Page 64 of The Wolfing Hour

His chin rose and lowered an inch. “Who sent it?”

“No clue. Most of this stuff came in from anonymous sources. Once someone in the pack heard I was willing to use this stuff against Floyd, it started pouring in. I keep it in an encrypted cloud file, and I’ve always been careful to protect my sources. For instance, this video. He doesn’t know I have it because the angle of the video might give away the position of the wolf who filmed it.”

“He’d kill them if you showed him.”

“Yeah.” I took back my phone, closed the app. Ronan didn’t fight me on it. “I’m sorry for Rory, Ronan.”

“Me, too.” He fished his phone from his pocket. “Send everything to me. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it secure.”

“I wasn’t worried.” I reopened the app and did as he asked. “It’s time for this stuff to be released.”

“It won’t matter.” His words, though gentle, were edged in steel. “You know that, right? The only wolves who’d care about this don’t have any power. The rest are complicit, and power means more to them than justice.”

It took a solid twenty minutes to get it all transferred and uploaded. Once everything was finished on his end, he made to toss his phone on the coffee table, but whatever he saw on the screen froze him in place.

“What is it?”

“A text from the security I hired to watch Rory.”

The tacos turned to rock in my stomach. “What’s happened?”

He read the message and cursed. “The agent watching her is dead. They found him in his car with a silver bullet to the brain.Silver.” Under his breath, he added, “That bastard.”

“Ronan? Ronan, where’s Rory?”

He looked at me, his eyes weighted with sorrow. “Gone.”

Chapter

Twelve

Chapter Twelve

“Oh my goddess, I’m going to be the best cuñada ever. Just you wait and see. I’ve always wanted a sister.”

Before coming to La Paloma, Ronan had lost the only true family he’d had—his mother and the stepfather he’d considered his real dad. Their deaths had destroyed something in him. Hardened him in ways he was only beginning to understand.

When he’d arrived in Smokethorn County, ready to take down the “father” that had abandoned his mother and him before his birth, he’d found something he hadn’t expected. Another family.

Sunshiny sweet and seriously smart Aurora Pallás.

One glance at his kid sister, and Ronan had abandoned the idea of making Floyd pay. He’d bought a pub in town, created a home here, and invited his little sister into his life. For Rory, it had been filial love at first sight. After the loss of her mother, the teenager had been as hungry for family as Ronan had.

Unbeknownst to their birth father, Ronan was now footing the bill for her education, including sending her an allowance for clothing and other living expenses so she could focus solely on her studies. He’d encouraged her to apply to M.I.T. and been relieved and saddened in equal parts when she was finally thousands of miles out of reach of her father.

So, to say Ronan lost his shit when he found out she was missing was an understatement.

“We’re going to find her,” I said.

I’d never seen eyes so bright, teeth so sharp, claws so ready to rend. I’d never seen a man’s heart break in real time.

“Kill him,” he said in a voice like glass being crushed under the heel of a boot. “Going to kill?—”

“Yes, we are. But first, we’re going to find Rory.” I didn’t dare touch him when he was like this. Not because I was afraid that he’d hurt me, but because I was afraid that he’d lose himself in grief, and he’d hate that.

Now was the time to be unbreakable.

“Shift back to human. Let’s get some information.”