After school, I went straight to Stella's. Since I had athletics last period, she let me shower and change up in her room while she stayed downstairs with Trevor and her mom. I took my time, but still lingered around a corner to see how the three of them operated together. Caroline Bloomingdale and her daughter danced around the kitchen to finish the meal preparation and Trevor was alone in the dining room, subtly moving his hips while setting the plates and utensils out. I watched with a smile at how Trevor suddenly turned and sang to Stella while approaching her, grabbing a nearby towel, and wrapping it around her neck while dancing in front of her. Stella was absolutely embarrassed while laughing and it was rather amusing.

Caroline only shook her head with a smile while transferring dishes to the dining table. I'm sure she was more than happy that her daughter found a suitable beau rather than the boy she had arrested many times. After Stella made a comment about how Trevor knew every word to the last "old song," which could attest to the fact that his father was ancient, Caroline told Stella to summon me before she could offend her childhood music world anymore. So I came out of my lurking.

Caroline apologized for her husband being late since he would be picking up their young son from an after-school care program, but we started eating anyways and left their empty place settings alone.

"So how was y'all's weekend?" Caroline asked. "I had to work both days. You teenagers get rowdy on Homecoming weekend, especially with visitors in town."

I know Caroline meant all the family members and alumni of Tyriette High that had come home, but the word "visitor" was a trigger for me to remember Natalie and the funeral and how Caroline could sit here so calmly as if she hadn't closed a murder case for a teen werewolf's death days ago.

"Well the dance was nice," Stella answered before looking over at Trevor. "I didn't know someone could dance so well."

"My father made sure that his son knew how to sweep a lady off her feet," Trevor smiled effortlessly at her. I wanted to roll my eyes at the over play of romanticism, but I couldn't do that considering Ryder and I were the same way.

"And when am I going to get to meet your parents, Trevor?" Caroline asked. "You're here almost every night; you're either hiding them someplace or they don't exist."

Caroline laughed within her request, but it was enough to indicate that she didn't know about Trevor's genetic identity. And even though she said it in a lighthearted way, I could bet she ran every screening and background check she tried to do on Trevor and found nothing.

"I'll have to arrange a meeting then," Trevor politely responded and glanced at me briefly before looking down at his food. I watched him pick at it and he paused before noticing my gaze and taking a big bite out of his side salad first. That's when his eyes met mine and I instantly knew he was sending a message about my curiosity towards his eating habits. Now I was the one averting my eyes.

"Okay so the dance and raging parties on Saturday that no one wants to admit being at—"

"Hey, we plea the fifth," Stella joked. "Don't we, Ash?"

"What?" I asked. "Oh, uh yeah. No parties for me. Or at least not Saturday night."

Stella narrowed her eyes at me. I quickly looked away from her because I didn't exactly want to broadcast to her about mine and Ryder's sex life that made an appearance this weekend.

"That's right...I don't remember seeing Ryder running out of the party we busted at Carlos Duncan's place," Caroline frowned.

"That's because we weren't there."

"Good. I heard Rod tried stuffing three times as many people in his apartment than capacity—everyone was everywhere," Stella continued with a laugh.

"That's right," Caroline nodded. "His neighbors were having a field day calling in noise complaints. Good thing Ryder got out of there before we showed up, huh."

"We weren't there," I repeated, more annoyed that she was trying to give Ryder a bad rap when he truly wasn't there.

"We pled the fifth," Trevor reminded with a smile, trying to ease the tension he noticed building within me. Or maybe because, like usual, he didn't like any conversation revolving around Ryder. But Caroline didn't hear him.

"Only thing that boy needs is another—"

"He wasn't there," I repeated as an interruption. I felt my entire body shudder and my eyes blur for a second as my wolf fought defensively for Ryder. "We were busy at his house getting ready for the funeral, you know, the one where he had to bury his best friend?"

Trevor glared over at me. Stella looked down on herself. Caroline sighed and placed her fork down on her plate.

"I'm sorry. I forgot that was yesterday..." Caroline replied. "Such a shame it took so long for his body to be released and put to rest."

I scoffed. "No thanks to you."

"Excuse me?"

Even though Caroline had taken over the case, it wasn't over. Closing it was for Ryder's protection under the assumption that he was executing an arsonist and murderer. Caroline did it to protect prosecuting Ryder for his right doings—maybe because Caroline wanted Preston dead as much as the rest of us since he killed her first love and egged on Ryder's poor behavior. But Preston's body wasn't at rest. It was six feet under in the absence of justice for the person who defiled his body. I didn't care if that person was my mom, but he deserved at least some honor, right?

"Ash," Stella whispered to me. Maybe she wanted me to be more respectful for her mom in her own house or maybe she assumed her mother didn't know about werewolves. But it was too late. I was already attacking her for slandering Ryder.

"Actually, maybe you should've left his investigation alone," I finally announced.

"I don't think you mean that," Caroline told me.

"Why? Because you think it would trace back to Ryder?" I asked. I was no longer thinking rationally. I was my impulsive wolf. "And we both know I would care if that was the case."

"Ash."

"He didn't do it," I shouted. "As much as you hate him for, I don't know, being a criminal or breaking Stella's heart or because you couldn't have Marc, Ryder didn't kill Preston. Someone else did. And it wasn't one of the Tyriette werewolves, so it seems to me like that would be in your domain before any werewolf or witch told you otherwise and started altering evidence in the case to be in favor of some Alpha-ordained punishment. And if Stella was right about the original report, you know Ryder would never do that to someone—especially not the guy he unfortunately loved like a brother."

I knew I was saying too much as I said it. It's not like Caroline would resurface Preston's investigation anyways because the Donahues had tidied up all lose ends and the "teenager burns down abandoned house by accident while smoking blunt" story seemed believable enough. I could tell her as much as Natalie told me and they still wouldn't prosecute her because it was hearsay. But I realized that a legal outcome didn't matter. I was talking about werewolves and witches in front of two humans—two humans who assumed there were three humans in the room. That's what mattered right now.

Trevor was now glaring at me even harder than before. Stella's eyes were wide with fear before she looked over at her boyfriend. And Caroline's expression was unreadable because she looked like she wanted to say something towards me as her guest who was having a breakdown at her table. She opened her mouth, but didn't say anything because we all heard the front door open before quick footsteps belonging to Stella's little brother ran into the dining room to jump into his mother's lap for a hug.

"Sorry we're late," Stella's dad apologized and the four of us slapped the incredulous looks off our faces to pretend like nothing just happened.

***

Throughout the dinner, Seth Bloomingdale was a lovely man who was fake-cautious about Trevor (no matter how much he had been in contact with the outstanding young man) and interested in me, no doubt. He wanted to know about me and I obliged his conversation to distract Trevor, Stella, and Caroline from my previous outburst. But I knew that wouldn't be possible when Mr. Bloomingdale finally revealed the whole "So my daughter tells me you're going out with Ryder Ramon?" bombshell before passively remarking how I was too pleasant to be with Ryder based on his impression of him for the last seventeen years. He then went on to comment about how he didn't know how Ryder got his daughter under a seemingly never-ending spell. Stella and Trevor watched me nervously the entire slander because they knew I was trying to control myself, but I simply responded by admitting Ryder had been trouble—he still was—but he was actually good-hearted and worthy of redemption. Trevor took this moment to comment of how he was glad Ryder was good for me because it gave Stella the push she needed to leave her hopes with Ryder and be with him instead. It was at this point when I realized Stella's smiles were forced and she didn't once look at Trevor. Even when the conversation moved to lesser subjects like movies or weekly plans or theoretical topics that would happen to the future of the world, Stella's eyes avoided Trevor's.

After the dinner, I thanked Caroline and Seth for having me because I was actually grateful. At this point, Trevor also said his goodbyes, only he went further to go upstairs to Teddy's room because apparently he was instant buddies with the six year old Bloomingdale as soon as Stella brought him home the first time. That only allowed Stella to follow me outside and walk me to my car.

"Thanks for inviting me," I told her. She only nodded and kept her arms crossed. When I reached my driver's side, I finally turned to her. "Hey, I'm sorry about what I said about Preston."

"No, no, it's fine," she said. "We all knew Ryder didn't do it and whoever did should actually be tried...My mom's always been bitter about Ryder. Even more now that—"

"Stella," I named because she was now rambling about Ryder and tonight was the most she had mentioned him without malice since their fight. She was avoiding something else. "What's wrong?"

"Did you notice Trevor?" she asked. I gulped.

"Yeah, he was as charming as he usually is," I forged a laugh to try and ease her mind. Her perfectly crafted eyebrows were still pulled together in a frown. "Props to him on surviving your dad all these weeks. I thought Caroline would've been the interrogator, but—"

"He didn't even flinch at the words 'werewolf' or 'witch'," she finally interrupted.

"What do you mean? I don't think I even said those words," I lied.

"You did," she said. "You said 'werewolf'—twice. And even if you didn't, he didn't question anything you said about Ryder being a suspect or anything. Like, wouldn't a normal person at least ask the question—"

"Stella," I mumbled.

"Ashlynn," she renamed in a more aggressive tone than me. She saw me trying to shy away from the subject and that's when her hazel eyes widened in realization. "Ash, you tell me right now—"

"Stella," I whined and attempted to open my car door, but she pushed it close. "Okay, you know I'm stronger than you, right?"

She dismissed it with a roll of her eyes. "Is he what I think he is?" she asked me, staring directly into my eyes.

"No." Technically.

"Ashlynn—"

"He isn't a werewolf!" I guaranteed. Her eyes narrowed. I tried opening my car door once more and was denied again. I sighed stressfully towards her.

"Is he a—"

"He isn't a witch either," I assured. She actually stomped her foot in a short tantrum for knowing of my omission of truth. I actually felt bad about it, but she stepped away from my door and allowed me to enter my car and start it. I pulled the door shut and lowered the window since she still loitered around.

"I'm trying to figure this out," she told me in a calm voice and my guilt really started to affect my judgment. I was remembering Ryder and Trevor's arguing and agreement over how Stella shouldn't know about him being a half-vampire. But if I was her, I would want to know. And she was one of my best friends here. "Just tell me the truth, Ash."

"I am," I assured in an octave a bit too high to be believable. I knew Stella well enough to assume she was controlling her skeptical and interrogating look towards me in order to seem sadder and tortured because of her uninformed status. Ugh. "I'll let him tell you."

"If he hasn't told me before, why would he tell me now?" she asked. "For all I know he is a witch or knows one and he'll just hex me like Stormy did or like Ryder had done to me."

"Trevor would never hurt you," I told her honestly. After being manipulated by Ryder for years, she didn't need to be in the dark about an actual relationship she was in. Even though I thought they were doomed and it was a ploy for Trevor to legitimately piss off Ryder other than some genetic disposition, they were actually good for each other. So I made a decision. "Trevor's part vampire."

While Stella stepped back and released a breath she was holding, I saw Trevor exit her front door. Unless he was eavesdropping through the door or had some unrealistic Edward Cullen powers of mind reading, he didn't know about Stella's apprehension. It was sad and pathetic and she didn't deserve it. I knew I dropped a huge secret on her that wasn't mine, but my memory served me enough to know that the deal between Ryder and Trevor to date Stella was centered around the fact that Trevor couldn't tell her about him or his supernatural knowledge. Nothing about anyone else telling her. And I think it benefitted the both of them that I told her because it's not like Ryder could be mad at me, let alone bar me from the Tribunal for breaking a pact I wasn't actually involved in.