“No, it has to be someone who knows you’re here and knows that you’re innocent. And no one knows…”

Titus’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

I exhaled slowly when I caught on. “Spencer. Titus, it can’t be him. He helped us.”

“I don’t want to believe it, but he knows I’m in Jackson, and he knows about Justus. And he works ten minutes from here.”

“And he brought Corey Morris to your house, which is what implicated you in the first place.” I closed my eyes as I thought aloud. “But he couldn’t have known that would happen. Morris hadn’t shifted yet.”

“Unless Spencer already knew that Justus infected Morris.”

My eyes flew open. “How would he know that?”

“He couldn’t unless… Fuck!” Titus lifted my legs from his lap and shot to his feet, pacing so hard and fast I was afraid he would burn a hole in the carpet. “If Spencer infected Justus, he would already have known how much his scent smelled like mine.”

“But why would he do that?” I had to agree; the evidence made sense. But… “Why would Spencer infect your brother? Have the two of you ever had a falling out? Or even an argument?”

“No.” Titus stopped pacing. “But I did turn him down when he applied to be an enforcer.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought he’d be more valuable to the Pride in the hospital, where he might be able to intercept new strays. And where he has access to a whole network of medical records. If I could, I’d put one of my men in every hospital in the state.”

“And he resented being told to stay where he was?”

“Not that I could tell. He seemed to see the advantage of his position.”

“Well, then why would he do this?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Titus headed for the front door. “Come on, Thelma, it’s time to unmask the bad guy.”

NINETEEN

Titus

“Call him again,” I said as I stepped on the gas, and my car shot through the intersection beneath a yellow light.

“I’ve called him four times. He’s not going to answer, Titus. But that doesn’t mean anything. He’s at work.”

I swerved to avoid a car turning into our lane, and Robyn gasped.

“Slow down!” She grabbed her armrest and glared at me. “If we have a wreck—”

“Then the ambulance will get us to the hospital even faster.”

“Okay, let’s compromise. You slow down, and I’ll call the ER. He’ll have to take the call if it comes to him at work.”

“Fine.” I dropped the speedometer by ten miles per hour while she searched for the ER’s phone number, using the browser on her cell. A second later, she held the phone up to her ear.

“Hi, this is—” An irritated female voice cut her off. “No, it’s not a medical emergency,” Robyn said. “But don’t put me on—!” She turned to me and spoke through clenched teeth. “I’m on hold.”

“Naturally.” I pressed harder on the gas as I changed lanes again, and again Robyn grabbed her door handle.

“Would you—?” She blinked as a voice came over the line again. “Oh hi, yes I’m here. I need to speak to Spencer Cole. I believe he’s a nurse.”

“Honey, if Spencer were here, we wouldn’t be so slammed, and I wouldn’t have had to put you on hold in the first place. He walked out a couple of hours ago.”

“Do you know where he went?” Robyn asked, bouncing in her seat as I rolled over a bump in the road.

“No, and I don’t care,” the voice on the phone snapped. “But if you see him, tell him if he’s not here at eleven, he’s fired.”

Robyn hung up her cell and dropped it into her lap. “Well, it looks like the ER won’t be giving Spencer an alibi for Leland’s murder. A couple of hours ago…” she said, clearly lost in thought. “Was that before or after we met him at the fountain? Would he have had time to go ransack your brother’s place, then track Leland down, all after we spoke to him?”

“You can ask him that yourself, in a minute.” I flicked on my blinker and pulled into a parking lot on the right, so fast that Robyn slid into the passenger’s side door. “We’re going to his apartment.” I pulled into the first open space and slammed the gear shift into park, then tapped my cell screen to wake it up. Along with all the other official members of the Pride, Spencer’s address was in my contact information, along with his birthday, blood type, and every other bit of information I might ever need.

Robyn peeked at the screen. “Wow, you’re super-organized.”

I clicked on Spencer’s address, and the map app opened, showing me the fastest way to get there. “It’s in the job description.” Even if I no longer officially held the job.

“Yet I’m pretty sure most of the other Alphas are still working from hand-written address books.” Robyn cocked her head to the side. “Though come to think of it, I don’t think many of them would ever need information like this on the go, because most of them lead from the rear. They’re not all as hands-on as Faythe and Marc.”

But I was hardly listening. I couldn’t think about anything but Justus, and what had been done to him, and how that was spilling over to ruin lives and threaten the well-being of the entire Pride. And Robyn. I inhaled slowly, bracing myself for an argument. “When we get there, I want you to stay in the car.”

Robyn snorted. “Would I be repeating myself if I told you to go to hell?”

“Do you want me to handcuff you to the steering wheel?” I took a left turn too sharply, and she had to grab her door handle again.

She snorted. “If you have handcuffs, last night would have been a good time to show them off.”

“This isn’t a joke.” I let a bit of a growl leak into my tone. This wasn’t a lover moment; this was an Alpha moment, and the fact that we were having trouble differentiating between the two was an unexpected complication. “We’re going to confront a potential murderer, and I swore to keep you safe.”

“Titus, I killed four murderers. By myself.”

“I know, but they were human, and you had the element of surprise.”