As it happened, Nicodemus hadn’t found Polina’s wand before sunrise. Luckily, someone else had. No sooner had the sun broken the horizon than Silas plodded from the shelter of the branches, wearing cut-off shorts that couldn’t possibly be his and a dragon amulet. In his teeth was Polina’s wand. Logan held the door open for him, and Polina motioned for him to take a seat at the table. Silas returned her wand, and Polina pulled him into a quick hug.
“Thank the goddess you’re safe,” she said.
“I want to thank you two for stopping Alex. If you hadn’t, I’m not sure if the supernatural community would ever recover.”
“Agreed,” Polina said, gripping her wand with both hands. “What do you plan to do with the amulet?”
“It will be returned to the Siberian dragon fae. It’s where it belongs.”
Logan cleared his throat. “Why didn’t you tell me you were alpha of your pack? All this time and you never let me know.”
Silas lowered his eyes and ran his fingers over the table. “For your safety, Logan. The Fireborn wolves are the oldest and most established pack in the country. We rule the werewolf presence in North America. The man who was killed and stuffed in your dumpster was my decoy. He attended all werewolf events as me, just in case. He gave his life for me, but once he was dead, Alex knew the truth.”
“How?”
“My pack didn’t acknowledge him as their alpha. The connection between alpha and pack is metaphysical. If he’d killed me, they would have to bow down to him, no questions asked. It would have been possible for one of my siblings to challenge him for the position, but as long as he had the amulet, the effort would be fruitless.”
With one hand rubbing circles over Polina’s back, Logan narrowed his eyes on Silas. “Well, now you’ve told us, so I hope you know you can trust me.”
Silas’s eyes shifted between him and Polina. “And you, me. But I need to ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“What did you do with Alex’s body?”
Logan shook his head. “I broke his spine and dropped him on the side of the mountain. He’s dead.”
“Has to be,” Silas said. “If he wasn’t, his pack wouldn’t have reverted to me as their alpha.”
“My sous-chef, Jonah, was working for him. I think he was the one who actually committed the murder.”
“Don’t worry. Wherever he is, Jonah will find himself with new priorities. Polina, can I have your permission to recover the body from your property? It’s a pack thing. There are traditions we follow.”
“Yes. As long as you need.”
Silas nodded. “Then my work here is done. Something tells me you two will want to celebrate your new relationship.”
Logan grinned, noticing Polina’s cheeks redden. He opened the door to let Silas out, only to find Grateful and Rick on the other side.
“Oh thank the goddess! Are you all right?” Grateful eyed the shattered glass Polina had swept to one side of the kitchen. “We got your message and came as quickly as we could.” Grateful pulled Logan into a hug and then wrapped her arms around Silas.
Grateful’s raven familiar swooped through the door, barely evading their heads. “Hildegard? Oh my dear Hildie. What happened to you? Are you well?”
“Don’t look at me, Poe. I’m hideous!”
“No, of course you aren’t. You are as beautiful as a newborn chick.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes.” He cuddled against her on her kitchen perch. “A specimen to behold.”
Hildie rested her head on his black shoulder. “You are a terrible liar, but the feathers will grow back.”
Poe didn’t say a word, but the look he gave Logan portrayed something along the lines of thank the goddess.
Logan scratched the side of his head. The others were still staring at the two birds with various expressions of mild amusement. “Refreshing when love overcomes adversity.”
The others mumbled their agreement.
Polina took a deep breath and put on her most genuine smile. “Well, come on in. I’ll put on a pot of tea, and we’ll catch you up on the happenings of last night.”
Grateful stared at Logan, her eyebrows sinking over narrowed eyes. She reached out and poked her fingers directly into the area of his T-shirt that covered the brand-new scythe-shaped scar on his chest. “Yes. I think you both have some explaining to do.”
Polina lifted a teapot from the top of the stove and plunged it under the faucet.
“You may want to fill that pot,” Silas said, eyes fixating on the window. There were six men standing in the front yard, each of them disheveled and wearing hastily obtained apparel. “It looks like my backup from the Lycanthropic Society finally decided to stop by.”
Polina placed the full teapot on the burner and lit the fire underneath. “Welcome them in. I only want to have to tell this story once.”