Chapter 57

Renee

Neil led me outside the academic hall. I fell into step beside him like I always did now. We didn’t talk much as we walked toward the lot, but it was a comfortable silence. I felt better with him there. Safer. Steadier. Emotionally, not physically. My bodyguards were quite effective.

Safer enough, in fact, that I didn’t even flinch when I spotted Vivian across the quad, leaning against a lamppost with her phone in hand, glaring daggers at us.

I looked straight back at her, then turned away as we walked. She was outright following us to his car like a crazy person. I was pretty sure someone was keeping an eye on her, but shrugged it off.

Let her watch. Let her record.

Her little empire was already starting to rot from the inside. She just didn’t know it yet. I couldn't wait to hear what Dominic would do about what she and Tyler had done. I hoped karma came back at least enfold for each of them.

I climbed into Neil’s car, tugging the door shut and exhaling slowly as the scent of pine and clean leather wrapped around me. It was quiet in here. Warm, still. Like the world couldn’t get in.

As he pulled out of the lot, Neil drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “She still hasn’t approached you?”

“Vivian?” I asked, glancing at him. “No. But she’s been lurking. Showing up places. Watching me.”

"I noticed that." He hummed under his breath. “Classic Vivian,” he said, almost like he pitied her.

"How do you know that?"

"My father instilled in me the importance of knowing a great deal about my contemporaries. Alpha Brightclaw's daughter was on the list, but my mother hates her and while my father would consider using her if he had something to gain, he said he would leave that to one of my brothers who has less use to the pack."

I blinked. "Your Dad sounds harsh."

He chuckled. “He's definitely got a way about him. Hard-edged and all." He shook his head. "I just hope all of this knocks her flat sooner rather than later. It's nerve-wrecking being recorded just because I'm spending time with you."

"You… could not."

He reached over, taking my hand. "Never going to happen, Renee."

I smiled down at our joined hands. "Thanks."

"Of course," he said. "Besides, she'll give up when she realizes no one is paying attention to her tantrums the way she wants."

“You underestimate her stubbornness."

He chuckled. "Well, a man can dream."

I leaned back, feeling a rare flicker of calm. “You okay?"

"Of course."

"I mean... with all this mess? With being seen with me? I know what you said but--”

His brows lifted. “Is that your subtle way of asking if you’re tanking my social life?”

“Something like that.” I winced. "And… with your father. Your pack?"

Neil laughed, a warm, easy sound that filled the car. “My father’s just thrilled I’m taking an interest in anyone about anything, the politics and what have you. And he's enjoying waiting for Luna Mountainhowl to bend Alpha Brightclaw over a barrel." He winced. "Sorry… a bit crass."

"I'm learning more about you in these nmoment than I thik I eer would have otherwise." I laughed. "And I don't mind a little crass."

"It's not… proper."

"Maybe I don't care." I sighed. "I'm… very tired of being proper."

I thought back to my previous life. I'd been so very proper and it got me betrayed and killed.

"I'm considering revelry. Heathenry, even."

"Sky high heels and dancing on bar tables?"

I laughed. "Maybe!"

He grinned. "I know some good bar if you're interested in a tour guide." He glanced at me. "Witch bars."

"Sounds… like an experience. Is that why no one sees you out about in the social scene?"

"One of many reasons."

"How's your mom?"

He glanced at me, smirking. “My mother is over the moon that it’s you I'm defending and looking after. She’s been scheming ways to get you to help her bake cookies.”

I blinked. “Cookies?”

“Yeah. She thinks you’ll be good luck. Also, she thinks you’re cute.”

I choked on my own laugh. “She's always thought I was cute."

"She's never been wrong."

I shook my head, the smile tugging at my lips. "I… I'm glad that things are going well and nothing crazy is happening." I sighed. “… I was worried. About everything following me. Hurting people I care about.”

“Hey.” Neil’s voice softened, stroking the back of my hand. “Don't take responsibility of other people's malice."

I smiled at him and squeezed his hand back.

"Thanks."

We rode the rest of the way hand in hand. I didn't know what that meant, but it was… nice.

Dominic

I sat in my office, the place still a wreck from the night I'd torn through it in grief and anger when I'd gotten back. I had thought that I was okay, that falling down the ravine and needing to clean myself up had dealt with my rage. I'd eaten at least half my weight in food before returning to my office, and the rage just took over until I was seated on my half over-turned couch, panting, mind clear.

Hazel had decorated my office after we'd married. Seeing that desk cracked in half, tables over turned, lamps broken, and bookshelves torn down eased something in me.

I was going to go after the other half of my closet where all of her clothes and things still were as if I was just waiting for her to come home.

I'd given them away to anyone I thought she might hate: her family could probably use it all. There were some of her younger female relatives starting jobs and needing to do things. I'd pack it all up and ship it, organized by size and color. Her perfume, her jewelry and everything else. I looked around. Papers scattered across the floor. The frame that once held Hazel’s photo lay in pieces still from however long ago it had been since I fell into the river.

The chaos felt peaceful for some reason. I plopped down on the floor sat the desktop screen up and turned on the tower. Somehow, the screen was mostly fine except for the spider web crack in the upper corner. A few pages that had landed behind my desk caught my eye. They were pack financial records. I’d asked for everything tied to Tyler’s family in the last six months when I caught Tyler's father's most recent misuse of funds. I got it all itemized by every member of the family, professionally and personally. Their expenditures, transfers, gifts, travel. The sort of paper trail people like them never thought to delete or double check when they got lazy. Half of it was noise: groceries, fuel, the usual bullshit. But one line caught my eye.

Faylin & Thorn: Platinum Moonlight Set – $8,300.

The hell?

I stared at the line item. It had been charged to the Brightclaw-managed stipend account, the one all Gammas had a subaccount to and was under rather lax management since I didn't have a luna. It was expensive, sure—but not unheard of. If it were a gift for a mate, a family member.

But no. My gut turned cold. I knew it wasn't for anyone it should have been for, and it wasn't that Tyler didn't earn enough as a Gamma over the years to have saved it up, but using the pack account meant he either didn't have it or didn't intend to pay for it himself.

That set wasn’t for Renee. She'd already said he was a shit boyfriend. And it wasn’t something Tyler’s mother would wear. His sister didn’t have a birthday anywhere near that date, and Tyler didn't strike me as the type to buy something extravagant for his sister.

So who was it for? Vivian? I picked up the phone and dialed the number for Faylin & Thorn, my voice clipped when the clerk picked up.

“This is Alpha Dominic Brightclaw. I need information about an order placed on April 3rd. Platinum Moonlight Set.”

The clerk hesitated, stammered, then pulled it up. “Yes, Alpha Brightclaw. That set was prepared and delivered personally... There was a message included in the box.”

“Read it if you have a copy of it.”

There was a short pause.

Then: “To my Gift From the Goddess. We’ll be together forever, where we belong. Soon.”

The breath left my lungs in one hard exhale. "And who placed the order?"

"A Gamma Tyler?"

I thanked the clerk and hung up without another word. Tyler had sent it. Not to Renee. Not to anyone in his family but a lover… Someone he thought was his mate, based on the message, but how fucking dumb could he be to have done it this way?

Or how dumb and negligent had I shown myself to be over the years in my grief and blindness?

I stood and barked out through the open door. “Get my senior officers. Now.”

Within minutes, they were in the room, shifting uneasily amid the wreckage., but no one commented.

“Add new questions to Tyler and his family's interviews. Go pick up his mother as well and bring her into custody and anyone else. We’re asking each of them separately—no contact, no heads-up. Ask if Tyler has been involved with anyone other than Renee. I want as much detail as you can manage."