“Why didn’t Thad hold Hector responsible?” Nick’s tone held no judgment.

“It sounds like a simple thing to do, doesn’t it? Straightforward. Just. If he was guilty, he should pay. You can’t know until you’re in that situation whether you really could give up your own child. Thad didn’t feel he could. He felt responsible for Hector being the way he was. Felt like he was a failure as a father. And if Thad had accepted that our son was guilty, he would have had to kill Hector.” As Alpha, it would have been his duty. “So he protected him.”

Nick sat upright. “Did Hector know about the blackmail?”

“Yes,” replied Adriane. “We’re not sure how he found out, but he was enraged that Jerold had ‘stolen his life’ from him. That was the way Hector saw it. He had a very strong sense of entitlement, you see. He thought he was next in line to be Alpha. Being the son of the Alpha pair gave him certain advantages, privileges, and an element of power. He lost all that.”

“He deserved to lose it,” stated Nick.

“Oh yes,” agreed Adriane. “But Hector didn’t see that because he didn’t care that his actions were wrong. He probably still doesn’t care. And in his world, everything is always someone else’s fault. He never took the blame for anything.”

Nick was quiet for a moment. “Is Jerold still alive?”

“No. He was the victim of a racial attack.” She glanced at all the Mercury wolves. “What will you do to Hector?”

“The same thing he’s doing to us,” Nick told her.

“I won’t make any statements against him. He’s my son. And . . . and I don’t want him back in my life.” She didn’t want his attention on her, because she feared him.

Hearing a car pulling up outside, Jesse cocked his head. “Sounds like your mate is home.” Her eyes widened. “He’ll scent us straightaway. You should open the door for him now, let him see that you’re unhurt.”

Everyone stood as she made a mad dash for the front door. She opened it and raised a calming hand at her mate, who was rushing toward her. “I’m all right,” she assured him. “Really.”

The male entered quickly and shifted his body protectively in front of hers. By that time, all the Mercury wolves were gathered in the hallway. “Get out of my house,” he growled.

“They’re here because of Hector,” Adriane told him. “He’s trying to take their territory from them, just like he’s done to others. They just want to understand what drives him to do so.”

Thad’s features settled into a mask of pain.

“I’m Nick Axton, Alpha of the Mercury Pack. You don’t need to fear for your mate’s safety. If we’d had any intention of harming her, we’d have done it already.”

Adriane rubbed her mate’s arm. “They already knew about the accusations. I told them about the blackmail.”

Thad shifted slightly to face her, though he didn’t turn his back on the Mercury wolves. “You told them Hector was guilty,” he guessed.

“We’ve protected him long enough. If he’d been held accountable for his part in Jenny’s death all those years ago, he wouldn’t be free to make other packs suffer.”

“He’s blackmailing us,” said Nick.

That had Thad’s attention snapping their way. “Blackmailing?”

“We’ve learned it’s a strategy he uses when shifters refuse to sell their territory,” Nick continued. “Although his so-called evidence against our pack would never lead to a trial, it would cause us a massive amount of attention and trouble if it was exposed to reporters and extremists—which is exactly what he’s threatening to do. We can sense that he hates shifters. We needed to understand why.”

Thad’s mouth set into a thin line. “And you hoped you would find something on him you could threaten to expose if he didn’t back off.”

Nick arched a brow. “Wouldn’t you, in our position?”

Sighing, Thad asked, “Do you have a child?”

“Yes. And I would do everything to protect her, even lie. I don’t judge your actions. You were protecting your son.”

“He didn’t deserve that protection.” Thad shoved a hand through his mousy hair.

“No, he didn’t. Which is why I’m going to ask you if there’s any chance Jerold’s photos weren’t destroyed.”

“After Jerold died, I went to his home to search for them, just to be sure. I didn’t want to risk that they would be handed over to the shifter council. Jenny’s family was dead. Our old pack had splintered. There didn’t seem much point in dragging it all up again. So, once more, I was prepared to cover up my son’s crime. There were no photos. Jerold destroyed them, as he’d promised.”

“Thank you for telling us what you know,” said Nick. “As a father, I understand how hard this had to be. You didn’t betray your son today. He was never a son to either of you.”

The couple nodded, but they didn’t appear comforted by the words. Who could blame them? There was really no way to be comforted in a situation like that.

“As I told your mate, you now have my protection,” Nick told him, making the lines of stress on Thad’s face ease a little. “I’ll leave you my number. If you’re ever in trouble, use it.” Nick scribbled his number on a pad, and then they left.