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The face of one of my closest friends curled into a terrible smirk. “Oh? You really want to know?”
Betrayal swarmed in my chest, almost as intense as the pain in my side. Evan had fucking shot me. “You better tell me,” I spat, “because I don’t fucking understand how a man who was loyal to the Wargs, who was working as a spy for us, for me, could do this.”
Evan chuckled.
“I’m not joking, you motherfucker.” I tried to push myself up, but I couldn’t keep standing. Blood gushed from my wound and I lost my balance. Bryn caught me with her head. She helped me down again. “Tell me, Evan!” I shouted.
“I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand. You’re too blinded by your hatred for Gregor and Troy and now Samson and Harlon to see what’s really going on.” Evan crossed his arms, the gun held loosely and casually in his right hand. “Gregor saved my life, Night. I was only a teenager when you sent me into the Kings pack as a spy. I was all alone, I had no family and no protection. One wrong move, and I could have been treated like less than dirt, just like your pathetic mate. Gregor found out who I was. He took me under his wing. He saved my life when I was almost ripped apart by feral wolves.”
I glared at him. I hoped with everything I had that I would be able to make him pay for every year I had believed he was my friend.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded. “You agreed to do this for the pack, but I told you that you could pull out at any time.”
“Because you didn’t care about me, Night,” he said with a shrug. “You didn’t care about any of us, really. The only thing on your mind was getting the Kings’ land, and you didn’t care what happened to any of us while you carried out your plans. All that talk about making things better for the Wargs was just to make you feel better about yourself. You didn’t want to be seen as anything like your dad, who abandoned the pack for his ambitions. Unfortunately for you, you turned out just like him. Only you lied to yourself about it.”
The words hit me one by one, each like a fresh bullet. “Gregor and Troy had no problem killing their own wolves to show that they were powerful. They were the ones who didn’t care about their pack, who killed or tortured if anyone so much as stood in their way. You’ve seen firsthand how sadistic they could be, Evan.”
“You’re right. But I didn’t just see it.”
His words chilled me.
Evan continued, “I used to be so weak before, but Gregor made me strong. He was like a father to me, the only real one I’d ever known.” He cleared his throat, blinking back tears. “Now that he’s gone, the true Alpha of the Kings is Troy. I’m not going to let you take the pack from my Alpha.”
Every step I’d made with Evan had led to this one, terrible moment. This was a betrayal that could never be erased or made up for or changed. Evan had thrown all of it away, for my monster of a father. And now, because I’d put my trust in him, I was going to lose my life, my mate, and my pack.
I couldn’t let it go down like that.
I tried to take a deep breath, but that was a bad idea. Expanding my chest put pressure on my side, bringing with it another wave of excruciating pain.
“Evan, come on,” I tried to reason with him. “Even if you believe that I didn’t care about you or the Wargs, you know that I never wanted you to be killed or to suffer. You’re a couple years younger than me, aren’t you? It’s obvious now that I failed you, that I pushed you into Gregor’s arms.”
Evan stared at me. I couldn’t tell if it was working, so I trudged ahead.
“Gregor brainwashed you. He exposed you to shit that no kid should have to see, and took advantage of your vulnerability. If you would just think this through again, you’d see that Bryn and I, the Wargs, we can all help you.”
His eyes narrowed, one of them twitching. “You didn’t give a damn about my mental health when you sent me in as a spy,” he snapped. “Where were you when the Kings tortured me to break me, and forced me to kill to prove my loyalty to them? You never asked how I was. You only cared about the intel I could offer. You only wanted what doesn’t belong to you.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the loss of blood or the desperation, but I tried to think back to those years. Had I really pushed him to this? Was all of this my own fault for being obsessed with the legacy my shithead father kept from me? I had never wanted Evan to suffer torture or brainwashing. I’d had no idea that things were so rough for him. He never told me. Maybe I never asked.
“Evan—”
Samson cut me off. “Why are you wasting your time talking to him?” he demanded. “Fucking kill him already.”
“Right.” Evan spun the gun on his finger before pointing it at me again. Bryn tensed next to me. She was either going to try to rush Evan or jump in front of me to block the bullet. Either of those options would result in her getting shot and killed. Fuck me, I couldn’t let that happen.
“You think killing me will allow Troy to take over the Wargs,” I called. “You think it’ll give him the opportunity to control all the land, but you’re wrong.” I’d regained Evan’s attention. “Even if I’m killed, Dom won’t stop until he gets justice for me. And neither will my wolves. The Wargs would never allow anyone to take over our pack but Dominic.”
Evan, Samson, and Harlon began to snicker.
Everyone always underestimated Dom. Everyone thought he was just a useful idiot or just extra muscle who’d been promoted to a position that he didn’t deserve. But that was by design. That identity had been carefully crafted by Dom and myself. We wanted others to underestimate him, so that when I needed him to go all out, no one expected it, and no one could prepare for it.
I didn’t know what my goal had been when I started saying all this, other than stalling for another few minutes, but I was glad that I’d brought it up. As my body grew weaker by the second, thinking of Dom taking over for me was a comfort. If these were my last moments, at least I’d go out knowing that my beta was strong enough to complete what Bryn and I had started here. Dom would be a powerful Alpha of the Wargs, who would protect him just as fiercely as they had protected me. And he would be the one to unite the packs.
“I have no problem killing anyone in my way, Night,” Evan said, leveling the gun at me, “starting with you and your whore of a mate—”
Before he could finish the sentence or fire off another shot, Bryn lunged forward.
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