I'm doing SO GOOD with these updates! You guys have noticed, right?? Every single week, like clockwork. Who cares if my uni work is falling by the wayside or not. Making updates is way more fun than memorising all the different types of kidney stones :)

PS. We're meeting someone very important this chapter. Best pay attention.

***

"I recognise you, beautiful girl," the rogue said. He was smiling away at me and sneaking glances at Jace every few seconds, as if checking that his words were having the desired effect. "Whatcha doing down here? I thought you escaped."

The guards were in the process of guiding him out of his cell. I'd never seen someone so cheerful while being manhandled. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and he looked painfully thin, but here he was, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I glanced back at Jace, almost wanting reassurance, and he gave me a tiny nod. I needed to talk to them, or there was no point in me being here.

"I did escape," I told him, "but ... well, let's just say I didn't get very far."

The rogue laughed at me. "Evidently. That sucks. Why're you hanging out with him, of all people?"

"Ki," one of the other rogues bellowed from a cell opposite. "She's not a rogue."

He stopped short in his tracks, forcing the guards to stop with him. "She's not?"

"No."

'Ki' made a face at me. I'd made similar expressions upon discovering that a toilet had been left unflushed, and I couldn't help but be a little offended. Didn't these guys realise that being a rogue was not something to be proud of?

"Do they all know each other?" I asked Jace in an undertone. "Even the ones in different cells?"

"They don't have much to do except talk down here," Jace replied. "But yes, as far as I can tell, most rogues know each other. That's why I'm hoping this will work."

"What'll work?" our prisoner asked.

Jace ignored him. The guards were leading him into a little room with a table and two benches. It was all made of metal and bolted to the floor, and I got the sense that it was New Dawn's version of an interrogation room.

Just to kick things off, Jace told him, "This place is soundproof, so anything you tell me stays between us. No one else will know you talked."

"Oh," the rogue laughed. "Oh, so you want me to snitch. Guess again, shithead."

"Think of it more like being a confidential informant. I just want you to look at pictures of some people and identify them for me," Jace said. And when the rogue opened his mouth, so obviously ready to give him more lip, he held up a hand. "Before you say no, there is an incentive. If I'm satisfied you're telling the truth, I'll release you. If not, you stay here for the full six months."

The rogue's eyebrows went shooting upwards. "Oh, so you criminalise theft and murder in this shitty-ass pack, but you reward snitching? That's messed up, that is."

"Yes," I told him. "We reward snitching. Do you want to see the picture or not?"

He shrugged at me. "Sure. Why not? Worth a glance."

The first picture was pushed across the table towards him.

The rogue leant over it and pulled a few interesting faces before pushing it back towards us. "Looks like Joe. So tall ... and that jacket ... and the stubble ... yeah, I'd say Joe. What'd he do?"

Jace ignored that question and simply slid over the picture of the woman.

"Oh, that's Margaret, that is," he said enthusiastically. "Would recognise her anywhere."

Jace made a note of that, along with the first name he'd given, and then he looked up expectantly. "Surnames?"

He wrinkled up his nose then. "I know you flockies are keen on surnames, but we don't use 'em much, in all honesty. Wouldn't know."

After a brief nod, Jace picked up the photos and stood up. "I see. We'll be back in a little while, once we've done some fact-checking."

"Right, Emma," he said, once we were outside and the door was firmly closed behind us. "Tell me - why am I leaving him in there, and not returning him to the cells?"

"So you don't have to get him out again later?" I tried, and Jace only smiled. I glanced back at the little room we'd left and then shrugged helplessly. "No? Then I'm not sure, to be honest."

He was quick to explain. "If I put him back in the cells now, he mind-links everyone in the prison and tells them which answers to give. They all get released because I can't prove they're lying. If I leave him in here, he's going to have a hard time doing that. The walls are thick, and they've all been dosed with paracetamol before we came here, which helps."

"Paracetamol?" I echoed. "As in ... the painkiller?"

"Yes. If you double the normal dose, it makes linking very difficult. We discovered it entirely by accident a few years ago," he told me. "Interesting, isn't it? It's thought to suppress empathy in humans. I suppose it's possible that the part of our minds which handles mind-linking is similar to that, given that it's involved in our pack bonding."

"Doesn't paracetamol give you liver damage if you take too much?" I asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

"I could give them a quadruple dose, and they wouldn't be able to link at all," he said, shrugging. "I don't know what to tell you. The doctors say it's safe enough, as long as we don't make a habit of it. I've resisted telling the other Alphas because some of them would have no problem drugging their prisoners with it day and night, just for the convenience."

The next rogue was taken into a cell on the floor below, far away from his friends, before we spoke to him.

"Craig," he proclaimed immediately, upon seeing the photos. "And ... Johanna."

From the next four, we got William, Timothy, Douglas, Joe again, Katherine, Eira, Penelope, and the Queen of England. Jace moved onto the 'violent' prisoners, more out of desperation than anything else. One of them was a woman who just spat on the ground and refused to say anything at all. The other spent almost fifteen minutes flirting with me and calling me beautiful, until Jace got tired of it and booted him back to his cell without even showing him the photo.

By the time we were done, Jace had his head in his hands. He was staring at the list of names and looking like he was losing the will to live.

"Well," he said. "I have it on good authority that Eira Llewellyn died more than a decade ago, so that guy was definitely lying. It's interesting that we have Joe twice ... but they might just be lacking imagination when they're making up names. Those two gave different names for the woman..."

"Mm," I said. "And I haven't met her personally, but I don't think the Queen is known for climbing into burning buildings ... so ... that guy might have been fibbing to us, too."

"I think perhaps he was," Jace agreed dryly. "I didn't get much from their minds, either. Some of them seemed to genuinely not know, and I wouldn't blame them. The photos aren't clear. The others jolted, like they did have an idea, but they were too wary for me to get a name."

"And that's it?" I asked in disappointment. I'd been hoping we would make some real progress this afternoon. "You can't go digging any deeper?"

"Oh, I could push. And I might, if we don't get a lead soon," he muttered. "Come on. This has been a waste of time. I'm not going to release any of them, I don't think. Liars, the lot of them. But there is someone else I want to speak to."

"Who?"

"My Beta. You'll see why," he said. "If you want to come, that is..."

I thought about it for a long moment and then gave a helpless shrug. "Oh, what the hell? I'm invested now."

We found the Beta in a spacious office on the north side of the pack house. He was poring over a sheaf of forms, much as we had been earlier, and spinning a pen lazily between his fingers. He set it down quickly enough when he saw Jace.

I remained hovering in the doorway, unwilling to get in the middle of this. The old Beta had shown no interest in talking to me in all the time I'd been here. And besides, his attention was fixed entirely on his Alpha as he crossed to the other side of the desk and dropped into one of the chairs there. He used that new vantage point to stare at his Beta with decidedly cold eyes.

"Is something wrong?" the man asked.

"I have a question. That's all," Jace told him,

A raised eyebrow. "Well?"

"You had me bury an empty coffin in my sister's grave. You never did find her remains, did you? And yet ... you lied about it. Why?"

There were more tactful ways he could have asked the question, I reflected. But those more tactful ways wouldn't scare the living daylights out of the man in front of us, and that was probably Jace's aim.

"Jace," the Beta said, and it sounded almost soft. "It was meant as a kindness. You had just lost your family. You were having to take charge of the pack. I didn't think it would help you to know that your sister's bones were being loaded into the skips with the rest of the debris. We looked and looked for her - I swear on my life. For three days at least. But that part of the building was so catastrophically damaged ... we could have searched for weeks. I thought it better to give you closure."

Jace accepted that in total silence. It was a while before he spoke again, this time while folding his arms across his chest. "My mother's bones - did you really find those? Or was that a lie, too?"

I had no idea how he managed to keep his tone so calm and even.

"Hers, we did find. Close to Jaden's room, as I told you," he said defensively. "What prompted this, Jace? After so many years? Did someone talk to you?"

Jace paused before answering that one, and when he did, he was wearing a faint smile. "We found an old, forgotten security camera. It was pointed right at the east wing, and it's made for interesting watching, to say the least."

The Beta just sat there for a moment. I was looking at Jace, not him, when those words hit home, but it didn't take me long to notice that the man was entirely frozen. The colour seemed to be draining from his face.

"I suppose you didn't know about it?" Jace went on. Needling. He'd noticed it too. I watched him uncross his arms and lean forwards in his chair, those piercing blue eyes narrowing ever so slightly. I could taste the tension crackling in the air between them.

Especially when the Beta just sat there, still struggling to collect himself. He shuffled in his seat and rubbed at his face and frowned into empty space.

"If I'd known, we would have looked at the footage during the original investigation," he said eventually. The words had tumbled out in a great rush. "I would have thought that obvious, Jace. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take these papers up to the infirmary."

He didn't wait for any sign of approval from Jace before gathering up his stray sheets of paper and climbing to his feet. He had to scoot past me to exit the room, which he did without the slightest hesitation ... or even a nod in my direction.

Jace and I were left in the empty office, staring at each other with shared bemusement.

"Did you see his face when I told him about the camera?" Jace asked me quietly.

"Yes," I murmured. "He looked terrified."

Jace pushed himself up from the chair and came back towards the doorway to join me. "Yes. And his walls shot up. There's something he's not telling us ... and now... Now I'm wondering if he was involved. It doesn't make much sense if he was. If he'd wanted to be Alpha, he could have just challenged me in those early days. He would have won. But he didn't. Sometimes, I thought he was getting close to doing it ... and yet. Nothing."

"Well, something's not right."

"No," Jace agreed. He leant against the doorframe and rubbed his jaw. "I could have him arrested. See if a few days in a cell loosens his tongue. But I risk splintering the pack by doing that - it's unheard of to arrest your own Beta. But I suppose he's not really my Beta, is he? He was my father's. I've already been waiting six long years for Tyler to replace him."

I just eyed him and kept quiet. He hadn't sounded serious about the option of arresting him, so it didn't feel like a good idea to comment on it.

"You didn't tell him that Aria survived," I pointed out quietly.

"No," he agreed. "And I won't, until I know I can trust him. I think we need to review the footage, maybe going back hours or even days."

"Looking for what?"

He shook his head slowly. "I don't know yet. Whatever it is that he's so afraid I might discover."

We began the walk back to the house in silence. We hadn't learnt much from the rogues, but we had a new suspect, so I didn't think it had been a wasted afternoon. As always, we didn't get far before pack members started to pause and whisper and stare. After a few corridors, a group of them actually stopped in front of us and started greeting Jace with a lot of enthusiasm.

I stepped back a bit, well aware that Jace was trying not to introduce me to pack members yet. I could have headed home - my guards were waiting outside the front door - but it felt rude abandoning Jace here. He had been kind today, and I didn't mind standing there too much. A few curious glances were cast my way, but Jace was good at winning their attention back before those glances turned into questions.

One of them I recognised on sight as the nice girl from the kitchen. I had only met her briefly, but I remembered those long, dark curls and those pretty brown eyes. She caught Jace's attention with a single smile.

"Kallie. I know, I know, I'm sorry. I did promise to come and visit you."

"You said if Riverside are quiet," she laughed. "And they're not being quiet, are they? So don't worry about it. I can wait. I'm only your oldest friend."

"Luke's my oldest friend, technically," he said ruefully. "I think of you as my most sensible friend."

Luke was one of my guards. And no wonder. Jace clearly trusted 'his oldest friend' to watch me. I wondered if the rest of the bunch were similarly qualified.

"Hm," Kallie murmured. "That's flattering. But would a sensible person have followed you into that Goddess-awful cave in the Silverstones and got covered in bat shit?"

"Probably not, no," Jace allowed. He glanced back at me, almost apologetically, and I was quick to force a smile. It's fine, I was saying. Take your time.

And yet another of the girls in the group had sidled up beside Jace. I noticed her so quickly because she was unquestionably beautiful. A subtle streak of eyeliner brought out her sapphire eyes. Her blonde hair was tied back in a messy topknot, she was showing a lot of skin for such a chilly day, and she ... she was very close to Jace. Much too close, in fact. Her hand hooked around his arm with unnerving familiarity.

"Are you busy right now, Alpha?" she asked him with a suggestive smile. "I've got tequila and limes up in my room if you fancy a break from work..."

I wasn't prepared for the surge of anger that flooded through me. I didn't even know this girl, and I hardly knew Jace, but I did know she was out of line. The whole pack knew he had found his mate by now ... and to ask him back to her bedroom while I was stood five feet away ... wow. Just wow.

"No, thank you, Zoe," Jace said. "We're just heading home."

I could see her frown slightly at the 'we.' I could also see her eyes widening, helped along by a not-so-subtle elbow to the ribs from Kallie. The dark-haired girl hissed something into her ear. But still, it took 'Zoe' a moment to scan the corridor and notice me, standing there. Very still and very taut. The realisation hit her like a sledgehammer, and it was satisfying to watch her dart away from Jace like he had burnt her.

Her cheeks had flushed bright red. I didn't move my eyes away as she buried her face in her hands and whispered things to Kallie which were probably along the lines of 'Oh, Goddess, kill me now,' if the look on her face was any indication. So at least she was not entirely without shame. I found myself flitting from angry to almost sympathetic and back again just as quickly.

Jace extracted himself from the group very quickly after that. He waited just long enough for me to rejoin him before we were once again walking towards the entrance.

"Friend of yours?" I asked pointedly.

"Zoe? Hardly." Jace glanced at me and then back at the girls, and he grimaced, probably sensing my scepticism. "She flirts a lot. That's all."

"Hm," was all I said. "I was going to ask you about Kallie, but now ... I have new suspicions."

Jace shook his head without hesitation. "I don't sleep with pack members, so you don't have anything to worry about on that account. Kallie is just a friend. Zoe ... I've never even been alone with her. She's all bark but no bite. Satisfied?"

"You don't sleep with pack members?" I repeated coolly. "Who with, then?"

"Humans, usually."

My lips took on a bitter twist. "Humans. Of course. Because you can just go visit the towns if you feel like it. Meanwhile, I can't go anywhere without guards watching my every move. That girl was happy enough to come up and flirt with you, but I doubt any of the men in this pack would dare touch me. So where does that leave me? This was supposed to be an open relationship. Does it count as open if there's nowhere for me to conceivably stray?"

Jace looked all around us in a way that felt like a reprimand. He was right - that had been reckless of me. These were not things that could be said out loud in a pack house corridor. So I wasn't very surprised when he put a gentle hand on my back and guided me into the nearest room before answering.

"It's not my job to find you people to hook up with, Emma," he said, shutting the door firmly behind us. "I'm sure you can figure something out - you're clever enough for that. And if Zoe's little display bothered you ... well, there's a very easy way to stake your claim on me."

As he said it, he tapped my collarbone, which was a clear enough message. It wouldn't be him who was marked, of course. It would be me. But that bite would tangle our scents together permanently, and it would certainly make the women in this pack think twice. I wondered why I even cared. It seemed to be pride more than anything.

"Do you think I'll fall hopelessly in love with you ... just for lack of options?" I asked him with faint amusement. Although I supposed it wasn't very funny. He had offered me all of these things knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to make use of them.

"I don't really mind what you do," Jace said, shrugging, and it was easy to believe him. "Fall in love. Don't. But if you're going to back out of our deal, do it sooner rather than later, please."

I huffed a laugh and leant back against the wall. "I don't want to go back to running away. I think I could... I know I could live here. But I'm wondering how I can let you put a mark in the spot that was meant for Angie."

He just stared at me. "Marking you is not a negotiable part of this. You knew that. I can do it higher up. Or even on the wrong side - whatever you like. But I will have to do it."

I took a long, steadying breath. Of course I'd known that he would need to mark me, but I hadn't expected to feel so much misery at the very thought of it. Almost of their own accord, my fingers reached up and started unbuttoning the top of my shirt. I could feel them shaking with every movement.

"Wrong side it is then," I said quietly.