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“King, actually, if we’re going with the shitty analogies. Daniel’s the power behind the throne and plans on getting rid of Jerron. Jerron’s too stupid to realize it.” My brain kept slamming up against all these peculiar facts but was too addled to crawl over the wall to the other side.
It also meant that Alan had just found out Dad was dead, and he would quickly realize Daniel (and Jerron) had absolutely no idea what was really going on here. He’d also deduce that I knew way more than I should, and that meant I had a powerful source not named Rodero, and I wasn’t nearly as helpless as he might think.
Oh man, that probably had him gnawing on a leather strap.
Daniel was probably chewing on his own leather strap over how the fuck I’d gotten out here, and what the fuck had Alan so damn pissed off he’d carved me with silver, and what the fuck was actually going on here.
Fucking delicious. Best meal I’d had in four days.
“They’re coming this way,” Hamid said.
“Don’t get involved.” I tensed, and every nerve punished me for it.
The door to the cabin kicked open. Burning cold rushed in.
Two FrostFur warriors hauled me out by the arms. I blacked out from the agony, then came back as they dragged me across the snow towards the smoldering bonfire. Without ceremony, they tossed me down in front of Jerron.
My eyes watered from agony and cold. I only had on a bra, so the freezing snow tore at my exposed skin.
Jerron pushed me over onto my back while I coughed and choked on snow and agony and vaguely prayed my arm might fall off.
He knelt over me. “What are you doing here, Winter?”
I panted, eyes watering, and out of my mind with silver and agony. “What are you doing here?”
“Trying to explain what you’re doing here. So fill me in, you dumb bitch.”
Oh, I was the dumb one. I laughed, high and crazy. I struggled to sit up, but failed, which meant I had to lie on my back and show my belly to my wormy brother while everyone watched. “I don’t answer to you.”
Jerron grabbed my wounded arm and yanked it forward, twisting it at the wrist to expose the injury. He shoved a thumb into it and pulled the crusted edges apart.
The pain shorted out my brain. I screamed and flopped.
Don’t beg. Don’t beg. Don’t beg.
Tears froze on my face, the cold sucked everything out of my body, the ice numbed me and it was going to kill me, and I was going to die out here in this snow with my awful brother looming over me like the secret to being a good Alpha was hidden in my skin. I sobbed and probably gagged a few times.
“Why are you here!” he shouted.
The pain hit a crescendo. I couldn’t beg, so I confessed. “I hate you! I hate you! I’ve always hated you!”
Silence.
It was a terrible thing when wolf sibs didn’t love each other. It was a bad omen. But what did I have left to lose? Nothing. He stared at me in fury: I’d revealed our little secret. I hated him, which was bad enough, but we both knew it was mutual. And he was just as much a piece of shit for not loving me.
“You enjoy this,” I hissed. “You like this. You can lie to them, you can deny it, but you reek like a predator enjoying their prey. They can smell it on you. You want to do this to me. You hate me as much as I hate you.”
“Shut. Up,” he hissed, but his grip loosened.
“I tried to warn you,” I rasped. “You want to know why I’m here? You want to know what’s really going on? It’s got nothing to do with that little bride-price business. Nobody cares about that. Not even me. This is the big boy Council shit, and not even Daniel there knows what’s going on. Because Dad knew he couldn’t trust Daniel. So if you go ask Alan reallly nice, he might tell you, so you don’t look like the unqualified asshole you are to the rest of the Council. Me? I actually know more than Alan does. But I’m not going to tell you. You had your chance.”
His fingers felt like they grabbed my bone.
I howled in pain, but my brain simmered with hatred. “I’m not telling you anything! Go ask Alan! Or won’t he tell you why he’s holding me for ransom?”
“Ransom?” Jerron snarled.
I laughed/howled. “He didn’t tell you? Did he tell Daniel? No? Poor babies. Go home and let the real wolves play.”
