Hunting Ground

“The vampires killed Chastel? You are sure?”

Charles nodded. “Ironic, considering how many wolves I know who would have loved to kill him.”

“Who called the police? The vampires?”

Charles shrugged. “The timing is off. The police were meant to find the scene in all its glory.” Maybe to keep his father from bringing the werewolves out. Maybe to keep the wolves away from the scene so whoever had tried to frame Charles for it would have an easier time. Without access to the murder site, the werewolves might never have determined how Charles’s scent appeared in a place he’d never been. “But they gave us too much time. The police won’t find anything now.”

“I suppose not. Angus is remarkably efficient.”

“And, I believe, his second’s daytime job is with the police. Tom knows what they are looking for and how to keep them from finding it.” Charles paused.

It occurred to him that he could see Arthur hiring someone to do his killing for him. But he dismissed his suspicion. Su

Even so, Charles gave in to his impulse to throw out some bait. “Whoever called the police did it hours too late. It might have worked if he’d called right after the job was done.” He shook his head. “That’s what’s been bothering me, I think. The incompetence of it all. Most wolves are better hunters. The vampires made a try for A

“Hired?”

“They’re pros. Hired to come to Seattle to do at least three things.” Charles ticked them off on his fingers. “Kidnap A

Charles hummed thoughtfully to himself. “It wasn’t the vampires who were incompetent. If they had known what they were facing when they tried to kidnap A

Charles had been watching Arthur out of the corner of his eye. The wolf’s face showed nothing but polite interest. His body, on the other hand, had been tightening with anger throughout Charles’s whole speech.

“Incompetent,” he said again. And watched Arthur’s fist clench.

Arthur.

His father had been suspicious of the death of an Alpha who’d recently been killed in London. Tough man and very dominant-decapitated in a car accident. Could have been deliberately arranged.

Charles resumed pacing, ignoring Arthur as if he weren’t there at all. So Arthur didn’t realize he’d given himself away.

Taking out Chastel made sense. Chastel was a threat to Arthur. Kept Arthur from expanding into Europe. His death left a huge power vacuum-and Arthur would have stood no chance in a fair fight against Chastel. He couldn’t have just assassinated him and left the murder open, though-if anyone knew Arthur had taken the coward’s way of killing Chastel, they would never have followed him. Arthur was not Bran, he wasn’t strong enough to rule a continent based on his own power-he’d need them to be willing subjects. He’d need to pin Chastel’s death on someone else.

Charles didn’t think Arthur cared one way or the other about the werewolves’ coming out. He was precisely the charismatic kind of wolf that Bran pla

That whole butcher thing… was Arthur making an observation. Chastel was a barbarian-Arthur clearly his superior. He wouldn’t see the similarities. In his mind, a brute who killed for pleasure was uncivilized. Arthur didn’t kill for pleasure.

Chastel ruled by killing all who challenged his place-and by terrifying the rest. Arthur… had started out killing the Alphas in Great Britain, then stopped. Or found a better way to dispose of the wolves who would challenge him. Bran could figure it out from here. As far as Charles was concerned, Arthur and Chastel were just two sides of the same coin-all the need for power and none of the need to take care of what was theirs. Arthur wouldn’t see it that way, though perhaps he needed to make that more clear with the brutal method used to dispose of Chastel’s body.

Su

If the reason for hiring the vampires was that it would have been difficult for a werewolf to attack an Omega, hiring them to kill your own mate, who was Omega, or nearly so, would have been imperative.

And suddenly the attempted kidnapping of A

Casually, he pulled his phone out and set it to text. “Forgot to update Da,” he said. “He’ll be eating breakfast about now and doesn’t like it interrupted. I’ll text him about the happenings of tonight, and he can call me about it at his leisure.” No lies for Arthur to hear. He kept the text message simple. IT IS ARTHUR.

He kept the phone tilted away from Arthur so he’d think he was still texting Bran and typed out a message for Angus. DON’T CALL. SEND HELP HERE. ARTHUR IS VILLAIN. He deemed it a little melodramatic, but it was short and simple and impossible for Angus to misinterpret. He hit SEND.

He could handle Arthur. Arthur had not been wolf enough to take Chastel. But A

“You were looking for lockpicks,” said Arthur.

“Yes.”

“I have some in there.” Arthur tipped his head to indicate his treasure room. “I’ve been packing things up-I won’t be coming back here.”

Charles followed him in. It looked as if Arthur had been doing exactly as he said. The tapestries were off the wall, set into two-by-four frames to keep them stable and slid into the kind of plywood rough-lumber shipping crate museums used to transport artwork. A smaller wooden crate had already been sealed. The only thing left out was the box that held the sword.

“I understand the rest,” Charles said, ru

He looked up and watched Arthur go very still. The British wolf… altered subtly. Lost the aura of grief almost entirely.

“The same way I got the vampires to do my bidding. Offered her something she wanted.” Arthur smiled. “Even that wouldn’t have worked if you hadn’t ticked her off.”

“How did I do that?” As soon as Charles asked the question, he remembered Dana’s extreme reaction to the painting his father had sent her. It was lost, that place that had once been hers, and his father meant to gift her with a remembrance-but maybe she’d thought it was a taunt, instead.