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Twigs caught on my sweater and in my hair, yanking and tugging on me. I grimaced but didn’t slow. Dread pitted in my stomach, but I had to know who was there.
Please don’t be Willa.
We came out of the clearing a few moments later. A large crowd had gathered in a circle, and they were raising their hands in the air while they chanted like barbarians.
Lincoln took my hand as he wiped a sheen of sweat off with his forearm. He gritted his teeth when he looked at the crowd and then pushed forward, dragging me through the men.
I forgot to breathe when we emerged on the other side. Alpha Dane had a group lined up in a row.
His left hand was partially shifted into his wolf’s paw with the nails out. Blood dripped from his dark hair onto the ground.
There was already one casualty. My stomach rolled when I saw the vacant black eyes of a young man.
Alpha Dane marched to the next man in the line. His arm swung up and then across that wolf’s throat. The guy gurgled, his hands going to his neck, trying to cover the wound that was gushing blood out so fast I was sure he’d bleed out any second.
There was so much blood. It seemed to be spurting out in time to his heartbeat.
My belly churned violently.
Alpha Dane went to the next wolf, slitting his throat too.
The air whooshed out of my lungs.
Why wasn’t anyone doing anything? They were just standing here watching these men get murdered. Some were cheering like we were at an ancient gladiator arena.
The louder it got, the faster Alpha Dane moved.
I darted my gaze down the line.
Willa.
She was on her knees. Tears cascaded down her bloody, soiled face. Blood caked her hair, and smatters of it dotted her clothes. She stared at the ground, her shoulders rising and falling as she cried.
Alpha Dane made his way toward her. The crowd cheered him on while he hollered.
I couldn’t make out his words over the roaring in my ears.
My knees almost buckled as realization dawned on me.
Oh no. Willa was next.
Sixteen
Alpha Dane was goingto kill Willa. He held his blood-soaked claw up in the air and turned to the pack, a wicked gleam shimmering in his eyes. “We gave this young woman food and shelter, a place in our pack. Treated her like one of us, and she betrayed us. Those acts are punishable by death.”
The crowd cheered loudly, like we’d just scored the winning touchdown at the Super Bowl.
Alpha Dane turned back to Willa. “How dare you refuse our offerings. You could have been a queen. Now you’ll just be garbage wasting away under six feet of earth.”
Willa trembled. Her shoulders rose and fell rapidly now.
I grabbed Lincoln’s arm. “We have to do something.”
He gave me a wide-eyed look. “Sloane, you don’t know what he does to people who interfere.”
“But he’s going to kill her.” She was a scared girl who didn’t deserve to die. None of them had deserved this fate. They justwanted a better life than what this maniac was offering. That wasn’t a punishable-by-death offense.
Lincoln opened and shut his mouth. He muttered something, but it was impossible to hear over the crowd’s whoops and hollers.
