Page 37 of Death and Divination
Dallas snarled and knocked my finger away. “You’re crazy. I know you witches have got a problem with how we do things here in the pack, but we’re not monsters. Those who violate pack law get locked up and punished, not females who don’t want to mate. We don’t do that—least not since Old Dog Butch.Idon’t do that.”
“Then let me see her,” I demanded.
“No.” The alpha glared at me.
“Let me see her, or I’ll go get Cassie.”
From the look in his eyes, I could tell I’d said the wrong thing. Crap, was I the one who was going to end up in a dungeon? He wouldn’t dare. Shelby knew I was coming up here and would sound the alarm if I hadn’t gotten back to her in twenty-four hours. Cassie would burn them all to ash if they harmed me. Plus, I’d told Nash when we’d left the diner where I was going, and if I didn’t come back at this afternoon to pick him up at the firehouse, he’d haul up here and reap every one of these wolves until they let me free.
Or at least reap their non-viable plant life.
It was as if Dallas were thinking the same things, minus Nash killing their begonias, as I was. He let out a breath and looked up to the ceiling, shaking his head.
“I can’t let you see Tink,” he told me. “She’s gone. She ran off last night and hasn’t come back yet.”
I caught my breath. “The vision…she could be dead. We need to sound the alarm, to scour the mountain. Have you sent out search parties? Sent someone over to see if she defected to Clinton’s group? I’ll spread the word in Accident and we’ll see if anyone in the town has seen her.”
Dallas shook his head. “We haven’t done anything. Ruby didn’t tell me until a few hours ago. She’s embarrassed about it. It shames her that this has happened. She’s hoping that Tink is just acting out and will be back this afternoon, or maybe by tonight.”
“What if she’s not?”
“I’ll take care of it,” he assured me. “We don’t want to cause Ruby any undue humiliation. Turning the mountain and the town upside down and sending out an alarm will just make things worse. I’ll handle it myself.”
“I had a vision,” I insisted. “A vision with something dead and blood. This is serious, Dallas. It’s not just a wolf who got drunk in town and decided to sleep it off in a ditch. She could be in real trouble. She could be dead.”
Why was Dallas holding back on this? I could tell he was upset and worried, but for some reason he wanted to keep it all hush-hush.
“I’ll take care of it, I swear,” he promised me. “Don’t disrespect our culture, Ophelia. Ruby is one of ours and I want to spare her any embarrassment. Of course we wouldn’t force a law-abiding werewolf to mate against his or her will, but promises are often as binding as the actual mating ceremony. This is a delicate situation. Ruby received an offer from a suitor she felt was perfect for her daughter. She’s justified in encouraging the match, and Tink accepted the offer.”
“If she accepted willingly, then why did she run off?” I demanded. “She was pressured into it. She’s feeling like she had no choice. That’s not a binding promise, Dallas.”
The werewolf let out a breath. “It was willing. I promise you that. Very willing. It’s just…Tink has always been impulsive and…a whole lot of odd. Her running off like this is an overreaction. She’s just got a case of cold paws. This isn’t something that rises to the level that the Perkins witches need to be involved with.”
His speech made sense, and it was delivered with an incredible honesty that didn’t include any ass pinches, or boob grabs, or crotch gropes. I hesitated, thinking of Shelby’s worry but weighing that against the fact that this could be a werewolf who’d just decided to take off into the human world for a while.
It might be a temporary case of cold feet, as Dallas had said. Or cold paws.
“Okay,” I told the alpha. “Okay, but know that I’m watching, and if she comes to us needing sanctuary or wants to leave the pack, then we’re going to support her.”
