Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,77

to Heath, considering everything they had just told me. “So someone decided to take matters into their own hands, rules and Laws be damned. Which isn’t something new to be learned. I mean, I figured that out when I had wolves enter my territory. They don’t care about anything but the power at the end. There might even be a bit of a grudge against you for not giving them the position.”

“Exactly.”

“And that’s why they wanted Carey. Because if they get you to surrender to them, Tywin’s place goes out the window, even though he’s the third of the pack and there’s no other better options above him. Tywin would have to fight and kill the new Alpha, who gained his position from blackmail and war.”

“Exactly,” he repeated softly.

“So we’re dealing with someone who doesn’t know that every supernatural race is going to come down on his head for breaking the Law, whether he wins or not. Someone arrogant and possibly uneducated. Someone young enough to think the Law is a boogieman and not the very real foundations by which we can live our lives.” I was rambling a little now, but it was helping me put things together. “Who fits the description? When was the last time someone was executed for breaking the Law?” I couldn’t remember off the top of my head.

“Probably the case a century ago. A fae who killed a werewolf without grounds. He was attempting to steal the wolf’s skin, much like Selkies use seal skins for transformation. Before that…” Teagan took a deep breath. “The werewolves who killed Hasan’s daughter, only a couple years before the fae.”

I froze for a second. I had no idea that wolves had killed her, only that she was killed. It took me a moment to convince myself to think on that later and get back on topic.

“So we’re dealing, probably, with a wolf or wolves under a century old, probably even younger, since most closer to a century would remember the aftermath of those Tribunal executions.”

“Good. Most of the traitors are quite young so far,” Heath agreed. “That means Fenris is off the table completely, which I already figured. He’s too old to think he can break the Law and get away with it. He’s crazy, but he’s also not going to get an entire pack killed for himself.”

“Who else?” I asked.

Teagan began writing in a notebook, crossing out names as he spoke. I didn’t absorb all of it. I really didn’t want to leave Dallas knowing the name of every werewolf who wanted power.

“None of these wolves have proven to be traitors yet, though a couple are missing. Our security plans actually have Dean and Emma hiding alone, protecting their son. Magic and wolves pisses some on both sides off. They won’t contact us until everything is over, which is what I ordered them to do.” Heath ran a hand through his hair and I realized the problem.

Wolves were normally very straightforward. They didn’t do betrayal and plots and blackmail. It wasn’t in them, so Heath, no matter how smart he was, wasn’t very good at thinking like those who did those things.

“What if we’re looking at the wrong angle?” I cut in, against my better judgement. I really shouldn’t have been helping them find the traitor just for the sake of it. “Some of these names were recommended by other people, for a variety of reasons. Best friends, lovers, siblings. They would have gotten power by proxy if their suggestion was used.”

“That’s…” He smiled at me. “Huh. A week hoping we can just beat the answers out of the traitors, and you walk in with the obvious. Teagan, do we remember who recommended everyone?”

“You aren’t used to this sort of thing,” I reminded him, shrugging. “Werecats…we don’t have politics, but we’re cats. Cats are fucked up.”

“True that,” Chrissy muttered.

“I don’t, sir. The mated males putting their wives forward? That’s easy to see coming, but some of these? It was random wolves. I had no idea there was any connection. They could have just liked a wolf they reported to. I don’t…” Teagan shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll get someone looking into it. We’ve gotten off track here.” He nodded back to the whiteboard. “We should be focused on Carey.”

“Figuring out our traitor is one of the fastest ways of finding her,” Laurent said from his seat.

“Yeah, but I’m walking a tightrope.” I couldn’t let anyone forget that I was in a place I wasn’t supposed to be.

“What