“She?” I demand, not missing Ali’s slip. “Allison Martin, who did this?”
Her eyes are big and she looks from Mrs. Beaver to Ryder to me. No one is cutting her any slack, though. Those big eyes won’t do her any good this time around.
“I just…I didn’t know she’d take it this far,” Ali bursts into tears, but I don’t give a shit. I just want answers. I want to know who would have torn apart what this pack has worked so hard to accomplish.
“Tell me now, Allison, or dragons help me, you’ll be out in the woods on your own.”
“Dead,” Ryder adds, though I wasn’t going to be quite that extreme. Excommunicating a wolf? I’m fine with that. Killing one? Not so much. Not unless the behavior was much worse. Not unless my spouse was threatened.
“It’s Tessa,” she says finally.
“I knew it!” Ryder blurts out before I glare at him.
“What about Tessa? Surely she hasn’t been doing all of this on her own.”
“No,” Allison says. “It’s why I volunteered to work in the children’s center, though. She, um, wanted me to get close to Red and tell her stuff. I didn’t though! I couldn’t. Once I got to know Red she was really nice. I didn’t want to betray her like that.”
“You did betray her, Allison. You betrayed all of us by not turning Tessa in the second you found out what she was doing.”
“I’m sorry,” Allison bursts into tears. “It’s just…I didn’t know it was going to go this far. I thought it was just some pranks. Then she started taking money and other things, though.”
“Why?” I ask.
“She wanted to cause chaos in the pack. She wanted everyone to doubt your abilities as pack leader.”
“Why? There has to be more you aren’t telling me, Allison. What else?”
“She…um…I don’t know! Okay? She didn’t tell me that.”
I’m about to growl in frustration when I take a deep breath instead. This is about the future of my pack. This is about what is going to happen to my wolves. If Tessa has some sort of cruel intentions, I need to know what they are so I can be one step ahead of her.
“Allison,” I take a deep breath. “Listen to me, okay? I know this isn’t your fault. None of it is. You can’t control what others do and I don’t hold you responsible for any of this, but I need to know where Tessa is now and what she’s planning to do next.”
“She wasn’t on the run this morning?” Allison looks surprised.
“No. Said she was sick,” Ryder pipes in.
“She wants to be the pack leader’s wife,” Allison says. Then she looks at me. “Even if that pack leader isn’t you, Alpha.”
“Tell me what that means.”
“I overheard her talking in the woods the other day. She didn’t know I followed her, but I thought something was wrong, so I did. She was meeting with Lex.”
“Lex? Why? She hates him.”
“No. She doesn’t hate him,” Allison shakes her head. “She wants him to be Alpha. Tessa was telling him he’s strong enough to challenge you, but she needed to weaken you a little bit first. You know, to make things more even so Lex would have a chance.”
“What do you mean? How did she plan to weaken me?”
“She wanted to get rid of Red so you wouldn’t have her to count on. She wanted to get rid of your mate.”
Nine
Nash
“You need to calm down,” Ryder warns me as I stride down the hall. I know he’s right, but I don’t care about right. I care about the fact that my mate is being threatened and I don’t even know where she is.
“Fuck off,” I mutter, but Ryder keeps up with me until we reach my suite. When we enter, he lets out of a deep breath.