hewore a blue T-shirt, something with a logo on the front, though from the angle I couldn’t see what it said. Torn jeans completed the look. With his big hands and sun-chapped skin, he would have fit in at any construction site.

“Thatis the local alpha?”

I gave Sebastian a sidelong glance. “So many things you don’t seem to know tonight. I must say, you have considerably brightened my mood.” I walked away from him toward the table.

“Eva!” Harry stood as he saw me, wrapping me in a big bear hug, lifting my feet off the floor.

I hugged him back for a moment, then patted his arm. “Can’t quite breathe, Harry.”

He let me down abruptly, giving me an abashed smile. “Sorry girl, you know I always forget you’re not actually a wolf.”

“A high compliment, coming from you.” I took what had been Sebastian’s seat, gesturing for Harry to keep mine.

Braxton was grinning from ear to ear, and Elena’s cheeks were bright red. Ringo’s face was buried so deep into a little plastic basket of french fries that he barely acknowledged me returning to the table.

Braxton slid another basket with a burger and fries on parchment paper toward me, waggling his eyebrows at me. We were on his turf now, where he felt most comfortable. I always loved seeing him like this.

I smiled in return, and any lingering tension around his eyes dissipated. Yeah, I was hurt and confused by what Theresa had told me, but now that I’d had time to recover, it wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, I was beginning to suspect that maybe my mom wasn’t the bad guy. At least not completely. She hadn’t left because she didn’t want me. She had left because she was being chased. Mistral had suggested it, and now Theresa had confirmed it.

I lifted a fry as Harry sat. “Your elf friends were just telling me about your time in Emerald Heights.”

I stiffened. They wouldn’t tell him…