“Three.” I was acutely aware of each gaze trained on me. I’d arrived at the meeting with one strike already against me in the minds of my fellow council members. Even those who’d supported my takeover of the Appalachian Pride. After all, how good can an Alpha possibly be if he doesn’t realize there’s a serial killer loose in his territory until the bastard’s already slaughtered three humans?
“And we’re sure the killer is a stray?” Marc asked.
“Actually, we’re not sure, because we haven’t been able to inspect any of the crime scenes yet.” I set my mug on the end table to my left, then leaned forward with my elbows resting on my knees. “The first two victims were killed last month, but the first didn’t get much press until the second established a pattern. Until then, the first victim was assumed to have been mauled by one of his own dogs.”
“How can we be sure that’s not what happened?” Ed Taylor asked.
“The claw marks on first and second victims match, which means they were inflicted by the same animal. The state medical examiner ran some tests and realized the wounds are from feline claws, not canine.” I shrugged. “We all know cougars won’t settle into any region inhabited by shifters, and jaguars don’t live as far north as Kentucky.”
Abby’s eyes narrowed as she thought aloud. “So, we know for sure that the killer is one of ours, but not whether he’s stray or Pride?”
I nodded, and her father frowned. For a second, I thought he’d ask her to leave the room because she was neither an Alpha nor an official advisor to the council, like Karen. But before he could make up his mind, Faythe leaned forward, one hand resting on her stomach. “I assume the plan is to ID the killer and take him out?”
“ASAP. Assuming the vote tonight supports execution,” I added. “The third murder took place three days ago, and that scene’s the only one still fresh enough to be of much use. Now that the cops are done with it, I’ll be checking it out personally as soon as I get home.”
“In Manchester?” Abby sounded like something was stuck in her throat, and though she was staring at the rug, her eyes were unfocused.
Burt Di Carlo frowned. “What?”
“Manchester is where the third murder took place.” I turned back to Abby. “How did you know that?”
“Um…TV.” She met my gaze but seemed to struggle to pull my face into focus. “It must have been on the news. You’re going there, what? Tomorrow?”
“That’s the plan.”
Rick took a sip from his mug, his focus still trained on me. “Just tell us what you need.”
“If I recognize the killer’s scent, I won’t need anything. Mateo, Chase, and I will find him.” I glanced at Bert Di Carlo, Mateo’s father, in acknowledgment of his son’s skill. Teo was the first enforcer who’d signed on with me, and he’d been my right-hand man since I took over the Appalachian Territory. “If I don’t recognize the scent, I’ll overnight each of you a sample for help with the identification and we’ll proceed from there. Objections?”
I glanced around the room, waiting for an argument, but everyone seemed satisfied with the plan. Faythe looked almost as relieved by that as I felt.
Rick stood again, and every gaze followed him. “Sounds good, Jace. All in favor of capital punishment for the killer or killers, whenever he or they are found?”
I stood, and one by one, my fellow Alphas joined me. The sentence was unanimous.
“That went a lot better than I expected.” I glanced at Abby, expecting to see her I-told-you-so face, but she looked away as soon as I made eye contact. She looked worried.
No, she looked scared.
I ducked to catch her eye, trying to decide whether I should ask her what was wrong in front of the crowd or wait for privacy. Then Jerald Pierce clapped me on the back, and the moment was over. “These meetings go pretty smoothly when we all have the same objective.”
But I understood the part he’d left unspoken. The last time the council disagreed on something serious, my stepfather had started a war as an excuse to have Marc and me executed, and Faythe forced into marriage.
“Okay!” Karen stood and began gathering empty coffee mugs, and I noticed for the first time that I could see her veins through the skin of her hands. My mother’s looked much the same. “Who wants chili?”
Anticipatory chatter accompanied the general movement toward the office door, and my stomach was already growling. I hadn’t had Karen’s chili in years.
“Wait.” Abby spoke so softly that at first no one else seemed to hear her. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Wait. Dad, I can’t go home with you tomorrow.”
“What?” Rick Wade arched one brow at me, as if I had any idea what she was talking about, but I could only shrug. Suddenly, I had an all-new respect for the late Greg Sanders, who’d constantly been left out of the loop by the only young tabby in his Pride—Faythe, of course.
Wade turned back to his daughter. “Why not?”
“Because I belong with Jace.”
My pulse jumped. Everyone turned to stare.
Abby’s face flushed as red as her hair. “That came out wrong. I meant that Jace will need all his enforcers to catch the killer. Including me.”
“What?” Rick turned on me, anger flashing bright in his eyes. “You hired my daughter?” “You had no right—”
“Hold on a minute,” I growled as fire surged through my veins in response to the challenge from a fellow Alpha. I had no intention of fighting Rick Wade, but my body didn’t know that. I had no idea what Abby was taking about, but there was a reason conflicts between Alphas escalated quickly—we were hardwired to exert our dominance whenever it was challenged. “In fact, I do have the right. Abby isn’t yours anymore. She’s mine.”
Abby’s eyebrows shot up and her flush deepened.
Damn it. “I mean, I’m her Alpha, and I don’t need your permission to hire her.” I would only need his blessing if I tried to hire a member of his Pride. Which Abby no longer was.
Shock rippled across his angry scowl, and I could see the brutal realization as it dawned on him. Abby was an adult and a member of someone else’s territory; he no longer held any authority over his own daughter.
That had never happened before, because in the history of the US Prides, Abby was only the second tabby to leave home, and she was the first to actually transfer into another territory.
True, her membership in my Pride was intended to be as temporary as my leadership of it, but that didn’t change the fact that she was now under my sole authority. Just like all the male members of my Pride.
“I...” Rick struggled to finish his sentence, while everyone else looked on in the tense silence. I almost felt sorry for him.
“There’s really no need to get worked up,” I said, when his mouth just kept opening and closing. I turned back to Abby with a scowl, silently demanding an explanation for why she would pit one Alpha against another. “I didn’t hire her.”
“The hell you didn’t!” But the indignation in her voice didn’t match the desperation in her eyes, which practically begged me to just go along with...whatever she was up to.
She should have known better.
Karen quietly closed the office door. Our council meeting had just gone into extra innings, and nobody wanted to miss a single pitch.
“First of all, don’t ever curse at your Alpha,” I growled, only slightly mollified when Abby lowered her gaze and took a small step back, accepting my rebuke with none of the resistance or hesitation she’d shown in the past, when we weren’t in a room full of Alphas. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared about her language; that particular courtesy was antiquated, in my opinion. But by shouting at me, she had challenged my leadership, and letting anyone get away with that would erode my authority. “Second, you do not work for me.”
“I apologize.” Abby still stared at the ground, yet her voice was neither soft nor weak. “But if you’ll recall, after I freed my roommate from those ass—” She stopped abruptly for a rephrase, and one corner of Faythe’s mouth twitched. “After I took out those hunters over fall break, you said there’d be a job waiting for me if I wanted it.”
My eyes fell closed. Son of a bitch! I’d forgotten all about that because I hadn’t intended it as a real job offer. When she’d gone back to school without even mentioning it, I’d assumed she’d taken the offer as the simple compliment I’d intended. As evidence that her Alpha had noticed and appreciated her abilities.
I scrubbed both hands over my face, stalling for time to think. “I meant for that offer to apply after you graduate.” I hadn’t thought she’d take it seriously, because she was supposed to marry Brian right after graduation.
“But you never said that.”
Irritation narrowed my gaze at her. “You never accepted the offer.”
Her brows rose. “I’m accepting it now.”
Damn it. I’d walked right into that one, and I couldn’t get out of it without going back on my word.
A good Alpha never goes back on his word, and Abby knew that.