“How do you know what’s on the phone?” Cooper asked. The number of times he’d been knocked around today had pretty much broken any last remaining patience. “Does this have anything to do with why Genevieve seems to think you and Arthur Crane used to work together? Or how about the fact that Arthur was in the WIP with Oliver’s parents?”

Cola stared at him for a long, tense moment, then blinked very slowly. She turned to Park, who had picked his head up to stare at her. “You must understand, these...decisions were made well before my time as director. I had no say.”

Park didn’t move and neither did Cooper, his hand stilling in Park’s fur, gripping it loosely. Cola tapped her fingers against her own thigh—an unusual display of fidgetiness—and she looked around as if searching for a reason not to speak. But Cooper’s family was well out of earshot for humans and there were currently no Trust agents passing through.

Finally, Cola sighed and her posture changed to something resigned. “Arthur Crane, or the man you know as Arthur Crane, was indeed in the WIP, within the same cell as Daisy and Benjamin for many, many years. They were like—well, not pack, but...family, I suppose.” She paused. “I don’t know why, but six years ago, Arthur Crane approached the Trust, claiming the others had acquired explosives and were planning to attack a local ruling pack the following week. In exchange for the details and names of some leading WIP members, Arthur bargained for immunity for himself and a new identity.

“But there was a leak. A Trust agent belonged to the targeted pack, informed his alpha, and the pack struck the WIP cell first. We don’t know if there really were explosives stored in the house or if the pack used their own, but everyone died except for your mother, who was unexpectedly absent that night, meeting with a new recruit. They were the only survivors. And, of course, Arthur Crane, though very few people are aware of that fact.”

Park stood suddenly and growled.

As if answering a question, Cola responded, “That’s the way it had to be. If anyone in the WIP were to find out he lived, they would know he was a traitor to his own kind. Arthur used his new identity as an opportunity to fake his death and completely isolate himself from wolves, essentially adopting a human life. His own wife didn’t know his true nature. Fearing another leak, because every goddamn agent has ties to some pack, the only wolves he came into contact with were my predecessor and eventually, when I took over the director position, myself. Once-a-year check-ins, as is routine.”