As if he plans to take her. By force.
My human mind loses control of the situation as my wolf shoves forward. Juliet barely has time to gasp before I grab Cory’s wrist and grip it hard. So hard that little cracks sound out as I crush the bones.
He yelps and releases her.
But my wolf doesn’t release him.
Instead, my other hand grasps his elbow. With my wide grip on the limb, I bring his forearm down hard across my knee, the same way I might snap a dry branch for firewood.
Bone splinters and pierces his skin. Cory screams, then stumbles back when I release my hold, clutching his mangled arm to his chest.
“No,” the female wolf gasps, reaching out for Cory, even as he ignores her.
Mick crosses his arms and scowls in a way I’m sure most people in Bear Valley would find intimidating. But I can see the paleness of his face.
“No one touches Juliet. No one touches Abby. Not unless she wants to be touched,” I intone.
There’s a light pressure on my lower back, and I realize the librarian has placed her hand there. A silent thank-you.
I don’t deserve a thank-you. We’re in this danger because of me. Because I let a threat pass our borders.
“You looking to start a war over this human?” Mick growls.
“I’m giving her the chance to live her life on her own terms.” Then, with one of the greatest struggles I’ve faced, worse even then that time I dragged my body out of the woods after being shot, I keep speaking. “Even if that means she wants to leave.”
Despite wanting to keep Juliet always by my side, leaving us all far behind is likely the safer bet for her.
Whether I want to admit it or not, I’m connected to Cory. Just by the mere fact that we are the same species. If Juliet stays in Pine Falls, there will always be a tenuous connection to this man. The demon from her past.
Unless I kill him, of course.
But technically, by our laws, he’s done nothing so wrong as to give me that right. I was the one who gave him permission to enter our territory. In the eyes of all other wolves outside of Pine Falls, he’s made a social blunder and nothing more. A misstep to earn him a reprimand from his own pack leader. Things would be different if Juliet were my mate. But she’s not, and I refuse to force that on her.
If I were to kill Cory, it would be an act of war. And not just against Bear Valley. Part of the truce among packs requires the others to punish those committing a breach. That means Pine Falls would be left vulnerable to attacks on all sides if I let my beast free to tear this man’s throat from his neck.
But I can still give Juliet her freedom.
“She will remain in Pine Falls under our pack’s protection, or we will guard her back as she leaves for a new home. It is her choice, but either way, she does not go with you.”
56
JULIET
Guard my back?
I can’t believe Roderick just said that. He, who wants me to be his mate, is willing to let me go?
And if he does what he says, won’t that put the entire pack at risk?
“I don’t want anyone fighting on my account.” I stare up at the man who’s laying everything on the line for me, and I wonder what I did to earn his loyalty.
“That’s right, girl.” Mick nods with a triumphant smirk, the alpha sure he’s gotten his way, like always. “Come with us quietly, and there doesn’t have to be any bloodshed.”
Before Roderick can answer, there’s a growling that starts up, and at first, I think it’s the members of the Bear Valley pack in their loose circle around us. But then I realize the sound reverberates from outside the circle.
Roderick didn’t come alone. There’re a few others dismounting from bikes. I recognize Warner and Moose, who both step through gaps in the perimeter to join Roderick and mein our vulnerable position. There’s a yellow pickup truck parked not too far back, and Courtney climbs up to the roof of the cab. She crouches there, watching the scene unfold with a menacing glare from her elevated vantage point.
But they aren’t the ones making the threatening noise.
