{MIRA}
Heart in my throat, I moved between Shiloh’s wolf and Irving . If it had been any other ti in my life, I wouldn’t have blinked an eye as I watched Shiloh shed Irving to pieces, but in a situation I never saw coming, Irving was all that stood between and Maeve’s wrath.
I could feel Irving ’s power behind . No wolf. Only human. I glared behind , and he was smiling happily.
At .
My stomach turned, and I focused on Shiloh. "Irving crossed my path in the woods. We had a conversation, and then we heard Cam’s screams."
Maeve snarled, but I ignored her and kept my eyes on Shiloh. If he killed Irving , any progress they made would be shredded. Ignoring the violence cresting off him, I placed my hand under his chin. The touch soothed him, and he sat.
"So another alpha has co to your aid," Maeve growled. "Should I expect Asher to be at your beck and call next?"
"No one is at my beck and call, Maeve. Irving only speaks the truth. There has to be another explanation for why Cam thinks it’s . Magic, perhaps."
"Or maybe magic explains your alibi," she countered. I held her gaze. "I am not a witch, Maeve."
"No," she said finally and with a hint of frustration. "You are not."
"Another mystery to solve," Irving said thoughtfully. "And at such an interesting ti. For now, I think we should resu the eting tomorrow, when we’ve cooled off. Perhaps we’ll know more about the dead witch tomorrow. I am grateful, Maeve, that your witch is still alive."
A cold sensation slithered down my spine as I watched Irving calmly walk away. He’d taken control of the situation almost effortlessly.
Maeve shot an ugly look before she stomped away. She wasn’t the only one. I was getting used to the ugly looks from the pack mbers, but this was different.
Their suspicions were confird. I was a killer. Never mind that an alpha had just given an alibi. It was one more reason for them to hate .
When everyone was gone, I put a hand on Shiloh’s fur. "I’m going to see if I can find Zara.
Maybe you can check out where Cam was attacked. We can compare notes later."
Before I could pull away, he gently caught my hand between his teeth and looked at . He didn’t want us to separate.
I was still a little mad at him, but that wasn’t the reason I couldn’t be with him right now. He was currently doing a shitty job of filtering his emotions through our mating bond, and I knew exactly what he felt.
Fear. For .
Soone went to an awful lot of trouble to pin the witch murders on , and now I had no idea what to think. If there was enough evidence, no one would be using to take over the mountain because I would be executed imdiately. And violently. Even Shiloh could only go so far to save .
"I’m going to be fine," I said and tugged my hand, but he didn’t release . Finally, I sighed.
"Fine. We’ll check out the scene together and then try and find Zara, but you’re either going as a wolf, or you’re going to change. I’m not traipsing around with you in the woods while you’re naked."
He gave a wolfish grin and loped ahead of . Apparently, he was going as a wolf.
The better way to protect , no doubt.
It wasn’t hard to find the clearing where Cam had been attacked. Unlike where the witch died, there was plenty of blood. The slash of a wolf’s paw.
The first thing I started hunting for was clothes. Cam had never seen my wolf, so that ant for her to identify, she would have had to see as a wolf.
But the injuries on her were from a wolf, so if it was another shifter, clothes would have been shredded in the process. I doubt the killer had a conversation with Cam while they undressed before they attacked her.
"I’ve got a few torn fibers here," I told Shiloh as I scoured the area. "But just that. Whoever attacked her took their clothes with them. Or maybe they weren’t a witch at all. Attacked Cam with sothing that would resemble wolf claws."
So either a witch working alone or a witch and a glamoured wolf.
"I just do not understand why they would glamour ," I murmured to myself. "Unless they want dead."
Shiloh nosed my hand, as if to tell that he would never let that happen. I wanted to believe him, but whatever was happening now had been set in motion a long ti ago. Who knew who all the players were.
Magic glowed briefly in the circle around us. I was about to shout a warning to Shiloh before the magic died and Zara walked through the glow of silver. "Sorry about that. I’ve been using magic sparingly so I don’t alert the other witches, but I heard Cam’s scream. I’ve been waiting to see who showed up. Will others be joining you?"
"Maeve might co." I hesitated. "Cam is conscious, and she says that I’m the attacker."
"Are you?" Zara didn’t even look up as she placed her hand on the ground. "No, too much magic to be you."
Well, that was good. Now I had two alibis. Too bad I’d have to tell the others that Zara was here and that I was a null.
"Can you sense what kind of magic?"
Zara looked up briefly and then did a double take. "Why is your mate a wolf?"
"Maeve was ready to take my head off, and Irving , who provided my alibi, started to insinuate that it wasn’t an innocent alibi. I think Shiloh is having a hard ti shifting from I’ll-rip-his-head-off mode."
Shiloh growled and started to shift. When he was human, he glanced mildly at . "My sense of sll is better as a wolf."
Rolling my eyes, I went in search of clothes for him. Most packs stashed sweats and T-shirts all over the woods. It was less about modesty and more about protection against the elents. It didn’t take long to find a bag wrapped around a tree truck. When I returned. Shiloh and Zara were mid- conversation. They stopped imdiately and stared at .
"Sure. That’s not suspicious at all," I complained as I threw the clothes at him.
"We were just making certain that it was you." Zara sighed. "I was just explaining that it’s hard to know if these new attacks are related to the crone’s vision. It seems that soone wants to create so ill-will when it cos to you."
"One attack. There’s no proof that I did anything to that other witch. And a lot of people would like to see gone. Even dead, but to kill to do that?"
"Who says the attack on Cam was aid at killing? She is not a strong witch," Shiloh mused.
"And yet she was able to get free when so much stronger witches were not?"
I wrinkled my nose. "We can’t assu that she was complicit. That’s just rude, and anything could have happened to scare the attacker off."
Shiloh’s head whipped around. "Soone is coming."
Zara took a deep breath and focused. After a few murmured words, the air around her started to shift. Then, in her place, Irene stood.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she turned around and walked away.
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