Page 156 of The Rust in Her Hair

"Tell them what you told me," Nico says quietly.

Owen walks Adrian and Mack through it, his voice flat and worn. I keep my face pressed to his throat while he talks, and by the time he gets to the threat against my father, the whole room has gone still.

"That fucker can't be allowed to make that call to Aldric," Nico finally says.

"He won't." Mack’s voice almost sounds cheerful, but there's nothing easy left in his face. "That fucker won’t get a chance.”

I press my cheek harder into Owen's shoulder and make myself breathe. I'm steadier now. The scent of my beta has smoothed the worst of it out of me, and I'm not shaking anymore, but there's a cold certainty sitting in my gut that none of them seem to feel.

"You don't understand what he is," I say. "None of you do. He’s so much worse.”

"Then tell us," Adrian says gently.

I open my mouth and close my eyes, forcing myself to finally say those awful words out loud. "It was him." My voice comes out small and flat. "That night. He’s the one who hurt me."

Owen goes rigid beneath my cheek. His arm tightens around me and his breath stops, going completely still.

But all three alphas look livid. Enraged. Adrian’s eyes go dark, Mack goes completely still, and Nico lets out a deep rolling growl.

I hate this. I hate how angry everyone is, and how bloodthirsty the air has become. But I have no clue how to make it better, so I just say what I feel. "I just wish he was dead."

"That can be arranged,” Mack growls softly, and my head comes up off Owen's shoulder.

"That's not funny."

But nobody's laughing. Especially not Nico, who's looking across the room at Mack with an expression I've never seen on him before. Flat and cold and certain, the two of them sharing a very intense look.

A chill crawls straight up my spine.

Is Mack not kidding?

They're planning something, right now, without a word passing between them, and I feel it settle over the room like a drop in pressure before a storm.

"You can’t meet him," I blurt out. "He's dangerous.”

"So are we." Mack's voice is firm but quiet.

“No.” I shake my head, frustrated that they don’t understand. "You don't get it. Crispin owns judges. He ruins people for sport. Like it’s nothing. My god, he punched Owen in his own office without a care in the world." My words start coming out faster. "I don't want any of you near him. I don't. Please, can we just leave? Tonight. We pack up and go to Halven, and we don't stop until we're far away from here and we never come back."

"Sweetheart." Adrian reaches for me, his thumb brushing over the edge of my jaw. "I wish that would work. I do. But running won’t stop a man like Crispin Maleth.." He gives me a sad smile. "With the resources he's got, he'd find us. Maybe not right away. But eventually. And we can’t run forever.”

He's right, and I fucking hate it.

"Then what do we do?" My voice cracks. "Because I don't want you anywhere near him. I can't lose any of you to that man. I won't survive it." Hot tears fill my eyes, but thankfully, they don't fall.

The room goes quiet. Then Mack shifts, and when I look up at him, that easy warmth is gone from his face. He looks so serious.

"I think I've got an idea." His green eyes move to Nico, then to Adrian, and hold. "But I'll tell you right now, it's gonna take an ungodly amount of self-control from the both of you. More than you think you've got."

Another one of those weird looks passes between the three of them, a whole conversation I'm not part of.

I immediately frown, knowing that anything outside of murder won’t work, and as much as I’d love that, I simply wouldn’t be able to live with myself if they did something so horrible because of me.

"What are you thinking?" Owen asks, wrapping his arms tight around my middle.

“Well,” Mack says. “I think I might have a way that we can reason with the asshole.”

The Glass Room