“He had a concussion, Lelandi. So yes, really.”
“And my brother and uncle conveniently got the better of him in the jail. Maybe Trevor needs a different job.”
“Uncle Sheridan counseled him.”
“Hmpf. He needs a heck of a lot more than counseling.”
“As to another matter,” Darien said, “we’ll have a Thanksgiving feast for the pack.”
She figured the feast was a tradition they’d always carried out like so many people did across the States until she saw the questioning glances on his brothers’ faces.
“Why?” she asked, because Jake and Tom wouldn’t, and she figured something more had to be up.
“A feast to give thanks that I have a mate. Is that not reason enough?” Darien’s expression was lighthearted, but the façade didn’t hide the darkness brewing beneath the surface.
She offered a smile. “I’m sure everyone will enjoy a feast, no matter the reason. Free food puts everyone in good spirits.”
“Where did you want to have this feast?” Jake asked, his voice shadowed. “The civic auditorium? School gym? The tavern, perhaps?”
“Here.” Darien lifted his cup to his lips.
Lelandi suspected the worst. Darien knew who killed her sister, and he needed the majority of the pack together. The feast was the battleground. Or at least the beginning. The battle would take place in the woods, secluded from town, perfect for a fight between wolves.
Her eyes filling with tears, she sat back in her chair. Ever since she’d learned her sister had died, she’d had this overwhelming ache to right the wrong, to avenge her sister’s death. And now Darien knew who it was? But he would have told her right away if he’d planned to. Which meant he was keeping it a secret. Anger and upset bottled up inside threatened to spill out. She fought the emotions, trying to maintain a cool, alpha stance. “Who is it?”
“He’ll reveal himself when the time comes.”
She ground her teeth, attempting to stay calm, but her blood was running hot.
Jake sc.r.a.ped his empty winegla.s.s across the oak table.
“What, Jake? You know how much doing that annoys me.”
“Does he know you suspect him?”
“Who?” Lelandi asked in exasperation. She quickly brushed away insolent tears that dared streak down her cheeks. She was not a wilting d.a.m.n flower.
Darien looked torn between comforting her and being the indomitable pack leader and setting up the rules. “I’m not sure, but I won’t openly speculate. Too much of that has been going on of late. Several pack members have unduly ostracized Trevor because many think he had a hand in Larissa’s death. At the feast, the murderer will reveal himself. That’s all I’ll say.”
“I’ll organize the men to cook the turkeys beforehand at the school,” Jake offered.
“Tom, I want you to get the word out to the pack about the feast.”
“Will do, Darien. I can coordinate the efforts of those making the vegetables.”
“Good.” Darien turned to Lelandi.
She couldn’t stand his seeing how teary-eyed she’d become. Looking down at the table, she swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Lelandi,” he said softly, “maybe you, Carol, and Silva can make some more of those apple pies that everyone loved so much?”
Her heart aching to the core, she glowered at him. “You know who it is, don’t you?”
“Leave us,” he said to his brothers.
“We’ll make the arrangements at once,” Jake said.
Tom inclined his head slightly to Lelandi, then the two brothers hastened to leave the dining room.
Darien didn’t move from his chair, but just studied Lelandi.
Why did he have to keep her in the dark? Why?
He rose from his chair and walked around the table to join her, touching her cheek with his fingertips in a gentle caress. “If I tell you who I suspect and I’m wrong, you’ll harbor a mistrust of the individual. But more than that, I know how you are. You’ll confront him without regard to the danger you’d put yourself in. I won’t have it. In two day’s time, we’ll know once and for all.”
“Then you’ll fight him to the death.”
The phone rang and Tom hurried back into the room to get it. “Tom here.” The look of shock on Tom’s face made her suspect something awful must have happened. Jake poked his head in.
“Now what?” Lelandi asked.
Tom looked at Darien, waiting for him to allow him to speak in front of Lelandi.
He seemed indecisive about allowing it or keeping her further in the dark. Then he finally gave a slight nod, his gaze hard as he caught Lelandi’s eye.
“Angelina’s dead,” Tom said.
“How?” Darien asked.
“Heart gave out.”
“Natural causes or was she helped along?”
“Coroner won’t be able to tell us for a few days.”
Lelandi closed her eyes, not believing the killer could have struck again. She felt hands on her shoulders and looked up to see Darien rubbing them. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“Did he kill her, Darien? Did he get to her, too?” She choked back a sob.
Darien shook his head and said to Tom, “I want the report soonest. Jake, I need you and Tom to talk to everyone. Find out who was serving on guard duty when she expired and who went in to see her.” He squeezed Lelandi’s shoulder. “You’ve had enough excitement to last a lifetime and it’s getting late. Let’s go to bed.”
But she couldn’t brush her worry away, and when he led her upstairs, she felt drained, as if she wasn’t even there. Would the killer truly be revealed at the feast? Or would he try for her again before then?
Two days later, Lelandi read over the coroner’s report in Darien’s office while he watched her. Death due to asphyxiation. “Murdered,” Lelandi said under her breath, although she wasn’t surprised.
“Her room was at the back of the hospital. Someone had unlocked the window, an inside job. Anyone could have slipped in, murdered her, and left without anyone being aware,” Darien said.
“But it was a man who killed her, right?”
“Most likely, and she bit him.”
Lelandi glanced up from the report. “It doesn’t say that.”
“Doc Featherston told me. He found remnants of blood around her teeth, but the blood wasn’t hers. He didn’t want the word to get out.”
“Oh h.e.l.l, Darien. By now the bite marks could have healed and disappeared.”
“Maybe not. Mandatory dress is short-sleeved shirts for the men for the feast today. Only my brothers, Doc Featherston, and the killer will know the real reason.”
“Couldn’t he do a DNA test on the blood?”
“Not enough for the test.”
“What if the murderer doesn’t show up today?”
“He will. And the game will be over.”
Later that afternoon, and with the tension running high, Darien welcomed Lelandi’s family in the sunroom while Lelandi baked pies with Carol and Silva in the kitchen. He gave Lelandi’s mother a hug, seeing the resemblance to Lelandi, the red hair, pet.i.te features, green eyes and riveting smile. He shook her father’s hand as he sat in his wheelchair, looking proud, but with a weariness lingering in his features. His dark amber eyes a.s.sessed Darien with a wolf’s guardedness.
Lelandi was unaware Darien had invited her family so that he had a chance to meet them first, and welcome them like a pack leader would before he switched roles to greet them as family. Darien shook Leidolf’s hand next, then her Uncle Hrothgar’s, and Ural’s last.
“I’m sure you suspect the reason I’ve invited you here,” Darien said.
“To ask permission to have my daughter after the fact,” her father growled, banging his fist on the arm of his wheelchair. Lelandi’s mother rested her hand on his shoulder.
Although it had never been his intention to ask for Lelandi since he’d already mated with her, Darien bowed his head with respect.
“You have my permission,” her father said, his voice gruff, but admiration shown in his eyes.
Everyone else waited quietly for Darien’s next words, tension filling the room. “The killer will be exposed today, the fight will follow, and the celebration feast afterward.”
Her father inclined his head. “This is acceptable.”
“We’ve heard rumors Lelandi may be with triplets,” her mother said, her voice hopeful.
“Mrs. Wildhaven, it’s too early to tell.”
“Please, call me Eleanor.”
“Certainly. But I wish to discuss another matter. We’ve lost our doctor and Lelandi has her heart set on Doc Weber of your pack joining us. Would this be agreeable?”
Hrothgar cleared his throat. “I, of course, would prefer he stay at Wildhaven with my pack.”
“But,” Eleanor said, “having triplets can be difficult for even lupus garous. Because Lelandi has a fondness for Doc Weber and he has for her…” She spread her hands, palms up.
Darien waited for Hrothgar’s approval as Wildhaven’s newest pack leader. Hrothgar gave a stiff nod.
Turning to Leidolf, Darien said, “I know you want to avenge Larissa’s death. I ask that you allow me the honor since it is my pack, she was my mate—no matter how wrongly that came about—and the villain is one of my pack.”
“As much as I’d love to tear the b.a.s.t.a.r.d from limb to limb, I acquiesce. Should you not succeed, I won’t wait for either of your brothers to jump into the fray.”
“Agreed.” Darien looked at Jake and Tom, both who reluctantly nodded. “Settled then.” He motioned to Tom, who opened the door and Mrs. Hastings and several other ladies hurried in with apple cider, shrimp, and cheese dips with crackers. “I’ll tell Lelandi you’re here.”
He had every intention of delaying the inevitable, feeling an insatiable urge to prove to her that she wanted to remain with him and not return to her family no matter how much he told himself the notion was too ridiculous to consider.