"Alpha?" John said carefully. "May I speak freely?"
Eric exhaled, scrubbing a hand over the back of his neck. "Of course."
"Very freely," John added. "With some disrespect in it?"
Eric huffed a short laugh. "I'd be careful if I were you. But come on, go on."
John didn't waste the opening. "How could you let this happen? How could you agree to this?"
Eric stopped walking. "To what?" Eric asked.
"You didn't know Mrs Blackwood stepped down as Luna mother?"
The shock on Eric's face was priceless. "She did what?"
*****
Charles was waiting at the courtyard when Cyril drove in with Claudia.
Cyril cut the engine and stepped out first, opening Claudia's door. She said her goodbyes briskly, already elsewhere in her mind, and Charles led her inside.
The moment she crossed the threshold, Claudia's steps slowed on instinct. Her feet carried her to Ingrid's portrait.
