Page 56 of Dark

“No, I haven’t—”

“Keep your damn voices down,” growled Dallas.

Setting a clipboard aside, the county fire chief started over our way. Brody cursed under his breath.

Fuck. My. Life.

Dallas whipped around and shoved me hard in the chest. “This is your goddamn fault, Emo.”

I knocked his hand away. “The hell?”

“Both of you dickheads, lock it up,” Brody hissed.

And the next second, everyone in the clearing was staggering under the lead-blanket weight of my oldest brother’s power. I grunted, feeling my limbs turn to jelly. Although nowhere near as strong as Ben, Brody had inherited similar skill in mind control. He couldn’t yet send scores of attacking vampires writhing to the ground or hold someone in thrall for days without giving himself a serious migraine, but you’d better believe there had been a chorus of crickets when the question had arisen of challengers to his claim as acting Alpha. My wolf went wild, roaring to the surface, my skin prickling as the change tried to force itself on me despite the moon not being full.

“No,” I slurred, staggering into Hayden, who struggled to keep me upright. “Don’t touch me.”

But it was as if I’d downed a spiked drink. The flashing lights swirled, my reactions sluggish, Hays’ cool fingers at the back of my neck the only thing keeping my wolf from clawing free and killing everyone in the clearing. Defeated, I slumped to the grass.

“Everything all right over here?” The chief eyed Hayden, and then me, shaking like a freak down on the ground. “Looks like smoke inhalation. Better get on over to the rig, son, let the EMTs take a look.”

And yeah, I didn’t miss that tone, the same one he used to use whenever Ben would have people over to the house and I would hang back, unable to come up with anything but a cursory shrug to the requisite, How’s school? Like he was just waiting for me to confess I planned to blow the place up.

“He’s fine.” Hays smoothed my hair back as someone shoved a water bottle in my face.

Brody popped a stick of gum in his mouth. “How much Xanax has he had today?”

I glared daggers, unable to stop shaking. Half this town assumed I was always strung out. Meth. Heroin. Why not add a prescription drug addiction to the list?

The chief gave Hayden a hard look. “What’s all this about?”

But Brody pulled him aside, lowering his voice as if we all couldn’t still hear. “Sorry, Chief. You know my brother’s never been able to go a month without stirring up some sort of trouble. I’ll handle it.”

“I hate you,” I slurred, which came out like I’d eaten a pack of particularly hairy gym socks.

My brother kept his eyes straight ahead, even as a muscle in his jaw twitched.

It hit me then, as Hays had to practically drag me off the ground, that Brody’s power was barely affecting her. That even though she was newly changed, I was the one who completely lost it anytime someone got past my mental shields.

“Ethan—” she started.

Humiliated, I shook her off, staggering over hoses and into parked cars as we weaved our way towards Brody’s cruiser out by the fence. Over the howl of the fire, I caught snippets of his conversation with the chief.

“—never been able to keep his fly up… yeah, the girls got into it back at the house on Sunday… real catfight.”

I collapsed onto the hood of the cruiser, rage and revulsion roiling in my gut. Hayden fitted herself into my side, pressing her lips to the scar at my wrist. My hands shook from the need to punch something, my breaths sawing in and out like I’d just run for miles. The bond tightened, my heartrate gradually evening out.

Hayden buried her face in my neck. “I shouldn’t have lost it back there.”

I pulled her to me, breathing in the scent of her mint shampoo and wishing I could make the rest of the world go away. “Believe me, I’ve done worse. We’re gonna find this guy. I swear it.”

She nuzzled my throat. “I love you.”

I swallowed, wanting to scream that she shouldn’t, that I was too screwed up to be any good for her. That if I couldn’t protect her when it counted, if I was the one who fell apart and needed her to pick up the pieces when her damn home was on fire, she should find someone who deserved her. Even if the idea of her with anyone else made me want to rip out my own throat.

My phone buzzed. I checked the screen.

Prickhead: WTF is your girlfriend’s problem?