raft. ‘They were looking for something.’ Rage that was no doubt mirrored in the face of every still-conscious shifter present flashed in his expression. ‘They didn’t find it so they’ve gone.’
My eyes narrowed. I realised that he suspected just exactly what it was they were looking for. For some reason, however, he wasn’t saying. Throwing in a touch of compulsion, I focused my attention on him. What do you think they wanted?
He looked at me. I have no idea, my Lord. He said it gratingly, as if it almost pained him.
I frowned, both at his lack of answer and the puzzle itself. What if it wasn’t something they were after but someone? Mack had already been conspicuous by her absence. I mulled it over. It didn’t make any sense though. Why would a pack of Otherworld hellhounds be so bothered by a werehamster? Even if she were so strong as to defy credibility… My frown deepened. Mack really was strong. If she’d been here she could have done something to help. The suspicions I’d had about her in the beginning started to rise again. Why wasn’t she back yet? It couldn’t be a coincidence that she’d taken the very moment the keep was attacked to hide herself away.
The fury that I’d only just been managing to keep hold of began to flare up again. Everything somehow seemed to keep circling back to her and I still couldn’t work out why.
‘They were ours, not yours,’ Lucy’s soft voice said from behind, although there was an edge of angry steel to it.
Annoyed that she’d pulled herself out of bed when she should still be resting, I spun round just in time to see her limp away. That’s when I realised I’d only caught the end of her conversation – and who she’d actually been talking to. Doing my best to ignore Mack’s pale, trembling skin and the blood that was dripping inexplicably from her body, I seethed.
‘I called you. Why weren’t you here?’
She tensed, her eyes darting away as if in misery. ‘I…was trapped. There was a faerie ring.’
I moved closer to her. The scent of her blood mingled with the rest so I was unable to discern it from anyone else’s. A faerie ring sounded like just too damned convenient an excuse. ‘Then how did you escape?’
Mack swallowed. ‘I don’t know. After I heard your Voice – and Julia’s – I hit the edge of the ring. A lot. And then it gave way. I don’t know why.’
She seemed to think I was an idiot. I damped down my anger and stared harder at her. ‘That’s not possible. Did you have iron?’
She shook her head. There was an odd ring of truth to her words but it was ridiculously implausible.
Aware that the other shifters around us were watching the tense exchange, I tried to keep calm. ‘Seems awfully convenient that this is the time you chose to suddenly get yourself trapped by the Fae.’ My lip curled. ‘And then miraculously escape.’
‘If I’d had a choice, I would have been here, my Lord,’ she snapped. ‘I would not have abandoned my pack. And I think that between the terrametus and the ispolin, I’ve proven my loyalty. I was stupid and I didn’t look where I was going, but if you’re trying to suggest that I’m some kind of traitor…’
Her obvious anger added weight to her words but I wasn’t willing to let this go just yet. ‘And yet, even with the ispolin, you still didn’t shift when you could have.’
‘And you know my reasons for that.’
I glowered at her. I knew the reasons she’d given me. I just wasn’t sure I believed them, however. ‘I’d compel you to tell me everything, Miss Mackenzie, and yet I wonder if it would work after, as you say, what happened with the terrametus.’
She raised her open palms to me, indicating her submission. Her eyes flickered and I wondered what in the hell she was thinking. Part of me wanted desperately to be able to trust her and the other part of me wanted to wring her damn neck. She looked so small and so vulnerable right now, her hair matted and her strangely coloured eyes filled with both pain and desperation. Against my better judgment, my heart went out to her. Then I tried to quash down any sympathetic emotions.
‘My Lord Corrigan,’ Fenewick interrupted from down by Julia’s side, ‘we need to move her inside. I will try my best to heal her but she