Page 79

Phoebe shrugged, her heartbeat slowing. “I have heard he’s a better Alpha than your dear old dad.”

“Not a very high bar.”

“I guess not but…”

“But whatever. He’s still Knox. Still my brother. Still the guy who tried to fucking kill me in front of my whole pack and no one did a damn thing to stop him.” Theo shook himself like he could rid his body of the memories.

“Theo—”

“No, no. Sorry.” His fingers held the steering wheel so tightly that the knuckles had gone white. “This is why I don’t talk about it. It just … brings up too much shit.”

“It’s okay.”

“Let’s just leave it for now.” That was it. Theo’s expression shuttered, all the pain locked away again behind his beautiful face.

“Sure. Of course,” she said, because what else could she say? That little conversation was more than Theo had ever spoken about any of it in the past year. It was a good start. It was good for him.

At least, she was pretty sure it was, even though the tension was still rolling off Theo like steam from dew-covered branches on a hot summer morning.

He blew out a long sigh. The windshield wipers ticked back and forth, cleaning the salt from the glass. The radio provided nothing but static.

He turned to her, a mischievous grin plastered back on his face. “Do we have any snacks left?”

Phoebe couldn’t help her smile even though she knew it was fake, another lie. She smiled, even as she was sure that the road they traveled down was leading them straight to disaster. Straight back to Theo’s pack and the truth about what she’d done.

An hour later, the truck was parked on the shoulder by a forest trail. One that led back to his former home. But Theo sat frozen in the driver seat. He couldn’t seem to bring himself to open the door and hop out. The desire to start the truck again and drive the fuck out of here was so strong he had to squeeze his eyes shut against it.

Phoebe sat quietly beside him, waiting.

He’d already texted Rafe. His brother and Ruby had planned to meet them here.

But Theo couldn’t let go of the steering wheel.

His breath was shallow, like his lungs couldn’t suck in enough air.

What was wrong with him?

All he had to do was walk in there and demand some answers about Lena. Or, a very tempting voice whispered in his head, he could leave it to Rafe to figure out. He could go back to pretending this didn’t hurt him, that his people hadn’t hurt him.

He could smile and laugh and flirt and fuck and pretend none of it mattered.

This was Rafe’s problem, anyway. What did he care about some stupid fucking seer?

An unwanted image of Lena’s narrowed eyes as she kicked him out of her bedroom after he’d shown her just how real werewolves were, flickered against his closed lids. She was so frail, clearly wasting away from her untapped powers, but there was a fire in her. Still, she fought, shoved him right out the door and told him just what she thought of him.

And Ruby. The look of worry on her face when she told him Lena was missing. Not to mention Rafe’s tortured gaze every time he saw Ruby in pain.

Theo had accidentally started caring for these people. And he’d promised to help.

Something he couldn’t seem to do as he sat paralyzed in his truck.

Useless.

Weak.

The Alpha’s runt, always.

And they’d all let him get into that ring anyway. His pack had been prepared to let him die. How could he face them now?