I forced my question out, despite my growing fear. “What happened?”

“In the intervening period, the plot was discovered.” Monroe’s knuckles whitened as his hands locked together fiercely. “Instead of the escape, the team of Searchers encountered an ambush at the Bane compound. We lost more than half our number.”

“And Corrine? And her allies?” Shay’s voice was stern.

Monroe replied in a flat tone. “They had already been handed over to wraiths. All dead before we even arrived.”

I had to close my eyes as Monroe breathed life into the scenes from my nightmare. My organs felt brittle, ready to shatter.

“But they let Ren live?” I whispered. “They didn’t kill her child.”

“It’s been hard to put the pieces together, but from what I understand, Corrine’s mate was loyal to her master, never a conspirator against the Keepers. And the child remained in his care. After all, the young alpha for the new pack was still needed. And as you’ve already said, he knew nothing about how his mother truly died.”

Shay squeezed my hand again and I realized that tears were coursing down my cheeks. I swiftly brushed them away. He looked at Monroe. “Do you have any idea how she was betrayed?”

Monroe’s jaw set; he stared at his hands.

“I think that’s all, folks,” Connor muttered. “Are you satisfied?”

Shay’s head snapped around. “Would you just—”

“No, Shay.” I put my hand on his arm. “Thank you, Monroe.”

Monroe rose, giving us his back. “I’ll bid you good night.”

“Me too,” Tess said. She followed Monroe back to the staircase.

“Way to clear a room,” Connor mumbled, staring into his empty coffee cup.

“Leave it, Connor,” Adne said, and stood up. “Let’s just find another way to pass the time.”

He grinned at her. “I have a few ideas.”

“Mine are better and in the realm of possibility.” Adne sat on the table, put her feet on the bench, and rested the guitar on her knees. She strummed the chords and tilted her head.

“Requests?”

“Ladies’ choice,” Connor said.

She began to sing, her voice rich and low.

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” she sang.

Shay perked up. “Dylan Thomas?”

She paused, shrugging. “Yeah. It’s kind of our mantra here. I made up a melody to go along with the poem.”

“How long have you been playing?” Shay watched her fingers move along the frets, clearly fascinated.

“Since I was four,” Adne said. “My mother taught me.”

“She’s a natural, but that’s no surprise. Adne’s good at everything. Child genius and all.”Connor pushed a strand of Adne’s mahogany hair off her forehead. His brown eyes gleamed in the firelight as his fingers lingered on her skin.

A nagging suspicion crept through me. Something lay just beneath the surface of Connor and Adne’s constant bickering. I was sure of it.

So many hidden stories linking all of them together. These two have secrets of their own.

“I can tell,” Shay murmured, his eyes fixed on Adne’s swiftly moving fingers. “Could you teach me?”

Adne’s strumming paused. “To play?”

Shay nodded.

She smiled at him, patting the bench next to her. “Of course.”

Shay moved to her side and she placed the guitar on his thighs. I swallowed hard when she moved to sit behind him on the table, leaning over him so she could guide his hands on the guitar.

Despite my suspicions about Connor and Adne, I wondered if their story was in the past—and Adne had her eye on a future with Shay. I didn’t doubt Shay’s feelings for me, but jealousy still nipped at me anytime I saw him and Adne together. Even if he wasn’t interested in her, they were becoming fast friends. And that made my chest ache. I missed my friends. Especially Bryn. Even if she had to pry information from me about my feelings, her constant concern, her presence had sustained me. Every alpha needed that support.

I forced my eyes off Adne and Shay. The thought of turning into a wolf and pinning Adne to the floor was becoming more and more appealing.

“I think I’m gonna call it a night.” Connor yawned loudly, though he had fixed a hard gaze on the impromptu music lesson. “Adne, can I escort you to your room?”

“What?” Adne barely glanced at him. “I suddenly need an escort? Did we have a time warp to the nineteenth century that I missed?”

Connor glared at Shay and then kicked the floor with the heel of his boot. He looked vulnerable, something I’d never seen in the everjoking Searcher before.

“No, I—” he mumbled. “Night, then.”

“Night.” Adne’s attention was back on the guitar.

Connor looked back at Shay and Adne once more, hesitating. The expression on his face was strange, caught somewhere between anger and sadness.

“I think I’ll go to bed too,” I said. Before I tear her fingers off.

“I’ll walk you to your room. I’ll even sing you a lullaby . . . and maybe you could show me what makes you howl,” Connor said, a smile sliding across his mouth.

“Hey!” Shay snapped out of his trance to glare at the Searcher.

“Down, boy.” Connor laughed.

“Come on, Shay,” Adne chided, pulling his hands into place on the guitar. “Pay attention. Put your fingers here and here. That’s a G chord.”