Page 88 of Moon Claimed

I’d been an idiot to trust her so quickly.

“Thank you all,” I said. “When Herc was murdered, you got me as a replacement. I know how that looked—me hardly here a month and with the barest understanding of Victratum. I appreciate you giving me time to prove myself. I can’t deny I’m relieved at the win, but it’s just the start. I won’t rest until the stewards have all five in their pocket.”

And what would that mean for over seven hundred and fifty trapped Luthers?

I forced the thought away. They were my enemy, and the tribe was here first. Only one could win, and I could only worry about so much.

I took a fake sip. “Has anyone seen Rhona?”

“In the spa last I saw,” Valerie piped up at last.

Her fruit smell took on a sour edge that took me by surprise.Wow,Valerie really didn’t like me. Well, I’d give her two weeks to fix her attitude, then the grace period was at an end and I’d find a replacement. Her grief over Herc’s death shouldn’t be redirected toward me. Even if I deserved it more than she knew.

Walking through the manor wasn’t a quick task. Everyone wanted to talk. Halfway there, I waved at the Freys, absorbed in listening to a play-by-play by Reindeer—aka Brooke Sarson—my north team leader.

Now I’d sealed a win and gotten my head around the process, meeting every steward should become a priority.

“Hey, Wade?” I asked when he joined me at the patio above the pool.

“Baby girl?”

He wrenched to a stop at the balustrade, staring down at the spa. “Are you seeing that?”

I squinted in the same direction before remembering I had no need to squint anymore.

“Foley and Laura,” he hissed. “Sucking face.”

That was one way to say it. They looked to be doing everythingbuthaving sex. They’d scared everyone else out and the pool area was rapidly clearing.

“I thought he was exclusive with Rhona,” Wade said.

“So did I.”

My sister’s dark auburn ponytail was nowhere in sight, and a low anger unfurled in my stomach at Foley’s blatant disrespect. Even if they’d ended without my knowledge, this was bullshit.

I passed Wade my drink.

“Oh, shit,” he whispered.

Marching down the patio steps, I took hold of the calm, forest feeling cultivated through many hours of playing the saxophone. After forcing my wolf into a box, I knew that calm feeling was powerful and could be trusted. I was strong enough to control my wolf’s guest appearances.

My gums didn’t ache. My fingernails were normal length.

I crouched by their heads. Unnoticed.

Gross.

“Foley, dear,” I said sweetly.

He jerked away from Laura, and I smiled down at them.

“How are things going?” I asked.

Laura spoke female and established a convincing distance between them without delay.

“Have you seen Rhona?” I addressed the red-faced and, in my opinion, spineless man.

Foley stammered, “She broke up with me. This morning. Whatever you’re thinking.”