Maeve and Jae—the women who’d helped Beth after she’d been attacked—stood behind her. All three wore their anger like battle armor. All three looked ready for a fight.
And what kind of fight? I wondered, and gently tested the magic in the air. Not as strong as Connor’s, I gauged, but healthy and whole. No broken magic among them.
“Hello, Miranda.”
“What are you doing out here, vamp?” Miranda asked. “Sneaking around our compound? Poking into things that aren’t your business?”
My blood fired, began to heat. Miranda had picked the wrong night to bait me. And I wasn’t the only one irritated. The monster shifted, stirred, offered almost lazily to join in, take care of the problem. Reminded me of the promise I’d made. The release I’d promised.
Not yet your turn, I told it.
“It’s not your compound,” I said. “And as you’re well aware, I’m here with permission, so I don’t need to sneak around.”
“What were you doing at Dante’s house?” Jae asked, and I shifted my gaze to her.
I wanted to throw out a sarcastic answer, but realized that wasn’t the wisest course of action. And at least one of us needed to think through our decisions. “He agreed to talk to me about Paisley’s death.”
“What about it?” Miranda asked.
I considered what Connor had said about evidence, keeping information close to the vest. “Figure it out,” I said darkly.
Her gaze narrowed, and she tacked, shifted. “That was quite a show you put on in the lodge. Quite a little performance.”
“I don’t consider kissing Connor a performance,” I said mildly, but of course it had been. And it had apparently touched a nerve, confirming my theory that Miranda didn’t just want the Pack—she wanted him, too.
“Okay, so it’s a ploy, right?”
I watched her for a moment, taking in the haughty tilt of her chin, the prickle of irritated magic, the fight in her eyes.
“A ploy?” I asked.
Her eyes gleamed. “For more celebrity. For the thrill of it. To piss off daddy. Dating a shifter. So risqué. So dangerous.”
I couldn’t help it; I burst out laughing, which just put more sourness in her expression and had Maeve and Jae moving closer.
“You think my father—who orchestrated an alliance between Cadogan House and the Pack, and was chosen by the Pack as a bodyguard for convocation—would be mad I’m dating a shifter?”
Her eyes didn’t change, stayed hard and cold as glass. “Hanging all over him, more like. His little princess, wasting all that magic. Wasting all those political opportunities.”
That one hit deeper, and I didn’t like it.
Miranda moved forward. “You’re not going to end up with him, you know; you can’t. And you know he can’t be with a vampire. Not if he wants the Pack, which he does. Which means you’re just wasting his time.”
She didn’t know anything about my family, about vampires. Probably didn’t know that much about Connor, frankly. But she’d managed to land another blow in a spot I hadn’t even realized was weak.
I didn’t think I’d flinched, but her smile said otherwise. “You know he’s just having a little fun, right? A little rebellion, because he can’t afford you. That means you’re temporary. A distraction. So why don’t you take yourself back to Chicago and your fancy little house and quit putting your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
If she was so certain that my being a vampire mattered, I might as well give back a little of my own. I let my eyes silver—and had to hold back the red that wanted to shine through, that wanted the fight on its own, thought it deserved the fight—and watched her throat work as she swallowed. Her own magic filled the air, the paranormal equivalent of fur lifting at the back of her spine. A reaction to a threat.
Good. Better a threat than a joke.
“I’m no princess,” I said, voice low and dangerous. “Maybe you’re used to prey that slinks around in the dark or humans who avoid you because, deep down, they know what you are.” I leaned forward, stared into her eyes. “I’m not human, and I’m not prey, and I know exactly who you are and what I am.”
“You want to fight me?” Miranda said, each word bitten off like something foul. Something rotten.
“If you need to see me in action to believe I’ve got skills, I’m open to that. If you think I’m going to back off just because you can grow claws, you’d be dangerously wrong. Frankly, I don’t really think it’s a good use of your time, given the clan is apparently being stalked by a killer.”
“No one is stalking the clan.”
“Loren would disagree with you,” I said. Harsh words, but true. “If you really want to test me, you can pick the time and place. If you have thoughts about Connor’s choices, you should take them up with him. I’m not his keeper, and I’m not trying to run his life. You might try that strategy, too. Because the one you’re currently trying is pretty dumb.”
Her eyes went hot. “What did you say to me?”
“You’ve told Connor you wanted the Pack,” I said, and let my gaze slip to Maeve and Jae, watched uncertainty creep into their eyes. “If that’s really true, and you think Connor can’t win Apex while he’s dating me, shouldn’t you want him to date me?”
“I don’t—”
“Because that would give you a clear path to Apex, right?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Because you want the Pack,” I said, “but you want him more. This isn’t about me, Miranda, and it’s not about the Pack. You’re just pissed off because he’s not interested in you.” I kept my gaze on her, but could see Jae and Maeve shifting uncomfortably. She’d probably lured them on this little errand by explaining how I was using Connor, using the Pack. They hadn’t known her well enough to guess it was all sour grapes.
“I deserve him,” she said, voice high and a little panicked. “Me. I’m Pack. I’m wolf. And I’ve been by his side for years. Where the fuck were you? In freaking Paris, living it up.”
I’d been in Paris, trying to hide the monster while I bled from katana and Krav Maga training, not that she cared about the truth. But I was nearly out of patience.
“Here’s the thing, Miranda. Nobody owes you anything. Not Connor, not the Pack, not the world. You want to fight him for the Pack? Then fight. Quit sniping at me, at him, and fight. Maybe you’ll get lucky, and maybe you’ll win. Maybe the Pack will select you. But even if you win, it doesn’t end with the two of you on the throne together. You don’t get to pick his partners for him.”