35
Savannah
Stephanie’s hair was dark and long, pulled over her shoulders, framing a strong yet elegant face. Grief and anger tugged down the edge of her lips, and she clenched her jaw.
My chest rose and fell. Each breath felt like dying. I’d killed her mate, and now, her brother was mine. How fucked up was that?
She stepped forward, and I took a tentative step back, closer to the ridge.
Was she a vengeful spirit?
Billy had hunted me through the woods and dragged me down like a deer. He’d been on top of me, ready to kill me. I’d done what I’d needed to survive, but how could I explain that to her? If someone killed Jaxson, I would never forgive. I would hunt them down and murder them with my bare hands, claws or no.
She took another menacing step toward me.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I know it doesn’t change anything, but I’m so sorry. Sorry for Jaxson, and sorry for you.”
I desperately wanted to say that I hadn’t meant to kill him, or that it was only self-defense. But I could hear the words in my mind, and I knew those would sound like weak and feeble justifications. I’d killed her mate. For her, there would never be anything that could justify it.
Sorry was the only thing I could say.
She glared back at me. “I want to hate you.”
“I understand,” I said, backing up once again. My foot scuffed at the edge of the cliff, and some dirt trickled over the edge, but I didn’t dare look behind me. Not with the ghost approaching, not with the look of fury on her face.
I tried to calm my breathing.
She looked away, then, back to where Jaxson stood. He was far off, and I had no doubt that he was at the cusp of bolting to my aid, though he couldn’t see or hear her.
How was I going to tell him about this?
Still watching her brother, the ghost sighed. “You make him happy.”
I bit my lip, unsure how to proceed. “He makes me happy.”
When she looked back, her expression was softer, but only by a hair. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Savannah. I’m not going to hurt you. If something ever happened to you, my brother would go insane. He’d lose himself just like Billy did. You are my brother’s mate, and there’s nothing that I can do about that.”
I didn’t say anything, or even move a muscle. How could I respond?
She brushed her translucent hair over her ear. “I know my husband attacked you. That he was trying to kill you. I can’t imagine the terror of that moment, and I’m sorry for it. But I want you to know that’s not how Billy was. He was a kind man once. He would have been a fierce father, if we’d ever made it that far.”
She looked to be on the verge of tears, and a deep sadness welled up in me. I guess she’d been only a little older than I was when she died.
So many broken plans, for all of them. Stephanie and Billy. Jaxson. Their father.
“Jaxson said Billy had been a good man,” I replied. “Loyal. I’m truly sorry. It haunts me.” A part of me wanted to bolt and to run as fast as I could—to get away from the ghost, to get away from the bloody memories that I’d shoved deep down.
The other part of me wanted to go to her.
She hardened her expression and wiped away the glistening in the corner of her eye. “He was a monster in the end. I know that. The grief broke him. Kahanov used the cracks to pry him open and corrupt him, just like the Dark God is trying to do to you.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I bound my wolf to stop him. He got so close to taking control…”