“Some.” She cocked her head, made a so-so gesture. “Tell me what you know.”
“He went on his usual run, which he normally does after the bar closes. So, around two, two-thirty in the morning. According to reliable sources, he takes his phone and leaves it with his clothes when he changes.” I thought it over. “I should add that he runs in human form to the pack path and shifts there.”
“A lot of the wolves do,” she said, and I didn’t ask how she knew that. I was pretty sure she’d just chalk it up to her superpower again.
“So, nothing about this was unusual until it was. This morning, one of the wolves tracked his scent to a dirt road where it died out. Beyond that, there’s no trace of him and his things are gone. We believe someone grabbed him.”
“That wouldn’t have been easy. Ronan Pallás is a powerful wolf.” The way she said it, as if it were a fact rather than an educated guess, told me she knew him. Maybe not well, but she’d definitely been in his presence.
“No. They would’ve had to hurt him.” My voice started to shake, so I made myself take a drink of tea before continuing. “Probably with magic.”
“Yes. Magic is my guess.”
“You know something,” I said. “Tell me.Please.”
The alpha tapped the table with her index fingernail. “I know the La Paloma coven accosted the Pallás pack third on his run this morning.My informant tells me there were two males and a female present—Desmond Mace, Aldrich Redding, and Carolina Foster. They got out of the car chanting, so my informant hung back.”
Holy hell, she knew a lot more than something.
“Ronan also tried to back away but collapsed before he was able to. The three witches tried to put him in the trunk, but none had the strength to lift him. They were only able to drag him into the back seat. One of them wielded a blade.”
A knife?Anger welled up in me.
“There’s more, but I don’t know how helpful it will be,” she said. “My informant saw the car the witches were driving brake for an SUV a mile or so up the road. They weren’t able to get a good look at it, though they said it was either gray or silver. At first, they assumed the vehicles had stopped at a four-way-intersection—there’s one up the road another mile or so—but a closer look told them otherwise.”
“Did anyone get out?”
“They didn’t say, which means they didn’t see.”
How in the world does the rat alpha know these things? Was she involved?
Alpha Lydia popped another cookie into her mouth. “Your silence tells me you’re wondering how I know this.”
“I am,” I admitted.
“We rats have developed group bonds that allow us to share information. Much as the wolves share information about each wolf, we share information about all sorts of things. Honestly, it can be a bit overwhelming at times.” She shook herself like a wet dog trying to dry itself. “An omega in the pack would help a lot with this.” She smiled at Maya. “No pressure.”
“Okay.” Maya smiled nervously.
I thought about Kale and Denzel and Felicia. All rats. All with secrets. “Is it possible you don’t know everything your rats know?”
She nodded. “As I mentioned, weshareinformation. It is entirely possible for rats to keep secrets from the pack. Otherwise, Christmas morning would be a total bore.” Her smile was self-deprecating andbrief. “You’re referring to how I didn’t know Kale and Denzel were part of a Mictlantecuhtli cult.”
And Felicia being able to keep her collusion with Alpha Floyd a secret, but, “Yeah.”
“The short answer is every rat has their own lives. I’m their alpha leader, not their mom. The long answer is, as in the case of my two Aztec-god-of-death-worshipping rats, I did know they were involved and chose to let them figure it out on their own. I would’ve interceded had it gone too far.”
The situation had seemed way past “too far” to me, but Alpha Lydia seemed to have a higher tolerance for risk than I did.
“Also, and you might not appreciate this, but sometimes I’ll allow things to play out. I find more is revealed by the things people hide rather than what they choose to share.”
“Is anyone pointedly hiding information about Ronan Pallás?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I know he’s important to you.”
“Very,” I replied softly.
The news about Ronan was grim, but I couldn’t allow myself to wallow in misery when I had a new lead on Bronwyn and Margaux.
