But who?
All the biggest suspects were here and in danger!
There’s something else going on here.
A middleman.
“I apologize. You’ve been dragged into our family turmoil,” Paul said, getting to his feet. And while he didn’t look quite as rattled as his two brothers, I could see how distraught he was. I liked to think I’d notice that even without my empathic powers. “We realize we owe you an explanation, but right now, we ask that you check in with your families and any civilians who were hurt while we regroup and take care of our own wounded.”
“I...” Tadgh let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped. “Of course. I don’t envy you whatever is going on here. I’m going to go check on my parents.”
“I should get back to my family too,” the young woman said. “I hope whatever is going on here resolves itself.”
From her mouth to God’s ears.
There was a long length of silence as the various security members and civilians of the VanMarche pack slowly rose from what I guessed was the alpha command Tadgh had mentioned, and the siblings spread out to help. I knew they wanted to reconvene and discuss what happened, but they were putting the needs of others first. I admired that so much about them.
I didn’t expect Paul to immediately come to me, but he did, kneeling at my side and holding my face in his hands. His warmth seeped into me, and I knew I was going to feel like I’d been jumbled around like a box of rocks in the morning.
“You should have run,” he said, and God, there was such heartbreak in his voice. He sounded so defeated, but at the sametime, so earnest. The last time someone had been so concerned with my well-being it had been…
Well, it had been my mother.
“That’s a funny way of saying thank you,” I murmured, heart in my throat. I was well aware that I had a tendency to look before I leaped, but if we were in the same situation for a second time and I was the only distraction available, I’d do the exact same thing—give or take an improvised weapon or two.
He huffed something that might have been a laugh.
“Thank you, Cherry, really. If it weren’t for you, we would have never stood a chance. If it weren’t for the Whisper…”
Ohright!I thought I’d seen her. But the fact that the funeral hadn’t immediately erupted into a fight had made me think that I was mistaken.
Apparently, I wasn’t.
“The Whisper? Where is she?”
He pointed over his shoulder, and I saw a writhing mass of vines that looked more like swarming snakes than anything else, only the occasional bit of burnt flesh visible. “I think she’s healing. She got burned pretty badly. But we’re getting medical professionals here soon enough.”
That had alarm lancing through me. “Just… make sure you trust them. It wouldn’t be the wildest thing to injure us in a mass casualty event, then have a bought-healer poison or infect everyone in the aftermath.”
Paul’s face somehow grew even more grim, his eyebrows shooting up. “I did not think about that. I owe you again.”
I shrugged, desperately craving the praise considering how badly I felt I’d fucked up, but uncertain of what to do with it. Maybe I could unravel that another time, after I had a few painkillers.
And a nap.
“Just doing my job.”
“I think we can both agree you’ve gone above and beyond this.”
I shook my head. “Not until I figure out what’s happened to your brother and who made him kill your father.”
“It’s probably one of the many enemies our pack made before we were even born. Or maybe from early in my father’s life. We’ve grown soft and slack after sixty years of declining violence and forty years of peace.”
“If it’s one of them, we’ll find them,” I said, determination rising up despite my utter exhaustion. “And if it’s someone new, we’ll find them. I promise.”
That was my mission, and I wasn’t going to give up or slow down until it was done and dusted.
I may not have been born a shifter, but Iwasthe only daughter of Annie “Ophelia” Donmoue, a gifted precognitive. And I had my own oracle gift. It was about time I started acting like it.