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Callie. He loved her with a steady and deep adoration. I wasn’t sure about Vaughn. I was never quite sure of his feelings for her. He and Peter were close as brothers, but I wondered if that was enough to keep him bonded.
    Jonathan, the bastard, I could see him ditching Nora in a millisecond if someone better came along. He was such a coward, he wouldn’t do it until he was sure. I’d bet he’d spent the better part of the Great Gathering looking for just such an opportunity. The fact that he was still a member of Riverglow proved he’d failed. That afforded me some small satisfaction.
    Again, after he was sure I was declining his invitation to make a comment, Allerton continued. “They were able to convince a pair from Mac Tire to leave that pack and join this one with the understanding they’d be Alpha when it was quite sure Callie was past her childbearing window.”
    “Mac Tire?” Murphy stirred in his chair. “Paddy never mentioned that.”
    Allerton held up a hand. His nails were professionally manicured and he wore an expensive Cartier wristwatch with a chased silver band around his wrist. I could hear it ticking if I tried hard enough.
    “They’re from the English branch.”
    For some reason Murphy’s eyes darkened and he went very still. I was confused because, while I expected Murphy to know the members of his pack in Ireland, I didn’t think his personal knowledge would extend all around the UK. Mac Tire was a huge pack, but each country had separate Alphas who presumably knew each other and interacted, but I hadn’t thought it trickled down to the entire membership.
    “I believe you know them. Him at least,” said Allerton, his expression bland enough, but something in his voice made me come to alert.
    Murphy’s gaze was flat and hostile.
    “Colin Hunter and Devon Talbot.”
    Murphy reacted to the names like gasoline poured on fire. “Oh hell no,” he snarled, pushing back his chair. “Oh, fucking hell no. You could’ve told me this on the phone, Allerton, leaving me the opportunity to decline your invitation. Now I’m just gonna have to friggin’ walk out.”
    I leaped to my feet too, grateful for an opportunity to escape.
    Murphy saw me and snapped, “You sit back down. I’ll be back for you tomorrow, Stanzie.”
    He’d promised to stay with me. He told me he would be with me when I had to confront Grandfather Tobias and listen to what he wanted to tell me. Now he was halfway out the damn door all because of some man named Colin Hunter, and I hadn’t the slightest clue who he was or why Murphy despised him so much. Hatred was all over his face and in the barely controlled violence of his movements. He was one step away from breaking something. He would have attacked Allerton if he’d dared, but he was putting distance between them instead.
    I’d never seen Murphy so furious. The tone of voice he’d used on me was unfamiliar too. He’d never spoken to me so angrily, as if I didn’t matter, as if I were just one more obstacle in his way out the door.
    I had nowhere to go if Murphy walked out. I didn’t even have my purse or any money. All of that was in the trunk of the car with our luggage.
    The door slammed behind Murphy then five seconds later the front door slammed too. Absurdly, I wondered whether he’d taken his coat. It was bitter cold outside.
    I stood there like an idiot, clutching the back of my chair. I struggled against bursting into cheated tears of frustration and betrayal. The weight of my bond pendant was heavy around my throat. The peridot and pearl hung suspended from a long chain I’d tucked under the edges of the turtleneck sweater.
    The peridot was my birthstone; the pearl Murphy’s. Together they symbolized our bond and were the Pack’s version of a wedding ring.
    Murphy had one too. He wore it beneath his sweater and never took it off unless we shifted.
    “I’m sorry, Constance. I knew he’d be upset, but I’d hoped he’d handle it better than