of coffee Julie handed over, giving her friend a shaky smile of thanks as the shorter woman sat down on her other side.
Taking her own coffee from Kenji as he leaned against the side of the sofa, Garnet waited.
“But Shane was just leaving for a night shift,” Athena continued. “So Russ suggested that maybe Shane could drop by in the morning for a few minutes instead.” She gave a tight smile. “Russ always hated having to redo his schedule—he liked things as he liked them.”
Taking a deep breath of the coffee aroma, she swallowed, her nose stuffy when she spoke again. “Shane didn’t want to go, but I said he should, that it’d make things so much easier if we didn’t have to avoid Russ in the den.” Another breath, this one jerky. “I sent him.” Her hands tightened on the coffee mug, her voice rising in pitch.
Athena’s pain made Garnet’s heart hurt, but she had to be a lieutenant today, not just a sympathetic packmate. “How was Shane this morning before he left?” she asked before Athena could give in to hysteria.
Athena jerked almost to attention at Garnet’s blade of a tone, instinct trumping the dark spiral of her thoughts. “I didn’t see him,” she whispered. “I was giving an art class in the nursery and I left early to set up. But I know he wouldn’t have had a knife.” Her big, guileless eyes pleaded with Garnet. “He’s not that kind of a man.”
Kenji stirred, his scent brushing over Garnet in a caress that felt disconcertingly intimate. “Do you know if there’s a blade missing from his collection?”
“I haven’t looked.” Athena set down her coffee mug before her trembling spilled the hot liquid over the sides. “I didn’t want to look. I know Shane didn’t go there with the intention of hurting Russ.”
“May we look?” Garnet put her own mug on the same low table.
Rubbing away her tears with her knuckles, Athena hesitated, suddenly appearing far smaller than her five feet, nine inches of height. “I don’t want to do anything to hurt Shane.”
The truth was that as head of the den, Garnet could go ahead without Athena’s permission, but the other woman was already fragile, didn’t need to be forced into a choice that made her feel as if she was betraying the man she loved. Better if Athena understood that she was helping her lover as much as she could.
Cupping her packmate’s face in her hands, Garnet spoke to woman and wolf both. “You know I’ll be fair,” she said. “To do that, I have to know all the facts.”
Face crumpling even as her eyes turned the yellow of her wolf, Athena gave a staccato nod. “Julie c-can show you the k-key . . .”
Garnet glanced at Kenji. Putting his own coffee beside hers, he left with Julie while Garnet tugged Athena close and held her tight.
“I n-n-never meant for this to happen,” Athena said, her voice muffled against Garnet’s neck. “I just . . . couldn’t live inside a box anymore.” She drew back, raised her hand to her mouth. “I n-never th-thought—”
“Hey.” Garnet took Athena’s hand away from her mouth, tipped up her chin. “No wolf in my den is ever going to be made to feel guilty for the actions of another.” Even as she spoke, she was telling herself to take her own damn advice. “You just remember that this entire scenario involves adults. Part of being an adult is making our own decisions. You didn’t make either Shane or Russ do anything. Understood?”
Athena nodded jerkily just as Julie returned. Leaving the generally more pragmatic and steady woman to sit with Athena, Garnet went to join Kenji in the small room that functioned as a combined art studio and hobby area. Seeing her, Kenji opened a closet at the back to reveal a tall set of drawers with a glass display case on top. The knives within the case were obviously much older and far more ornate than the one that had been used on Russ.
“You go through the drawers?” she asked him.
“No, I figured you’d want to be here for that.” He pulled open the first slender drawer.
The two of them examined the contents in silence, moved on to the next.
“Damn.” Garnet’s breath got stuck in her chest, each inhalation as sharp as the blades in front of them—because there was a gap. Arranged smallest to largest, each knife in this set had a green jewel in the hilt, as well