Lib Novel Page 134
Alex looks like he’s going to be sick. He steps toward me before forcing himself to stop. “Is it just me, or do you have very little regard for your own life and safety, Sophia?”
I gape at him. “That’s not true.”
“Yes it is. You don’t think twice about putting yourself in danger for somebody else. Whether it’s that waitress at your bar or me. Stop treating yourself as dispensable!”
My mouth moves, but nothing comes out. I’ve always been dispensable. I’ve never mattered enough to anybody before. Does he expect me to believe that I matter to him? Not willing to go down that rabbit hole again, I give him a sharp smile. “No offense, Alex, but whether I treat myself as dispensable or not, I hardly think you have a say in it.”
I can see that my words are like a slap to him from the way he jerks back, but I don’t regret them. I am pretty certain that once he leaves this town with his goal achieved, Alex will forget all about me. He’ll be surrounded by his pack, by his people who love him and trust him.
I will be an afterthought. He’ll forget about me, and I will have no one. But I will be here, picking up the pieces and trying to move on.
I don’t want to hear such words from him, true or not. I don’t care how he feels about me right now. Those feelings will fade with time.
My nails dig into my palm, my eyes burning with tears of anger and hurt.
Swallowing hard and holding back those tears, I turn to face the wall, not wanting him to see my expression.
“I’m going to head to bed. If you’re smart, you’ll go back to the motel, to your friends. They’ll be worried about you.”
Without another word, I storm into my bedroom and slam the door shut behind me. Towel still on my hair, I sink onto the bed and close my eyes.
I don’t want to think about Rita. I don’t want to think about Alex. And I especially don’t want to think about the damn Silver Wolf.
The exhaustion catches up to me pretty fast, and before I know it, I’m slipping away into a deep sleep. Misery is my companion, dragging me down into the abyss where nothing exists aside from the comfort of the darkness. Grateful, I let it wrap around me in a cocoon of safety.
As I sleep, I have the oddest sensation that someone is running a comb through my hair. When I wake up the next morning, my hair is not the tangled mess I expected. Someone has removed the towel and combed the strands. The blanket that had been at the foot of the bed when I fell asleep is now snuggly wrapped around me.
And Alex is gone.
*** **
The news of Rita’s death hits the town almost immediately the next morning. When I get to the Dancing Bear tonight, Elsa’s eyes are red-rimmed, and she doesn’t say a word to me. My own heart is heavy. The servers, however, are discussing the murder. Not a lot of details have been leaked, but it has been verified to the shifters that it was indeed a murder.
Eve arrives later than normal, her mouth a thin line. When she enters the bar, I see somebody else walking in as well. I haven’t met the man, but I know he’s one of the new recruits to the pack security team. He’s sitting at a table in the corner, and I can see Eve casting nervous glances his way. For some reason, she seems hyper aware of him. I greet her as she passes me, but she barely says a word back. The man isn’t exactly acting normal, either. He orders a drink and keeps staring at her.
I suddenly find myself recalling the conversation I overheard in the alley.
“Do you think I would stay here if my identity has been revealed?”
I remember finding Eve’s words strange at the time. It was a weird thing to say. What identity was she referring to?
But now that I think about it, could it be that she really is the Silver Wolf? I’m still not seeing a lot of the pieces of the whole picture, but Eve is definitely a strong candidate. And her behavior has been quite odd recently.
Like when she smashed that black burner phone. Alex told me Rita’s was a very high-grade piece of technology. Something his people used, as well. If Rita was working for somebody as a spy, then why did Eve have such a similar phone? Is she also a spy?
If she is one, she would try to integrate herself into this town, like Rita did. But Eve has been going the extra mile to keep her distance from everybody. The only reason she would do that is if she has something to hide.
It all comes down to secrets. And there seem to be a lot of those around here.
I need to figure out who Eve really is. We don’t have time to waste. I’m going to have to go to Alex with my theory and tell him to keep an eye on her. If he can catch her shifting forms, and her fur is silver, we can figure out a way to approach her and ask her for help. And then Alex and Eve can run off into the sunset together.
The mere thought has my chest aching.
As I wipe the glass in my hand, I murmur to myself, “Get used to it. You made this choice.”
“What choice?”
I look up to see Drew sitting down across the bar from me.