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“She might be able to help me break the curse,” I tell him plainly.

They both go silent. The curse has informed many parts of our lives. It’s a stain on our history. I can’t even fathom what it would be like to be free from it.

“How does she feel?” Erin asks. “Has she shown any inclination…?”

“In helping us? She hates us as I hate her.” My skin is hot. My stomach turns at those words, but I force my emotions—and the wolf’s—out of the equation. My pack comes before all else. There’s no room for the weight of her in the back of my head that isn’t altogether unpleasant.

“Don’t become your father,” Erin says softly.

I growl. There’s a time and a place for her mothering. I accepted it as a kid. Even as a teenager, as unruly as I was. But now, it rankles on my nerves.

“Erin,” Matteo scolds.

She bows her head in submission.

After a long moment, I stand up. I can’t bear if she thinks I’m like him. I’ve worked hard to separate myself from the monster I must call Father.

He’s done terrible things in the name of our pack. He hunted witches for longer than I’ve been alive, but he didn’t just kill them. He used them like sport. Pulled the magic from their veins for his own use. Twisted them, drained them until they were nothing more than a husk.

There’s nothing he wouldn’t have done for his family. He always said it.

And that’s what I’ve been telling myself, as well.

“I’ve got to go,” I mutter. I bolt for the door, guilt and shame intertwining with my anger.

Erin is right. With Astra in my possession, I’m following exactly in his footsteps. The exact path I swore I’d never walk.

Chapter 10

Astra

The sun has just broken over the treetops when Kian enters my room. He doesn’t knock. If I had hackles, they’d go up.

I glare at him from my position by the window, crossing my arms. It stretches the aching wounds in my back, but I ignore it to keep up my glower. I was scouting the likelihood of finding a stone to imbibe with a concealment charm while musing options for escape.

Neither opportunity seems optimal.

He glances around, as if expecting more demons to be lurking in a corner. When he’s satisfied the room contains only me and my boredom, he gestures for me to come closer.

I slept alone last night in a different guest room, with the dresser shoved in front of the door. The original room I picked wasn’t an option, what with the broken door from Kian’s wolf’s grand entrance, and I couldn’t go back to his room.

This morning, I woke as the sky was beginning to lighten and snuck into the hallway bathroom. I may have cried in my sleep, which would explain my puffy eyes. I have dark circles, too. And more than a few scrapes and bruises across my arms and face.

Instead of dwelling, I brushed my teeth and showered, lingering under the hot water. Perks of staying in the alpha’s house, I suppose, is having a fully stocked guest bathroom at your disposal.

The shower chased away the lingering chill in my bones, but it did nothing to soothe the gouges in my back that the demon re-aggravated. I could heal myself a little if I was allowed outside, but the wolf’s warning to stay inside sat heavy on my shoulders.

I finger-brushed my hair and re-dressed in the same clothes they put me in. The sweatpants-material shorts, the white t-shirt that has bloodstains on the back. Kind of gross, but I don’t know where my bag went, and I have no other option.

Then, I waited.

Now he’s here, and I’m rather regretting moving the dresser at all.

I stop in front of Kian, running my gaze up his body.

He has stubble on his cheeks, and his dark hair is messed up. His white t-shirt seems an awfully lot like the one I’ve got on. Jeans, boots. He’s attractive. Full lips, square jaw, piercing blue eyes.

I tilt my head back and meet his gaze. Mistake.