“You want something to drink?” I asked Traeger.

He looked up at me, frowning as if surprised by the question, and shook his head. “No. I’m fine.”

Connor pulled out a chair on the other side of the table and sat down. Alexei stood in the corner, glowering.

“Is it true about the shutters?” Traeger asked. “That the creatures messed with them?”

Connor’s expression didn’t change, and I gave him credit for that. “Yes. The creatures, or one of them, tried to tear them off and expose Elisa to sunlight.”

Traeger swore, pushed his hands through his hair. “I think I know why this is happening. Or some of it. Maybe who.”

“Start at the beginning,” Connor said as I took the seat beside him.

“Paisley and I, like you said, were dating. We were having fun. Hanging out. Talking. She came back from the woods one night in wolf form; I was going to meet her afterward. And I saw him waiting at the edge of the woods, kind of pacing. Like he was waiting for her, too.”

“Loren,” I guessed. “You’re talking about Loren.”

He looked up at me, nodded. “Yeah. He moved away when he saw me, but I saw him talking to her, waiting for her, things like that, more often. I think he was interested in her.”

Having seen the photo of the young and lovely Paisley, I understood why. But Loren was decades older, and she was involved with Traeger. This didn’t sound like mutual interest.

“She didn’t feel the same,” I offered.

“Not even close,” he said. “He was older than her grandfather, and we had a thing going on. He wasn’t mean or anything. But he kept hinting around, being wherever she was expected to be.”

“He was stalking her.” Connor’s voice was cold, the words leaching furious magic into the air.

“I don’t know if it was like that,” Traeger said. “But he was . . . I’d say she thought he was harassing her.”

That might explain why Beth and Jae had seemed leery when Loren had approached them.

“Did she tell anyone?” Connor asked.

“She wouldn’t even admit it to me. I asked if he was bothering her, and she said no. Said he was just a harmless old guy, kind of funny. Paisley was chill, and she liked everyone. But you could tell—I could tell—he sometimes made her uncomfortable.” He swallowed hard. “And then she was gone.”

His voice had turned hard, and when he looked up, so had his eyes. “I think Loren killed her.”

Frowning, Connor leaned forward. “You have evidence of that?”

“I know what I know,” Traeger said, but shifting his gaze. “No. I don’t have any damn evidence. I have a feeling. I have what I saw—the look on her face.”

And the fact that Loren was the last person who’d seen her alive. And she’d apparently been angry about whatever they were discussing.

“How could he have killed her?” Connor asked. “They were walking together along the old main road, right?”

“Maybe they’d had a fight, and she told him to stay away from her. He got pissed, and he pushed her in front of a car. Or maybe it was an accident; I don’t know. I just know he made her uncomfortable, and then she was gone. She should have talked about it,” he added. “But she wouldn’t.”

“But you would,” Connor prompted. “You told someone you were angry. That Loren was getting away with something.”

Traeger’s lips pressed together. “I’m supposed to be loyal.”

“To the clan,” Connor said. “To the Pack. Not to the people who put them in danger.”

Traeger’s jaw worked as he considered, as if he were chewing over the words he wasn’t sure he should say. “I told Cash.”

Connor sat back. A quick glance might have made you think he was just getting comfortable, relaxing. But his hand was fisted on the table, knuckles nearly white, and the look in his eyes was nothing near relaxed.

He was angry. And working to hold himself in check.

I understood the feeling.

“And what did Cash say?” Connor asked.

“Same as you. He wanted fucking evidence. Wanted proof that Loren did anything other than be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had nothing. And that was that. No proof of crime, so no punishment.”

Maybe it wasn’t so surprising that Cash had seemed pretty casual about investigating Loren’s death. Give him a good memorial, a good send-off, but don’t worry overmuch about the details, because whoever killed him did you a favor. Ridded the clan of a problem.

“And that bothered you.”

“Fuck yeah, it bothered me.” He slapped the table with the flat of his hand. “It’s fucking wrong. It’s the same shit different day around here. Elders are in charge, and we don’t question them. Elders do wrong and too fucking bad. They get away with it.”

“Did you tell Georgia?” I asked.

Traeger’s combative position didn’t change, but his gaze softened. “No. What could she do? Everybody knows Cash calls the shots.”

“Do they?” Connor’s words were barely a whisper. And I began to feel a little bit sorry for Cash and the rest of the elders.

“It’s the truth, man.” Traeger looked up, met his gaze. “Maybe you do things differently in Chicago or Aurora or Memphis, but we ain’t in any of those places. We’re here in the sticks where Cash and the others are in charge. Their way or the highway. And where else would we go?”

Connor didn’t answer, just watched him.

“Here,” Traeger continued, “playing at being humans while we’re surrounded by wilderness. That’s ironic, don’t you think?”

“So, what? You thought you’d bring back a little of the wildness?” Connor asked. “Wreak a little havoc?”

Traeger seemed to go a little paler. “Not me, man. I don’t have anything to do with it.” But he looked away, avoiding eye contact and the truth.

“You haven’t lied to me yet, Traeger. Don’t start now.”

Traeger stared hard at the refrigerator as he considered, worked through whatever dilemma he was facing.

After a good minute of silence, and while Connor watched him, he turned back again.

“It started with Zane Williams. One of my friends. I was pissed and blowing off steam, told him I thought Loren had been harassing Paisley. I said I’d love to take a few swings at him, but couldn’t. Because he was clan, because he was an elder.” Traeger cleared his throat. “Zane said things needed to change. And I said he was fucking right.” He looked up at Connor. “And he still is.

“That was a few months ago,” Traeger continued. “And then Paisley died, and Zane said it was too fucking bad the clan hadn’t stopped Loren in the first place.” He swallowed hard again. “And then Loren was dead.”

Silence fell over the cabin, heavy and full of magic. Traeger’s: nervy and uncertain. Connor’s: barely banked anger.

“And you think Zane killed him.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you help?”

“What? No. Of course I didn’t help.”

“There were four creatures at the Stone farm, Traeger. Four of them. That means Zane isn’t working alone.”

“I’m not one of them,” Traeger said, bitterness in his voice. “I mean, I’m one of his friends, but not his only friend. I wasn’t included in the plan.”

“Who was?” Connor asked.

Traeger swallowed hard, as if working past the guilt of betraying his friends. “He was closest to John, Beyo, Marcus. He’s supposedly got some human friends in town who sell to him when he wants to get high, but I don’t know their names.”

“And he didn’t give you any details about how they were doing it? What they were changing into?”

“Not really. He’s been cagey about it.”

“You were friends enough that you think he might have killed Loren because Loren hurt your girlfriend,” I said. “But he didn’t invite you to play with him? He didn’t tell you how he was going to do it?”

“Because of Georgia,” Alexei said quietly, and Traeger nodded.

Connor sat back, watched Traeger. “They weren’t sure if you were trustworthy.”

“Yeah,” Traeger said bitterly, a flush rising on his cheeks.

“Then give us your best guess,” I said.

“I don’t know. I haven’t even seen the creatures. Just heard about them.” He seemed shamed by that, too. That he hadn’t been included even that much, and even though he’d helped spark their behavior. “Zane told me he figured out a way to get even with Loren, to scare him into telling the truth. Something that would make them strong.”

“Magic?” I asked.

“He didn’t say. I assumed so, because you could tell their magic was . . . different . . . when they came back.”

“Did any of them know how to do magic?” I asked.

“Do magic?” Traeger asked, and his face seemed earnestly blank. “Like spells and stuff? No. We aren’t sorcerers.” He shifted his gaze to Connor, as if looking for help in explaining what shifters are to a noob.

“It’s rare,” Connor said. “But there are shifters who can work spells. Not very well.”

“No shit?” Traeger looked genuinely surprised. “Huh. I don’t think Zane knew anything about that. He just said something about how they’d be able to reach their full potential. At first, I thought he was full of shit, that maybe he’d found some kind of energy drink. But then Beth was attacked, and Loren was dead, and the Stone farm, and then the shutters. And I haven’t seen them in a few days.”

“Why did they attack Beth?” Connor asked.

Traeger rubbed his arm. “They were coming out of the woods and thought she saw them. They were going to knock her unconscious, hope someone would just think she tripped or something, and wouldn’t believe her if she remembered anything.”