The air rushed from my lungs. He was letting a murderer roam free? “Why haven’t you done anything?”

His eyes widened. “Without proof? I’m one of the Seven. The way I act and lead my pack serves as an example for every other pack on this planet. If I start acting on the whims of a Were half-gone with grief over the loss of her mate, killing another Were with not a shred of evidence, then what does that show to everyone else?”

Shit. He had a point. “Let’s leave proof out of it for now. Is Vivian mad or just evil?”

“Vivian’s mad.”

I stomped over to him and gave him a shove. “You idiot! If she’s a mad wolf, then you have to take her out. Everyone knows the rule. A mad wolf cannot live. To hell with proof.”

“I agree,” he said calmly, taking my hand. “But I uphold the Law. That’s my job as one of the Seven. If I kill her without the proper tribunal and proof, then I call into question everything that the Seven does. I don’t have any proof that Vivian’s mad, and if I kill her without it, what’s to prevent someone like Imogene from calling Tessa mad and taking the matter into her own hands? Every feud would end with someone killing another Were and getting away with it. ‘The wolf was mad. It had to be taken care of.’”

I backed away from him. “How long have you known?”

“A long time.”

“Before you slept with her?”

“No. She hid it well.”

This was a huge problem. “Why did you sleep with her in the first place?” I didn’t want to know the answer, but I needed to know.

His regret and guilt came through the bond, sinking like a weight in my stomach. “It was a very, very long time ago, and I was lonely. I’d just joined the Council. It was harder than I thought it’d be. I was stressed and confused and trying to sort it all. And feck it, I just needed someone to talk to. And she was there. Bloody convenient, too…” He rubbed his forehead. “Ciara might not know it, but I worked hard to figure out what was really going on. I’d been called away on Council business when her mate and father were murdered, so I wasn’t there for all of it. But I tried to catch Vivian. This was before you could put up cameras everywhere and have proof. I took time off from the Seven and tailed her. I had others watching her when I wasn’t around. She never made a move until I called off the watch, and then something would happen. I even put Vivian in solitary for a while. I interrogated her for days on end, but she never broke. Her scent never smelled of lies, and the pack backed her up. Eventually, I had to give up or I’d look mad myself. I believed Ciara—in my heart, I knew she was right—but I hadn’t any proof. So I got her someplace safe before Vivian could do anything worse to her. Why do you think I asked your father to take Ciara in? To let her be as she wanted and not force her to join the Wayfarers?”