Page 52 of New Blood (Werewolf Alliance #1)

“Oh my God! Where did it go?” She shifted and searched the floor beside her with her hands, finding what she was looking for. She took it and stared at it.

“That’s the key.”

“What key?” Priscilla asked.

“The missing key of the fireplace in the cottage.” She turned to Flora.

Flora stared at her in shock. “Cameron?” She put her hand to her mouth as if to stop herself from crying out.

“Oh my God. It was him! He caused the explosion in your cottage!” Flora put her hand on her arm, squeezing it.

“I’m so sorry for what he did to you. He tried to kill you because he knew that you were his half sister.

Oh my God, his greed clearly knew no bounds. ”

Danielle let the words sink in. Cameron wasn’t the kind of guy who gave up easily.

If he’d tried to kill her once, he wouldn’t simply have given up after the first attempt wasn’t successful.

He would have tried again. And again, he would have made it look like an accident so his father wouldn’t suspect anything.

She gasped as the dots connected in her mind.

“Priscilla! Where did you put the drawing of the engine?”

Priscilla opened a box and rummaged through it.

“What drawing?” Flora asked.

“This one,” Priscilla said and triumphantly pulled it from the box.

Danielle grabbed it and unfolded it again. She perused it in detail until she was sure she knew what she was looking at. Then she looked up, meeting Flora’s and Priscilla’s curious gazes.

“It’s a printout of the braking system in a Toyota Corolla.”

The Toyota Corolla she’d crashed into the pond this morning.

Danielle took the letter out of Flora’s hands. She had to tell Jude. It would make all the difference. She hurried past Flora and Priscilla.

“Where are you going?” Flora called after her, following her.

But she had no time to waste. Without knocking, she entered Jude’s office.

To her shock, the room was empty. One glance out through the window, and she saw that the helicopter that had landed on the lawn was starting up its rotor again.

Jude was walking toward it, flanked by the two men who’d arrived earlier.

How could they do that? How could they make him leave without as much as a good-bye?

And how had she not seen them leave? They had to have used the front door in order to avoid passing by the storage room.

Whirling around on her heel, she almost crashed into Flora.

Without slowing down, she raced past her.

She barreled down the corridor to the mudroom and through the back door. Outside, she screamed Jude’s name.

“Jude! No!”

But the helicopter was too loud for even a werewolf’s excellent hearing. Several of Jude’s men stood around, watching them take their team leader away. Mason saw her, and she screamed at him now, “Stop them, Mason! Stop them! He can’t leave!”

Mason seemed to take her seriously and ran toward the three men. He was almost upon them when Jude suddenly turned his head and stopped, exchanging a surprised look with his cousin, who now pointed over his shoulder.

Finally, Jude’s eyes landed on her, and he turned fully. The two men stopped too now, and turned, looking displeased. But she didn’t care.

“Jude!” she yelled, and a moment later, she flung herself into his arms. “You can’t leave!”

“I’m sorry, my love. I have no choice.”

She shook her head and freed herself from his arms. She pointed to the letter in her hand, and the two older men stepped closer.

“What is this?” Hendrick asked just loud enough for her to hear over the sound of the rotor blades.

She met his stern look. “This is proof that Jude didn’t act against your orders. He mated with a Gallagher daughter.”

“Nonsense!” Hendrick spat.

“Danielle, what are you saying?” Jude asked.

“This is the letter that my mother wrote to William. I’m his daughter, Jude. William knew all along who I was, even before I came to live with his pack.”

The sound of the rotor blades suddenly died down. It appeared that the pilot had realized that nobody was leaving this instant.

“Let me see this,” Hendrick said, fairly ripping the letter from her hands. He quickly flew over it with his eyes, then looked up. “And how do you expect me to verify that this is genuine? Anybody could have written this letter!”

For a moment, she didn’t know what to say. Then Lars cleared his throat.

“Uhm, Hendrick, I think we can give Jude and his mate time until a DNA test can give us that certainty. Don’t you agree?”

The two men exchanged looks.

Finally, Hendrick nodded. “Fine.”

He looked at her, and she felt as if she was standing in front of the high school principal accused of cheating.

“If you really are William Gallagher’s daughter, then Jude may remain here as the alpha of the pack.

” He glanced back at Jude. “You’re lucky that we never specified that your mate had to be legitimate.

I guess you can thank William for being a philandering bastard.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more sons and daughters coming out of the woodwork. ”

“Thank you, Hendrick, Lars,” Jude said.

They watched the two elders climb into the helicopter before they walked back to the house so the helicopter could take off. When the noise died down, Jude’s men surrounded them.

“What was all that about?” Mason asked.

“I think I’ll let Danielle explain,” Jude said and smiled at her.