Wolf Shifter Diaries: Lies Tamed (Sweet Paranormal Wolf & Fae Fantasy Romance Series Book 2) E. Hall (best fiction novels of all time .txt) 📖

of him. Is he smug? Yeah. Irritable? Yes. Angry? Yep. Can he help? That remains to be seen, but I’m not going to go Alpha on him right out of the gate.

Corbin gives me a subtle nod.

We both turn our attention to the fae in the room.

“Can you tell us what happened to Tatiana?” I ask, picking up on Clint and Brucker’s laid-back interrogation style from the night before. Play it cool and it’s more likely Clove will cooperate.

“I went to visit her. Found her dead. Wolf-inflicted wounds.”

Corbin nods. “That’s what my beta reported.” He opens his mouth to say more, but using the wolf-way of communicating, I tell him to wait.

“How do you know it was Amanda though?” I ask.

“Because she was standing over the body. Then she pulled the hood of a red cloak over her shoulders and disappeared.” Clove snaps his fingers.

I do everything not to let my mouth fall open in shock.

Corbin transmits everything we just heard back to Baker.

“That must have been horrible. I’m sorry, Clove,” I say and mean it while keeping in mind what Baker said about fae magic being involved in Tatiana’s death.

“Was anyone else there?” Corbin’s lips pinch.

“No.” The word is bitter as though Clove is angry or hurt that we considered it might involve him.

“I imagine it all happened fast, but did you attempt to stop Amanda? Use any of your magic?”

“No. It was too late. But I think she took the cloak your father was looking for.”

I remember him mentioning that. “Interesting. I wonder why she wanted it.”

“To disappear and reappear.”

“Why did Greyson want it?”

Clove tosses his hands in the air. “I don’t know. Same reason? Fae cloaks are incredibly powerful. Melchior only gives them to his maidens.”

“Why were you visiting Tatiana?” Corbin asks.

He snorts. “None of your business.”

“It is. As Council member, it’s my job to protect all magicals. There have been a series of human deaths around Polaris. This is the first magical. Humans are threatening an investigation. I think I know what is taking out the locals. But if magicals are also being threatened—” His tone is grave.

“Tatiana can see the future, particularly when it comes to love. I wanted to ask her something.” Clove shrugs like it’s no big deal.

The corner of Corbin’s lip twitches, his eyes slide to me.

The little spark of light inside flares.

“What was it you wanted to show me, Clove?” I ask, prompting what he’d mentioned at the bakery.

His eyes flash with intensity as he gets to his feet. “Come this way.”

I get up but wait for Corbin to join me. We follow Clove down several halls until we reach a painting at the end of one lined with thick, scarlet carpet. A gilded frame surrounds the rendition of a man with gray eyes and a broad forehead. I imagine this place in its former glory. A bench with a velvet cushion sits beneath it. Clove pulls the corner of the frame forward and it swings open, revealing an entryway.

This time my mouth does drop. “What’s behind door number one?”

I follow Clove inside the secret room, recalling what Corbin said about sub-basements in old houses like this. He was on to something, but we’d just looked in the wrong place.

Chapter 10

Corbin

Kenna doesn’t move. Nor does she seem at all shocked at the sight of a secret passage. However, she staggers back as though doing a double take, staring at the painting, swung open on its hinges rather than at the opening behind it.

“Is that—?” She points at the rendition of the man with an abundance of slicked back, brown hair, wolfish eyes, and the fine features of the fae. A red cloak wraps around his neck. He holds a scepter that resembles Melchior’s in one hand and a diary in the other.

“Yes, that’s Greyson Slade,” Clove says.

“I didn’t notice this the other times I’ve been here,” Kenna says.

“It’s a gigantic house,” I say gently.

“But that’s him. My dad.” Her voice is breathy with awe.

Clove’s expression turns stony as he edges toward the shadow of the entryway.

Kenna blinks a few more times then she whispers, “Where are you?”

Outside, the rain pounds, lightning blazes across the dale, thunder claps, and a gust of wind rattles the thick, wavy windowpanes.

Kenna shivers and rubs her upper arms.

I follow her and Clove through the passageway behind the painting. It’s tragic about Tatiana, but I’ve never been overly fond of fae magic and this place reeks of it.

Sloping wood-paneled walls and lanterns paned with colored glass hang overhead. Clove flicks his hand and they blaze to life as he leads us to a room that’s part museum, part magical lair.

“This place is so spooky,” Kenna whispers.

In the near-dark, I find her hand and grip it tightly. My wolf sighs contentedly at her touch.

The light is dim and a set of large windows fill almost an entire wall. Books with brittle pages lay open. A glass globe of the world but containing water, rests in a wooden cradle. I spin it gently. The liquid sloshes from side to side, making waves. The storm outside surges with another clap of thunder, shaking the house. More lanterns flicker to life.

Clove leans toward Kenna, “I could show you how to do that.”

My wolf wants to growl for the thousandth time in the last hour. She’s my mate. It’s fated. Whatever Clove wants from her isn’t happening. Still, I have to force myself to remain distant so when we find Greyson, he doesn’t try to use her against me. I’ve played out countless scenarios where the magical world’s greatest enemy uses my affection for the MMW against me.

The Council would have a field day with