Page 50 of A Tangled Web

He knew it. But he couldn’t lie anymore. Not after seeing Sal hold a knife to her. After seeing it all happening in front of him and knowing it was because he found out about Liam’s money.

When he’d woken up without her this morning, Liam swore to himself he’d sit her down and tell her the truth as soon as she came home. After last night, he was impatient to get everything out into the open so they could start fresh.

But she hadn’t come home between shopping and the party. The only reason he was here tonight was to finally pin her down. And now it was too late.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Dani sounded strangely calm. He knew her well enough to know it wasn’t the best sign. “You know every horrible, ugly thing about me. Why would you lie about that? Not just for one year but all this time. Three years, Liam.”

Because I was afraid you’d run away from me. Afraid you’d stay for the wrong reasons.Nothing that was going through his mind would sound right, and he knew it. Nothing could.

Kaya sighed when he didn’t respond. “I’ve been in your corner until now, and I believe you meant well by telling the truth, but I really think this might be too much for Dani to take tonight. You can talk about it again tomorrow.”

Dani pulled away from Kaya. “I don’t need protecting anymore.” She smiled gently as if to soften the blow. “But I appreciate the effort.”

Jace laid a hand on Liam’s shoulder. “We should probably call the cops. Wouldn’t want this guy getting away.”

Kaya made a strange sound of surprise. “I, uh, don’t think we have to worry about that.”

Liam turned along with the others, bracing himself to see a corpse instead of a passed-out psychopath, and froze.

“What the hell is that?”

A coyote was stalking Sal’s body, followed closely by a large, gray timber wolf. They barely glanced at the five people standing next to the prone man, but the wolf ducked his head as though embarrassed at being seen. The coyote, however, paused momentarily to look up at Dani.

“Stax?”

Her confusing whisper wasn’t enough to drag Liam’s attention away from the strange sight. He looked on in disbelief as the animals moved in unison to either shoulder, closing their jaws around Sal’s flesh and slowly dragging him backward.

He’d never seen anything like this, but he knew he couldn’t let it happen. No matter how he felt about Sal.

“We have to stop them. Scare them away.” Liam grabbed his pot and moved to intercept the two canines, but Jace and Kaya both held him back.

“What the hell, Jace? Let me go, damn you.”

“This is one of those moments where you just need to trust me, brother. Let them go. Those spirits answer to a higher authority than the cops. If they want him, we need to let them take him.”

“Those aren’t spirits, Jace.” Had he gone crazy? “They’re wild animals. It’s worse than murder if we let him die like that.”

“They won’t kill him,” Kaya said. “At least, I don’t think they will.”

“You’re agreeing with Jace?” Liam said weakly. “Has everyone lost their minds tonight?”

Kaya was rubbing her arms as if warding off a chill. “I’m as surprised as you are, but he’s right. We can’t interfere. He’ll get what he deserves, no more and no less. And we forget this ever happened.”

“I don’t know if I can forget seeing two wild dogs drag a man into the desert,” Bailey said quietly.

Liam turned to her. “Finally, someone is making sense.”

“But he deserves whatever he gets for hurting Dani,” she finished mutinously. “I hope they fuckin’ eat him.”

What was going on around here? He turned back to Kaya. “I respect your beliefs but there is a limit to—”

“Look.” Dani reached for his arm and Liam was so grateful for the contact, he obeyed.

The wolf was still dragging the unconscious Sal into the brush that framed the restaurant. Into the damn desert. The coyote had paused at the edge of the parking lot.

It was staring at Liam when the air around it started to shimmer.

“Oh my God.” Liam dropped onto the graveled parking lot hard, feeling the jar of it from his tailbone to his teeth, but he couldn’t react. He could barely believe what he was seeing.

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