36. Here, Mark!

Hernández and Osso took out their notebooks.

"Dorian killed Pearl and the dean. Brandon killed Ms. Lopez and Mr. Garza. The thing is, though, they started this as students. Look for a car accident involving someone named Spencer McCutchin. They were talking about cutting his brake lines. He would have been Brandon's first, but Dorian had been at it awhile. I don't know if he was killing yet, but he'd been lashing out at whoever he'd felt wronged him."

The detectives scribbled down names.

"Dorian's dad is a surgeon." I pointed to the corridor painting. "The last door on the right is his bedroom. He's staying there now. It was also his bedroom when he was a student. He told the headmaster that he wanted to observe the teachers, that he was considering going into education, but he was just trying to get close to the people they'd targeted."

"Let's start at the beginning," Osso said. "Why Pearl?"

"Let me check something first." I pulled out my phone and dialed my aunt Hester.

"Hello, Arwyn. Guess where I am?" she said.

"Where?" I was so happy to hear the light in her voice.

"I'm playing with the neighbor's dog. I was helping Mitchell, the neighbor, in the garden all day and when he mentioned he had a date, I volunteered to babysit his daughter Emma and their German Shephard Mark."

"The dog's name is Mark?" I loved that.

"I know." She laughed. "It tickles me every time I call him. Come on. Let's go in." The background sounds changed. "I already put Emma to bed, but I was giving Mark some exercise and throwing the ball for him. So, how are you?"

"I'm okay. Can I ask you a question about Pearl, though?"

"Oh. Of course." Her voice lost its lilt.

"Did she ever attend Cypress Academy?"

"Yes, but only for a semester. It was the beginning of sixth grade. Your uncle said it was an excellent school and wanted her there, even though it was mind-numbingly expensive. She hated it. The students were cruel. She was so smart, though, she was in advanced classes with older students. There was one boy in particular who wouldn't leave her alone. He scared her. It caused a huge fight, but I took her out and got her away from those people." She paused. "Why do you ask?"

I considered whether it was okay to tell her and decided those secrecy rules didn't apply to me, as I wasn't a cop. "I had a vision."

Hernández gestured to stop me, but Osso shook his head at her.

"I believe that boy who harassed her at Cypress Academy is the one who killed her."

"What?" Her voice caught. "But they were children. Why would he do that?" I could hear the tears, but she deserved to know.

"Because he's a sociopath and a narcissist. She caught him cheating off her paper and told the teacher. That was it. But it was enough for him to never let it go."

"I don't understand."

"That's because you're nothing like him. I'm with the detectives now. I hate having to upset you, especially when Mark was making you happy, but I needed to make sure what I saw was correct. I didn't remember ever hearing that Pearl had attended Cypress."

It took her a moment to speak. "I want to know. Even if it upsets me, I want to know. And I'm glad the detectives are there and can find him now. Can you tell me when he's caught?"

"I will," I said.

"I'm not sure if Mark is allowed on furniture, but he just crawled up to comfort me, so I'm letting him stay."

"Can you put Mark on the phone for me?"

Hester released a breath. Her voice was distant when she said, "Go ahead."

"Good boy."

She chuckled. "Whatever you said got his tail wagging."

"I'm sorry to bring darkness into your evening. I—"

She cut me off. "That wasn't you. That was him. You're the one who's going to get justice for my girl. And tears are all right. I have Mark here to keep me company."

"Okay. Remember to come by anytime for a muffin and tea."

"I will." She sniffed.

"Good night."

I blew out a breath as I disconnected. "Pearl attended Cypress for the first semester of sixth grade. You heard what I told her. She turned him in for cheating. He waited over ten years and then killed her for it."

Declan took the bag with the award from my lap and returned it to the coffee table before reaching for my hand.

"Did you get last names?" Hernández asked.

I shook my head. "There's gotta be a list of graduating seniors somewhere. Dorian isn't a common name. And if he's around campus—enough to be arguing with the dean early in the morning—other staff members must have seen him. That new housemaster probably knows his name."

Osso nodded. "We'll check."

"He was going to put the award back on the table after he cleaned it, so no one missed it. People were waking up and moving around the halls, though, so he tossed it out the window of his bedroom that overlooks the pool."

More scribbling. "Anything else?" Osso asked.

"One thing. He was excited about having a friend to share his passion with. He talked about them being superior and rules not applying to them."

Hernández looked up. "Oh. Only us peons have to follow laws, huh?"

Nodding, I explained, "As superior individuals, they set their own rules. They aren't obligated to follow the laws created by mediocre minds."

"Once you identify them, you should probably check their colleges," Declan suggested, "see if there are any unsolved murders."

Osso nodded, standing up. "Yeah, I know."

Hernández picked up the black bag and stood. "We need to get on this. Thank you again."

After they were gone, Declan got up and led me to the couch, both of us collapsing onto it. "You've done what you could. You've given them the killers. Now they need to do their job."

I nodded slowly, bone weary. "I hate having those voices, those thoughts in my head. They make me sick to my stomach."

"Like you said to your aunt, that's because you're not like them." His stomach growled. "Sorry. I could go get us food or maybe order a pizza."

"Yeah, let's do that." I had to do a better job of having more food around for the poor guy. I pulled up a meal delivery service on my phone and ordered two large pizzas.

"Thanks for getting two."

I leaned into him, and he wrapped an arm around me. "Sixth grade. She was eleven years old. And you know a school like that was probably all about their high standards and academic integrity. She's new. Trying to do what they told her was proper in that school. A creepy kid's cheating off her, so she goes to her teacher. That was it. She was on borrowed time after that. He was just planning how to do it and get away with it."

Declan kissed my temple, listening.

"A little over ten years later, he's her first boyfriend. She was painfully shy. He comes in and sweeps her off her feet so he can involve her heart, so his attack is not only terrifying but heartbreaking and humiliating. She'd thought he liked her, but he was just biding his time until it hurt more."

"You found her killer and he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars," Declan said.

"Yeah. It doesn't bring her back, though." Her poor mother would never be the same. "I can't imagine everything you go through as a parent. All the colds and skinned knees, the heartaches and joys, school, friends, hugs, conversations, adolescence, periods, bras, all of it. A life. And he decides he can't handle being reprimanded in middle school, so that life is snuffed out."

His thumb brushed back and forth on my arm. "You identifying him means other innocent people, like Pearl, won't lose their lives because he felt offended or inconvenienced."

Tucking my shoulder under his arm, I rested my head on his chest. "I don't understand it. I don't think I ever will. Most people are just living their lives, trying to do what's right. He considers them limited, mediocre, the weak ones who knuckle under to society's rules. He, though, is special. Superior. He leaves mourning loved ones in his wake, and it doesn't signify."

He was like all those men who had been preying on me all my life. Who I was, what I wanted, those things weren't important. I wasn't important. The only thing that mattered was that their own needs be met. It was like the rest of us were background players in the story of their lives. We pantomimed actions and mouthed nonsense, waiting to be addressed by the lead, waiting for our lives to gain meaning through them.

My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket. I had a reminder on my screen. The full moon was tomorrow.

"You put it in your calendar?" He sounded surprised and amused.

"I'm dating a werewolf, so it seems like pretty important information. And this particular full moon has me scared." I hugged him tighter. "Please can I come? I'll stay in the truck. You won't even know I'm there."

"No."

It was essentially Declan against a pack of wolves, but I was supposed to sit back and have faith that all would be fine?

"I can hear you worrying, but you don't need to. I've seen them. I understand the dynamic. Will they cheat to win? Absolutely. Because I know that going into it, my strategy changes. There's no expectation of honor or fair play, so I won't hesitate to put them down."

He leaned back so he could meet my gaze. "Logan is a weak Alpha, more concerned with having the position than doing the work. His men are likewise weak."

I scoffed. "They're werewolves."

He nodded. "They are, but they don't train. They're not a cohesive unit, working together. They're a loose group that shares one thing: They shift into wolves once a month. They're like weekend warriors, dressing up in army fatigues to play war before going back to their office jobs on Monday. The pack members run in their fur once a month and then ignore that side of themselves the rest of the time. He hasn't helped the pack integrate man and wolf. If he had, they'd be far harder to fight."

"That all sounds nice, but I haven't forgotten that it's at least twenty to one. Daniel and Kenji are good men, and they were part of the pack. There are probably others," I said, referring to the two who had left the pack, recognizing Declan as the true Alpha.

"They are and the hope is that once Logan is down, I can get them to step up to truly be a pack."

"You've never been a member of a pack before," I pointed out. "How do you know what one should be?"

He kicked off his boots and put his feet up on the coffee table, crossing them at the ankles. "Excellent question. I've hung out with wolves, who by the way don't have a dictatorial Alpha leading them. Wolf packs are more like families. They work cooperatively. What we consider Alpha is usually just the breeding pair, leading the family.

"I've also read books on Biology, History, Psychology, Sociology. Basically, I studied to better understand what I am and my place in the world. What I've found is that it's the human side of us that wants a dictator to lead the pack. For many two-natured beings, the human is almost entirely in control. As I said about the Big Sur pack, they get together once a month to shift; otherwise they shun the wolf. They're not a pack. They're guys with a similar affliction.

"Single-natured wolf packs are together all the time. They live, work, play, hunt together as a unit. Decisions are made based on the safety and health of the pack. They're family, so lots of different personalities and temperaments, but a cohesive working unit.

"Dual-natured wolf packs are rarely that. With the human side comes ego and envy, mindless aggression. It's the werewolf packs that engage in battles to the death to demonstrate dominance and superiority, not natural wolves. Wolves fight for food or territory, but the goal isn't to kill the interloper, just to make the threat go away.

"Human psychology mixed with an apex predator's strength often leads to overt aggression and a need to rank themselves first, second, third in a group of individuals who don't feel the safety and security they should. They're constantly on edge, waiting for an attack, which is why they like the dictator Alpha. If he's telling me what I can and can't do, some of that anxiety settles. Someone's in charge and it's not me. He'll be the one to deal with threats. The problem with that type of arrangement is if you end up with a weak Alpha, like Logan, the pack members feel it and never settle."

He shook his head. "For some of these guys, anger is their entire personality. The first thing I'm doing as Alpha is instituting mandatory yoga and meditation sessions."

I laughed.

"They need something. I know we hide what happens in the supernatural world from the humans, but I'm surprised more violence hasn't bled over and exposed us."

I thought about it. "Maybe it has but there are members of our community in the police. Like Osso hiding what I am and what probably happened when they came to investigate my stalker's death."

"Good point," he said as my phone buzzed.

I pulled it out of my pocket. "There's no way the pizzas are here that fast." I tapped the screen, swiping through to find the link to the security cameras. "It's probably my raccoon buddies."

Declan stood and growled, hearing something I couldn't. "It's not raccoons." He sprinted to the gallery as I pulled up footage of three guys attempting to break my glass tentacle.