What the hell had she done to deserve Alvin’s hate? I tensed, fearing the worst. Had she killed someone? If that was the case, then she should have had the power to deal with Alvin on her own. I doubted Ness had committed the same sin as me. She didn’t carry the same ghosts. If anything, she looked beat down.
“Witches hate me,” she said, finally.
I sat back and waited for her to continue. A few moments passed. Silence stretched until she cleared her throat and dragged herself back to the present. I knew she was here when she looked me in the eye.
“A witch came through town a few years before I was born. She gave our historian a prophecy. A black hound would foretell the fall of the pack’s alpha. No one thought anything of it until my first shift. Then, Alvin decided to make me pay for the witch’s words. He’s been trying to keep me under his control ever since.”
“Wouldn’t they have known what you would become during your first shift? Someone in your family would have had to have been a hound for you to be one, too.”
Ness gave a half-hearted shrug. I watched her closely, but she was well practiced at putting up walls. I couldn’t read anything beyond anger at this point.
I leaned back as my own thoughts turned. I’d approached her with a request because of another witch. That explained why she thought witches hated her. Half of her life had been dictated by the words of witches.
Desperation pinched my gut, but I kept it from showing. Thoughts of my brother rolled to the forefront of my mind. If she could help me, then I needed her to do so soon. I wouldn’t allow pity for her to get in my way. This wasn’t a friendship.
It was a transaction.
I needed to guard my emotions better. In my time away from my clan, my own barriers had deteriorated. There was no need to guard oneself if you never stayed too long. This was as close as I’d gotten to anyone in the past year.
My beast craved company, but Ness had to stay at an arm’s length.
“Look,” I said. “We can’t mess around anymore. There’s too much at risk.”
Ness lifted a brow. Rage flickered in her eyes. My beast chastised me for my words. I needed to bring a wall down between us to protect myself, even if my beast hated me for hurting her in the process.
“No shit,” she growled. “My life. That’s what is at risk. Don’t you think I know that?”
I exhaled through my nose. I knew that. It should have been more important to me, but with the wall between myself and my emotions, I felt nothing. A chill crept over me. I sank into it and allowed it to swallow me.
“I won’t kill your Alpha. You can’t ask that of anyone.”
If my declaration did anything to her, she kept it well hidden. I waited and watched her expression, but it remained a burning mask of anger. I expected her to fly off the handle or show some sort of desperation. When neither happened, I continued.
“I will, however, help you dethrone the man. He shouldn’t be allowed to lead anyone. If you have any ideas that don’t involve murder, I will be more than happy to help.”
Her anger vanished in the blink of an eye. She threw her feet to the floor and leaned forward. A vicious smile curled across her lips. I watched the light of her hatred flicker in her eyes once more.
My heart did backflips until I took ahold of it. I would not allow myself to fall for this angry little vixen. We were here to use one another.
But the beast reminded me of other ways to use each other. It pushed visions of her face twisted with pleasure to the forefront of my mind. If only I could make those bright eyes roll back in her head as I touched her. Maybe then I would be free of this desire punishing me every time she came too close.
When my blood started to rush south, I banished the thoughts from my mind. My beast sulked, growling at me the whole time. I couldn’t afford to humor the beast or else I would lose what little time I had left. If I wasted it indulging in pleasure, then my brother would catch up to me.
Our fight would devastate this small city. Ness already had enough to worry about. I couldn’t allow my actions to make anything worse for Ness. She was a pain, but she didn’t deserve that.