“It’s possible,” said James, pursing his lips. “He has quite a few of them.”
Valentina put her hands on her hips. “I will slit your brother’s throat if he is responsible, Alpha or not.”
Wincing, James turned to his mate and worked to calm her down.
Dominic nuzzled his cat, who’d relaxed enough to stop glaring at her sibling. “Mila, time to come back. We need you to give us your input.”
The cat shot him a truly disgruntled look before hopping off the sofa and leaving the room. When Mila walked in moments later dressed in shorts and a tee, she narrowed her eyes at Alex, who was once again relaxed in the chair and munching jerky.
“Your cat’s a vicious bitch,” Alex told her, approval coloring every syllable.
Mila snorted at what her cat took as a compliment even as she bared a fang at him. “And yet, you continue to invade her territory. But then, that’s what assholes do.”
“Easy there, Skindiana Jones—”
“I told you to drop that!”
“—I only just got back, my cupboards are virtually empty.” Alex shrugged. “Besides, it’s not like you eat anything. Or, at least, you don’t look like you do. Seriously, you could hula hoop with a Cheerio.”
Valentina clapped her hands. “No more of this! You have not seen each other in months, and this is how you behave? Why not greet each other with hugs?”
Mila snickered. “I’d rather remove my spleen with a rusty blade. Well, actually, his spleen would be my first choice.”
“See, she hates me,” said Alex.
“I don’t hate you. But if you were slipping off a cliff, I’d go get some popcorn.”
Dominic winced as Valentina yelled something in Russian that had both her children snapping their mouths shut. He had the feeling that it had been a threat of some sort.
“Fine,” said Mila. “We have a serious matter to discuss anyway.” She didn’t resist when Dominic curled an arm around her waist and tugged her onto his lap. “How sure are you that this John Norton person didn’t order the hit?” she asked her brother.
“I can’t be certain that it’s not him, but I strongly doubt that it is—really, it’s not the type of thing he does.” Alex’s gaze cut to Dominic. “Maybe it’s one of your enemies.”
“There’s Pierson,” James said to Dominic. “He wants to hurt you. Hurting Mila would hurt you. He might have even just wanted her out of the way to clear the path for his daughter.”
Valentina’s brows lifted. “It is possible. He is human, but he could have found some way to do it. Or even paid a lone shifter to arrange the hit for him.”
“Who’s Pierson?” asked Alex.
Dominic gave him a quick rundown of the situation. “It can’t be Pierson, though. The first attack on Mila happened before she and I got together.”
Alex crumpled up his empty bag of jerky and tossed it in the trash. “When did you first meet the guy?”
“The day after I met Mila, as it happens.” Dominic massaged her nape, wanting that last bit of tension to melt from her muscles. “I met him at a restaurant with some of my pack mates, which didn’t go so well. Then . . . Shit.”
“What?” asked Mila.
Dominic looked at her. “That same day, I drove to the barbershop to see you. He could have had someone follow me.”
Mila shrugged. “So? All they would have seen is you getting a haircut.”
“And writing my number on your palm. Like your dad said, Pierson could have just wanted you out of the way for his daughter’s sake. He’s demonstrated that there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her—and I think that’s mostly to keep her mental state as stable as possible.” Dominic silently swore, berating himself for not already considering it.
“Maybe the daughter did it,” James speculated. “If she was so obsessed with you, Dominic, it makes sense that she would have followed you around. She could have followed you to the restaurant that day, hoping to gauge your reaction to the meeting with her father. If she followed you to the barbershop, I doubt she’d have liked seeing you flirt with another female. She believes you’re her mate.”
Dominic’s wolf growled at that. “She wants to believe it. That’s different.” James’s theory had some substance, though. Rosemary had claimed to not know that her father would approach the pack, but she’d proven that she was a very good liar. And she wouldn’t want to incriminate herself, would she? Playing clueless would have been her best defense.
“Any jealous exes we need to consider?” Alex asked Dominic.
It was Mila who answered. “Well . . . there’s Charlene.”
Dominic’s brows drew together. “She’s not an ex. She’s just someone I once had a brief fling with.” He’d also considered her a friend until recently, but nothing more.
“Yeah,” agreed Mila, “but she’s done her best to come between us, hasn’t she?”
Alex cocked his head. “Who is Charlene exactly?”
“A fox shifter who works as a barmaid at the club where I perform on Friday nights.”
Alex flicked his finger from Dominic to Mila as he asked, “So she knows you two are together?”
“Yes. I don’t think she has anything to do with this, though,” said Mila. “For one thing, she’s mated, so even if she does have lingering feelings for Dominic, she’s hardly likely to act on them. She put some effort into convincing me not to get involved with him, sure, but I don’t see why she’d want me dead just on the off chance that it could happen. That’s real freaking extreme. I mean, what difference would it really make to her?”
“That depends on what her motivation is for trying to keep you apart,” said Alex.
“I figure she just has a thing against pallas cats and wants him to be with someone who she thinks is ‘better’ for him,” said Mila.
Dominic rubbed her thigh. “Jesse pointed something out to me that might explain why Charlene is making herself a problem for us. She takes pride in the fact that she’s the woman I had the longest fling with and even allows people to believe I haven’t committed to anyone because I was heartbroken when she ended things between us.” He rolled his eyes. “She knows that’s bullshit. Still, as Jesse suggested, her ego could be hurt because I pursued you relentlessly and wouldn’t let you brush me off, no matter how hard you tried.”
“Foxes are very competitive,” Valentina commented. “They can also be sly and vengeful.”
“It would explain why she’s being a pain in our asses,” said Dominic. “But hurt pride isn’t motivation enough to want Mila dead.”
“People have killed for less,” Alex pointed out. “But I’m leaning toward Pierson or his daughter being responsible for the bounty.”
Valentina nodded, twirling the ring on her finger. “The daughter has not been thinking clearly for some time.”
Dominic rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure Rosemary would even know how to go about something like putting out a hit, though. Plus, I think if she’d seen me flirting with Mila, she’d have been more likely to lash out immediately rather than come up with a calculating plot.”