“You said the nurse was upstairs.” Damien presses, “Checking on your mate.”

“Sienna is upstairs, she is Kira’s best friend. She is seeing if she can find any clues as to where Kira might have gone. Sienna was here with him when I was working on the gate.” He nods at the pup in his arms.

“So you lied about her labour in the hopes that what?” I demand. “I wouldn’t notice when your mate doesn’t appear.”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead. I’m going to look for her.”

“Tracking her down? That’s not going to be ideal with a pup in tow. In fact it’s fucking stupid.” Damien shakes his head

“Um,” Mako’s brow knits together and creases appear across the top of his nose.

“You haven’t thought about that either?” Damien asks

“I could manage. I could look after him while looking for Kira.”

“No you couldn’t, though it was a good thing to bring him here. He’s going to need it when he is older.” Damien tells him.

“Are you saying what I think you are saying?” I ask. Though I’m annoyed that he hadn’t mentioned it before.

‘Well Brax could have warned us.’ Aero sneers.

‘So could Damien!’ I mutter

Damien nods, “That pup is a Lycan.”

“WHAT?!” Mako lets go of the pup, like he was dropping a grenade. Damien flings himself forward, catching the pup before he has a chance to bounce his tiny head off the floor.

Footsteps move upstairs and Sienna appears, leaning over the bannister. She freezes. She would have already known we were in the house so why was she acting like she had just been caught red handed?

Damien straightens up, the newborn cradled against his chest as he glares at Mako. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“GET DOWN HERE! I growl at Sienna.

She keeps her eyes on me, but fiddles with her pink hair as she slowly moves down the steps. I point to the spot next to Mako. She side steps around us, her heart racing as I throw the scrunched up paper down at their feet. “Which one of you wrote this?” I demand.

They glance at each other. “Kira” They both speak in unison.

“Bullshit.”

“It’s Kira’s!” Mako mutters

Damien steps back as I squat in front of Mako and grip his face. My nails create crescent moons in his skin. “Kira has done work for me. I would recognise her handwriting anywhere. So I will ask you again, who wrote this?”

“He did.” Sienna squeaks, keeping her eyes down.

I watch him elbow her. “Shut up!”

“Go check upstairs.” I tell Damien, straightening up. I watch the crescents on Mako’s face heal like they were never there.

Pacing in front of Mako and Sienna as Damien disappears from sight Sienna holds back the tears, while Mako stares straight ahead. “How long did you think you could play this game, Mako?”

“It’s not a game.”

“By the way you reacted to the news about that pup, I would say that you have been playing a game for a while. You are the one who has problems with Lycans. So tell me, what was your plan?”

He clenches his jaw.

“How about we start with something simple, where is Kira?”

“She really did leave.” Sienna blurts out. “She left a few days ago.”

“Let me guess, Mako, you were on duty at the gate? What did you do, trick the other person into turning away so Kira could pass through?”

He turns his head away, seething

“Where did she go, Sienna?” I press

“With some guy, I think his name

was Coop or Cooper maybe, Weet

were supposed to be joining her. He promised us a better life. A life away from the Lycans.”

to en.swnovels

I laugh. “You both have a problem with Lycans, yet you are willing to run off and join one.”

They stare at me, both with their jaws hanging open.

“He’s a Wolf?” Sienna protests.

“No, no he is not. But it’s great to see where your loyalty lies.”

“She was packing!” Damien comes back down the stairs with the pup still cradled with one arm and two backpacks dangling from his free hand.

“I figured as much.”

“What are you going to do to us?” Sienna pleads.

“I think you already know the answer to that.”