Moonlight's Ambassador (Aileen Travers Book 3)(74)

"What?" She seemed disinterested in the question, waving it away. "That's not important right now."

"Did you kill those people?" I asked, my voice brittle.

Her movements stopped, and she gave me a sidelong look, suspicion dawning. "Why are you asking that?"

"It's important," I said, my throat tight. "Did you kill those people?"

She stared at me for a long moment before twitching and shaking her head. "What? No?"

"You may not remember," I said, unable to let this go. "I'm told that your memories can get spotty near the full moon for the first few months."

"What are you talking about?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"The people in the alley way. Did you kill them?"

"What? No. How could you think that?" She looked horrified at my accusation.

"Your scent was there, and when you called me you kept talking about blood," I said.

She threw up her hands. "Yes, I was there, but I didn't kill them. I arrived after they were already dead. The blood may have made my wolf a little excited, but I didn’t murder them."

I fell quiet, thinking. Could she be telling the truth?

"How could you think that?" She appeared genuinely hurt that I thought she had killed them. "You know me. You know I'm not capable of that. For God's sake, I was a vegetarian until this whole werewolf thing happened."

"You were?" That was a new development.

"Yes!"

"Since when?" I just couldn't picture it. Caroline loved burgers.

"Since a year after you left," she said, her voice still outraged.

"That doesn't mean you didn't kill them," I said in a soft voice. I wanted to believe her, but she made it hard. She barely seemed in control. I could see her losing her temper and doing something she would regret later. Hell, I'd been in her shoes once upon a time, was still in her shoes on my worst days, if I wanted to be honest. Sometimes the only way I held on was through a wish and a prayer. Perhaps she hadn't had my luck.

"Come on, Aileen. You know me."

"I thought I did," I admitted. "I'm not so sure anymore."

She laughed. It was a bitter sound. "Then why are you here if you think I'm some homicidal wolf on a rampage?"

My throat locked down, and I was unable to think of a lie. The shame showed on my face, and I found it hard to meet her eyes.

"You didn't," she said, denial in her voice. Her eyes went over my shoulder. "Please tell me you didn't."

My voice was steady and seemed to come from far away as I straightened. "You need more help than I can provide. Look at you. Since we've been talking, you've almost lost your grip on the wolf twice. You're a danger to yourself and others."

She screamed, a long sound that turned into a howl. "I can't believe you. You're a hypocrite."

"Yeah," I admitted in a soft, defeated voice. "Feels like it right now, too."

Dark shapes swarmed across the ground, their movements a blur. Some were in their wolf form as they stalked along the bridge. Liam appeared at the other end, behind Caroline, cutting off her escape as Brax padded along the rail behind me.

Caroline snarled, falling into a defensive crouch as she looked between the two. Her eyes had taken on an amber sheen, and her fingers were tensed into claws.

"You're going to let them kill me," she accused, her eyes swung to mine.

"No one is going to kill you. They just want to help," I said.

"You don't know them. Brax will put me down if he thinks I've tasted human blood." Her voice was guttural.

My gaze turned towards him, a question in them. The grim look on his face did not allay my concerns.

"Stupid, Aileen. That was always your problem—acting first and then thinking of the consequences later." Caroline's voice filled with pain as her body twisted.

Within moments, a wolf stood in her place, the change faster than it should have been given her age. I took a step back, finally seeing why Brax and Sondra had been so convinced that Caroline was a danger. She was double the size of other wolves I'd seen, her head even with my shoulder and her fur shining white in the pale moonlight.

The wolf snarled, the sound dangerous, calling to the primal part of me. The one that recognized long ago that humans were not the top of the food chain. It was the part that originated from a time when our ancestors lived in caves. It sparked an immediate flight response.

"Caroline, calm down. They're not going to kill you. I made them promise," I said, backing away from the wolf whose head towered above mine.

"Aileen," Liam yelled, flying forward almost faster than my eyes could track. "Run."

I couldn't do that, struck with the sense that the moment I turned my back on her she'd rip my head from my shoulders. Not to say anything was stopping her from doing that now.

"Caroline." My voice rose in warning and fear.

Her paws inched forward, her head lowered in a hunting pose, her eyes tracking my every movement. Her nostrils flared, scenting the fear I couldn't stuff far enough inside. Another growl came, this one so low it was almost silent. Only the vibration of it felt, the sound of danger.

Caroline wasn't in those eyes. This was a predator. One that decided I had to go—whether that was because it was hungry, or saw me as a threat, I didn't know.