Page 23 of Sass Me Again

“Mom, do you even hear yourself? You sound completely nuts!”

“You have no idea the lengths I’ve gone to protect you—to protect all of us from these monsters. I thought you’d be okay, that you’d see he was no good for you, but you just couldn’t stay the hell away from him.” Layla jabbed an accusatory finger at Ian.

“He is my mate. I don’t know if you understand that or not, but you know I’m not lying. You can hear the truth in my words.”

“Like that matters? We can break that mating in a heartbeat and get you back on track. Trust me, we’ve already looked into this. It’s just sad that you are going to force us to go to those lengths. All because you couldn’t stay away from that fucking, pathetic mutt!” Eric scoffed.

Rafe silently nodded to Tanner, giving the unspoken command.

Tanner moved with an inhuman speed, snatching the syringe from Eric’s hand. “Actually, we do.” He held on to Eric. His grip was unbreakable.

Layla tried to rush at Emily, but Ian stepped between them with a snarl. “Don’t.”

“You can’t do this,” Layla pleaded, her composure cracking. “She’s our daughter! She’s mine!”

Rafe’s tone was final. “She’s a member of this pack now—and you’ve broken our laws.”

Layla’s shoulders slumped. Eric struggled against Tanner’s hold, but it was useless. Emily just watched, shocked at how small her parents suddenly looked.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, not sure who she meant it for.

Tanner glanced at Rafe for confirmation. “Ready?”

Rafe nodded. “Take them.”

There was a shimmer of energy, a pop that made the air seem to collapse inward, and then Tanner and the Holmeses vanished. They were gone in an instant, leaving only the echo of Eric’s angry shouts and Layla’s broken sobs.

Rafe looked at Emily, his voice softer. “You did well. You’re safe now. The pack will hold them accountable for their actions and bring them to justice.”

He glanced at Ian, gave a nod, then turned and strode out the door. Silence fell through the house, broken only by the sigh that escaped Emily as the adrenaline fled from her body.

Ian turned to her, wrapping her in his arms. She sagged against him, relief and sorrow mingling in her brain.

“It’s over,” he murmured, his lips pressed to her hair.

Emily nodded, but let herself believe, for just that moment, everything would somehow, magically, be okay.

16

Emily woke with a gasp, her heart hammering against her ribs like it wanted to break free. Pain exploded through her chest as she tried to draw a deep, cleansing breath. The nightmare clung to her, sticky and suffocating. Her mother's face, contorted with rage. Her father's hand reaching for another syringe. The darkness swallowed her whole as they stood over her, smiling and telling her it was for her own good.

She pressed her palm flat against her chest, trying to slow her breathing. The room was dark. Unfamiliar shapes loomed in the shadows. Then she heard it. A soft, rhythmic sound beside her. Ian's snore, barely more than a whisper of breath.

She turned her head to him. He lay on his back, one arm thrown over his head, the other resting on his stomach. The sheet had slipped down to his hips, and the pale moonlight that shimmered through the window painted his bare chest in a silvery glow. He looked peaceful. Safe.

Emily focused on the sound of his breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Letting it anchor her back to reality, back to the room, the bed, this moment where her parents couldn't touch her anymore.

But her mind wouldn't quiet. The nightmare was too fresh, too painful to shrug off.

A million questions ran through her mind in what seemed to be a never-ending freaking loop. What was happening to them right now? Rafe had said pack law would deal with them, but what did that actually mean? She pictured her mother in some kind of cell, her perfect hair mussed, her designer clothes replaced by an ugly-ass orange jumpsuit. The image felt wrong, almost laughable. Shifters didn't have regular jails, did they? There were no shifter prisons in the human world. So where did Rafe take them? Did she really want to know if it was somewhere fucking horrible?

Would they die for what they did to her? The thought sent a cold shock through her body. As much as she hated them in that moment, as much as she wanted them to pay for every needle, every lie, every year they stole from her, they were still her parents. Some broken, twisted part of her still very much loved them. She didn't want their blood on her hands. That was not something she could have on her conscience or even begin to figure out how to deal with.

But maybe that wasn't up to her. Pack law was ancient, brutal in its own way. She'd heard whispers at the Convergence, stories about shifters who broke the most sacred laws. Exile. Forced shifting until the mind broke. In the old days, execution. Her stomach churned at those very thoughts.

What if Rafe decided that her parents’ death was the only answer? What if she woke up tomorrow and learned her parents were gone forever, and she had to carry that weight? She'd spent her whole life as their prisoner, and now she might be the reason they ceased to exist. She definitely wasn’t ready for that. The irony tasted like a bitter ash on her tongue.

"Hey." Ian's voice was rough with sleep, his hand finding her shoulder in the dark. "What’s wrong, love? You're shaking."