I didn’t stop to look at their pathetic faces to see what type of response I’d elicited with my fury. Maybe something I’d said rang true to them and they realized what monsters they’d been. Even if it did, it wouldn’t make a difference. I was done with them. I refused to stand there another second.
I stormed past Nico, needing fresh air. He didn’t try to reach out to me, but he did turn and speak as I rushed past him. “I’m sorry you’re hurting, but you shouldn’t blame Dominic. He had a soft spot for your parents, regardless of the threat they were to the pack. I’m sure if he had known they were alive, he would’ve had them saved.” I slowed down but didn’t stop moving as Nico’svoice became louder. He wanted to be sure I heard his final plea. “I’m the one to blame, Liza. I made the call. Not Dominic.”
I paused when Dominic’s quiet voice reached me. “Liza, I would have saved them.” He sounded so broken. “I would’ve saved them.” When he repeated himself, his voice cracked, and he stared at the floor.
Nico stood tall, showing his resolve for the situation. “And that’s why we had to see to their end.” He turned back to me, his eyes narrowed in determination to make his final case and somehow convince me that killing my parents was the best decision he could have made. “I’m sorry for your loss, Liza, but I did what I had to do.”
I stormed out of the library. Ty called after me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. My arms tingled, and I knew I needed to shift before I broke out of my skin in the middle of the library.
My wolf needed to sink its teeth into something, so I ran toward the trail where Ty and I would have had our first date. The one where he stood me up. To be fair, he’d had a good excuse.
At this time of night, the park was empty, allowing me the freedom to run through a public place only half shifted—part human and part wolf. I silently thanked the gods for keeping people away, not knowing how I’d react to their stares.
As soon as I reached the tree line, I stripped out of my clothes and shifted fully, running deep into the densely wooded area. I bounded over logs and leaped over streams, finally coming to a stop on a massive boulder overlooking the river.
My heart pounded, and I found myself scanning, watching, and waiting for something, anything, to move. The desire to kill overwhelmed my senses. No longer thinking straight, I followed a scent along the stream in the opposite direction.
After several minutes of sniffing the ground and listening for rustling in the underbrush, I finally found it.
A buck stood in the dim moonlight. I could see the fear in its eyes and the taut muscles of its body, waiting for a false move or wrong decision that would cost it its life.
My motions were swift. So fluid, in fact, that I didn’t remember how I got from one point to the other. Instincts took over, and my wolf was at full power as all human reasoning went out the window.
The buck tried to run to dodge the predator that ran at full speed and lunged at its neck. He was too slow, and my desire to kill was too strong. I felt my teeth sink into its neck, and the buck fell to the ground, lifeless.
“Liza. It’s okay.”
The words were distant but soothing. Ty was near. I could sense his warm breath on my ear. I came to slowly, still in wolf form. Ty was sitting on the ground, his arms wrapped around me.
I blinked hard, trying to understand where I was and what had happened. I must’ve blacked out at some point. Suddenly, it all came rushing back to me. My eyes focused on the large mound and pool of blood next to me.
I gulped for air as the buck’s terrified eyes and loud snorting flooded my memories.
Oh, God, what had I done?
The poor buck. It hadn’t been hunted for food, nor had it just simply been killed. It had been slaughtered. I’d torn it to shreds.
I exhaled sharply as Ty held me closer. My wolf whined at what we’d done.
Tilting my chin upward, I howled remorsefully, my grief overwhelming me. I was completely broken.
“I’m sorry, Liza,” Ty whispered in my ear. “I’m so sorry.”
My wolf slowly receded, and when I was fully human again, I shivered from the cold and buried my face in Ty’s chest. I couldn’t look at the buck’s corpse any longer, its broken body avisible reminder of the brokenness within me. A loud sob tore through the silence, and I realized it had come from me. There was no way I could hold back, my mourning consuming me.
It was all too much. The loss of my parents, the betrayal of Ty’s family, even the paralyzing emotions I experienced as an omega—I couldn’t take anymore. I sobbed until there were no more tears and the exhaustion caught up with me.
I clung to Ty’s shirt, breathing him in before finally blacking out in his arms.
My eyes fluttered, and I pulled the sheet over my head. The image of the dead buck popped into my mind, and I sat up, scanning the room, not sure where I was.
I was disoriented for a minute, but then everything came back to me.
Castro hadn’t killed my parents. Sure, he’d shot them, but they were still alive when Nico had found them. Dominic had created such a cult-like following that Nico chose to kill my parents without even consulting his alpha.
It was all so fucked up I couldn’t even begin to process it.
My entire body ached, though I wasn’t sure if it was from the physical exertion from slaughtering the innocent buck, or a physical manifestation of my mental anguish. The pain was alive. It encircled me and held me down so I couldn’t move. It was a living, breathing entity. If I wasn’t careful, it would pull me down and I’d never recover.
