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At that point Gabriel had appeared at my elbow and gripped me firmly by the arm.
“Never mind, she’s fine,” he said, smiling politely at the old man behind the counter. Then he dragged me to the door of the dusty little gas station.
“You all be careful out there, ya hear?” the old man called after us in a cracked voice. “Word is the cartels are running drugs up and down the border not far from here. You best watch your backs.”
“Thank you!” Gabriel lifted one hand in a dismissive wave without looking back. Then he pushed me out the door and put me forcefully into the back seat of the sedan. “Try that again and you’ll have some serious trouble, Zoe,” he growled at me.
“What—worse trouble than being sold to some disgusting old man to be raped until he gets me pregnant with his baby?” I spat at him. “Worse trouble than living the rest of my life in a stranger’s house getting beaten if I don’t do exactly as he says? Because I have to tell you, big brother, I don’t think there is worse trouble than that!”
Gabriel’s face went hard.
“Hijo de puta! That’s enough, Zoe! Pack Master Moncrieff is going to be your mate—you need to be fucking respectful when you talk about him!”
“I don’t care what he is—he’s a nasty, dirty, hateful, cruel old man and I’m being forced to marry him!” I shouted back. “And you’re delivering me to him like a present on a silver platter.” I felt tears of rage come into my eyes and tried to blink them back. “Please, Gabriel, can’t you just consider my point of view? Can’t you try to think about the days you and I and Christopher spent together? Don’t give me to Moncrieff—please don’t!”
“I agree with Zoe,” Christopher spoke up unexpectedly from the front seat.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gabriel glared at him as he slid into the driver’s seat.
“You and I both saw all our sisters sold away to different packs,” Christopher said. “We were too young to do anything about it—too young to stop it. But that’s not true anymore. We don’t have to take Zoe to Moncrieff.”
My heart leapt in my chest.
“Oh yeah?” Gabriel gave his brother a sarcastic smile. “And just what do you suggest we do with her then?”
“We could let her off in a city or a town—make sure she gets into some kind of women’s shelter, where she’ll be safe.” Christopher sounded like he had really been considering this. “Or…” He took a deep breath and shot me a swift glance. “We could just take her for ourselves.”
“Take her where? And do what with her?” Gabriel demanded.
“Take her to a new town—hell, a whole other state,” Christopher said. “And we could form a Triad—the three of us.”
For a moment Gabriel actually seemed to be considering the idea. I held my breath and watched his face in the rearview mirror. But then his gray eyes hardened to a metallic silver and a scowl creased his face.
“You don’t form a fucking Triad with your own siblings, Christopher! That’s all kinds of fucked up—we’d be breaking the Unbreakable Laws! Committing incest!”
“Who cares about the Unbreakable Laws? And it’s not really incest—none of us are blood related!” Christopher argued.
“Will you listen to yourself?” Gabriel demanded. “You know that doesn’t matter under Pack Law. We all come from the same family and you and Zoe had adoption ceremonies to seal the deal. No Pack in the world would accept us!”
“So we’ll form our own little Pack—a Pack of three,” Christopher said. His voice turned pleading. “We could have a life together, Gabe—don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it! There’s something between the three of us—you know there is.”
“I don’t know any such fucking things,” Gabriel growled. “You’re talking about dishonoring our family name and defiling our Pack. I won’t do that!”
“I don’t understand your loyalty to a man who abuses you—who abuses all of us!” I exclaimed from the back seat. “I’ve seen the scars on your back, Gabriel! Why do you care so much about the man who put them there?”
“Because he’s my fucking father, all right?” Gabriel roared, turning to glare at me. “He’s the only real family—the only true blood relation I have left! And he’s my Pack Master—an Alpha is loyal to the Pack and his Pack Master above all else!”
“Even above the people he really cares about?” Christopher asked softly. “It doesn’t matter that we’re not blood related—you used to take beatings for me, Gabe. And I know both of us would take a beating for Zoe, if we had to. She’s our little sister—she’s family too.”
“Mierda!” Gabriel raked a hand through his hair. “I’m not talking about taking a beating here, Christopher—I’m talking about the Pack Master hunting the three of us down and killing us all! And don’t say we could move away to another state or even another country—you saw how well that worked for Zoe’s mom!” he added. “The Pack Master never gave up on finding her. It took him eighteen fucking years to do it, but he did it in the end. We’d always be looking over our shoulders, hoping he wasn’t lurking around the next fucking corner, coming to fucking kill us!”
