Lib Novel Page 97
He pulls apart the cardboard and brings out the heavy wooden frame into the living room. “Your father was a force of nature, Alex. But when it came to your mother, he both feared and adored her. I remember he once broke one of the clay vases she liked to make. He paid me twenty bucks to take the blame. Easiest twenty I ever made in my life.”
I feel slightly offended. “I’m not scared of Sophia.”
He glances at me, amused. “I never said you were. But I’m not the one tiptoeing around her right now because I broke her bed.”
“I don’t tiptoe.”
“Whatever you say, twinkle toes.” Saul winks at me.
My arms cross over my chest as a glower at him. “I am still your Alpha, you know.”
He just whistles a tune, ignoring me.
I help Saul take the new bedframe into the bedroom and get rid of the broken one. Perhaps it’s the fact that I slept curled around Sophia last night, but my body feels sturdier, my healing having picked up pace.
Suddenly, I remember to ask, “How did it go last night?”
The humor fades from his face as he looks over at me. “The Wily Vixen was expecting us. She waited two whole hours before leaving, but we chased her. Not that it was a good idea. She lost a fight last night. Pretty banged up. And I think we made it worse by chasing her through the woods. She managed to evade us eventually, but she could barely walk, Alex.”
I feel a stab of guilt. “She didn’t shift?”
Saul shakes his head. “Not even when Nathan got close to her.”
Suddenly, I recall when Sophia came home late last night. I assumed she must’ve been attacked outside the bar after work. But what if—
No. The idea is ludicrous! For starters, Sophia is an inch taller than the Wily Vixen. Plus…
Nothing. I can’t come up with a second reason why she cannot be the female cage fighter.
“What time did you lose sight of her?” I ask carefully.
“Well after midnight, I would say,” Saul shrugs. “Probably around one-thirty or two in the morning. I remember looking at my watch while we were waiting for her. It must have been almost one a.m. when she finally left the arena.”
Sophia came home a little before three. I checked the clock.
It can’t be. If she were the Wily Vixen, she would’ve told me yesterday when I explained to her about the Silver Wolf and my suspicions. Then again, I never told her that we were looking into the cage fighting ring for the shifter in question.
I cannot imagine Sophia in a cage fight. I must have a few screws loose. It couldn’t possibly be her.
“Alex?” Saul gives me an inquisitive look. “What’s on your mind?”
I shake my head grimly. “Nothing. So, she didn’t shift, huh?”
The seed of suspicion has been planted in my mind now. What if the female they were chasing last night didn’t shift because she can’t shift? If she really is Sophia, that would also explain my attraction toward the masked fighter.
But if the Wily Vixen is Sophia, that means we’ve been looking in the wrong place this whole time. Sophia’s wolf is latent. She cannot shift. She cannot be the Silver Wolf.
I have to ask her. I have to know the truth.
Until I find out for sure, I don’t want to tell my companions. I have to be absolutely certain.
Suddenly, that hateful look in her eyes last night also makes sense to me. My heart sinks. Maybe she waited two hours to leave because she’d overheard our plans, what I was discussing with Patrick about chasing her through the forest. Maybe she was hoping they’d think they missed her and leave. But they didn’t, and that means she was in such bad shape when she got home because of me. The men were acting under my orders.
My wolf howls mournfully. We hurt our mate.
There are still a lot of pieces to the puzzle, but I have a feeling I’m on the right track.
“You said the Wily Vixen was beaten in the ring last night,” I say to Saul, his earlier words registering on me. “How is that possible? Was the other fighter a shifter, too?” When my friend doesn’t answer, I look at him, sensing something is wrong. “Who was the other fighter, Saul?”