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fears. ‘How could he have had anything to do with this?’
    I waited, silently terrified, until Theo’s hands shifted to my shoulders.
    ‘I have told you this before, my Moth: the boy is his father’s son. He was already in training to take up the hunter’s mantle – now that Murdoch Senior is dead, I believe that the son has already taken his place. It is  . . . inevitable.’
    I shook my head, unable to stop myself. ‘There’s no way he could hunt and kill a vampire as old and powerful as Nicole. It’s impossible.’
    ‘One shot is all it takes,’ Theo said. ‘We are surprisingly vulnerable. Why do you think I am such a strong supporter of keeping our existence a secret?’
    ‘But he wasn’t even there!’
    ‘I remember his scent,’ Theo said, his tone flat and cold. ‘The Murdochs are known to me. I am almost certain I caught a hint of something familiar outside Subterranean, even before the attack. Before Nicole  . . . fell.’
    I hadn’t smelled a thing, but then it had all happened so fast – and I couldn’t help thinking that Theo was reaching. Not that I would dare say that to him right now. My sense of self-preservation was stronger than that.
    ‘
Almost
certain?’ I said, trying to keep my tone light. ‘That doesn’t sound completely sure to me.’
    My Maker’s hands slipped upward, this time to my throat, gently resting on either side of my neck as though he were holding something precious. I didn’t dare move. Theo was on edge, acting way out of character. There was something destructive and dangerous in him that I hadn’t seen in more than a year – since
that
night, when he’d ripped into my throat with fangs I couldn’t believe even existed.
    I stood perfectly still, reminding myself that I didn’t need to breathe.
    He moved again, sliding his arms around me as he bent his head, nuzzling my throat. He brushed his lips against my skin and I felt everything in my body draw tight, even as my mind rebelled and terror rose like soft smoke in my stomach.
    ‘Perhaps,’ Theo said, his voice practically a growl, ‘
this
will convince you of Murdoch’s guilt.’
    I waited for a bite that never came  . . . Instead, he pulled a scrap of cloth from his pocket, presenting it to me with a bizarre flourish.
    It looked like something that had been torn from a jacket or coat made of classic khaki camo-green. An army jacket.
A jacket exactly like the one Jace always wore.
I stared at it, trying to make it change into something else using the power of my mind. This had to be a mistake, right? Someone was framing Jace. A piece of his jacket torn and left at the scene of the crime? That was ridiculous.
    Also: ‘There are thousands of people who’d wear a jacket like that,’ I said. ‘How can you be so sure it has anything to do with the Murdochs?’
    Theo narrowed his eyes. ‘There may be thousands who would wear such a garment, but I find it unlikely that the same number of people would know anything about vampires – or be attempting to hunt them.’
    I jutted out my chin. ‘It could have been
anyone
on that motorcycle.’
    ‘I caught his scent in the air. I traced that very scent to a piece of his clothing. I know it was him and I will take what is mine to take. What is
owed
.’
    ‘Someone could have planted it,’ I said, not thinking before I spoke. Just desperate to distract Theo in any way I could. ‘There are so many explanations, and you’re just jumping to the one that suits you.’
    But my racing mind offered up another idea, one I hated to even acknowledge:
What if it was true?
    I said, ‘Why didn’t you show this to the others?’
    ‘You question my judgment?’
    ‘No,’ I said hastily. ‘Of course not. I’m just curious about your reasons.’
    Theo snatched the cloth from me. ‘I wish to hunt him down myself. It is my duty.’
    ‘Why? Because Nicole died in your city?’ I never understood vampire protocol. It always felt like I was playing catch