looking even more downcast. Locked out of the action. Katelyn would have gladly traded places.
With that in mind, Katelyn made another decision. She said to Mr. Fenner, “I have something else to show you. Just you,” she emphasized.
When he raised a brow, she began to walk toward Justin’s truck. She heard him grunt in amusement, then trail after her. She was violating some kind of etiquette by having him follow her but she didn’t know what else to do.
“I smell silver,” he said, and she nodded.
She opened the passenger’s side door and fished the gun from underneath her seat. Taking a deep breath, she held it pointed to the ground so he would know that she wasn’t threatening him and that she knew how to handle a gun.
She said, “I found this, Mr. Fenner. It’s loaded with silver bullets.”
For a moment, she thought he was having a heart attack. His lips moved but no sound came out — he was truly speechless. Then he moved as if to shield the two of them from prying eyes, reaching out for the gun before jerking his hand away.
“Where?” he demanded.
“In the forest,” she lied. “I was out running and I smelled it.”
“Did you see anything else?” he asked excitedly.
Now would be the time to tell him about the trap. Obviously, Justin hadn’t. Mr. Fenner was not her friend. He was acting normal at the moment, but in her experience, that didn’t last. He could turn on her in a heartbeat, just as he had turned on so many others. She thought of Quentin Lloyd with a shiver.
And besides, Justin was . . . Justin. She had a split-second fantasy where they got together and led the pack. But she didn’t want to lead anything. And she didn’t want Justin. She just wanted her life back. And she wanted to bring Cordelia home.
And be with Trick.
Always.
Never.
But before she could lie to him, he said, “That’s from the mine. The Madre Vena. That’s what’s in it. It’s not just a silver mine, it’s also a stockpile where those who used it stored guns that shoot silver bullets. And more swords and knives, made out of silver.”
Mr. Fenner regarded the gun. “Show me the bullets.”
She blinked down at the gun. There was more? Is that where her grandfather had gotten the box of deadly ammo? She cracked open the weapon and let the shiny bullets fall into her hand. She wished she’d replaced them with tarnished ones; that would have added a touch of realism to her story.
“I shined them up,” she said. “At first I wasn’t sure if they were silver.”
His face changed. “I know how it happened. She dropped it. She found the mine and told the Gaudins and they’ve stolen everything. It belongs to us. The mine is on our land.”
She? Did he mean Cordelia? Was he blaming her for this whole mess?
“But who . . . who made the bullets?” she asked, her voice quavering as she thought of her grandfather inside the mine. Knowing all this time where it was. Did he know? “Did they come from the mine? Where is it?”
“That’s something only Fenner alphas should ever know,” he said. “It’s a secret.”
Did he know? Tell me. Tell me, please, she silently begged him.
Had Mr. Fenner killed Mr. Henderson after he had told him all he knew about the mine? Or because he had failed to find it? She doubted she would ever see Mr. Henderson alive again.
He pulled back his lips from his teeth and hair sprouted on his face and the backs of his hands. “We’ll hunt them down and take what’s ours. I’ll have her pelt.”
His jaw began to elongate. Katelyn’s heartbeat picked up and her joints seized with pain; her instinctive fear of him was ratcheting up her adrenaline and beginning to force the change on her, too. She fought to stay calm, not wanting him to know that she had partially transformed once without the full moon. She knew now that that hadn’t been a one-time event.
One secret at a time.
“I found it a while ago,” she said. “When I first moved here. I didn’t know what it was as I couldn’t smell silver back then. But my grandfather was teaching me how to shoot. So I cleaned it up to see if I could use it. The bullets were covered with tarnish.”
“Did you show it to him?” he asked urgently. “Has he seen it?”
“No,” she said. “I wasn’t supposed to be out in