Briggs tossed a pillow at Kyden’s head, which he caught and tucked under his arm, as Briggs smiled and went on. “It’s more than taking phone calls and scheduling meetings, wanker.”
Turning to Nexi, Briggs softened his voice. “My main duty is to help solve disputes within the packs. If the matter cannot be resolved, the Patriarch gets involved. Valor is always aware when trouble arises within the packs, which means I know, too. Does that answer your question sufficiently?”
She gave him a quick nod. “As the second-in-command, of course, you’d know the happenings in the wolf world. Makes sense.” She swirled her spoon in the stew, and whispered, “If anything about werewolves makes sense.”
Kyden winced at the raw pain in her voice. Every so often, she showed her despair even if she didn’t realize it. Judging by Briggs’s intense stare, he noticed it, too. Kyden wanted to help her understand. “Werewolves are tightly bound to their pack, so when one leaves, it always draws suspicion.”
When she lifted her head, she hid the agony inside of her—something else she’d been good at—and her expression held only curiosity. “A wolf wouldn’t leave his pack just to leave?”
Briggs shook his head. “Not without permission. The Texas alpha contacted Valor two nights ago after their search for the missing wolves turned up nothing.”
Good news, Kyden thought. They needed this lead. He finished the last bite of the stew and placed the bowl on the coffee table in front of him, then he said to Briggs, “Keep us updated if anything develops in Texas.”
Briggs inclined his head. ”Of course.”
Nexi settled her half-eaten dinner next to Kyden’s on the table. To Briggs, she said, “Since you’ve got fur, you’d know better than anyone. Why do you think these wolves killed my family?”
“Don’t know, darlin’,” Briggs responded, his voice gentle. “But trust me on this, there’s a reason for it. Wolves rarely kill maliciously. It’s just not in our nature.”
Her eyebrows drew together and her lips pursed. Kyden had seen the troubled look many times over the past month. She wanted answers to settle the chaos in her life—find closure—and no doubt she sought revenge. But she was going about it in the wrong way, which included putting herself in danger, more than once.
Kyden empathized with Nexi’s need for vengeance and wanted to bring those responsible to justice. However, she needed to allow the Council’s Guard to solve this instead of taking the matter into her own hands. The Guard existed for this very reason, to stop any supernatural that broke the Otherworld’s one law: thou shall not take a mortal life. She didn’t need to do this on her own. She had the Council backing her desire to find those responsible, and Kyden hungered to kill them for their crime.
He cleared his throat, which drew her attention to him, and her look shifted to a death stare. He chuckled. “Let’s go home, Álainn.”
In a split second, she was on her feet and striding past the coffee table. Before she reached the door, he blocked her way. He glanced down into a face that was beautiful regardless of how she was burning with hells-fire at him.
He studied her soft, creamy skin with light freckles dusting her nose. As he’d seen every time she caught him looking at her and before she’d hide her reaction from him, her cheeks flushed and eyes dilated. He didn’t doubt she also sensed the chemistry between them, but she also appeared to be unable to take a single word of advice without wanting to castrate him.
He had tried to ignore the attraction to her for a week, until he finally gave up realizing he’d be a fool not to explore his draw to her. Now he watched a cold distance slide across her face and he missed the heat he’d spotted. “So, there is a bit of guardian in you after all. Going all half-cocked as if you stood a chance of fighting anyone.”
She hesitated, visibly gulped, then her eyes narrowed, shedding any of the softness. “Well, you all keep drilling it into my head that I am a guardian, so what do you expect?” She stepped back and looked at his chin. “Prepping for another lecture?”
“Don’t need to.” Kyden nodded a goodbye to Briggs before he glanced to the troublemaker. “You have it coming, believe me.”
Chapter Two
Pointed stone arches detailing the hammer-beam roof and the stained-glass windows were something plucked