AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The Longroad pack?” I asked sharply. My pack?
“You didn’t know?” Shaw frowned. “It was part of the peace agreement between our packs. A foster exchange. We got Cordan Longroad, their alpha’s firstborn. And my father gave them Liam.”
“What happened?”
“Things went to shit pretty fast. My father was not good at peace, and neither was your alpha. Cordan escaped back to his pack, just in time too, because my father was about to scatter him in pieces along your pack’s territory because your alpha went back on their deal.”
“And then Liam?” I asked, my breath stuttering in my chest.
“My dad didn’t fucking care to get him back. The Longroad pack tried to use him as a pawn, but it didn’t matter. Dad didn’t want him.” Shaw’s voice was soaked with rage and grief. “Not until Brennan challenged him for alpha.”
“He was there in my pack the whole time? But I never knew.” I shuddered, thinking of Liam being so close and never knowing he was there. I’d had both beautiful, vivid dreams and terrible nightmares since I was eight years old or so, and I wondered how much Liam’s dreams were like those horrorshows.
“Chained up in the alpha’s basement. Whatever else he went through, he won’t tell us.” His face was shuttered, as if he felt too much emotion to let any of it show.
Then his gaze met mine. “Brennan saved him. That was the only reason he cared about being alpha.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I didn’t know.”
“So you’ll have to forgive my brother for being so weird,” Karissa refilled my mug of tea. “And Liam is a bit odd too.”
Shaw took the toast from my hand, where it had hung forgotten during the exchange, and leaned back in his seat to eat it. All the intensity had cleared from his gaze now. It was hard to believe he was the same person, as if there were two versions of Shaw.
“I know he’s odd,” Shaw said quietly. “But all my brothers are good guys, Amelia. You don’t have to be scared.”
“I’m not,” I said.
He gave me a look, and I lifted my chin before I repeated, “I’m not.”
I wasn’t sure it was any more convincing to the room than my first attempt.
Once I’d taken Dylan to school, I decided to seek Stone out. Except for heated glances across crowded rooms, I’d barely seen him. Even the wolf wasn’t shadowing me today; if it had been, I had a half-baked plan to shift myself and race after the wolf. I wanted to know who it was who followed me.
And I wanted to know if I could trust Stone at all. I was starting to feel safe here in a way that worried me. Especially when Dylan was obviously getting attached to this place… and these people.
I’d rather he just hurt me and I knew to expect being hurt, than to start to feel safe and turn out to be wrong.
I climbed the steps to the building that housed his command center feeling like I’d made a terrible mistake. I almost turned back, my knees shaky, but instead pushing the door open and went in. The hallway was empty.
I found him in the library. The moment I stepped into the quiet room, I could feel his presence. He made a room feel alive almost as much as he made it feel terrifying.
He twisted in his chair to face me as if he had sensed me too. When he saw me, he rose from his chair, towering over me. “Who let you in here?”
“Hello to you too.” I took the seat across from him. “Karissa told me I had the run of your territory.”
He grunted as he sat down again. “Yes, you and Karissa, and Cole and Shaw, have certainly been exploring the outer limits… of my patience.”
“Your patience? That seems like a postage-stamp patch, not enough territory to run.”
Stone stared at me. “You know Karissa is not in charge here.”
I shrugged and leaned back in the chair. My heart was pounding in my throat, no matter how nonchalant I seemed. It wasn’t just fear, either—something about Stone’s heated gaze made me clench my knees together against the sudden throb of lust.
“I thought I made myself clear, Amelia. I expect to be obeyed.”
“You made your expectations very clear. Is there a rule that I’m not allowed to talk to you?”
“Not yet. Perhaps you should go before I feel the need to make a new rule.”
