“Ah.” Donovan sighed. “I’m not liking where you’re taking this.”

“Me neither. But after the curse, everyone knew you and I were mates. That’s the only thing that changed, and I think she was jealous. Another super-strong, amazing Alpha was stolen from her. And since she was more alpha than me, it must’ve really annoyed her. I was lower than her. She should’ve gotten someone first. But that’s not what happened.”

I bit my lip as I thought about those last few weeks with her. She’d been pretty hostile to me, and I hadn’t been able to figure out why, after so many years, she’d decided to hate me. “I doubt she’s coming back to Ireland. Not unless she gets really desperate.”

Donovan leaned against the file cabinet, crossing his arms. “She wasn’t on my list of possible mates, if you’re wondering.”

I almost laughed. “No. I wasn’t wondering. I don’t think she even wanted you. She just didn’t want me to have someone better than what she got. Picking a mate was about power and status for her.” I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. Shannon really rarely talked about Ireland. We mostly talked about school, boys, and whatever gossip was going around campus.” I hoped Shannon would be okay, wherever she ended up. I wanted her to find her slice of happiness.

I glanced over at the files. “What all do you keep in there?”

Donovan opened a drawer and pulled out a thick book. “This is our roster. It has comings and goings, as well as marriages. Those kinds of things.” He put the book back. “Any Were who has ever been in my pack has a file. Some are thin. They might only have records of marriage, their children, or their profession. Others are thicker. Those are the ones who’ve been in challenges. Fights. Any issues with the pack are recorded.”

I gave the cabinet a stare. “Any chance you can narrow it down? Where should I start?”

“’Course I can.” He slid open the top drawer and handed me a file. “This covers the top five in the pack. There are more extensive files on each of them in the bottom drawer. I like to keep track of the higher-ups.”

That was normal, but I was looking for something else. “What about any problem people? People who’ve either been in a lot of fights, caused drama, or disrespected your authority. I’d love to look at those files first.”

He froze. “You can’t possibly think that one of my own killed John.”

I did. It felt like the most obvious answer. “Can you rule it out?”

He rubbed his forehead. “I haven’t been back in a while… Maybe over a year now that I think of it. And then it was just for a week or two. It’s been like that going on three or four years.”

Whoa. “So in the last four years, you’ve been home maybe a month or two?” That was way longer than I’d ever heard of an Alpha leaving their pack.