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“We haven’t found anything.” I was good at tracking, but Cole was the best. And yet despite the two of us, the rogue shifter seemed like a ghost; we’d never found him.
It was why I always had someone watching Amelia. Why there was always someone watching over Dylan. And yet, it didn’t feel like enough. As much as I tried to keep a distance between Amelia and myself, I wanted to be the one guarding her.
We reached the stone slab, ringed by pines. Louisa was humming to herself, sitting cross-legged on the ground in her faded university t-shirt, her pink-streaked hair brightening the gloom. The witch always looked out of place in the forest, and yet she seemed at home there. Smoke rose from the bowl in front of her.
“What’s going on?” Amelia asked glancing at me curiously.
“Louisa is going to help you answer some of my questions,” I said. “So that I’ll know if I can trust you.”
Amelia glanced between Louisa and me, her gaze disbelieving. “You’re going to torture me?”
“It’s not torture.” I promised. “Louisa will make it so I can see inside your memories.”
Amelia’s eyes went wide. “No, no, no.”
She began to back up.
Teresa said, “There’s no point in running, Amelia.” She sounded bored.
Amelia did turn and run, but Teresa jumped on her and brought her down to the ground. She pulled Amelia back up to her feet.
Amelia’s eyes were wild, her hair disheveled around her face, as Teresa dragged Amelia back across the clearing. The sight made my stomach sour. Why was she trying to run if she didn’t have terrible secrets to hide?
“Thanks for the help, Stone,” Teresa said drily as she shoved Amelia onto the stone. Teresa gripped one arm to stake it to the bonds on the other side, and I grabbed the other.
Amelia writhed and fought, and Teresa’s jaw set as if she was about to palm Amelia’s face and slam her head into the stone until she was more compliant. The thought sent a spike of fury through me. I grabbed both of Amelia’s wrists, pressing them against the rock. Amelia let out a cry as my hands crushed her wrists against the stone, and I loosened my grip, shame rippling through my gut. I hadn’t meant to hurt her.
Teresa quickly tied the leather throngs that hung from either side of the rock, anchoring Amelia there.
Then I climbed up beside her. Those wide, terrified eyes met mine, and they would’ve been enough to melt my heart.
If I hadn’t been alpha. If I hadn’t been Brennan’s brother. If I hadn’t been responsible for keeping my pack safe…even from the most intoxicating, intriguing woman I’d ever met.
But I was.
“This is a mistake,” Louisa warned me, rising from the ground. She had the smoking bowl clutched in one arm, and the smoke drifted around her face, making the familiar soft curves of her round face look distorted and surreal.
“Is that your professional opinion?” I demanded. I was not in a good mood, and the fact I feared she was right just made her smartass remarks more annoying.
Louisa flashed me a tight smile that reminded me of a disappointed look that my mom would’ve given me. “It doesn’t take a witch to see the obvious. No matter how difficult it may be for an alpha.”
I was surrounded by smartasses. “Just do the spell.”
While she might argue with me, she didn’t disobey. She carried the smoking bowl to Amelia and nodded at Teresa, who caught Amelia’s face between her hands and held her still. Amelia bucked and fought as Louisa smeared the ash on her forehead.
“Don’t do this,” Amelia cried.
“What are you so afraid of?” Teresa retorted before I could answer.
I had to go through with this. Otherwise, my pack would always think she was guilty. She would never have a home here.
She might never forgive me. Her eyes caught on me with a plea that I couldn’t answer, and I turned my face away. My first priority was to protect my pack.
And if she was responsible for Brennan’s death, she would never be part of my pack. It didn’t matter if she hated me.
Louisa marked my forehead with the same ash. Her fingers felt bony patting it into my face, marking me with it, and for the first time walking into someone else’s memories felt filthy.
Then she stepped back and lifted her voice. Her wild singing filled the clearing. It was eerie and spiritual, an otherworldly sound that seemed to rise around us like the wind.
