“Helena pretty much just said the same things as Cola,” he said eventually. “He began acting strangely about a month ago. Then two weeks later asked to leave the pack and refused to say why. Just thanked her for everything and, as one last favor, asked she not tell anyone yet.”

Cooper rubbed Park’s back soothingly. “That’s around the same time the blackmail began,” he said, thinking.

“So what does that mean? He was under pressure to leave? He was being isolated from the pack? Why not just tell us that to begin with?”

“I think we act the most irrationally when we love someone, when we feel particularly guilty, or when there’s an enormous amount of complicated history behind the scenes,” Cooper said slowly. “I think the most common intersection of those three things is family.”

“You’re saying Eli and the woman are related,” Park said.

“At the risk of sounding like the plot of a nineteenth-century illegitimacy scandal, didn’t they look...suspiciously similar to you? At least in fur.”

Park sighed. “Yes, they did. For a minute, when I saw her in fur there in the dark, I thought she was Eli. That’s why I was so caught off guard when she attacked.” He kissed Cooper’s chest apologetically, like he was sorry for not stopping the strange wolf sooner, before she’d tackled Cooper.

“It’s not your fault,” Cooper said. “Do you know anything about Eli’s life before the rebels? About how he grew up?”

“No. He never wanted to talk about it. Had me promise not to ask.”

“But if there was someone, a sibling maybe, and she ended up in the WIP while Eli ended up with the most powerful ruling pack around, and then she reappears at the same time as James Finnigan... Maybe the kind of help Eli needed, he already knew Helena wouldn’t be willing to give. Not to a WIP member.”

Park was silent for a long time. Finally, he said, “I didn’t ask her about Arthur Crane. Cola was right. At that time, I would have just gone running right to Daisy. Anything for her to reach back. It makes perfect sense and I’m not even angry, really.”

Again, Park hesitated. When he did speak, it was so quiet Cooper had to hold his breath to hear. “But I’m tired, Cooper. I’m tired of working with wolves who either suck up to me or avoid me at all costs. Tired of feeling like an albatross around your neck when you try to speak to them. And just because I don’t blame Cola doesn’t mean I think it’s fucking fair that now I have to wonder every day if my boss and my—my grandmother are working in tandem to lie to me.”

“No, it’s not,” Cooper agreed gently.