Chapter 18 Confession
CONFESSION
I told you Mother didn’t do it.
— gus
Riordan had a good plan. It hinged on both him and Max dousing themselves in wolfsbane.
Gus was brought to their parents’ cabin at the other end of the woods—I stayed back because I absolutely refused to meet Max’s mom on a couple of hours of sleep—so that he was protected.
Riordan handpicked a few wolves that were one hundred percent loyal to Max in case we needed backup.
Do I know where he got the ear thingy and the wire from? No. Do I ask? Also no. I figure, these two aren’t just the Alpha and the Beta of the pack that is responsible for me and the town. They’re the top law enforcement officials in Moonburrow. I guess this goes with it.
It was a sting; look at me, using detective lingo.
I was bait, and I did a good job. Figuring that it was Leo that Gus saw peeking at me last night, if he was still coming after me, he’d be watching the cabin.
Max confirmed that Leo had an apartment downtown, but Declan was an old friend of his.
He would sometimes stay over at his cabin if pack meets ran late.
It’s another reason why neither Max or Riodan ever thought it could be Leo. Declan was his friend. Abigail was his… something. He worked closely with Max… but it didn’t matter. He was involved, and we needed to prove it for the sake of Moonburrow.
That was actually way easier than I thought it would be.
I stayed inside the Alpha cabin with Max while Riordan made his plans; another way that my mate let his brother use some of his obvious alpha energy.
A little before sunset—since I didn’t want to get caught in the dark, just in case—I announced enthusiastically that I would be taking a walk.
Right on time, one of their loyal wolves came knocking at the door.
Riordan sent Vera, a maternal delta who looked like she couldn’t hurt a fly…
unless her pups were in danger, to ask the Alpha for a meeting in the den.
This was all pre-arranged, of course. If Leo was watching and saw that Vera and Max were going in one distraction, Max’s new witchy pet going wandering off into the woods again at the same time, Riordan thought he might not be able to resist coming after me.
He was right.
I hadn’t even made it as far into the woods as we went last night before a very familiar, and scarily friendly face popped out from behind one of the taller trees. If I was clueless, I’d think he was just another wolf in Moonburrow looking out for one of the weaker residents.
I knew better.
It was the eyes. It’s always the eyes. Sure, his smile was odd, his mouth crowded with teeth, but there was an unwell, hungry gleam in his eyes that told me that this was no normal predator.
This was someone on the wrong side of being feral.
It happens. When you’re part human, part beast, sometimes a shifter goes bad. You start thinking that you can live outside of the pack rules, but instead of going lone wolf, you break.
Somewhere along the lines, that happened to Leo Holloway. If I had any doubts that he was a killer, they’re squashed the moment I see his eyes. I didn’t even listen to the kind greeting or the way he asked if I knew where Max was. I just ran.
He bolted after me.
Luckily, I didn’t panic. I didn’t faint, either, which was good considering our plan, but I did hit the alarm signal that told Riordan I was in trouble.
Just like he coached, he ordered, “Play dead,” through my earbud—and that’s the last thing I remember until I was blinking my eyes open again, the echo of his voice drawling, “Wake up, Honey, wake up now or Max will gut me.”
I’m instantly awake.
I’ve woken up in the morgue. In body bags.
Sprawled out on the asphalt, my head tucked in the Alpha’s lap.
Waking up on the forest floor, a stick jabbing me in the ass…
it could’ve been worse, but when I see Max crouched in front of me, thrumming in place as he waited for me to stir…
when I see the look of pure love and relief flashing across his face as he hurries to help me to my feet… hell. I can’t complain.
“Where is he?” I ask.
Max moves me so that I can see if Riordan’s plan worked.
It did.
The big Beta pinning Leo’s arms behind his back. The blond wolf is thrashing, trying to break free of Riordan’s hold. Good luck, asshole. He’s about twice as wide and an alpha wolf moonlighting as a Beta so, yeah, I don’t see that happening
I think he figures that out at the same time. At the very least, he goes still, but only long enough to throw a hate-filled look at me.
“What are you doing alive? You’re supposed to be dead! Even if I failed, it was worth it to see him suffer.”
Ha! I knew it. I knew that this was all about Max, not me. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m still living.” I give him an impish shrug. “Opossum.”
His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “You’re another rat? Like that nasty piece of vermin you let into the bakery? I thought you were a witch!”
I am. Part witch, and I wish I had more magic than I do because I’d zap Leo in the nuts for calling Gus ‘vermin’.
He shakes his head wildly. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance! Instead of using you to fuck with Max before I stole his pack from him, I should’ve killed you! He thought you were something. I knew better. You’re nothing but worthless prey.”
And he spits at me.
Oh, Leo. You shouldn’t have done that.
Max gestures for me to take a few steps back. I know better than to even test his patience at the moment. I moved, and my mate looks directly at his brother.
“Release him.”
What?
Riordan cocks his head. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Riordan lets go of Leo, staking a step back. Good thing, too, because Max launches himself at the wolf.
I get it. By threatening me, Leo pushed Max to the point where he had to take the disrespect as a challenge. In a shifter challenge, you fight to either submission or death, and whatever shape you begin the fight in, that’s how you better finish it.
I don’t know what Leo’s wolf looks like.
In his skin, he’s of a similar height and shape as Max.
There’s no denying ,though, that the Alpha has dominance on his side.
While the fight is body and brutal, it’s also quick.
Before I can even work up any concern for my mate, he has Leo pinned under him, body to the dirt.
In one quick motion, Max reaches into his pocket, yanking something out. It’s an injection, a shot, and whatever is in the vial, it’s thick and silvery. At least, that’s all I can see before he jabs it into Leo’s neck, thumb pressing on the plunger.
Despite the bloody gashes that Max gave him, it’s the shot that has Leo react the most like he had been harmed. Bucking his body, he demands, “What did you do?”
“I need answers. You will calm down. You will stop from threatening my mate.” He takes Leo by the back of his shirt, forcing him to his feet, giving him a small shake as he says ‘mate’. “This will help.”
“Cheater. I could’ve taken you.”
“I was winning our challenge,” Max says flatly. “There was no way out of it but death for you. That’s too easy. For the sake of the packmates I lost, I will hear your explanation.”
“Fuck you!”
“Give it time. The quicksilver should be working its way through you.”
Leo goes still. “What do you mean? Quicksilver? What fuck did you do to me?”
That’s fear in his voice, and I’m glad to hear it. He deserves it.
“Depending on the dose, a shifter can be knocked out or simply cut off from their wolf. But this is a special mixture. Once I knew a predator had to be involved, I went to Delilah.” Oh.
I know Delilah. She’s the head witch in Moonburrow, and a friend of my grandmother’s.
She also likes jelly donuts. “You see, Leo, you’re not the only one who can work with the witches.
And yes, I know about Talia. But Delilah…
she charmed the quicksilver for me. Until it wears off, you have to answer everything I ask with the truth. ”
He glances at me. “I got the idea from the Can’t Resist Cupcakes. Let’s see if Delilah’s charm works as good as yours, Killer.”
They must because Leo’s face goes motionless for a moment, his eyes glassy, and then he snarls. “Those fucking cupcakes! That’s what started this whole thing in the first place!”
Huh?
“Do you know how hard I worked, how long I planned to overthrow you? To get the pack on my side so that when I challenged you, there would be no doubt that I deserved to be Alpha? And then I tried one of her cupcakes and I blurted out my whole plan—and she heard me!” Um…
no. I didn't. “Of course I had to make her pay!”
That’s new to me.
Max, too, it seems.
“But why Honey? Why did you involve her? Because you thought she could stop you in your attempts to take over Moonburow?”
Yeah, right. I didn’t even hear him that day! I remember a wolf saying something, but compared to Frannie’s confession and the fallout from the others, I never knew what Leo said.
“Because I knew she was your mate. You didn’t, but I did, and I made sure you stayed away from her…
until those Luna-damn cupcakes! You went to her.
What happened next? I sent Declan to try to catch her attention…
witches don’t have fated mates. They can be one, but they don’t have one.
If he flirted with her… if he made her his mate…
you’d lose. Only she didn’t even notice.
She gave him special food for you. She was trying to feed you!
And when I told Declan that he needed to throw the cupcake away, he said he couldn’t.
The damn fool was loyal to the Alpha. He didn’t want me to be Alpha. I had to kill him!”