She twitched, so faintly that I might have missed it.

What was that about?

No way in hell I’d ask, though.

She turned and headed to the door. “I assume your lapdog Kenneth can tell me where my room is.”

“He’ll see to it.”

I watched her disappear, rubbing my chest absentmindedly.

She was going to be a problem.

7

Eve

 

Kenneth showed me to a small but comfortably furnished room on the other side of the tower. As soon as I shut the door behind me, I leaned against it, my knees trembling.

What the hell had just happened?

Lachlan had tried the Alpha’s Command on me. Every shifter in the world had to respond to an Alpha’s Command. It was built into our DNA.

I might have taken a potion to make me look fae and have a fae’s powers, but I was still shifter on the inside. The potion hadn’t changed what I was—it had just added to it.

He’d been testing me, but somehow, I’d passed.

How the hell had I done it?

It should have been impossible. I’d felt the pull to answer, a nearly burning desire that made my throat itch and my tongue want to move. And yet, I’d kept the words down.

It had been one of my greatest fears—that one day, I’d run into an Alpha who would ask me the wrong questions. It’d been a silly fear, considering how carefully I avoided shifters. And yet, it had come true.

I dragged an unsteady hand through my hair. If he’d suspected me of being who I really was—which he might have—he’d proven to himself that I wasn’t a shifter.

Just what the hell was wrong with me if I didn’t have to obey commands and I couldn’t shift?

I needed some air.

Shaking still, I strode to the window. It was made of diamond-shaped panes set into iron, and I pulled open one of the sides.

My room overlooked the courtyard and the city beyond. Moonlight gleamed on the grass, and the streetlamps sparkled golden. It was a rare clear night, and the light made it easy to spot the massive figure who stepped out from a side door in the tower.

Lachlan.

He strode toward Pandemonium.

I frowned, watching him.

We’d already got all the clues we could from the place. Why was he going there?

He disappeared inside the building, giving me no hint about his purpose, and I heaved a sigh and turned back to the room.

Damn, it was quiet.

My stomach rumbled. Hunger and stress. That had to be it. I’d eaten only candy bars today, and frankly, I could use another. Ten more.

If Lachlan was gone, then maybe I could quietly hit up the kitchens. It was getting late, so they might be empty. And anyway, I wanted to do a little hunting around for info.

There was something weird about Lachlan. He was just too different from the boy I remembered. Not that I’d known him well, but the man I’d just met was all coldness and duty. Broken, somehow.

Something had happened.

I slunk from the room and down the hall, seeking out the kitchens. The memory of Danny’s body in the freezer made me shudder, and I vowed to avoid any chilled foods.

Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—the kitchen wasn’t empty. An older woman had her head stuck in a small refrigerator and was fishing around. She straightened and turned as soon as I entered, and her brow furrowed. “You.”

“I didn’t kill Danny, I promise.” I held up my hands in a placating gesture. I should have counted on any shifters that I ran into being suspicious. Pack first, after all. “I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now I’m trying to figure out who really did it.”

“Trying to clear your name, more like.”

“Both, actually. I don’t like the idea of getting blamed for a murder. Or of a murderer walking around free.”

Her face softened a bit, and she dried her hands on her apron. “Well, that I can understand.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. “I don’t suppose you have a spare sandwich lying around?”

As if to emphasize my request, my stomach grumbled.

Her face softened further, and I knew I had her. Not that I’d intended to manipulate her, but she was the type of maternal woman who liked feeding people, and my stomach had stepped in at just the right moment to get me a bit of sympathy.

“Coming right up, dearie.” She turned back to the fridge.

“Thank you.” I found a seat at one of the counter stools. The kitchen was massive and homey, with butcherblock countertops and warm red walls.

“You’re in the fae guild?” she asked as she worked, cutting bread and cheese.

“No. Shadow Guild.”

“One of those misfits, are you?”

I could have been offended, but I chose not to be. I liked being in the guild for weirdos. It was the only place I fit in, and all my friends were there. “I suppose you could say that.”

“What’s wrong with you that you’re in there?”

I frowned. “Nothing’s wrong with me.” That wasn’t true. There was definitely something really weird about me. Not that I’d tell her. “It’s true that we’re all outcasts from our species for some reason, but there’s nothing wrong with us.”

“Hmm.”

She didn’t sound convinced, so I tried a separate tactic—the storyline I’d created for myself when I’d returned to Guild City. “I’m fae, but not from here. My own Court won’t welcome me back, not after what my mother did.”

“And what did she do?”

“I can’t really talk about it.” More like, I never spoke about it. Simple lies were easier to keep straight than complicated ones, so that was as far as my story went. I’d never even invented a false crime for her in my head. “Anyway, I’ve told you plenty about me. Now you tell me a bit about you.”

She gave me a skeptical look as she walked my sandwich over to me. I took it and bit in, making a grateful noise. That got her smiling, and thankfully, talking. “Not much to tell about me. Things have been too quiet since the old Alpha passed and Garreth died.”

“Died?” I felt my eyebrows shoot up my forehead. “The Alpha’s brother died?”

“What do you know of him? That was almost seven years past, now.”

A couple years after I’d left, then. I hadn’t seen him around town, so I’d just assumed he was in Scotland at the shifters’ other land. “I just remember hearing the names of the original Alpha’s sons years ago, but I never knew much more.” I made a vague gesture. “Life on the outside, you know?”

“Well, he died. So did the father, though we don’t speak of it.” She shuddered.

Why not? I wanted to yell. Of course, I didn’t. I just plastered on a sympathetic face and went digging for gold. “That must have been so hard on you. All the mourning, and with people in poor spirits.”

“Aye, it was terrible, no other ways about it.” She dried her already dry hands on her apron. “And the current Alpha, fate knows he’s never been the same. Eschews touch and people and closeness. Hardly a shifter at all, what with him ignoring those basic pleasures. But he’s a good leader—finest we ever had, truth be told. So what’s it to me if he seems a wee bit distant?”