“That’s what you want me for. Right?” I pressed to see if Ryder would break and admit the truth.
Most of the time, when I revealed that I knew what a person was hiding, they gave in. There was no point in hiding when the other party knew the truth of the matter. However, Ryder didn’t break.
He clasped his hands in front of himself and leaned forward while staring me down. This man wasn’t going to give in to my tactics, but that meant little. I didn’t have to stay here all day. I would give Ryder a while longer, and if he didn’t talk, then I would walk.
But the silence didn’t last long before Vi groaned loudly. On the couch between Ryder and me, Vi let her head fall back so she could look at me upside down.
“You’re both a couple of stuck-up twats, aren’t you? This is a match made in heaven. While you and Ryder are hosting your pissing contest, everyone else is drowning in your rank smell.”
The bearded man rushed up and put a hand over his girlfriend’s mouth. She yanked it away and grinned at him.
“Come on, Morgan. You know I’m right. Your brother has a stick up his ass. Ness could use him as a puppet if she wanted to.” Vi laughed. “I know it’s genetic, but you’ve proved that the stick can be taken out.”
Morgan growled at her. Though the gesture was exasperated, it was also affectionate. Vi shook up the status quo and kept everyone on their toes. I made a mental note and moved the pieces around the board in my head.
While Ryder was in charge, he had no say over Vi. That made her a wildcard. Given her willful nature, expecting the worst from her would be for the best. She wasn’t the only non-shifter in the room, though.
Addie leaned against the wall behind me. She stared despondently at the floor like she was questioning her entire existence. The Reaper wasn’t a part of Ryder’s pack, but she didn’t have Vi’s disregard for social norms. If anything, Addie was embarrassed.
Who had embarrassed her, though? Was it Vi’s mouth? Or had I said something?
Addie
I wantedto phase through the wall and disappear like a ghost. Instead, I was flesh and bone. I couldn’t escape this situation without running from the room while everyone watched.
I hadn’t expected Maddox to put up this much of a fight. His walls made a fortress around himself. He seemed to suspect everyone, as if they were all hiding horrid secrets. Considering the fact that so many of them had blood on their hands, Maddox wasn’t wrong.
He needed to learn that we weren’t killing for fun. Everyone here had done so to protect themselves. Maddox wouldn’t survive in this world if he didn’t come to terms with that.
Lifting my head, I tried to catch Ryder’s attention and give him a silent apology. He returned the message with a slight shake of his head, as if this was no problem.
Maddox was a wolf on the edge, though. I’d spent this whole time feeding him energy from my arcana so that he would be a little less aggressive. And still, Maddox picked fights with the people who could have helped him.
If he kept this up, he would find himself without a Pack.
I needed Ryder to be on Maddox’s side if worst came to worst, but I couldn’t say that without giving away my suspicions. If Maddox found out that I thought he was behind these murders, he might never forgive me. I was sure he already suspected himself, but I knew that hearing something like that from another person hurt more than hearing it from oneself.
“I like you,” Ryder said to Maddox, finally. He gestured to Morgan. “Like my brother, you’re not going to be afraid to call me on my shit. That’s what I need as a leader. I don’t want people blindly following me. We already have enough submissive shifters willing to do that. This Pack would benefit from a system of checks and balances.”
Maddox seemed taken aback. I realized he’d been expecting a fight. I nearly let out a laugh. Hand over my mouth, I smothered the sound. It still earned me a sidelong glare from Maddox.
The heartbeat of eye-contact allowed us to say everything we’d been keeping to ourselves. I was worried. Maddox was tired. This wasn’t a good place for either of us to be.
We couldn’t leave yet, though. So, I sidled closer to him and touched the inside of his palm. My arcana flared, billowing out of me, and rushed towards Maddox. He breathed it in and let out a barely audible groan of relief.
So long as I kept feeding him, I had faith that we could make it through the day. Hel had been wrong about him. Maddox would always be hungry, but I had enough arcana to satisfy him. When we were together, my arcana wasn’t creeping out to find things to play with. I didn’t lose control of my abilities because Maddox was siphoning off all that restless energy.
We were a good balance for one another, the same way Ryder thought Maddox would be a good balance for him.
“I’m never going to ask you to cover up a murder. For one thing, you don’t even work in our territory.” Ryder offered a reassuring smile.
Maddox grunted. “Who did you kill?”
The room fell silent. I gaped at Maddox. Tugging on his arm, I hissed at him. “You can’t just ask someone that!” My heart slapped the inside of my rib cage.
I kept Ryder in my peripheral vision while I tried to beseech Maddox. This was going to be a mess. If Maddox and Ryder got into a fight here, there would be so much destruction. I didn’t know what to do if they ended up outside. This wasn’t part of Lakesedge. They couldn’t go outside to fight.
But Ryder didn’t miss a beat.