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“Telling me what you think I want to hear. I’m not some desperate teenage girl. You don’t have to fill me up with your bullshit.”

“I’m not filling you up with anything. Everything I’m saying to you is true. You’re right, I didn’t initially want this bond. But now I do and I’m taking it seriously. As your mate, it is my job to make sure that you are fed, safe, and taken care of. That is who I am. It’s in my nature as a wolf.”

I cut my eyes away, not wanting to hear his lies. A finger under my chin has me turning back to face him.

“I’m not your ex. So stop measuring me against him.”

There are many things I could say in response to that. For instance, I could tell him he didn’t know shit about my ex and didn’t have the right to mention him to me. I can remind him I know he’s plotting, and this is all a game to him. I could even remind him he, in fact, wanted to break the bond originally, too. However, I don’t say any of this because I forgot where we were. When I look around, wolf eyes are all on us. They just got a first-row seat to our bullshit. And the thought of having them in my business is stronger than my need to make a point to the wolf.

So, after lifting my head to stare back into his eyes, I simply say, “Okay.”

We continue to head toward Chayton’s office.

When we make it to the small building he uses as his office, we find we were not the only ones summoned. White wolf and Zyion are here too.

I step into the small space and take a seat on the chair across from everyone else.

“How’re you feeling, Michaela?”

Chayton’s concern catches me off guard.

“Ummm, much better, thanks.”

Zyion grimaces. I’m guessing he is thinking over why I suddenly feel better.

“I called you all here to discuss what we know about that house and those vampires. We need to get ahead of whoever is attacking the townspeople.”

As the wolves discuss the whys and the hows, I think about all that I’ve noticed. The vampires behind this are attacking randomly. Their attacks are vicious. Most of the time, even if you are the one that feeds until completion, you are much more careful. If I were killing and feeding in a small town, I’d try to make as little of a wave as I can. Maybe come in for two to three days. Do a little scouting first, see who is least likely to be missed. That gives me a better chance to get out of town before they find the bodies. But I wouldn’t leave bodies. Even if I was just there to kill, I’d still hide the bodies. Because eventually, it would draw attention to the council or worse, the union.

A light bulb goes off in my head.

“They’re setting you up?” All the guys go quiet as they turn to me.

“What do you mean?” Chayton asks.

“They’re trying to draw attention to your pack. Even the blood thirstiest of vampires would clean up after themselves. No one wants to be on the union’s radar. Having these bodies show up like this in your territory will definitely get them looking in your direction. You have an enemy out there that wants your seat.”

All the men turn to look at each other.

“Could it be Vilkas finally crawling out of the shadows after months of silence?” White Wolf asks.

Chayton shakes his head. “Vilkas doesn’t have the balls or the power to convince vampires to work with him. This has to be someone else.”

“But who?” Enzo asks. “Who the hell have we angered enough to warrant this?”

Chayton runs a hand through his dark brown hair. “We’ve gained a lot of new members. Maybe one of their alphas isn’t happy about it.”

“Could be,” Enzo says. He turns to Zyion. “I want a record of every member that has joined this pack in the last few months. I need to know who their former alphas are.”

Zyion looks at me, his lips turning down. “Are we sure it’s one ofourenemies?”

I expected this from this wolf. If no one else doubts my role here, Zyion does. He’s going to question me at every turn.

“Trust me, if it were an enemy of mine, they wouldn’t use these types of games. They’d come to your front door.” I wasn’t being a bitch when I told him that. Any enemy that I may have would know, this isn’t how you get my attention. Plus, with Markis being on the loose, no one is coming after me. They’d be too afraid Markis and I were in cahoots again.

“I think this is about us,” Chayton says, drawing Zyion’s attention back to him.

“While you guys are tracking down who might’ve done this, you also need to be trying to find these vampires. Having that many in one place is not good. And maybe, if we can find one, we can figure out who they’re working for.”