37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Marissa and Seren were dressed but Daniella was still in her jammies, looking lost. ‘Sorry to interrupt your morning, especially so early.' I looked at Daniella. ‘But we need to talk about David.'

She blanched. ‘I know, but…' She shook her head. ‘I still can't believe it. I honestly thought he was the sweetest man, yet he led Isaacs' wolves right into Nina and almost handed them the orb. It's hard to reconcile the man I thought he was with the man he clearly is.'

He was a liar and a scoundrel, Esme hissed.

That wasn't what Daniella needed to hear right now. ‘He pulled the wool over all of our eyes,' I soothed. ‘You're not alone in feeling betrayed.'

‘No, I don't suppose I am.' She folded her hands on her lap, looked up at me and made a visible effort to collect herself. ‘What do you need to know? '

‘We have to find him,' Greg said. ‘We need to know his favourite haunts, anywhere he'd go and stay. Does he have any family locally?'

‘His parents,' she said slowly. ‘But I honestly don't think he'd go there. He wouldn't put them in danger.'

‘You would have said that about his pack a few hours ago,' Greg pointed out.

She winced. ‘I guess I would have.' She shrugged. ‘Either way, I can't help you. I don't know their address.'

‘We can find it.' Greg retrieved his phone, no doubt to text Fritz, his tech whiz-kid friend. ‘What else?'

Daniella licked her lips. ‘He loves Cliveden House. He'd often go as soon as it opened and mosey around the gardens. He found them inspiring. He loved Rosie's, too, but I'm assuming he wouldn't be stupid enough to go there. It's not like he doesn't know your cousin runs it and you'd be informed the minute he walked in.'

‘Anything else?' I asked.

‘The garden centre? Sorry I'm not being very helpful, but he's more of a take-out and movie-at-home kind of a guy. He isn't particularly sociable.' She sighed. ‘I liked that about him. Are we sure he wasn't coerced in some way?' she asked hopefully

I sighed. ‘Believe me, I'll give him a full chance to explain himself. I would love him to have a rational explanation for all of this.' And I really would: part of me hoped he'd been blackmailed or something like that, which would make sense of his actions.

Regretfully, with all I'd been through with Mrs Dawes, I knew that some people just weren't who you thought they were. We all project the person we want the world to see but it's not always a true reflection of our inward selves.

‘Me too,' she muttered, then crumpled into the chair. Like me, she knew it wasn't likely.

Seren put an arm around Daniella; she was a far cry from the moody girl she'd been when I'd first joined the pack. ‘Anything to add?' I asked her delicately.

Back in the day, Seren had dated David and he'd apparently been ready to propose when she'd dumped him for being ‘shy and boring'. I wasn't sure if Daniella knew that little bit of history, so I kept my question circumspect.

Seren shook her head. ‘No – but he totally loved Cliveden. I'd look there first.'

‘Thanks.' I smiled at the women. ‘I'll leave you to it. Daniella, could you check in on Jacob today? Have a look at his wing and assess his mental health? I'm worried about how losing his ability to fly will affect his confidence and self-esteem.' That was all true, but I hoped that giving her a purpose would also help her.

Although she nodded, her eyes were still dull. ‘Sure thing, Alpha.'

Greg and I excused ourselves. He pulled his phone out again. ‘I've got an address for David's parents.'

‘Fritz is the best. Why don't we go to see them, then we can swing down to Cliveden?'

‘Sounds like a plan.' He put an arm around my waist and we walked out the back way, avoiding the common room so we didn't wake anyone else.

Debbie and Tarkers were sitting by our car. Tarkers visibly brightened when he saw us. ‘Hey! Time for an outing!'

I slid a look to Greg. ‘Can he come? Please?'

‘I'll be well behaved,' Tarkers promised.

‘I won't,' Debbie grunted, making me laugh.

Greg rolled his eyes. ‘Get in the pair of you.'

‘Where are we going?' Tarkers asked when we were inside the car.

‘Shouldn't you have asked that before you got in?' I snarked.

‘Nah. I know adventures await – there's never a dull day in the Home Counties. It's kind of like being on holiday.'

‘No responsibilities,' Debbie agreed.

Tarkers grinned. ‘Right. And we can just kill people. It's great fun.'

I sighed. ‘We only kill bad people.'

‘And ones we don't like.'

‘No, they definitely have to be evil for us to end them.'

Tarkers sighed. ‘You and your rules, Your Maj.'

‘Someone's gotta have them,' I said primly.

‘What are we doing with David when we find him?' Debbie asked.

I appreciated the fact he said ‘when' and not ‘if'. ‘We talk to him.'

‘And if he's evil?' Tarkers was virtually bouncing on his seat.

I met his eyes in the rear-view mirror. ‘If he's evil,' I said firmly, ‘ then we can kill him.'

Even if it killed me to do so.