“Heard what?” asked Jaime.
“Bang.” Riley swallowed hard. “I’m not entirely sure where Wade got the gun, but he shot and killed every kid there. It all happened so fast. I should have shifted and flown off, but I heard one of them shout Wade’s name and I thought that meant he’d turned up at the party—that made me freeze, wondering what the fuck I could do to help. I didn’t think for a single second that he was the one holding the gun. Not until he came into the kitchen. His eyes . . . they were dead. No rage, no thirst for violence. I swear, it chilled my blood.”
Riley paused in surprise as Tao’s hand squeezed hers. “I tried to talk Wade into putting the gun down, I asked him not to shoot. He frowned at me as if I was stupid, said he’d never hurt me, and then he just walked out the back door. People came to help, but by then he’d shifted and flown off into the mountains.”
“Did they track him?” asked Trick, leaning forward.
“The Beta, Hugh, found his dead body a couple of days later,” said Riley. “It looked like he’d died from dehydration, according to Hugh. He could have survived if he’d stayed in his avian form, but I think he wanted to die.”
Makenna wrapped her arms around herself. “God, that’s horrible.”
“There’s more,” Tao sensed. “I can understand you leaving the territory while the memories are too fresh, Riley, but not why you’d stay away for four years. There has to be more.”
She rubbed at her nape. “A lot of people were grieving. They’d lost sons and daughters. And as much as they were glad that I was okay . . .”
“They resented you for it,” Makenna finished.
Riley lifted one shoulder, asking, “Who could blame them? Of course they’d be wishing their own child survived. I could understand that. But Wade’s mother, Shirley . . . well, she didn’t want to face what her son had done. And you know what? I can understand that too. But she went too far—she accused me of putting him up to it. She said I must have taken advantage of his depressed state and made him act against his nature.”
Jaime gasped. “That’s crazy.”
“She made it sound very believable. I mean, I was the only survivor. Why shoot the others and not me? She implied I could have taken Wade there, watched while he did it, and then helped him get away. Some of the grievers were angry enough to want to believe that so they could have a living, flesh-and-blood person to rail at. Ravens are extremely protective of their young—it’s in their bones. Those deaths rocked everyone, made the parents feel like they’d failed their children. They wanted a whipping boy, someone they could project all that guilt onto.
“I was worried it would come to a point where someone finally did choose to believe it, so I left before things were said that couldn’t be unsaid.” And because she’d needed the time and space to deal with her own grief. “I’d always wanted to do a little traveling anyway. Most avian shifters do.”
Dominic tilted his head, asking, “Why didn’t you go back?” It was odd seeing him without his usual impish grin.
“Every time I thought about it, it just didn’t feel right,” said Riley.
“Of course it didn’t feel right,” said Taryn. “A shifter’s territory is their safe place. That event tainted it for you. And you no doubt felt betrayed by the very people who should always support you. I wouldn’t be in any rush to return either.” She blew out a breath. “You’re truly ready to go back, even if it’s just for the weekend?”
Riley nodded. “It’s time.”
After a moment of silence, Taryn asked, “When do you need to leave?”
“Friday.”
Makenna winced. “Can’t you leave on Saturday instead?”
Riley frowned at Makenna’s worried look. “Why?”
“Taking a trip on Fridays leads to misfortune,” Makenna said sagely.
Ryan closed his eyes, sighing. Makenna was incredibly superstitious and saw signs everywhere. Ryan, however, was a very practical person who believed superstitions were completely illogical.
“Sorry,” said Riley, stifling a smile, “the party’s Friday.”
“I’ll text Shaya and ask if there’s any chance you can borrow Nick’s friend’s private jet,” Taryn said, referring to the Mercury Pack Alphas. The packs were very close, especially since Roni had originally been a Mercury wolf, and so they shared Roni and Marcus. “We’ve done it a few times,” Taryn added. “Where in Arizona does the flock live?”
“Sedona, Arizona.”
Trey rubbed at his jaw. “The question is . . . who do you take with you to Sedona?”
Riley frowned. “I don’t need anybody to come along.”
“None of us go anywhere alone, Riley,” said Trey. “You know that.”
“I was invited,” announced Tao. “Lucy asked me to come.”
“Ah, well, then it makes sense for you to go,” Taryn said to him.
Shaking her head, Riley insisted, “I really don’t need protection.”
“Like Trey said, we don’t go anywhere alone,” said Dante. “The ravens aren’t going to like having a strange wolf on their territory. Tao’s a Head Enforcer—that’s a position people take note of, and it would make anyone very reluctant to fuck with him.”
“What about Kye?” asked Riley. “Tao’s his bodyguard.”
“And I take that position very seriously,” said Tao, “but someone else can take over for a couple of days. You can’t go there without protection, and you know full well I’m not going to hang back here while you leave our territory for the weekend, so why are we wasting time discussing it?”
Turning to fully face him, Riley folded her arms. “Lucy might have invited you, but I didn’t.”
Tao gave a careless shrug. “Doesn’t change the fact that I’m going.”
“Tell me honestly, how much of that story did you already know?”
“Most of it,” Tao replied. “I didn’t know you’d been at the shooting or that anyone had even thought to pin the blame on you, but I did know there was one.”
Trick frowned at Tao. “You knew . . . and you didn’t tell us?”