I understood why Carter had done it.
Hadn’t I just gone against everything I knew in an attempt to keep Harper alive?
But there were lines you couldn’t cross, even for the people you loved, and Carter had crossed them. He intentionally killed both Arthur and Celeste. He’d chosen to poison me.
His options had sucked, but those were still choices he made.
I loved Harper, but even in my darkest moment, I wouldn’t have killed innocent people for her.
I glanced sideways at Maverick, uncertain what lines he would cross for his pack. His family.Me.
Maybe you could cross those lines after all, if you were powerful enough to take down anyone who called you out on it.
Carter wasn’t, but Maverick was.
“You’re going to kill him,”I said quietly, into my Alpha’s mind. I didn’t phrase it as a question. We both knew it was true.
“I am. You won’t be watching.”
No, I definitely wouldn’t be.
Carter sank to his knees next to his sister’s cage. He shoved his hand messily through his hair, devastation written in every line of his face.
I knew the feeling.
I had lived it.
“How are you feeling?” Carter demanded.
“Hungry.” Her voice wobbled. She was only a few years younger than me, but she looked so small. So sick.
“Whoever turned them has been starving her,” Maverick said aloud, dragging his hand over the stubble on his chin a bit roughly as we watched the siblings in the cameras. “We can’t kill her. She has to get a fighting chance.”
“I’ll find a few volunteers to feed her,” Nolan agreed. “I’d use that as a negotiation tactic, though.”
“Obviously.”
“I want to talk to Bloom,” Carter said, standing up straight and staring at the enforcer in front of him.
It was Ryker. He was kind of everywhere. I wondered absentmindedly how he felt about Harper being a turned vampire, since they’d screwed before.
The expression on Maverick’s face told me exactly what he’d said to the enforcer.
Not a fucking chance.
“Unfortunately, your opportunity to talk to the Alpha’s mate has passed,” Ryker said coolly.
“Then you’re not going to find out what I know,” Carter said bluntly. “I’m not talking to anyone else.”
I let out a slow breath.
If he stuck with that, the situation was going to get messier.
“Not even for your sister?” Ryker asked. “We could help her. You’re a lost cause, but she could survive this.”
“No. I don’t trust any of you,” Carter spat.
I obviously didn’t know him as well as I used to think, but I doubted that he was going to bend on that. Who would?
