For them all except Connor.
I wanted to believe that he’d done what he thought was right, but his idea of right and wrong was clouded. If Connor couldn’t tell that Alvin had been lying to him, then I couldn’t trust Connor ever again.
The thought hurt. I wanted my friend back. After he’d helped me escape Harvey, I’d thought better of him. I really had. To know that Connor could turn around and hand me over to Alvin like that was more than I could bear right now.
Ryder
“You’re goingto lay low until…” My voice trailed off.
Until what? Until I challenged Alvin? I didn’t want leadership of this pack. That wasn’t a job I wanted anymore. I’d had the chance once before, and I’d failed my clan. I wouldn’t fail another pack, especially one as damaged as the Lakesedge pack.
The thought of wrapping my bare hands around Alvin’s throat filled me with a sadistic glee that I did not like. The beast in me growled happily. I wouldn’t give in, though. Not even Ness could make me do something so horrid again.
I glanced at the rearview mirror, at the woman with wild hair and blood on her shirt. She stared forlornly out the window. Her skin was deathly pale. She’d survived a night in Alvin’s hands. If Alvin didn’t get off on playing with his victims, then she might not have had the chance to escape.
My knuckles turned white against the steering wheel. Damn this place and damn Ness for trapping me. All I needed was her help, but somehow I’d gotten tangled in this pack’s mess. The reason I couldn’t leave didn’t sit well with me, so I told myself that I still needed Ness’s help.
What if the witch had been wrong? What if Ness wasn’t the one who would help me? Could I leave her to this fate if she couldn’t help me? I wanted to say yes, but every time she needed help, I ran into the fray.
Sacrificing myself for Ness wouldn’t bring my father back, though. Nothing I did would ever turn back time and prevent what had happened.
My beast snarled and lashed its tail. The beast wanted to say that this was not about my soul or the stains upon it. Those stains would never go away, no matter what I did. I could not be saved.
A roar stuck in my throat. The steering wheel groaned under my grip. The blonde in the passenger seat gave me a wary look. I ignored her and focused on the road ahead.
“She won’t survive the hunt,” I said, flatly.
Ness lifted her wrist. In the rearview mirror, I noticed a flash of metal. A pair of cuffs dangled from her arm.
“I won’t be so vulnerable once I get these off!” She glared at the cuffs. “They do something. I can’t shift. My hound is…gone.”
Cerri grumbled as she twisted in the passenger seat. The blonde bemoaned what she assumed to be the local witch’s handiwork as she turned the cuffs over.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but the wound on Ness’s shoulder still hadn’t healed. It should have started closing up by now, even if she hadn’t eaten in a while. The bloodless color of her skin unnerved me.
Alvin and his son relied on magic a lot. I owed the witch another visit.