“Why didn’t you tell me?” Zane asks.
“He asked me not to. Well, he sort of demanded that I didn’t tell you. Tessa and I promised to keep it a secret and—”
“Tessa knew too?” Zane asks. Evie scrunches up her nose and gives an apologetic yes. “Does Slate?”
She nods but doesn’t say anything. “I’m gonna kill him,” he mutters.
“No, you’re not,” I snap at him.
“Wait, is that where Reid disappeared to all the time?” Zane turns to me. “Was he with you at night?”
“What? No. Well, I mean, he wasn’t with me in the house.”
His eyes narrow. “But he was here?”
“Outside, Zane. He was outside, and no, I didn’t know. Mom told me.”
“Okay,” my dad says, stepping in. “I was trying to let my twoadultchildren work things out on their own, but apparently, that’s not working. Zane, Reid is Riley’s mate. Accept it. Riley, you don’t have to bond until you’re ready; but don’t wait too long. And please,” he waits until my eyes meet his. “Tell me if it gets bad.” I don’t get a chance to ask him what he means by that before he turns to Zane. “And you need to give your sister a chance to take all this in. You lost your mind when you scented your mate, took half your football team to get you stopped. I got called in for that one, remember? Just because your sister already knows her mate and just because he’s from her pack doesn’t mean that she’s still not shocked and dealing with it on her own terms. She also had to witness her friend being killed tonight.” I feel his words physically like a punch to my gut. “If anybody is to blame for tonight, I take the blame. I let a skinwalker into our home. And you let him in as well,” he says directly to Zane. “So, while there’s blame being thrown around and anger, maybe let’s redirect it. Let’s remember that your sister, nor her mate, are the enemy.” His face hardens. “We thought they were no longer a problem, and that was a mistake. Riley,” he faces me, and I know what’s coming.
“No,” I say before he’s even had a chance to say anything. “Dad, I just started college. I haven’t even had a month to settle in. You told me you would let me have freedom now.”
His eyes are hard when he responds. “That was before I knew the threat against you was still very active.”
I shake my head, feeling my hope draining away. “I haven’t even been able to play basketball yet, and—”
“And you’re probably not going to get to,” he interjects, stunning me into silence for a moment before I respond.
“What?!”
“We can’t let you travel with the team. There’s no way to keep you safe.”
“But Dad,” I begin.
“Riley, you can’t. There’s no way to ensure your safety.”
I feel the walls around me starting to close in on me. “I can shift now. I can protect myself.”
“Like you did tonight?” His face softens the slightest bit, and he softens his voice. “The only reason I didn’t kill that skinwalker tonight was that it was Reid’s kill to make, as your mate. But if he hadn't, I would have. You were nowhere near ready to shift and defend yourself.”
“Because that was my first shift!”
“I know, Sweetheart. But aside from that, could you have killed that skinwalker if you needed to? Could you have killed Peter?”
I blink. “I can’t answer that.”
His voice is soft when he answers. “You just did.”
Anger and frustration start to rise. “I’m not weak.”
My father’s eyes widen. “Sweetheart, I never said you were weak.”
“But that’s what you think, that’s what all of you think. I’m the baby of the family. I may not be the next alpha, but I’m still strong and you need to all stop treating me like I’m weak.”
“Riley, that’s not what we think,” Zane starts, but I whirl on him.
“We wouldn’t even be having this discussion if not for you. You’re making such a big deal about not knowing that Reid, your best friend, is my mate. Well, how do you thinkIfeel?How do you think I felt when I lost my really good friend three years ago without a word. You and me and Reid did everything together until one day we didn’t. He stopped paying any attention to me, and you left to go to college. I was all by myself at home, andthen everybody started tightening my security until I couldn’t breathe. Peter was the only one who—” I feel my voice break, and dread fills me. I will not cry; I refuse to cry. Instead, I just turn around and run up the steps. I can’t do this anymore.
Chapter 11
