We found Brix, Mira, and Lord Frost waiting out in the hall. Mira had her arms crossed over her ample chest and a frown on her lips. “What the hell is going on?”
Ethan stopped before them and sighed. “I am loathe to admit, but someone tampered with one of the knobs in the Hurst room, injuring Maxwell’s mate.”
Brix’s eyes widened. “What sort of tampering?”
Lord Frost’s bushy eyebrows crashed down. “Is the young woman well?”
Ethan nodded. “She will be, and the tampering was of the burning variety. The knob was changed out for one of silver.”
Mira scowled at him. “This is your house, Greylock. What the hell happened?”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid that has yet to be deduced, but I assure you we will discover who did this heinous act and will bring them before you for due punishment. In the meantime, might I suggest you all stay in your rooms until the lunch hour of noon, at which time we will discuss this matter with the whole of the council and their pack members. If you will excuse me.” He bowed his head and limped down the stairs out of sight.
The other council members had a mixture of scowls and concern on their faces before they retired to their rooms. Chris pursed his lips at where our pack leader had gone before he grasped my shoulder and turned his full attention on me. “I’ll be right back.”
I frowned. “Wait a-”
“I knew you’d understand.” He pecked a kiss on my cheek and hurried off after Ethan.
“Hey!” I shouted as I scurried after him.
My feet were so quick that I tripped over them and nearly tumbled down the stairs. Chris spun around halfway down the steps and caught me in his arms.
I sheepishly raised my face up to his concerned and bemused expression. “So, are you going my way?”
He rolled his eyes a little as he righted me at his side. “I’d like to go the way of Greylock, but I’ve lost the trail.”
I tapped the side of my nose. “But not the scent.”
He eyed my schnoz with a mixture of admiration and hesitation. “Have you got that under control?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at him. “It found those mushrooms earlier, didn’t it?”
“You stepped on the first one.”
“But I still found it!”
He tried to hide his smile as he looped an arm through one of mine and guided me down the stairs. “Well, let’s see if you have that same good luck and step on Greylock.”
We reached the bottom of the steps, and I grabbed ahold of the banister to stop him. I lifted my nose and took in a long, deep breath. I came away with a sneeze.
Chris grinned at me. “We’re trying to catch Greylock, not a cold.”
“Very funny,” I growled as I rubbed the underside of my nose with one finger. “Do you know how much of his scent permeates this place? He’s practically everywhere at once.”
“So no sniffing?”
“He’s everywhere at once, but his scent is strongest that way.” I pointed at the hall that led to the rear of the building. “Besides, I think I see him walking along the lake shore.”
Chris snorted as he led me down the passage. “Cheater.”
I grinned. “You know it.”
We hurried down the passage and out into the cooling light of the late afternoon sun. Ethan limped along the shores as I had seen him, and we met him where he stopped close to the water line. He had his back turned to us and the head of his cane clasped tightly in his hands.
“You have a question for me.”
Chris pursed his lips. “Was the switch in doorknobs a warning, or attempted murder?”
Greylock half-turned to us with an admiring smile on his lips. “A good question, Chris. I wish I had the answer.”
“Then tell me,” I caught his look in my frown, “tell us how dangerous silver can be. We’ve seen in burn flesh, but is it deadly?”
Greylock sighed. “If ingested, it will destroy a werewolf as though they had taken acid. When a werewolf touches silver, their flesh is burned, sometimes down to the bone if the silver is pure enough and in a liquid state. In the situation we have here, the doorknob could not have killed whoever touched it, even werewolves as young as you two.”
I furrowed my brow. “Do we even know who the knob trap was for? I mean, who knew they were going to be put into that room besides us?”
Greylock shook his head. “No one.”
I winced and glanced over my shoulder in the direction of the manor house. “Then shouldn’t we be checking all the rooms just in case?”
“There wasn’t time,” Chris spoke up as he folded his arms over his chest and scrunched his face up in an adorable thoughtful expression. “We didn’t wait outside that long for the guests to arrive. Whoever did it had maybe ten minutes to switch the doorknobs.”
I snorted. “So, all we need to do is give everyone a test on how fast they can switch doorknobs?”
Chris raised an eyebrow at our pack leader. “Could Maxwell have done it himself?”
I blinked at him. “Why would he do that?”
He shrugged. “He hardly seemed the type to worry about the health of his own mate, and it would make all the packs look with suspicion at us.”
Greylock furrowed his brow. “A good assumption, and I’m afraid I agree with your characterization of our council member. Unfortunately, I doubt he is our werewolf.”
Chris frowned. “Why is that?”
“The pack in which Maxwell belongs-”
“The Shadows?” I asked him.
Greylock smiled and inclined his head to me. “Just so. They have a rather embarrassing weakness: silver.”
Chris furrowed his brow. “Isn’t that the weakness of all werewolves?”
“It is when they’re young, but as they grow older, they come to have an immunity to all but the worst effects, such as ingestion.” He raised his cane up in one hand and the sun reflected off the silver-topped head.
My eyes widened and I pointed at the top. “That’s really silver?”
He nodded. “Yes, and of the purest kind. At my age I can afford the luxury of not only a fine cane, but a fine immunity to silver. For those of the Shadow pack, however, that immunity never comes. They can’t touch even the tiniest flake of silver without their skin bruising.”
I held up a hand and wiggled my fingers. “What if they wore gloves?”
He shook his head. “Even if they were to wear the thickest of gloves in the world, anyone of the Shadow pack would still be burned horrifically in such an attempt.”
Chris furrowed his brow. “Then for him or anyone in his pack to touch the silver would be impossible.”
Greylock inclined his head. “Very much so.”
Chris arched an eyebrow at our pack leader. “Does our pack have any weaknesses?”
That mischievous smile appeared on Greylock’s lips. I couldn’t help but remember my conversation with Duncan about Greylock’s earlier, more mysterious years. “Would I invite you to an imperfect pack?”
I snorted. “Well, we do have Duncan.”
Greylock chuckled. “I stand corrected, but we have no such weakness which is unfortunate in this case as it makes us all suspects in the knob switching.”
A dark cloud settled on Chris’ pensive expression, and he cast a sharp look at Greylock. “Would Bonnie do something like this?”
Greylock settled his cane back on the ground and an expression I’d never seen on his face appeared. Irritation, and maybe even a little bit of anger, though with a touch of… what? Exhaustion? “I can understand your suspicion, but there’s no need to suspect her. While she does hold a grudge against the Shadows, she would not act upon those emotions.”
“And you can be sure of that?” Chris persisted.
I looped an arm through one of Chris’ and he looked down at me. A small smile appeared on my lips as I gave his arm a squeeze. “She wouldn’t do it now.”
He searched my face for an answer to my firm statement. “Why do you say that?”
I nodded at the manor house. “Because she wouldn’t do something that would get Duncan into trouble. For all her gruffness around him she really does care for him a lot, and she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. The Shadows definitely, but not Duncan.”
Chris raised an eyebrow, but there was a soft twinkle in his eyes. “How do you know that?”
I grinned. “Call it woman’s intuition.”