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"I know," I said. "If Dominic found out, he d order someone to kill Peter." I paused. "And that s
Malcolm s job, isn t it?"
"Oh, it s not a job," Peter muttered. "It s a pleasure."
"So Dominic found out about Peter, didn t he? He sent Malcolm after him."
"Shit," Peter said, staring at me. "How old is this kid again?"
Jeremy shook his head. "Dominic didn t send Malcolm. Ordering a Pack member or a former Pack
member to be killed isn t, well, it isn t easy for an Alpha. It would be simpler for all concerned if that
Pack member died before the Alpha had to deliver the order. Dominic would . . . appreciate that."
"Oh, I get it now," Peter said. "Malcolm kills me.Then he tells Dominic, probably saying I resisted
arrest or some shit like that. Saves Dominic from ordering an execution. So Malcolm earns himself a pat
on the head from the Alpha for solving an ugly problem."
"I believe he hopes to earn more than a pat on the head. He may win Dominic s gratitude, but I think
he s more interested in making a point to the rest of the Pack, proving that he can take care of problems
like this swiftly and efficiently."
"But why?" I asked.
"Don t tell me he s angling to make Alpha," Peter said.
"He s been angling for years," Jeremy said. "Now he s campaigning."
Both Peter and I opened our mouths, but Jeremy waved away our questions. He proclaimed that Peter
might have a mild concussion, but seemed otherwise uninjured. Finally, his attention turned to his own
wounds, which were much worse than ours. Besides bruises around his neck, he had a jagged gaping
wound down his leg and he winced each time he bent over or straightened, probably from bruised ribs.
The leg would require stitches, but for now he wrapped it with strips from his shirt. Then shrugged on his
jacket, brushed off our concern and declared himself fit for the walk back to the car.
Malcolm was waiting for us. He wasn t lurking in the bushes, ready to leap out. That wasn t his style.
Had he wanted to kill Peter, he could have done so back in the clearing.
No one had wondered aloud why Malcolm had cut short his mission, but Jeremy had enough experience
with his father to know this wasn t over. As we walked to the road, Jeremy kept looking from side to
side and discreetly sniffing the air as he searched for signs of Malcolm. He had us stick to the middle of
the deserted dirt road, as far from the shadows of the embankments as possible.
Jeremy moved slowly, and although part of that was caution, it was also necessity, as his injured leg kept
giving way. As we rounded the corner to where he d pulled the car off into the trees, his foot caught on a
root. He tripped and instinctively threw his weight onto his injured leg for balance. His knee buckled and
he inhaled sharply.
"Physician, heal thyself," called a voice in the trees.
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I caught Jeremy s arm to brace him, but he only patted my shoulder, slipped from my grasp and pulled
himself up straight. When I peered into the darkness, I could make out Malcolm, perched on the trunk of
our rental car.
"Leg giving you some trouble?" he said. "That s funny.I feel fine."
To prove it, he leapt off the car and sauntered over. Peter hung back, but Jeremy kept moving forward.
When he skirted Malcolm, their eyes met and Malcolm laughed.
"Was that a glare, boy? An actual glare? Well, that s a start. Of course, a real man would take a swing
at me, but that would be to much to hope for, wouldn t it?"
Jeremy put a hand between my shoulder blades and steered me toward the car.
"Not even going to ask what I want?" Malcolm said.
"We know what you want," Peter said, struggling to throw some bravado into his voice. "Me. But you re
too late. You caught me off guard once. It won t happen again."
"Of course it will. You re a child. I could take you down any time. Could have done it back there if I d
wanted. Bet you re wondering why I didn t, aren t you?"
"I know why you didn t," Jeremy said as he unlocked the car. "You could justify killing him quickly, and
argue self-defense, but once Clayton and I became involved, things became more complicated. Kill Peter
under those circumstances, and the Pack will wonder why you carried out his punishment yourself,
instead of bringing him in. So now you re falling back on plan B demanding that I turn him over so you
can bring him to Dominic."
"You think you re pretty clever, don t you?"
"No, but you asked what I thought, so I told you. Clayton? Peter? In the car, please."
"He s not going " Malcolm began.
Jeremy turned to his father. "I called Dominic this afternoon. He knows I m with Peter, and that I want
to negotiate his return to the Pack. If you bring Peter in and tell Dominic what he did, then he has to
order Peter s death. Given the choice between negotiating a pardon and killing a former Pack member,
which do you think he d prefer?"
"You re bluffing," Malcolm said. "You haven t called him."
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