“I get why I might have killed James Finnigan. He was the worst. And I get why I might have killed Arthur Crane. I even kind of think Neil’s de-death will help convince people it was me,” Cooper said, stuttering over the word only slightly. “Our relationship was rough. No one even knows how rough.”

Behind him, Park’s hands flexed spasmodically and his nail slightly nicked the skin under one of Cooper’s fingers. It stung surprisingly bad.

“But you and Neil talk—talked about me, so maybe you do know,” Cooper said, ignoring the pain. “I guess there’s motive there too.”

He looked away as if embarrassed, but used the opportunity to check in on Eli, who was still standing, fingers grasping the fencing loosely. At a glance, he just looked defeated and lost in his own thoughts, but Cooper could see the way he was rocking on the balls of his feet ever so slightly, the preferred balance point for wolves.

“I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything about it now and make you feel awkward,” Ryan was saying. “But yeah. He talked about a lot of cruddy stuff. I told you you’re better off without him.”

“Thank you,” Cooper said. “But now you have a problem. These people here? I don’t want any of them to die. The opposite. And you’re going to have a really hard time convincing anyone differently.”

Ryan frowned. “Okay, I still feel like you don’t really understand the power of a myth. It sounds totally dopey to me and you, because we’re not wolves and weren’t saturated in that stuff. But when human sinners are punished and someone says it’s god’s will or karma or whatever, even total atheists don’t say no freakin’ way, you’re out of your mind. They keep their traps shut.”

Alice’s mouth was moving slightly now. Not like she was trying to speak, but like the teeth hidden just behind her lips were moving around of their own free will.

More time, more time, more time.

“But these aren’t sinners,” Cooper protested. “It won’t make sense.”

Ryan laughed. “Um, the twins were literally the heart of Robin Hood’s merry band of thieves. And this one?” he said, gesturing to Park with the electric prod. “He’s totally the bad guy. Wolves are almost as afraid of him as I’m going to make them afraid of you. You know how huge that’s going to be? The Moon taking out the Shepherd. I mean, we are talking Alien vs. Predator shizzle, right here. You are about to explode on to the scene. Our cred is going to rocket.”