Lucas blew out a breath. “Yeah.”
“Just ‘yeah’?”
“I’m your alpha, Mercy,” Lucas said, voice quiet. “I picked up the mating dance this morning.”
She sucked in a breath. “You telling me you’re already using Bowen and his team, but don’t want Riley to know?”
“He’s not rational on this. Neither, for that matter, is Dorian.”
“But it’s Riley you’re worried about with me.” Turning, she fought the urge to kick at a nearby wall. “I’m asentinel, Lucas. My loyalty is to DarkRiver.” Again, an alarm flared in her head. Again she didn’t listen, too angry to understand what it was attempting to tell her.
“I’m not questioning that.” Lucas’s tone changed, became openly alpha. “But the mating dance screws with your emotions—I didn’t want to put you in a tough spot.”
“I don’t spill things during pillow talk,” she said, frustrated and hurt that he’d think so little of her. “I can keep Pack secrets.”
“I know you can.” This time, the panther was in his voice. “Shit. I’m sorry, Merce. It was never meant as a comment on your loyalty to Pack.”
The cat was still bewildered by the blow that had come from nowhere, but she couldn’t doubt her alpha. Lucas didn’t lie to his sentinels, no matter if the truth was a bitter pill to swallow. “So?” she asked, releasing her fisted hand.
“We checked out Bowen and his team—everything we found backs their story. Right now, I’ve got them working on tracking down the new Alliance squad, but their major strength is in information. If we manage to unearth the name of the target . . .”
Mercy nodded. “Much easier to work backward. Who’s running Bowen and his people?”
“I am. I’ll let you know the instant they come up with anything—that was never a question.”
Feelings soothed, if not totally mended, she nodded. “Alright. I’d better get back to work.”
But she didn’t immediately return to her patrol area after hanging up, feeling a strong urge to speak to her mother. Comfort, she thought. She was like a cub seeking comfort. She didn’t care. Coding in the number for her childhood home, she waited until Lia answered. “Hey, Mom.”
“What’s the matter, darling?”
Her throat closed up at the unconditional love in that single sentence. “Things are a little mixed up.” She bent to pick up a marble that had seen better days and threw it lightly into the air, catching it on the way down. “I guess I just needed to hear your voice.”
“Come to dinner, baby.”
“I don’t know if I can tonight, Mom.” She’d be lousy company in her current frame of mind. “But I’ll be by this week.”
“Mercy, sweetheart, does some of this ‘mixed up’ stuff have to do with a certain wolf?”
Mercy winced. “Who told you?”
“Well, I kept expecting you to do so . . .”
“I planned to,” she said, rolling the marble between thumb and forefinger and wondering why she’d ever thought anything could remain a secret from her mom.
“It doesn’t matter, baby. I took matters into my own hands.” A familiar hint of steel.
Mercy’s leopard sat up. “Oh?”
“I called Riley a few minutes ago. He’s coming to dinner tomorrow at seven. Don’t be late, sweetheart.”
Mercy hung up after a few more words, knowing a summons when she heard one. If she didn’t turn up, well, Mount Vesuvius had nothing on her mom.
It seemed to be her day for calls because no sooner had she gone to shove the phone into a pocket than Ashaya rang through. “We did a very, very quick run-through with the samples you brought up from the body,” the scientist told her, her voice excited.Tooexcited. Mercy went to ask what was wrong, but Ashaya was already continuing to speak. “He had traces of the same drug in him that we found on the men who tried to kidnap me.”
“Damn.” Mercy closed her fist around the marble. “You figured out what’s so special about it yet?”
“Possibly.” Ashaya paused. “I’m supposed to make sure I deliver reports to DarkRiver and SnowDancer simultaneously on this issue.”