There was a long pause, during which I squinted at my phone’s screen to make sure the call was still connected. “Maybe,” Will said at last. “As far as I know, no one really understands the relationship between a nova and his pack. Or if they do, word hasn’t gotten out about it.”
“So we have to figure out how to find him,” I said aloud. “Hey, Will? Can I ask you a hypothetical?”
Will knew me well enough to be wary. “I guess.”
“Let’s say you’re the nova wolf. All you want in the world is create a massive werewolf pack and murder the shit out of the current one. You’ve finally found a mate. What do you do now?”
He sighed. “It’s hard to say. We’re getting into a magical gray area here. The female—”
“Lizzy Thompkins,” Jesse said, looking irritated.
“Lizzy Thompkins can’t be feeling very favorable to him right now. He kidnapped her and killed her friends, maybe in front of her, and now she’s going through physical hell. And he intends to keep her as his mate. I don’t know if that’s even possible against her will.”
“So he’s gotta have a place where he can contain her,” Jesse reasoned.
“Yes. He can’t order her around as her alpha until she’s completed her change,” Will finished.
I said, “The guy’s a planner. He fancies himself a scientist; that’s why he gives the school presentations, why he marked all their backs like it was a controlled experiment. He must have come up with a hidey-hole where he can restrain her.” I thought back to the silver-barred cage I’d seen back in September, the one in Jared Hess’s basement. I shuddered.
“If he’s got her in some big wild area he could just dig a really big hole and put her inside until the change is over,” Jesse pointed out.
Will said, “My guess is that he’ll park her somewhere for the full moon so she can finish her change, then he’ll go attack as many people as possible, hoping to build a pack. He’ll kill a lot more people, but his chances of changing them increases during the full moon.”
“It’s a numbers game,” I said thoughtfully. Jesse gave me a glare, but I just shrugged defensively. It was.
“Where will he go to find his victims?” Jesse asked the phone. “He’s got his mate, so I assume he’ll be less discerning.”
“Good question,” Will said slowly. “Probably an outdoor area somewhere because he’d be too conspicuous as a wolf running around a movie theater or something. A place that he knows well, that’s public enough for people to be around but private enough that he can pick them off one or two at a time. No huge crowds.”
“Okay, thanks, Will,” Jesse said suddenly. “Any luck with the Luparii?”
“Not yet,” Will answered heavily. “But Kirsten and I are both still working on it.”
There wasn’t much Jesse and I could do about the Luparii, especially if we were gonna find Henry Remus before the full moon. But . . .
“Will, what happens if the scout is still in town when the moon goes up tomorrow night?” I asked.
There was a pause. When he finally spoke, his voice was miserable. “I don’t know. It’s possible that he’ll be so busy tracking the nova that he’ll ignore us . . .”
His voice drifted off, letting Jesse and me fill in the blanks. If the scout was still in town and he couldn’t get to the nova, he would probably come after the LA pack.
“Can you guys get out of town?” I asked hopefully.
Another long sigh. “I’ve urged those of us who have another safe place to go during the full moon to do so. The problem is that there just aren’t many of us with a second secure location.”
“I could come sit with you guys,” I offered hesitantly. In theory, I could hang out with the pack on the full moon, and as long as they stayed in my radius they wouldn’t have to change at all. But we’d never done that before. Will had told me once, a long time ago, that the pack needs the release of changing during the moon. They already spend so much time tamping down their instincts, and if they don’t get a chance to change, it makes everything worse. In these desperate times, though, it seemed like a viable one-time option.
But Will said, “No. I thought about that, but you’re our best chance of stopping the nova before he attacks or kills more people. I can handle the pack.” His voice betrayed his uncertainty, but he just continued, “For now, you just worry about finding the nova.”
I had been planning to tell Will and Jesse about Lydia’s ultimatum—really. But in that moment, when Will sounded so broken, I resolved to keep it from them. It was my mess. I needed to figure out a way to clean it up. Again, I wondered what had happened to Eli. I needed to call him as soon as I got a moment alone.
“Okay. Let me know what you find out,” Jesse said shortly, in a telltale “I have an idea” tone. He nodded at me, and I shrugged and hung up the phone.
“What is it?” I asked.
Jesse looked at me. “Griffith Park.”
I frowned. “I thought the LA parks close at sunset. If the guy wants people around . . .”
“Not Griffith. It stays open until ten thirty, because of the Observatory.”
Oh. I thought that over. “A few people around, lots of dark, an area he knows well,” I said slowly.
Jesse nodded. “It’s our best guess. But that’s plan B.”