Eventually, the dirt was itchy on our skin and Alice began to whimper in her sleep.

    “I should get her to the clinic and check her over,” Amber said.

    I helped her stand, steadying Alice in her arms. I would have carried her myself, but I had a different path

    to take. Amber seemed to understand that too.

    “I will meet you at the clinicter,” I told her.

    With this, our ns were officially postponed. Hopefully they were not entirely canceled, but I wasn’t

    going to push the issue, especially right now, with everything so tense.

    At the edge of the forest, Alice went to the parking lot, while I shifted into wolf form. Immediatelyb, /bbI /b

    picked up on Chase’s scent and followed it.

    Typically, in towns and cities, werewolves stayed in our human forms. It wasn’t ideal to be a wolf, especially one asrge as mine, on a sidewalk or near cars and streets. My lumbering form made things

    less convenient for other pedestrians or drivers.

    At the moment, I didn’t care about propriety.

    I had a scent and I was trailing it to my prey.

    People moved out of the way for me, startled by my massive form. No one cursed or challenged me though. They just left me to my business.

    I followed Chase’s scent back to the hotel, and then to his room, right as the door opened. He was carrying all of his luggage, his back to me, as he stumbled out of the hotel room.

    I growled lowly, and he jumped. As he turned and spotted me, he dropped all of his bags and took off in a sprintb, /brunning for his car.

    He didn’t make it more than three bfeet /bbefore I pounced, shoving him down to the ground. He rolled, his

    back to the ground as he held up his hands defensively in front of him.

    As I shed my teeth he cowered further in fear.

    “I was leaving! I swear! You’ll never see me againb!/bb” /b

    I shifted halfway back into my human form, into something monstrous and terrifying, a form half–man, half–wolfb, /bwith long ws and teeth, but with the ability to speak.

    I didn’t often take this form, as it wasn’t as physically ferocious as my wolfb, /bbut it was a bvisually /bterrifying form on its own. I nned very much to use that to my advantage now.

    b1/3 /b

    “Talk…” I say, my voice a ghastly growl, the rumbling threat of half–human, half–wolf vocal chords.

    “I didn’t know what the ne did,” Chase said, his voice shaking, his eyes wide with fear. “I swear bI /b

    thought it was just

    “You did not n this alone…”

    He swallowed thickly, showing a small bit of bravery.

    Only until I showed my sharp teeth.

    He spoke very quickly after that.

    “O–Olivia told me to. She m–made me do it. I didn’t want to hurt the kid, but she promised the ne

    was only being used to cover up her scent, to trick you into thinking Alice was yours…”

    I growled, low and dangerous. “I’m supposed to believe that…?”

    “It’s what she told me, I swear!” Chase said.

    “Why would you go along with it?” I snarled. “Amber and Alice trusted you…”

    In addition to fear, for the first time, I saw true guilt crumple his expression. “I didn’t meant to hurt them

    b“/bbYou /bdidn’t care if you did…”

    Chase sunk further into the pits of his own loathing. “Olivia was convincing. We’d been lovers for some time now, she knows which buttons to push…”

    They were lovers, then. As I suspected. I didn’t care what Olivia did with her free time, but it certainly raised questions. She’d lied to me about wanting me and me alone. Though this was something of a relief, it was also an indication that she was hiding more things.

    There was never only one lie.

    “She offered me money,” Chase continued. “I needed it bad… Real bad… My parents disowned me, and all my other girlfriends have caught on to each other. Olivia was the only one who didn’t care. She was going to keep me anyway. Without that money I…”

    “You would have had to work for a living…” I said angrily. “You endangered my daughter’s life for fancy

    dinners and nice cars and suits…”

    Chase hung his head, looking ashamed. Yet even this was not half as much shame as he should have bfelt/b. He should have been begging for forgivenessb, /band asking me how to make things right.

    Instead, he was averting his eyesb. /bHe was probably still thinking of running away.

    I would have been within my rights to kill him for what he’d done, but…

    Olivia had manipted me too. Not in the same way, I’d never be influenced by money. But she had used the death of our child to guilt me into doing things her way.

    I felt no sympathy for Chase. A man ruled by money was a vile sort. But… he was young yet, and if he truly did start to work hard, perhaps he could turn his life around.

    Besides, even after what he’d done, I didn’t think Alice would like it if he died. She had been fond of him.

    It was for herb, /bthat I would allow him to breathe at least one more day.

    b“/bYou will get your bags and leave this town. You will go to the far northern packs were you will have to work to survive. You will not cross paths with Amber, Alice, or me ever again. If you do, I will make good my threats… and tear out your throat…”

    I snapped my teeth at him, emphasizing the threat.

    He cowered at once. b“/bYes! Yes! I understand!”

    Stepping back, I allowed Chase to sit upright. At once, he ran to grab his luggage, then scurried out to the

    parking lot like a rat in the sewer. The threw his bags in the backseat of his convertible, then hopped in

    the front, started the ignition, and tore out of the parking lot so fast his wheels skidded on the pavement.

    I watched, careful to notice which way he turned, to be certain he was leaving town.

    I listened carefully until the sound of his loud engine and screeching tires were outside my earshot, beven /b

    as a wolf.

    Then, I shifted back. My feet were barely human when I started walking for Olivia’s door.

    When I reached it, however, bI /bnoticed it was already opened.

    Did she know I wasing? Had she been expecting me?

    Bracing myself for this confrontation, I reached out and shoved open the door.

    To my surprise, all of Olivia’s things were gone from the room. Instead, there was a housekeeper there,

    making the bed, with some fresh towels stacked atop the desk.

    The housekeeper froze as I stepped into the door.

    I scented lightly, but I did not sense anyone else in the room.

    “Where is Olivia?” I asked the housekeeperb, /bexpecting a trap or subterfuge of some kind.

    The housekeeper looked hopelessly back at me. “You mean the woman who had been brenting /bbthis /bbroom/bb?/bb” /b

    bHad /bbeen…? “Yes. Where is bshe/b?”

    b“/bI’m sorryb, /bSir, bbut /bbI /bdon’t know. She checked out two hours ago.”