“Believe it.”
“Why? Because you want to punish yourself? Sorry, this is one time I’m not taking your word. I’ll get the facts, judge for myself. But I’m warning you now, Garrett. I don’t care how damning your past is, how egregious your mistakes were. I see the shifter you are now, and that’s all that matters to me.”
I don’t blink, not with how she’s looking at me as if she can see through to my soul.
“You’d be better off—safer—keeping your distance. Listening to what Kiera said to you.”
Her eyes narrow. “Have you been spying on us?”
“No need. I know Kiera. She doesn’t mince words, and she definitely blames me for Marla’s death. She only agreed to show you around because she was in camp when we arrived. By now, the entire pack knows what you’ve been through?—”
Her face scrunches. She’s finally connecting the pieces. “That entire display was more than you convincing your alpha that I needed help. You wanted everyone to think I mean nothing for you beyond being just another shifter you rescued.”
The corners of my mouth lift, but I don’t confirm or deny her theory.
“You sneaky bastard.”
“You’re just another shifter I rescued, Angel.”
She scoots back on the bed, putting distance between us finally. “You’re saying I mean nothing to you?”
“You mean as much as any other shifter here. I’m not a guard, but I’d still put my life on the line to protect you as I would anyone in this pack.”
She falls silent, which both hurts and makes me crazy wondering if I’ve finally convinced her to forget about me.
“So I’m nothing more than a job…”
“I can’t get involved with shifters I rescue.”
“Not even as a friend?”
“I don’t have friends. And there’s a reason for that.”
“What reason?”
“That’s the thing about not being friends… I don’t need to explain myself to you. We’re strangers to one another, Angel. And that’s how it’s going to stay. For both of our sakes.”
“Fuck you, Garrett.” She scurries off the bed and grabs a pillow, holding it up like a weapon, like she wants to hitsomething. Probably me. “We spent too much time running from the WSSO to be strangers.” She starts scrutinizing my cabin in all its bare glory. The stack of books on a shelf. A fully stocked kitchen so I don’t have to join the rest of the pack for meals in the cookhouse, the bed, fireplace, bathroom. The barebones necessities I need to be comfortable.
Except a female. A partner to talk with. Someone to make the days less long, and the nights less… lonely.
“That’s why you’re out here, avoiding being with the rest of the pack,” she says, her voice getting higher, agitated. “Like Kiera, they all think you killed Marla, that you’re responsible because that’s whatyouthink.”
“I am responsible. Which is exactly why you shouldn’t be here.”
“Even if you were responsible?—”
“I am. No one’s disputing the facts.”
“…that’s not a reason to push me away.”
“Angel, you’re new here. There are hundreds of shifters in this pack who need to get to know you, to trust you, and you them. That’s not going to happen if you’re hanging out with me.”
She hugs the pillow to her. “Trust? They think I work for the WSSO. That I lured those shifters willingly.”
“No one thinks that. Damien and Hayden debriefed me while you were getting to know Tess.”
“That was a debriefing too, wasn’t it? Send in the woman my age, similar background, let her gauge if I’m telling the truth or pulling everyone into some grand deception.”
