❝ Sheep abide by the herd complex; safety in numbers. When all are the same, no one can be singled out.
A fox among sheep is able to infiltrate the herd only a handful of ways: under the veil of dusk, or by clothing itself as the prey, shedding i...
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"IT WAS PETER who you saw in the woods today; my uncle."
Jonah watched the dramatised shadows of the fire dance on the ceiling, performing all sorts of contortions as they meandered and twined in a competition to dominate the wood beneath.
Being put under Matthieu's scrutiny hadn't gotten any easier. It was like Jonah's body knew the man in front of him was anything but what he presented himself as; the manners he'd use had no effect on Jonah from the very beginning. Maybe the root of his anxiety was because, this time around, Jonah wasn't two steps ahead like he was used to being; he wasn't in control.
"Him too," Jonah mumbled to himself, his hands absorbing the warmth from the mug. "I didn't see that coming."
Matthieu sighed. "Jonah, you need to understand that it was never our intention to harm you—"
Jonah had reached his boiling point. He no longer possessed the patience to be the bird foraging for the crumbs of the truth Matthieu would scatter for him.
"No! Enough with your bullshit. Whatever you think you're trying to do, stop, because I'm not buying it. Was Shazia in any danger?" he jeered. "Alain? Since when did people wind up dead in trees from a wolf attack? Even if his death wasn't from your actions directly, I know you had something to do with it. In fact, the entire Dartmoore family has some sort of involvement with every corpse which winds up in Bêtemont. And here you're saying I was never in harm's way. Do you take me for an idiot? I'm done with people lying to my face about the blatant obvious; one of you tried to kill me— Peter tried to kill me."
Jonah shook his head, disbelief clouding his following words. "That 'thing' was Peter. This cannot be real."
He knew he'd be dissatisfied if he had gotten his theories about the Dartmoore family all wrong, but until now, Jonah had never stopped to question, what if he was right?
Thankfully, his explosion of frustration hadn't tempted Matthieu to go back on his word. From the moment he opened his eyes, Jonah, understandably, had been acting out of character, but never did Matthieu take advantage of his failing defences. He remained mellow and contained, allowing Jonah to release the outburst he'd been nurturing for weeks. Perhaps there was morality to his name after all?
His jaw clenched, Jonah refocused back to reality, eyes setting on the man across from him. He was waiting for the flood of threats to leave Matthieu's mouth at any moment, promising to put him in the ground if he shared anything about what he knows with another soul.
