Valerie looked around the room. There were hand-carved statues on the fireplace mantel. There should be family photos mixed in there, and childhood knick-knacks made by Homer and Honoria. Maybe some plants. The room needed some softness, some signs of life.
Well, she wasn't going to have to look at it much longer anyway.
She turned her attention back to Eileen.
"So you're sure Teddy's okay?" she said.
"Yes, I went to humanville to check on her." Eileen didn't look entirely thrilled. "Her mother still isn't making any improvement, apparently. Nobody even knows where she is half the time. And Teddy's aunt is overwhelmed with her own kids and her job. She keeps saying that she'll keep an eye on Teddy, but she really doesn't. Nelda was there the whole weekend, though, bossing everyone around. Poor Teddy kept following her around trying to hang on her coat."
Valerie winced. "Was Nelda horrible?"
"Fairly horrible, yes. Although the humans were very gracious about it." Eileen frowned, shaking her head. Then she lowered her voice and leaned in closer to Valerie. "Listen, the cabin catching on fire like that while Morgan was out hunting … it seems awfully coincidental, don't you think?" She glanced in the direction of the kitchen, where Nelda had just gone.
Valerie felt a chill wash over her, even in the warmth of the living room. "Surely you don't think Nelda had something to do with it?"
"Well, if anyone started that fire, my money would be on Nelda."
"Why her?"
"Because the attacker only went after you, not Morgan. From what you've told me, if you or Morgan chose to leave, that would cost Morgan his position as Alpha. But if you died, then Morgan could just get another mate before his thirtieth birthday. I mean, he'd really have to hustle, but he could do it."
"Ouch," Valerie said, wincing at the thought. Morgan with another woman … she already knew it was inevitable, but she didn't like picturing it.
She thought about Nelda, her cutting remarks, her dirty looks.
Was Morgan's mother capable of cold-blooded murder? Did she want Valerie out of his life that badly?
"Well," she said, "it's also possible that someone started the fire thinking that Morgan was still in the cabin with me. Assuming the fire was set on purpose. It could have just been an accident."
"Just watch yourself," Eileen said, shaking her head. "There's a lot at stake here, and a bunch of people who'd do just about anything for that Alpha position."
"Even murder?"
"For control of the pack, and the pack's finances, and a company which is worth hundreds of millions?" Eileen raised an eyebrow.
Then she shrugged and leaned back on the couch. "So how was it being out there with Morgan?"
"A couple of days of magic, and now … " Valerie shook her head unhappily. "As soon as we got back to the house, he seemed to withdraw. I can't tell if it's my imagination or not, but I really feel like he's being weird. Is he ashamed of me?"
"No way, no how," Eileen said fervently. "I've seen how he is about you. When you're not around, he's always talking you up and bragging about you. I mean, there's also the complaining about what a hard time you give him, but it's an affectionate kind of complaining. He's crazy about you."
"So why is he suddenly being weird?"
"Whatever has made him hard and closed off like this isn't going to heal overnight. You remember how Marcus was when I first met him. He alternated between being a sweetheart and an ass. Be patient. Give it a little time," Eileen said. She glanced around. "While watching your back."
"What, exactly, would I be watching for?"
"Attempts on your life." Eileen's brow puckered in a frown. "I could stay here with you, if you want."
"No, your mate needs you." Marcus was a grumpy, antisocial shifter who really depended on Eileen to keep him from going feral. Literally. He'd been well on his way to giving in to his inner beast when he met Eileen, and without her, odds were he would have been the subject of a kill order by the Council for Shifter Affairs, sooner rather than later. "And Morgan is here. I'll be fine."
Honoria poked her head through the doorway. "Are you guys deaf? Camden and Festus are beating each other up on the front lawn," she called out. "Does anyone care?'
"I certainly don't," Eileen said. She glanced at Valerie and shrugged. "What? I've just met them today and I can already tell they're a couple of big stupid asshats."
"I'll go get Morgan," Honoria said, and she dashed upstairs.
"Let's go see what the asshats are up to," Valerie said. She went to the coat closet, grabbed her coat and headed out the front door, with Eileen following her.
Camden and Festus were in wolf form, and they were lunging and viciously tearing into each other.
Their mother stood on the front steps, watching with a small smile of satisfaction curling her lips. Hud and CoraBelle and Boothe were there as well, looking bored and sipping cocktails. One of their servants was standing next to them holding a cocktail tray.
"You should stop them. They're bleeding," Valerie said to Elmira with alarm.
She shrugged. "Nonsense. That's just how wolf shifters tussle."
"Not really," Eileen said, shaking her head. "Speaking as a wolf shifter, that isn't a casual play-fight. That's pretty serious."
Festus' flank was dark with matted blood, and he was hanging on to his brother's leg with vicious determination, jaws clamped shut. Drops of blood spattered red on the white snowy ground.
"Why are they fighting?" Valerie asked.
Elmira shrugged. "Not really your concern," she said dismissively. "You don't understand our ways."
"Your Alpha's mate asked you a question. Show her some respect," Eileen snapped at Elmira. As a shifter, she was more aware of pack politics than Valerie – and Elmira knew that.
A flash of petulant anger crossed Elmira's face, but it was instantly replaced by obsequious fawning.
"Of course," she said in a wheedling voice. "It's simply that Camden has been insulting Festus and saying that he could never be Alpha even if Morgan were disqualified, and I simply pointed out to Festus that a real wolf would never tolerate that kind of talk."
Nelda walked down the steps as Elmira was speaking, accompanied by Honoria and Homer.
"You started the fight?" Valerie was shocked. Why would a mother want to see her sons bleeding? The two literally looked as if they might kill each other.
"There is no place in the pack for weaklings. This is how they stay sharp," Elmira said. "Only the strong and worthy survive." She shot a smug glance at Nelda, who let out a low growl of anger. Homer and Honoria blinked and looked away; Valerie could have sworn she saw tears in their eyes.
"Watch yourself," Nelda snarled.
"I'm just being honest." Elmira smirked and turned her attention back to her two sons.
Hud and CoraBelle exchanged glances of lofty superiority. "How common," Hud said to CoraBelle.
"Yes, you'd never allow that kind of behavior," she agreed, shooting a look of contempt at the battling brothers.
They were interrupted by a snarl of fury. Morgan came barreling through the door out into the snow in wolf form, big as a pony. He shot past them all, hurling himself into the fray, and knocked the two of them apart.
They went flying and lay in the snow, whimpering and snarling.
Morgan turned human again, standing there in the snow, fists balled. Stark naked. Valerie tried not to look at his perfect butt, but it was impossible to look away.
"You idiots!" he yelled. "This is how you behave at my house? Go back to your rooms and stay there until you heal, and I'd better not see you two fighting again. You're packmates and brothers, and you should be standing together, not trying to kill each other. I don't care what poisonous garbage your mother has been feeding you."
Festus reared his shaggy head in anger at the insult to his mother, and dared to let out a low growl at Morgan. Morgan shifted again and charged at him, sending him rolling end over end. Then he reached out his mighty paw and smacked Festus on the head with it. Festus ended up lying on his back, waving his paws in the air and whimpering in submission.
Valerie saw Festus glance at his mother, who stood on the porch, shaking her head in disappointment and disgust.
Festus climbed to his feet and slunk off through the snow, head hanging low in sorrow, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Camden followed, but walked a good twenty feet away, padding through the snow and holding his head up. The fur on his back was high and ridged with anger.