“Where is Hibla?”

“Hibla has been reassigned.”

“Where?”

“Let it go,” he said, in that good-natured way as if we were sitting somewhere in a bar, sharing a drink, and I were venting to him about a co-worker who annoyed me. “She’s hard to kill and not worth the time.”

“When you see her, let her know I have a grave picked out for her. With a headstone and everything.”

“How about this: if you come with me, I’ll deliver her to you. You can play with her as long as you want. I’ll even heal you if she rips you up.”

“Still a pass.”

“You should reconsider. Just some friendly advice.”

“I don’t think so.”

Hugh leaned forward, his eyes amused, and looked me over, slowly, head to toe. “You look good.”

Spare me. “Nice touch letting Dorie go. If I don’t turn her over, you’ll start a bloodbath and I and the alphas will be blamed for it. If we do turn her over, we look weak and our own people will lose confidence in our leadership. Either way the Pack is destabilized and I’m the bad guy.”

“You’re beginning to catch on to how the game is played,” Hugh said.

“There’s a third possibility. I could kill Dorie and dump her dead body on your lap.”

“I don’t think so.”

He said it with absolute surety. Not a moment’s hesitation. Note to self: bluffing—learn to do it better.

“Why not?”

“Because it sends the wrong message. If you kill Dorie, every shapeshifter who has ever broken the law will wonder if they’re next on your hit list. If you go that route, nobody will follow you. I’m a bastard but even I don’t kill my own people, unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“No, you just put them in cages and let them slowly starve to death.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course, there is a fourth option.”

“And what’s that?”

“You come with me now,” he said. “And this whole ugly mess goes away.”

“I don’t believe you.” The words had come out almost on their own. But a look into his eyes told me he wasn’t lying. Shit. He really had come here for me. I was the sole reason Mulradin was dead and the Pack was now evacuating. Well, that was one mystery solved.

I didn’t need that kind of pressure. I had plenty to drag me down as it was.

Hugh shifted his weight, reached over, and drew a doodle on my ward. The magic nipped at his finger. It must’ve hurt. “I meant what I told you before. Their lives don’t matter to me. If I have to crush the coal to get to the diamond, I’ll do it.”

“Aha. And I’m the diamond?”

“You cut like one.”

Ha! “Flattery, really? Subtle like a hammer.”