Alisha’s eyes widened and she took the translated pages from him. “That’s her. I’m sure of it. I’m getting closer. How could there possibly be any bad news?”
“I was hoping you’d see it that way.” He grimaced. “The bad news is the funding for your fellowship here has just been pulled and as of next semester, you’ll no longer be employed by the University of Alaska.”
“What!?”
He raised his hands. “The only reason I’m here telling you this is because I thought it should come from a friend as opposed to the head of the department, who’s still pissed at you for pissing off the new king of Colorado.
Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me this sudden defunding doesn’t have anything to do with Rafe Nightwolf.”
Matt lifted his shoulders up and down. “What did you expect, Chloe? His family is one of the richest wolf dynasties in the United States. He has a seat on the council and the Nightwolf trust gives millions of dollars to the wolf residency program so shifters can attend state colleges all over the U.S. and enroll in wolf-based classes. He’s not a guy you want to piss off. And you basically announced that you plan to write an entire book about the woman who left him for a Viking.”
She shook her head. “How is no one understanding the impact Chloe Adams might have had on our own history? For all we know, she’s influenced facets of our culture we don’t even know about. How can you all stay so busy bowing and scraping to this jerk that you can be totally okay with not finding out what happened to her? Where’s your curiosity?”
He gave her a sad smile. “Believe me, Alisha. I’m not happy about this situation either. It sometimes feels like the Council only funds us so they can keep us in check. But that brings me to the possibly good news. Now that you don’t have a class load next semester, you can dedicate more time to solving the mystery of what happened to your friend.”
She was still fuming, but she realized Matt was right. Rafe Nightwolf truly was an asshole for getting her fired, but that was about to blow up in his face. He thought he was shutting her down, but he had only fueled her determination to get to the bottom of this mystery. She would find out what happened to her friend, she vowed. And she wasn’t going to let anyone, especially not Rafe Nightwolf, stop her.