“Derek! Where the hell are you? Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Had he figured out what she was up to? Had she given herself away somehow? She tried his phone again.
"Come on. Answer, please. I need to talk to you."
The next time she left a voicemail. "Derek, I don't know what is going on. Even if you're mad at me, even if you hate me, please listen to this message. You and your entire pack are in danger. If you already knew that, then your instincts were correct. I'm sorry. I'm going to keep looking for you. I–” She never got to finish that sentence.
A cold hand reached out and grasped her upper arm, squeezing into her bicep.
Ian was standing over her, looming.
"Just as I expected. You little turncoat."
"I don't know what you're talking about." She tried unsuccessfully to calm her pounding heart, knowing that he could hear it, every unsteady beat.
"Oh? Don't you?”
Her mouth dried up. She had no idea what they would do to her. But she had a good idea what they might do to Derek. Because Derek would never allow them to get close to his pack. He would never allow one of his people to be harmed at the hands of a vampire. She knew he would happily die for his cause. Which made it all the more shocking that she had been willing to betray him.
She closed her eyes.
I'm so sorry, Derek. Please forgive me.
He would never forgive her. No one would. She would be alone, forever, if she survived. But maybe he wouldn't hold it against other human hybrids. He was open-minded and a good male.
"You failed, wolf girl. You had one job. And that was to secure our entry into this pack, and then at the eleventh hour, you get cold feet. I told Victor years ago he couldn’t trust you. You’re soft. Oh, you talk a big game about how you watched your parents die in front of you, and how your pack turned its back on you. But when it comes down to it, you don't have what it takes. You made a promise, but I knew then that was never going to work.”
A pack full of male wolf shifters? They'll never rollover and accept our rule. They’ll all have to be eliminated.
“Don't do this. It's not right.”
“You know Victor always believed in you. All of us trained you well.”
Brainwashed, that’s what he had done to her.
“I don't think it's too much to ask for no one to be killed.”
“It absolutely is too much to ask. Your role in all this is over. You got us what we needed. We now know where their pack land is because we put a tracker on your car. We know where the office cabin is, what time the guard switches their posts. They’re fairly lackadaisical about their guests. I suppose they've never had to worry before.”
If only I could get this information to Roman or Derek.
“I knew in the end you would see yourself as one of them and not one of us. Victor didn’t listen to me,” Ian muttered. “If he had turned you into one of us, we would not be having this problem.”
She wasn't sure why it had never occurred to her that the vampire coven was playing the long game. They had only ever been using her. Victor had never cared about her. They had seen an opportunity to use a little girl and she fell into their trap.
Ian grabbed her arm again. “You come on. You’re coming with me. We’re going to go see your friend Derek now.” Ian marched her forward, not slowing down even as she stumbled over branches and rocks.
Oh no. Did they have Derek? Maybe they were still trying to capture him. Maybe they didn't have him in their custody yet. Maybe it wasn't too late.
Derek!
This wasn't right. Up until then she’d still been a little bit conflicted.
Could she imagine raising her hand to Victor now? She would do anything to save Derek. If they were going to torture him and then kill him, all bets were off.
Derek was sitting on a tree stump, and a female shifter loomed over him with a silver knife. Next to them, another shifter held a rope.
The female leaned in and pressed the tip against Derek’s neck.
In her own head, Kyra felt his skin sizzle. “Stop it!” she yelled.