flexing her claws was normal. It said good things about Garnet’s leadership that Eloise had the confidence to stand up against a much older packmate. “Good,” she said. “You are old enough to start to fight your own battles—but I’m glad to see you’re also sensible enough to go to a senior packmate when the situation is beyond your ability to handle.”
Straightening, Eloise scowled, the fierce SnowDancer soldier in her rising back to the surface now that she’d been reassured her dominant wasn’t angry with her. “I was planning to tell Russ that I was going to you—I thought he’d back off then because we both knew he was wrong. All my grades prove it.”
The younger woman’s scowl faded as quickly as it had formed, her throat moving as she swallowed. “And even though he was being nasty, I didn’t want to get him in trouble. He never showed it, but I could tell he was hurting from losing Athena.”
Proud of this child of the pack and dead certain she’d had nothing to do with Russ’s death, Garnet cut to the heart of the matter. “Where were you between seven and ten this morning?” Lorenzo hadn’t yet confirmed time of death, but Garnet was certain that whatever had happened had occurred soon after Shane’s arrival in Russ’s quarters.
No way the two men had sat around chatting for hours.
Eloise’s eyes widened before she began to pink up until even the dark cinnamon brown of her skin couldn’t hide it. “Don’t tell anyone,” she whispered after glancing around to make sure no one else was close enough to listen in, “but I was with Chase. We slept in.”
“Ah.” At eighteen, Chase was younger than Eloise by three years. He was also a strong wolf unlikely to be intimidated by Eloise’s own strength. “I won’t breathe a word.”
“I’m not embarrassed or anything.” Eloise’s continuing blush was adorable, the way she was twisting her hands together even more so. “He’s younger but he’s . . . wow!” A sound that reminded Garnet of how, at the same age, she’d sighed over a certain green-eyed wolf. “I just want it to be private and secret between the two of us for a while.”
“I understand, sweetheart.” Packmates were wonderful and Garnet would never want to live away from a busy, active den, but it was also nice to have a little private time to become a couple before several hundred curious wolves started poking their noses in. “Stay right here.”
Walking a short distance away, she made a couple of calls. Thanks to the weather, Chase hadn’t driven out to the technical college he attended five days a week, instead choosing to study in the den. SnowDancer had an excellent remote-access system they’d set up in conjunction with multiple schools for exactly such circumstances.
Coming on the line when she located him, he confirmed that Eloise had been with him at the time of the murder. To his credit, he also immediately asked after his girlfriend. “Is she okay? I wanted to stay with her, but she kicked me out.” Raw frustration and worry in every word. “Said she was fine, but I could tell she wasn’t.”
So young, Garnet thought affectionately. “Here’s a tip, Chase. Sometimes you have to fight to look after a woman as strong as Eloise.”
“I’m on my way. I can catch up on this lesson tonight.”
Hanging up, Garnet asked Eloise about her part-time job.
The young soldier answered without hesitation. “The den maintenance team needed a few bodies for manual labor. Cleaning out ducts, that kind of thing. It’s low-stress, plus”—her eyes grew brighter—“I get to watch the engineers work on the behind-the-scenes systems.”
“Did you work often with Shane?”
Shaking her head, Eloise said, “Only a couple of times.” Her face turned solemn. “He was so nice. I dropped one of his special tools and it went to pieces, but he didn’t get angry, just showed me how to fix it.”
That was Garnet’s impression of Shane, too: calm and patient, no violent temper. “And his knife collection? Did he invite you to look at it?”
“No, I asked. I was just curious.” Eloise lifted up both shoulders. “One of my friends had seen it, said it was interesting.”
Garnet caught no hint of subterfuge in any of Eloise’s answers; she let the young woman go with the admonition that she wasn’t to share any details of what she’d seen at the scene.
“I won’t,” Eloise promised. “Not even with Chase.”
Ten minutes later, Revel told Garnet that Mitchell had no