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“You are wonderful, girl,” I told her. “But if things had gone smoothly from the beginning, the Wargs wouldn’t have me around to fuck up their lives.”
“Hey,” Tavi’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Stop that. I can see the worry lines forming on your forehead.”
I looked up to see that Tavi had shifted closer so that our legs almost touched. “You’re too cute to give yourself wrinkles.”
That comment startled a laugh out of me. “You’re silly, Tavi.”
She smiled, but it quickly faded away. Good humor couldn’t last long given our situation.
“You know,” she said, “I heard that Troy was fucking crazy. There were rumors that he doesn’t have control of his men even though he’s the son of the Alpha. Talk was going around that he and the Kings have been going downhill since he took on the Alpha mantle. I guess that must be true if he’s willing to go through all of this trouble.”
“I can’t say if those rumors are true, but he’s always been a hotheaded asshole,” I said. “And he’s always had it out for me. Like a personal vendetta, and I don’t know why. He used to go out of his way to bully me and embarrass me. He treated me like I was nothing.” Thinking of it now, my skin began to crawl. “There was something so sick about his determination to make my life miserable.”
Tavi shook her head, disgust curling in her upper lip. “‘Sick’ is the right word. But then, ‘psychotic’ or ‘unhinged’ also work. He has to be all of those things to think he’s in your league.”
It was with a fresh wave of surprise that my laughter filled the air. Tavi quickly joined me. I had no idea if Tavi’s joke was any good, or if we both just needed an opportunity to let off some steam. Either way, as the laughter died down, the reality of our situation began to close in again.
“Can you get loose?” Tavi asked.
“No. I think they’ve put handcuffs on us.”
“Here, let me try something.” Tavi scooted back toward the wall and found a sharp spot. She rubbed the metal cuffs against the jagged surface but only succeeded in chipping chunks of rock from the wall. I scooted to the wall beside Tavi and tried the same technique, but I was just as unsuccessful.
“Damn it all!” Tavi shouted, loud enough that I winced. Even without my superior shifter hearing, Tavi’s voice would have made my ears ring. “We need a plan, Bryn. I don’t want to stick around to see what that psycho has planned.”
“Me neither,” I said. As Tavi’s echoing voice began to fade from my ears, I heard the rush of the river again. I remembered the last time I’d heard the sound of the Kootenai—it had been the day after Night had kidnapped me, when he’d held me in his arms and walked across the chilly water to get me to the opposite shore.
I remembered how angry I’d been about the whole situation, how helpless I’d felt in the presence of the strong Alpha who’d wanted to use me for his personal gain. I had wanted to escape then, too, believing that I had found myself in the clutches of another Troy. But even at the time, some part of me understood that as long as Night held me in his arms, nothing could hurt me. Not even the cold.
My chest filled with a deep ache when I thought of the way Night felt pressed against my body, the way he smelled, the way his hair passed like silk through my fingers, and those eyes which seemed to perpetually glow that fierce shade of green.
And then the guilt returned, but it wasn’t a pang this time. It was a pressure wrapping around my throat like the cuffs at my wrists and ankles.
How could Night ever love me when it’s my fault that Troy captured his sister? How could he ever want to claim me when I am the reason his mother is dead?
“Bryn? What should we do?” Tavi was watching me, wanting to hear that I had come up with some strategy to get us out.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m so sorry…” Tears streamed down my cheeks as the emotions became too much.
“Bryn, don’t cry.” Tavi leaned her head against my shoulder and pressed the back of her hand to mine. It was a poor substitute for her usual, warm hug, but I would never refuse the comfort of my friend, no matter how selfish that made me.
“Come on,” she continued. “We have to come up with a way to escape.”
But I couldn’t stop my tears. I knew I had doomed us both to whatever terrible fate Troy Redwolf had planned for us.
2
NIGHT
I was in my wolf form with Dom at my side, vibrating with rage in my mother’s cabin. With the stench of Redwolf and blood permeating our noses, we were itching to hunt him down.
All over the compound, I heard the howling of my wolves. They knew their Alpha was enraged, and they were eager to get to me and find out why. I could hear the sound of their paws scraping through dirt and leaves as they drew closer. Soon, I’d have the resources I needed to make sure I put Troy and every wolf who’d helped him in the ground.
Dom and I rushed out to meet my wolves, but a tiny groan from the entry of the cabin stole all of my momentum. I shifted back to my human form and about-faced, rushing back to the spot where I’d left Mom’s body.
I’d placed her hands over her stomach, but when I arrived, I found she had moved. Her hands were on the ground, her claws partially extended, her nails digging small scratches in the wood.
“Mom?” I dropped to my knees beside her. “Mom!”
