Ryder sputtered. “I have no such intentions.”
“That’s what I thought.” Candi moved to slam the door in our faces.
I darted around Ryder and put my foot out. The door slammed on my boot. It sent a wave of pain radiating up my body. I shuddered and let out a breath, but didn’t drop my coffee, at least.
“Maybe Ryder won’t cause any problems, but that’s all I know how to do.” I shouldered the door open, forcing Candi out of the way.
Marching inside, I tried to fight off the waves of memories trying to send me into a spiraling panic. Sitting in front of Alvin so he could approve my schedule. Bowing my head to him while he made me feel small.
I would never go back to those days. They were over. I had a new Alpha now.
In the dining room, I stopped and turned. Candi stood in the foyer. Her hand on the door shook as Ryder ducked inside, too. She slammed the door and stormed into the dining room in a huff.
“What do you want? You’ve already ruined my life, Vanessa.”
Taken aback, I pointed at myself. “Me?Iruinedyourlife?”
The venom swelled again. I could feel my arcana slamming against the inside of the ice wall. It wanted out. I had a few words that Candi needed to hear, but I swallowed them down.
If I coerced Candi into talking, then she might retaliate. She would have a direct connection to her husband. We needed to tread carefully. If we could convince her that we had her best intentions in mind, then there was less of a chance that she would bring Alvin into this.
Ryder put his hand on my shoulder and gently eased me away from Candi. I gave him a sharp look but didn’t fight him.
“You appeared, and Alvin stopped trying. He stopped pretending to be a good husband. We had fifteen good years where he made an effort to be the kind of man that I might want. Then you had to go and turn into a Black Hound. I lost the man I married that day.” Candi stopped near a side table, her hand on the smooth surface as if she were wiping dust from it. “I did my best to keep everything under wraps. I cleaned up all my husband’s messes and tried to love my son better. So long as you were around, it didn’t matter what I did.”
I opened my mouth, but one look from Ryder cut me off. Though I stuck my tongue out at him, I kept quiet.
“Candi, no one asked Ness what she wanted. There was a lot thrust at her that was completely out of her control. I think you can relate.” Ryder slowly approached her. “Now isn’t the time to be angry with Ness. If you can help us, then we can find Alvin and make things right.”
Candi let out a bitter laugh. “Make things right? That bitch of yours already took my son from me. I won’t say that he was a good man, either, but I gave birth to him. He was all I had in this world. There isn’t a damn thing either of you can do to make things right, so you might as well stop trying.”
Guilt hit me, another stone plummeting in my stomach, gathering with the others. I never wanted to kill anyone. Harvey had forced my hand. It’d been him or me, and I chose to live that day.
Maybe, now that I knew there was a chance I could come back from the dead, I could have spared him. Others would still be in danger if I’d let him live, though. Haylee and Kelsey had been hurt by him. Had he walked away that day, he would have hurt them even more.
I could tell myself I’d done the right thing, but I’d still taken a life. One that Candi cared about.
With an apology ready on my lips, I stepped around Ryder again. Before I could get a word out, Candi rushed me. I caught the gleam of metal in her hands. Ryder shouted. I leapt back but ran into Ryder’s chest.
The blade slid past skin and into flesh. I hissed at the pain.
Man, why did everything have to hurt so damn much? This wasn’t fair.
Ryder stepped back. I tried to ease off the blade, but Candi kept coming. Her eyes burned with hatred and contempt. I fumbled back until the dining table met my rear. The whole thing shuddered, the decorative centerpiece rattling.
One hand around Candi’s, I used the other to shove her. Relentless, she pushed forward. A dozen thoughts spilled through my mind. How long was this blade? Had it pierced anything important? Did I deserve this?
Ryder appeared behind Candi and grabbed her by the shoulders. He yanked her off me, but that also pulled the knife out of my stomach. I groaned. My knees tried to buckle, but I managed to yank a chair out from under the dining table and fall into it.
Hot and throbbing pain filled my stomach. I couldn’t even feel the warmth of my blood soaking my shirt. Damn, that had been a good shirt. Even if I got the blood out, the knife-hole would remind me of this every time I pulled it out.
Well, shit.
Ryder held onto Candi, whose shoulders rose and fell with a violent fury as she stared me down. I gave her an upward nod before fumbling out of my seat and wandering into the kitchen where I could raid the fridge for some calories.
I kept one hand pressed to the bleeding wound in my stomach. Was it bad enough that I needed stitches? I had no idea. Shifters didn’t normally need stitches, but this hurt like hell. Candi had lived with Alvin for over twenty years. It made sense that she might have picked up a few tricks from him, like where to stab a shifter for maximum effect.
No, I doubted she’d been able to think through the haze of rage. The look on her face, twisted and darkened, stuck in my mind. I knew I deserved this. I just had to wait for my body to heal on its own.