It was Liza or the pack.
“I’m not handing Liza over to you, Stone.”
Stone laughed. “You don’t have to. I’m pretty sure Liza wants to come on her own. She now knows thatyourfamily is responsible for murdering her family.” He paused and stepped to one side, locking his eyes on Liza. “Remember, it was your parents’ wish for us to be mated.”
Stone stepped closer to me, and I tensed, prepared to shift and fight. I didn’t have to.
A quiet voice behind me stopped both of us in our tracks. We both glanced at Liza, the blanket wrapped tightly around her body. She stared at Stone, breathing rapidly. She looked at him as if she were seeing a monster, her lips curled back in disgust.
Her reaction put me on high alert as I turned to face her fully. She never took her eyes off Stone.
“What’s wrong?” Stone cocked his head to one side. “Why are you looking at me like that, Aliza?”
Liza suddenly gripped her head and grimaced.
I cupped her face. “What’s wrong? Liza? Are you hurting?”
Her breathing was uneven, and she shook her head. “My parents didn’t want me to do that... to mate with you.” She pointed a shaky finger at Stone.
I glanced over my shoulder at Stone to see his face contorted. His smile wasn’t genuine, it was predatory.
A loud growl ripped through the quiet night, my warning to Stone.
Stone scoffed, his sly grin still plastered across his face. “You were too young to remember, Aliza. I was there for all of the adult conversations. They talked a lot about the infertility of the pack and how you, the omega princess, were the answer to their prayers. I was the only other child in the pack at the time. It made sense for them to choose me.”
Liza glared at him.
Stone held up his hands in defense. “This is our destiny, Aliza. You were meant to be with me, to birth my children, and bring the Wylde pack into a new era!”
Before I realized what was happening, Liza had a hold of my shirt, squeezing so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “I remember something.” Her voice trembled as she closed her eyes, trying to make sense of the memory.
Stone stared at her, his eyes hard with indifference. His voice was gruff when he issued his final threat, hoping to play on Liza’s emotions. “Do you want to shit on your parents’ final wishes before they met their demise at the hands of the Kellers?”
30
LIZA
Stone’s question rang in my head as I tried to focus on the memories. I compared them to my dreams, the recurring ones I’d had since I was a young child, and the nightmare I’d had a few nights ago.
My dreams had always been a bit distorted, fuzzy, and out of focus. The ending had remained the same, though. The boy took my hand and led me into the forest… but there was another part I’d never dreamed about. Suddenly, it was clear as day to me.
My parents had never liked Castro. There was something different about him... something off. One time, they found him in the woods completely covered in blood. He had killed a deer, which was normal for wolves. The difference was that he did it for fun, just because he wanted to. I had overheard my parents talking about the way they’d found him, his hand gripping the deer’s neck and blood dripping down his face. He was in human form, not even attempting to eat the deer meat, just ripping the carcass to shreds for the hell of it. His eyes had been wild, and it had stirred something inside my mother.
After that, they never left me alone with Castro. I’d see him multiple times a week, but my parents assigned one of thehousehold employees to keep watch over us as we played in our large backyard or in the playroom that was filled to the brim with toys.
Castro’s parents came over to our house unexpectedly one evening for a visit. They talked with my parents about their concern for Castro. They questioned why he was the way he was, and they admitted to being afraid of him. I couldn’t remember the details of that conversation but knew his parents had laid out multiple examples of Castro doing inappropriate things or saying hurtful words to them.
By the time Castro reached the age of twelve, most of the pack was afraid of him. They avoided him like the plague because he was unpredictable and couldn’t be controlled.
Not me, though. He went out of his way to be nice to me, doting on me, bringing me gifts. I remembered him being mean to the other kids. He would beat up the boys who got too close to me, and be hateful to the girls who played with me.
Before I knew it, I didn’t have any friends except Castro. I was so young that I didn’t think much about it. After all, when I was with him, we had a great time. He always made me laugh and played with my dolls, making funny voices, and creating silly scenarios that left me in stitches.
His bullying became too much for the families of Heather Falls, though. Within a year, they left out of fear for their children’s lives.
It was confusing for me because even though I heard what people said about Castro, his actions toward me didn’t match up.
One night, I’d snuck out of bed and stood at the top of the staircase, clutching my stuffed bear to my chest while I eavesdropped on my parents. My father told Castro’s parents that they no longer felt Castro was suitable to be my future mate, even though we had been betrothed since the day I’d been born. His parents sobbed and pleaded with my parents, promisingthem that Castro could change and that they could crack down on his behavior and whip him into shape. But my parents stood firm in their decision to protect me from the boy they believed to be a crazed, erratic, unstable shifter.
