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Though his next words do an outstanding job of slashing that modicum of sympathy clean in two.
“It’s just a matter of stepping into my fur to break these chains,” he says, lips twisting into a snarl.
Quick as a whip, Mari has a response. “Yeah, and I’m betting the part of you that wants Willa to trust you enough to even consider being mated to you will keep the asshole who said that in check.”
That’s the last I hear from Drago before Rafe and Jonah drag him out into the snow. And I mean drag. Even together, they couldn’t lift him.
“You heard that mated bit, eh?” I ask as Mari and Vala redress.
“We both did,” Vala says.
“And we both thought it best to play sleeping possum until you needed us. Who knows how he’d react to sudden movements from a foreign omega and delta?”
“Right, well… Thanks, I guess.”
Rafe and Jonah return, each tracking in snow on their way back to me. Rafe reaches for me, but I back away until my calves press into the fabric of my sofa.
“Don’t touch me, please.” I say, nerves like frayed wires.
I drop my gaze so I don’t have to see the pain I just caused him.
Jonah clears his throat, about to speak, but I cut him off. “How?”
When no one answers for several beats, Rafe steps forward. “How what, Will?”
“How did he break away from the meeting hall? How did he make it here before any of you noticed? You’re supposed to keep me safe. Both of you.” I stare daggers at them. Daggers sharpened by the terror of having that hulking beast of a wolf in my home. “He is a monster,” I whisper, as if I fear my words alone could break Drago’s chains and bring him back. “And you let him find me. You let him…”
I let my gaze as much as my words pierce straight through each of them. They were supposed to protect me.
“Willa—” Jonah starts, but I cut him off again with a hand.
“Don’t.” The order comes out with more bark than it should have. “I’m angry, and I want to stay angry, at least for a little while.” I’m not angry. I’m hurt. But anger feels like the better choice right now.
“Yeah. We totally deserve it,” Jonah finally says. “We let you down, Willa. I can’t apologize enough.”
Rafe adds his two cents. “It won’t happen again.”
My chin starts a-wobbling because I know as much as he means those words, Rafe and Jonah have nothing on that suped-up alpha killer.
Nothing.
Motion outside catches my attention and immediately my hackles rise. Mari and Vala close ranks around me, and Rafe and Jonah close in around them.
The cottage door opens slowly, and my guys let out warning growls.
“Easy. It’s me.” Alpha Haqani’ka stands tall and still in the doorframe, face shadowed until he steps fully into the cottage. “My champion says the omega is his mate.”
Rafe growls again. “Her name is Willa, and she’s as good as rejected him.”
I suck in a sharp breath. Rejected.
Had I?
A fate worse than death, worse than even what Rafe and I suffered through.
“Is this true, Willa?” Haqani’ka asks, though he can’t see me through Rafe and Jonah’s shoulders.
Jonah and Rafe part just a few inches, and I meet his gaze from between Mari and Vala.
