Honestly, it was starting to feel like more than that for Riley, but she simply said, “We agreed to a fling.”
Jaime dropped her hands. “No, this has to be more than a fling. If you mate with Tao, you won’t leave the pack. I like that idea.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to leave the pack and we all know it.”
“Yeah, but mating with Tao would provide me with extra insurance.”
“Do you think it’s possible that you’re true mates?” asked Makenna.
Was she kidding?
“Tao and I don’t suit each other.”
Jaime waved a hand. “Sure you do. Tao’s never had a good relationship. He’s very intense and stubborn, and he can’t hold in his emotions or opinions. It rubs a lot of dominant females the wrong way and leads to argument after argument. But you roll your eyes at his mood swings. You ignore his tantrums. You smile at his insults. You say what you think and give him no choice but to accept it. That’s what he needs—someone who isn’t threatened or challenged by his need to vent. If anything, you find it funny.”
Yeah, she did. “I’ve just never known anyone so easily riled.”
“Although you aren’t an obvious couple, you work.”
Makenna nodded in agreement. “Let’s face it, Riley: you don’t like people getting too close. He won’t stand for that shit, and only someone as determined and hardheaded as Tao could truly cope with that and get through to you. You need someone who isn’t controlling. Tao might be a pain in the ass who shoves his way into your business, but he isn’t controlling—which is rare for a dominant male. He’s also complex enough to hold your attention. Be honest; you have a short concentration span and get bored pretty easily. He’ll keep things interesting.”
Blowing out a breath, Riley sat on the porch swing.
Head tilted, Jaime looked down at her. “You’ve never looked at things that way before, have you?”
“No. Like you said, we’re not an obvious couple.”
“Neither are me and Ryan,” said Makenna. “He doesn’t believe in fate, and I’m as superstitious as they come. I like working with people and helping them. Ryan doesn’t like people, period. But we work.”
“Dante loves control,” said Jaime. “I love doing whatever I want. He’s a total neat freak, and I find order in chaos. But we’re happy.”
Riley leaned back. “But if Tao was my true mate, wouldn’t I sense it on some level?”
“Not necessarily,” said Jaime. “I had no idea Dante was my true mate. I’d known him for years, but I hadn’t sensed it. We both had too many issues jamming the frequency of the mating bond. If you and Tao build something, you might just resolve your own issues. Maybe a mating bond will snap into place, maybe it won’t. It might take imprinting to—” She cut off as the patio door slid open and the males stepped out.
“You girls done gossiping yet?” asked Dante.
Jaime lifted her chin, looking affronted. “We don’t gossip.”
Her mate snickered. “Sure you don’t.”
“So, what now?” Riley asked him.
“You and Tao will stay here while the rest of us question the other people who should have been at the party that night,” Dante replied. “We need to know why they weren’t there, because it’s possible someone didn’t go because they knew what was going to happen.”
“You think that one of them could have put Wade up to it and they’re now finishing the job?” Riley asked.
“Possibly,” said Dante. “We have a few theories that we need to explore.”
“What Wade did was totally out of character for him, but he wasn’t himself back then,” said Riley. “People do strange and even awful things when they’re depressed like that. I honestly don’t think anyone was behind it.”
Dante leaned against the porch post. “You’re probably right, but I’d still like to speak with them. There is still the possibility that one of them is responsible for the recent shootings.”
“They may not talk to us,” said Makenna.
“Sage assured me that he’d tell his flock mates to cooperate with you,” said Tao. “Hopefully, that will be enough to make them do so.”
“Don’t come across as accusatory, or it will put them on the defensive,” Riley told Dante.
The Beta gave her a shark’s grin. “Don’t worry, this isn’t my first round of interrogations.”
“Oh yeah, I know all about your version of interrogations.” He was quite the merciless master at them. “That’s what’s worrying me.”
“I say we split up to do the interviews,” Dante proposed. “Jaime and I will talk to Sawyer, since I think he’s more likely to talk to a Beta, since he’s so eager to be one. We’ll also have a chat with Shirley.” Dante turned to Makenna. “You’re good at getting people to open up, so you go see Cynthia and Duncan with Ryan.”
At Makenna’s nod, Dante straightened. “Then let’s get going.”
Shirley’s cabin was close by, so Dante decided they should speak with her first. Fingers linked with Jaime’s, he made his way to the small building that was almost an exact image of their guest cabin.
Shirley took her sweet time opening the front door. Then she stood in the doorway, arms folded, peering down at them like a princess glaring down at the peasants. His wolf growled.
Still, he offered her a cordial smile. “I’m Dante, and this is—”
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
“I’m sure your Alpha warned you that we would,” said Dante.
Shirley leaned a little toward him. “I’ll tell you what I told him. I don’t believe that anyone from the flock is the gunman. Your pack mate’s original theory is the only one that makes sense.”
“From what I’ve heard,” began Dante, “you’ve always felt that someone manipulated your son into shooting those ravens four years ago.”
Shirley straightened, face softening slightly. “My Wade was a gentle boy. Caring. He didn’t have an aggressive bone in his body. Even if he was depressed, I don’t believe he went through the trouble of finding himself a gun to kill all those people. No way.” She shook her head, adamant. “If it was someone from the flock, it could only have been Riley.”
Dante bit back a growl. Riley was his pack mate, whether she was prepared to accept it or not, and he didn’t like hearing someone make such an accusation about her. Apparently, neither did Jaime, because her hand was clenching his tightly. “Why?”
“Because he let her live.”
She said it as if that were proof. Dante forced himself to speak calmly. “Maybe he let her live because that caring part of Wade reared its head just enough to recognize that, unlike the others, she was his friend.”
Shirley looked away.
“If you’re right and someone gave your son that gun, it could be that they’re now intent on finishing the job. Don’t you want to know who it is? Don’t you want to know who might have done that to Wade?”
Shirley didn’t say anything, but the hostility seemed to slip out of her expression.
“Did anyone spend a lot of time with Wade before his death?” asked Dante.
Shirley sighed, rubbing her temple. “I don’t know.”