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Without another word, Hannah left. Once she was gone, he shifted his gaze to Boone. “Take Alison and go.”
Boone hesitated, mouth tight. His eyes moved toward Liam and he canted his head to the side.
The act of resistance was accepted, but only because Niko knew what drove it. Boone was driven by the same innate need to protect and he saw Liam as too young and vulnerable.
“I’m not going to do anything other than talk,” Niko said quietly, forcing himself to look from the young man, who, while still teetering on the threshold of true adulthood, had told him something nobody else had ever dared. “I won’t harm him.”
Boone shifted, once more drawing Niko’s gaze. The unanswered question in his friend’s eyes brought an unfamiliar feeling to Niko and it took a moment to identify it.
Shame.
“You have my word, as Prime,” he said quietly, looking from Boone to Alison, then finally back to Liam.
Liam made another derisive sound but Niko said nothing. It was clear, now more than ever, that he’d done nothing to earn the trust of this young packmate.
His father’s voice rose once more to haunt him.
You must care for all under my aegis, Nikolai.
He will be defined by how he protects and guides all under his care, not just those who have his favor.
He’d done a fucking lousy job in caring for this boy who watched him with angry, shuttered, wounded eyes while his father lay dying on the bed just a few feet away.
Boone moved over to the teenager and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Can you control yourself, kid?”
“I’m fine,” he said in a calm voice that belied the rage he’d shown to Niko.
But, Niko realized, that rage was for him, and only him.
Moments later, they were alone, with only Samuel Day’s dying body to keep witness.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Niko stared Liam down.
But Liam didn’t look away. His eyes, as green as his sister’s, flashed hot and bright with anger and distrust. The distrust stung. He’d never had one of his own look at him like that, as if they couldn’t trust him.
But he’d done nothing to earn this trust and there was nothing he could do or say in that moment that would allow him to ease the pain he sensed within the pup.
“The Day family was accepted into Appalachia years ago by my father. Why do you think that didn’t extend to your sister?” Niko asked, his voice remote.
Liam gave a slow, almost lazy blink and shook his head.
“You have no fucking clue,” Liam said, voice again full of that sulky anger.
Niko said nothing.
“You told her to leave and never return,” Liam said pointedly.
Again, Niko felt that strange, unnatural sensation—shame.
She betrayed us.
“Jameson accepted the Day—”
Liam cut him off, a reckless show of disrespect for his Prime, and it was clear Liam was aware—he simply didn’t care. Closing the distance between them, he jutted his chin up at Niko. “When in the hell did your father go find her to offer her that protection? When did he recant your repudiation?”
Niko’s heart lurched hard against his chest. Once. Twice.
“You made a public statement of intent, told your entire pack you wanted to marry her... and she said yes,” Liam snarled. “My father’s protection ceased to extend to her the minute that happened. It doesn’t matter that you decided to change your mind for fuck-all knows why not even an hour later. You’d claimed her, as yours. Then you cast her out. In order for your father’s acceptance to extend to her, either Sam would have had to take her back under his protection or she’d have to appeal to your father.”
