AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Every mile we got closer to my house, the tension mounted, until we pulled into the driveway and I could barely breathe I was so anxious. Mercy knew where I was now, and if she wanted me dead, this would be the most logical place to come.
The light in my living room was on, a thin glowing sliver between the curtains. I knew Magnolia wasn’t here because we’d told her to stay away, but someone else was definitely inside and making no secret about it.
“Let me go in first,” Wilder said. He got out of the car as soon as it was in park and headed to the back kitchen entrance. I followed behind him, with Secret and Lucas drawing up the rear.
The door was unlocked, and Wilder was able to enter easily. I waited on the threshold until he was well into the kitchen and he stopped, staring at something in the living room, then glanced back towards me.
I came inside and stood next to him.
Ben was sitting on the couch, facing us, his head down. He was so still it looked as if he wasn’t breathing, and for a moment I wondered if maybe she had killed him just to prove to me there was nothing she wouldn’t do.
He hefted a heavy sigh, and my heart started beating again.
He was alive.
I was furious with him, but also relieved to my very soul that he was unharmed.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” His head flopped back on the sofa, and he stared up at the ceiling, barely acknowledging my existence. I gave him a once over to satisfy myself that he was okay. There were no obvious wounds, no signs of blood or bruising. If Mercy had done something to him, I couldn’t see it on his body.
“Ben, look at me.”
He continued to stare at the ceiling, then dropped his head back down and met my gaze. His eyes were rimmed with red and it appeared as if he’d been crying. A lot.
So Mercy had done a number on him emotionally rather than physically.
The mean part of my brain was glad she had managed to show him her true colors, but the sisterly part of me wanted to make my twin feel better. I had never tried to forge a connection with my mother because I’d believed what Secret had told me about her.
Ben had obviously hoped for something different.
“I thought she cared about me,” he said. “I thought she meant it when she said we’d be together, and that things would be different, and we’d be a family.”
I sat down in the other loveseat, far enough away I could move if this was a ploy and he was planning to attack me, but close enough I could better see the expression on his face. He looked crushed. Heartbroken.
“You already had a family.”
He swallowed hard, and after an agonizingly long beat, he looked at me again. His expression was one of such intense guilt and anguish I could feel the emotions for myself, deep in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t put a lot of stock in the idea of twins sharing emotions or thoughts, but in that instant I could feel every single ounce of his pain as if it were my own. It made me want to cry and vomit in equal measure.
“What were you thinking?” I asked him.
“I don’t know.”
I shook my head firmly. “No, you can’t keep saying that. You can’t run off with her, then show up here and not have any answers. You knew what she’d done, what she was capable of, and you went with her anyway. Because of what? Love? Devotion? That’s some serious bullshit, Ben, and you know it. So tell me everything now, or get out.”
It hurt me to say it, because all I wanted to do was fold him into my arms and hug him until his pain was gone, but I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive him for this betrayal. He had a family that cared about him, and had every luxury in the world at his fingertips. Was he seriously so jealous about Callum making me Apha over him that he would stoop to this level?
“She wants to kill me,” I reminded him. “And you went with her anyway.”
“She wants to hurt her.” He pointed at Secret.
“I feel like maybe this is a good time to remind you that I’m also your sister,” Secret retorted. “And it do
esn’t feel great when your family bands together to kill you. Just FYI. That bit of knowledge might come in handy down the line sometime.” She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “You know, in case you do something totally moronic to alienate your entire pack.”
Secret crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall that divided the kitchen from the dining room. I knew her well enough to know that this was her version of being gentle.
“Mercy promised me she didn’t want to kill anyone,” he said.
