“She didn’t get a good look,” Connor said. “So they hit her for no reason.”

Traeger just lifted a shoulder.

“Do you know why they attacked the Stone farm?” I asked.

Traeger shook his head. “Probably because the humans were always crossing into our territory. Cash didn’t care ’cause Carlie’s practically family, but Zane didn’t like that they hadn’t been punished.”

“And they tried to remove the shutters because I’d changed a human without permission—a human under the protection of the clan—and I hadn’t been immediately punished.”

He dropped his gaze again. “That would be my guess, yeah.”

So they were playing vigilante—meting out justice to trespassers who they felt hadn’t gotten what they’d deserved.

“Where do we find them?” Connor asked.

“Zane lives with his mom and sister. Jude and Evelyn. They’re in one of the houses at the edge of the resort, close to the road. Beyo, Marcus, and John share a cabin. Other side of the road from Zane’s. You can’t miss it—there’s a couch on the front porch. I went by—none of them are there.”

“Do you know where else they’d be?”

“I think they have another place—some kind of clubhouse.”

“At the resort?” Alexei asked, pushing off the wall and moving closer as he prepared for action.

“No, in the woods somewhere. They were always muddy when they came back.”

Connor pushed back his chair and stood. “Go to Georgia’s and stay there. Don’t leave until we come back, and don’t try to find them.”

Traeger lifted his brows. “Why?”

“Because you have knowledge,” Connor said. “Which you just passed on to outsiders. And Zane and his friends seem to like executing their own judgments.”

Traeger’s face went pale.

“You did the right thing,” Connor said, replacing his chair. “It may not feel like that right now, but you did the right thing—telling us. You might have saved a life tonight. That’s what you should think about.”

EIGHTEEN

We watched Traeger walk back to Georgia’s, made sure he went inside and the door was closed behind him.

“So,” Connor said as he worked on a bottle of water that had been squeezed into the fridge between the bottles of blood, “Traeger planted this seed about Loren harassing Paisley, and the clan won’t do anything about it. Zane decides he’ll do something about it, rounds up three friends. But instead of confronting Cash and the others, or contacting the Pack for help, they make themselves ‘stronger’ with some secret magic and start playing vigilante.”

“And not very well,” Alexei said darkly. He stood beside Connor at the island, chewing the heads off gummi bears before eating their bodies a handful at a time. “Ironic since you let Cash claim Obsideo.”

Connor gave him a look. “I didn’t let Cash claim anything. I made him show his cards, because he was going to do it even if he put Elisa through the clan’s ‘process’ first.”

Alexei chewed, considered. “Probably. Miranda’s idea?”

“Probably,” Connor said, then glanced at me. “Anything from Theo?”

I belatedly realized I hadn’t checked my screen all night. I pulled it out, found a bevy of messages.

“Theo hasn’t yet been able to reach the Order about the magic,” I reported as I scanned them, “but no one in the OMB or its database has any information about the creatures. And it doesn’t match the description of the Beast, which is more of a bear, not a prancing wolf.”

“So the Beast may still exist,” Alexei said as I gave Theo an update, cramming a lot of magical extortion and shifter dramatics into a few words. “It just isn’t here.”

“Someone has to know what these things are,” Connor said. “If this quartet of idiots didn’t make this magic, someone who knows about magic must have. I don’t know much about spells, either, but don’t you have to know what you’re aiming for when you write the spell in the first place?”

“Like a recipe,” I said. “You want bread, you need a recipe for bread.”

“Exactly,” Connor said. “Let’s go talk to Jude and Evelyn.” He glanced at Alexei. “You want John, Beyo, and Marcus?”

Alexei’s smile was sly. “Three to one sounds like very fun odds.”

“Why do you eat the gummi bears’ heads first?” I asked as we headed outside again.

“So they go down easier.”

Shifter logic.

* * *

* * *

Zane’s house was a slightly larger version of the cabin, and the similarities in style and decor were beginning to creep me out. I understood the group wanting to live together in the resort; vampires lived in houses, after all. And maybe they’d all liked the style enough not to change it, or just weren’t that interested in the aesthetics. But it was unsettling to walk in and out of same-but-slightly-different buildings. Like each was a broken reflection of the last.

Jude was a woman with tan skin and a hard-bitten look. Her hair was a cap of pale blond, her makeup strong, and her clothes decorated with rhinestones and embroidery. Evelyn was probably in her mid-twenties, with a swing of straight blond hair, simple clothes, and delicate makeup. She’d distanced herself from her mother’s style, intentionally or not.

“We’re looking for Zane,” Connor said. “Have you seen him?”

“Not in a couple of days,” Jude said. Her voice had the thick and grainy tone of a lifelong smoker.

“Would you normally see him every day?” Connor asked.

“He usually drops by, sure. But could a few days pass before we see him? Yeah. He’s got his own life.”

“We understood he lived here with you,” I said.

“He does,” Jude said, and didn’t elaborate. So I guessed that was all we were going to get about her son’s sleeping habits.

She sat on the couch, leaned forward. “What’s it like to be a vampire?”

“Mostly dark.”

“What about to live in one of those vampire houses?”

“Mom,” Evelyn intoned. “I’m sure you aren’t supposed to ask about that.”

“I don’t see why not. She’s a vampire. She doesn’t hide it or anything. Made a new one last night, didn’t she?”

“We need to talk to Zane,” Connor said, trying to move us back toward the point, which had begun to fade into the distance.

The seriousness in his tone seemed to have her—finally—realizing this wasn’t just a mild social call. “Why?”

“We think he might have helpful information about the trouble the clan’s been experiencing lately.”

Jude snorted. “He’d have information about how to be a pain in my ass. Takes money out of my purse ’cause he’s on some new tear. Some new fixation. Pawned some of my good china just to get a little extra cash. He’ll grow out of it,” she said, and sounded convinced, “but he’s in that stage.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically, and didn’t seem to realize that telling us her son was a troublemaker was only going to make us look harder at him. Or maybe that was what she wanted: for someone to handle her son.

“We understand he’s friends with John and Beyo and Marcus.”

“Sure,” she said.

“What about Traeger?” Connor asked.

She laughed bitterly. “Yeah, when he’s not running around doing something for Georgia. She keeps him busy.” She sounded disapproving. “Kids need time to be themselves.”

“Hmmm” was all Connor said.

“I think I left my screen in the car,” Evelyn said, rising from her stool at the kitchen counter. “I’m going to go get it.” She flicked her gaze toward the door, signaling that we should follow her.

“Thanks for your time,” Connor said, rising. “If you see Zane, we’d like to talk to him.”

“Sure, sure.”

We followed Evelyn outside and around the house to the family firepit a few yards from the lakeshore.

“I love my mother,” she said quietly, arms crossed and gaze on the water. “But mothering was not exactly her strong suit.”

“Sounds like Zane causes you both some grief,” Connor said.

“Rules don’t apply to Zane,” she said. “Or at least that’s his position. He comes and goes as he pleases, takes what he wants.” She shook her head, looked back at us. “I work in town, and I’ve got my own place. I drop by to check on her.”

“You’re doing her a favor by not causing her problems,” Connor said.

She shrugged. “You’re here because of Loren, aren’t you? Because of last night?”

“Why do you say that?” Connor asked.

“Because if you told me my brother was involved, that he hurt someone, I wouldn’t be surprised. I mean, I wouldn’t call him violent. At least not before. But he does what he wants, and he always has.”

“Traeger says he might have been angry at Loren.”

“Who isn’t he angry at?” Evelyn said. “According to Zane, he’s the smartest guy in the room at all times. And my mother’s ‘boys will be boys’ attitude doesn’t help.”

“What about Cash?” Connor asked.

“Cash doesn’t care what happens around here as long as it doesn’t attract human attention.”

“That sounds very frustrating,” I said quietly, and was glad she’d figured out a way to get some distance from the drama.

“It sucks,” she said. “They’re family, but it sucks.”

“Do you know where we can find Zane?” Connor asked.

“No. She was telling the truth—he does disappear. Sometimes they go up or down the shore. Like she said, he gets obsessed with things. Some idea or hobby or whatever. He’s been secretive lately, which is a new one for him. He usually likes to talk.” Her voice was dry. “I had the sense he’d fallen into some new project. I don’t know what—’cause secretive. But when he was here, he was on his screen more than usual, said he was doing his ‘research.’”