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No one answers. In fact, our cheesecake dessert course from the night we were taken is drying out on the kitchen counter. It’s like the entire house shut down the second we left.
Except for the lights. Someone turned all of those off. Turning them on feels dangerous, like I’m giving away my position, but I remember that I’m in charge. Nathan granted me ownership of all my parents’ assets. I have a right to be here.
Someone has already been inside, cataloguing our belongings. Barcode labels are affixed to every item in the living room, every family photo on the way up the stairs, probably so the contents will be fully accounted for, and my parents can’t sneak back and get something.
My room is untouched, thankfully; I’m not sure I could handle someone putting a price on my diary or my childhood stuffed animals. I decide that I really am going to keep this stuff. When the challenge is over, I’ll use my queenly powers to decree that the pack can’t have my assets.
The asset I’m most grateful to find is my cell phone. It’s been plugged into its charger the whole time I’ve been away. I find Ashton’s number—I have it, but I’ve never used it—and I send him a text. We need to talk. There’s been a terrible mistake. Come to my parents’ house. Hurry, I don’t know how long I’ll be alone.
I sit on my bed and wait.
The phone rings.
“Are you safe?” is the first thing Ashton says.
“Right now, I am.” It’s not a lie. I’m safe right now. “Hurry.”
“I’m on the way.” He sounds too heroic to be worried about me, for real.
“There are security cameras around the driveway,” I warn him. “Enter by the pedestrian gate and stick to the perimeter.” It will take him past every camera on the property. “Meet me out at the pool house.” Where he’ll have to walk through a brightly lit patio area and be seen from numerous angles.
“Be careful,” he warns me. “Don’t put yourself in any danger.”
“I won’t,” I promise. “Hurry.”
I don’t know where Ashton has been staying, but it must be close by. By the time I put on warmer clothes and throw a few things into a backpack to take back to Aconitum Hall, I barely beat him to our rendezvous spot. I just manage to hit record on my phone’s camera and slip it into my pocket before he opens the door.
Ashton greets me with, “There’s a private flight out of Bishop that leaves in an hour. We need to be on it. The Colemans will help us this time, but they’re afraid of Frost and what he’ll do if he finds out.”
Poor Colemans. Because Nathan will find out.
“Is this all you’re taking?” Ashton reaches for my bag, and I pull it away, hoisting the straps over my shoulders.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I tell him, feeling a mean thrill. “I’m staying with Nathan.”
Ashton frowns in confusion. “You said you made a mistake—”
“I said there’s been a mistake. And there has. By being here, with me, you’ve broken pack law that prohibits you from having any contact with me until after the challenge has been decided.”
Ashton blanches. He’s speechless.
“You should have just accepted your punishment. And you should have accepted that you will never, ever beat me.” I can’t help my laugh of relief. “It’s over. It’s all over.”
Maybe “beat me” was the wrong choice of words. Because in a flash, Ashton’s demeanor goes from knight in shining armor to violent beast. The slap he deals me comes too fast to dodge, connecting with my cheek with a crack that I’m not sure isn’t the sound of my skull fracturing.
I didn’t count on him being strong. I don’t know why; he’s a full-grown werewolf. He hits me again, more of a punch this time, and my miscalculation suddenly occurs to me in a sick, red haze. Maybe if he can’t have me, he won’t let anyone have me.
He’s in too deep now, and he has a private plane ready for escape.
He might kill me.
I stagger backward and throw my arm out to brace myself against a metal shelving rack of pool chemicals and equipment. It’s the only way I can stay up.
But he doesn’t hit me again.
“I can’t beat you?” he chuckles, and the sound is animal, furious. “I can’t beat you? My father owns half the council. And the other half? They hate Frost. You’re going home with me on Lupercalia, whether you like it or not.”
“And I’m his mate, whether you like it or not,” I shoot back, not knowing when to leave well enough alone and not caring. I just want to wound him. “He’s already had me. Every time you fuck me, you’ll be getting his leftovers.”
Ashton stalks forward and grabs my face, crushing my mouth. My teeth cut into my cheeks, and I taste blood.
