Aunt Nina had been pretty clear on what she expected Thorin to do about Vesper—and by clear, she ant she fully expected him to just eliminate the annoying werewolf. Because in Aunt Nina’s world, there’s no problem a little murder can’t fix.
But Thorin had other plans. Fresh off the high of confirming that his feelings for Riona were totally mutual, he was feeling rciful. Love does that, apparently.
Suddenly, he was all sunshine and roses, and the last thing on his mind was executing anyone.
After all, why ruin his good mood when all he could think about was the perfect mont to ask Riona to be his Luna?
He was already picturing her in a wedding dress, glowing, as if she weren’t already the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen. But as his wife? She’d be unstoppable.
Things like discipline or, really, anything negative weren’t even on his radar at the mont.
"Whoa, whoa. Back down, Vesper. And while we’re at it, where exactly have you been?" Thorin asked, finally pretending to care.
Not that he actually did. He just wanted to know how much nonsense Vesper was about to spew so he could decide whether to deal with it now or let future-Thorin handle it.
Vesper puffed out his chest, clearly proud of himself. "Oh, haven’t you heard? I t with your family. Quite the hosts, I must say. Then again, it makes sense. I had plenty to share with them."
He grinned, clearly basking in his imagined importance.
Thorin just blinked, thinking, Oh, this is gonna be rich.
"You know what, I’ll deal with you later," Thorin said, waving Vesper off like an annoying fly. "Because there’s actually sothing more important going on. Now, what’s this about dried-up animals?"
***
Thorin and Puck headed into the woods with a small group of werewolves, while Zane stayed back at Wintertooth to keep an eye on Florian and make sure the pack didn’t try anything funny while the Alpha was out.
The werewolves who had gone hunting earlier that morning led Thorin on a scenic tour of the woods, proudly pointing out the spots where they’d found the mysteriously drained animals.
Sure enough, they ca across a few fresh corpses—animals with their blood almost entirely drained.
As they moved deeper into the woods, they found the river, their main water source, was murky—way too red, like soone had been dumping buckets of blood into it.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, dead fish were floating on the surface, belly-up, hinting at sothing a little more sinister than just a blood spill. Poison, maybe?
The beach was clean and refreshing—crystal clear, but Thorin didn’t plan on turning the pack mbers into werewolf jerky. They couldn’t exactly rely on it for hydration. In short, they were screwed.
As soon as Thorin entered his room, he dove straight into interrogation mode. "Okay, Florian, let’s keep this simple. I’m not going to get mad, just tell —did you suck the animals dry and dump their blood into the river?"
Even as the words left his mouth, Thorin knew how absurd it sounded. But he had to ask. If Florian was lying, Thorin could read it on his face.
Really, though, Thorin just wanted to cross the kid off the suspect list and move on. Sothing about this whole situation didn’t sit right, and deep down, he knew the young vampire probably wasn’t the culprit—but he had to be sure.
Before Florian could answer, Riona cut in, exactly as Thorin had predicted. "Are you serious? You’re actually suspecting my brother?"
Her tone was sharp, like she couldn’t believe she even had to say it.
"Riona, please," Thorin sighed, already bracing for the lecture. "I just need to hear it from him."
Florian, who was lounging in the chair like he couldn’t care less, shrugged. "I an, I might take a few sips before bed, sure. But I’ve been tied up for days, literally. Whatever bloodbath you’re talking about is not ."
Thorin raised an eyebrow.
Right, Florian had vanished after that whole incident with the pup. When they found him, he’d been about two seconds away from getting himself killed by the mob or the sun—until Riona had swooped in to save him and dragged him to Thorin’s office.
That was days ago, and the animals they’d found had been freshly drained. It didn’t take a detective to figure out Florian had been too busy being locked up to go on a bloodsucking spree in the woods.
Thorin rembered what Riona had told him when they were on the run and she had to rely on animal blood to survive.
Vampires never sucked animals completely dry because the last bit of their blood was basically toxic sludge for them.
That’s why, before the Trinity Pact, vampires used to go after humans—who could be drained to the bone because humans didn’t co with that handy poison feature.
And then there were the bite marks. They didn’t line up with vampire bites at all. The punctures were way too large. Vampires, being the blood connoisseurs they were, left behind neat, small holes to savor every drop.
Whoever—or whatever—did this clearly wasn’t too concerned about table manners.
These weren’t the handiwork of vampires; soone had gone to great lengths to fra them.
A chill raced down Thorin’s spine as he recalled that eerie sensation of being watched, a lingering feeling that clung to him even after Sir Leon’s carriage vanished from sight.
He’d scoured the area and found nothing amiss, but if it was indeed the Zacharias’ n, spotting them would be about as easy as finding a needle in a haystack.
Thorin rummaged through his drawers and pulled out the letter from Aunt Nina, skimming through its contents.
At the ti, he’d been too agitated by Sir Leon’s presence to pay much attention to the words. But now, each line struck him like a revelation.
...one cannot help but feel that the presence of certain guests has been less than desirable...
I implore you to leave behind any distractions that may be clouding your judgnt...
...your place... beside your kin... return...
...together, we can restore honor to our lineage.
Now it clicked. The Zacharias wanted him back in their fold. Aunt Nina clearly viewed his status as the youngest Alpha in the world as child’s play, believing that only under her guidance could he truly beco a real Alpha.
What would Aunt Nina do to ensure Thorin returned ho? What better way to pull him back than by dismantling his very foundation?
Perhaps she thought that if she could orchestrate a little chaos, he’d have nowhere left to turn but to her waiting arms.
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