She didn’t know what to do. When she made her report to her uncle, she did so out of habit and training; to not tell him never crossed her mind. And maybe it was selfish, since she had no problem making up story after story, excuse after excuse when Boone asked her if she’d finally uncovered the identity of the vigilante vamp who—miraculously—seemed to go undercover in recent days.
Yeah. Because she’d kept him busy in Woodbridge and, later, in her apartment. Adam hadn’t had a chance to leave to roam the nights, hunting with his enchanted falchion, while he was with her in her bed.
Not anymore.
It only made it worse when she realized she was being a selfish brat. She was upset that she’d been dumped, but what about Evangeline? The kind woman had welcomed her into her home, taming her wild mate while actually offering Tabby the reason why the Alpha had to refuse to get involved with the Society. If she had an unstable witch on her ass, Tabby would probably hide behind wards, too.
And now, because of her big mouth, Evangeline was in danger.
She hoped that Wolfe was wrong. That the overprotective shifter was jumping to conclusions, that having a baby was a time for celebration, but it wasn’t the catastrophe that Wolfe was making it out to be.
Nope.
She made a few phone calls, starting with Boone. It didn’t take long before she discovered that that was wishful thinking.
It was out there. All of the contacts she could get in touch with confirmed what Wolfe said: news of Evangeline’s pregnancy was spreading like wildfire through the Para communities.
She had no one else to blame, either. Adam swore to Wolfe that he kept the secret, and none of the members of the pack would dare do anything to piss their leader off. No. The only one who spilled the beans was Tabby when she told Boone.
It had been a reflex. Being a slayer, it was ingrained into her to share any and all intel with the head of the Society. For Tabby, that went double since she trusted Boone with her life.
But that was the thing, wasn’t it? Her uncle would sacrifice anything for her. To some degree, it was the same for any of the slayers on his team. But while Boone took care of and watched out for his slayers, he couldn’t be bothered with Normies or paranormals unless they could help him—or they were targets.
Since Maddox Wolfe refused to trust the slayers with the truth about the witch tormenting his mate, Boone obviously didn’t feel the need to keep the Alpha’s secrets. The fact that Evangeline Wolfe was almost ready to give birth didn’t mean anything to him apart from another addition to the case files he kept on all-powerful Para figures in the area.
So while her uncle didn’t run around telling the world that Evangeline was pregnant, he didn’t keep it under wraps, either. It got out and, after she spoke to her uncle on the phone, she had the sinking suspicion that—like everything Boone did—there was a method to his madness.
After all, her uncle was interested in uncovering the paranormal surge in the mixed city. Even before the increase of Nightwalker killings last winter, there was a documented case of a witch using magic against a shifter and a human before disappearing.
She didn’t pay attention to that note in the Grayson file—why would she, when it didn’t involve any vamps—but now she knew exactly who’d been attacked by the lone witch: Evangeline Lewis and Colton Wolfe, Maddox Wolfe’s brother.
If that witch had anything to do with the increase of Para activity in Grayson, waving the unborn Wolfe pup in front of her could be like waving a red flag in front of a bull.
If so, then Adam was right. It was her fault.
She lost her Nightwalker because, after purposely hiding him from her uncle these last few weeks because she wanted to, she didn’t know when to keep someone else’s secret.
And there was nothing she could do about it now.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to do whatever she could to fix her mess-up. It might not earn her a second chance with Adam, but there was more at stake than her budding relationship with him. Tabby would never forgive herself if something happened to Evangeline’s baby because she was so quick to report in to Boone.
Three days later, when a familiar number popped up on her phone, she hoped that she would get her chance.
Taking a deep breath, trying not to sound overly eager, she answered. “Hello?”
“It’s me.”
There was only one man she knew with a voice so deep, so delicious, she immediately got hot. Was it possible to be turned on in two words? When the man was Adam Wright, it seemed it was.
And then she had to remind herself that she’d screwed up everything by giving away the secrets he trusted her with.
“Adam. How are you?”
“Been better. Look, I was wondering… are you still in town?”
She tried not to let that sting. Did he think so little of her that she would grab her stakes, her dagger, and her shit, and just run? Of course she was still in town.
“Uh, yeah. I haven’t gone anywhere yet.”