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Anger, an old fury I cannot contain, flows through me as I get to my knees. I wrap my hands around the bars and squeeze until they bend. He watches it happen, his mouth open. “I hope he’s dead. I hope he suffered.”
His eyes harden. Despite what his father did, if he agreed or not, it’s his father.
“You are a monster.” He gets to his feet.
I laugh, the sound cold and cruel. “Me? What does that make you? I have never killed a man, but how many have you killed, Lucien? How many has your brother killed? How many did your father kill? I know he slaughtered innocent families and children, so tell me, hunter, who is the real monster here? The one who looks the part or the one who acts it?” I laugh bitterly.“You think you are the hero of this story, but the truth is, human, you are the villain.”
I turn away, changing back to my wolf form.
I’m furious, but the reminder was good. These men are monsters. They are evil. Their father killed my family.
He killed the people I loved the most in this world, and whether or not Vale saved me that night, they are evil and deserve everything that is coming to them.
I ignore Lucien all day as he smashes his fist into punching bags as I sleep, my body tired from the lack of exercise and meat. As if conjured by Lucien’s words, the memories of that night overwhelm me, dragging me into their horrifying depths I have tried to escape ever since that night.
“Mum?” I whisper.
She turns to me, her soft, familiar brown eyes searching my face, glassy with tears. “I’m scared,” I admit.
“Shh, it’s going to be okay,” she tells me as she drops to her knees before me, gripping my face. Her belly presses to mine, my little brother kicking me. I swear it’s going to be a boy, and she believes me. I can’t wait. I love my sister, but she won’t play with me, so I want a boy to play with in the mud. A tear drips down her cheek as she shivers and a bang sounds from the front of the house. “I need you to listen to me carefully, Quinn, okay?”
I nod, looking over her shoulder as my father hurries into the room, barring the door as he throws his phone with a snarl. “They are too far away,” he growls, looking at us. My sister is sleeping peacefully on the sofa in the office we hid in when those bad men pulled up outside. “Willa.” For the first time ever, my father looks weak.
“I know,” she tells him, crying harder, and he comes over, holding her and reaching for me too. “Listen, Quinny. When I tell you to, you run, and you run as fast as you can.”
“I can run really fast.” I grin.
“I know you can, baby. Today, I need you to push harder than you ever have, okay? You run, and you don’t stop until you find Jang. Do you remember him?”
I nod. “Daddy’s friend.”
“That’s right.” My dad grins. “Good job, baby. You run, and you don’t stop until you meet him, okay?”
“But what about you and Filly?” I look at my sister. Her thumb is in her mouth as she sleeps soundly. She only just turned back into her human form. Mummy says I wasn’t stuck in it like she was when she was younger. She calls me special, but sometimes I would like to be a wolf like she was.
“Don’t worry about us, okay? We’ll be right behind you,” my mum promises, even as she cries and another bang comes. Something nasty smelling makes my nose wrinkle.
“Jase,” she murmurs, and he wraps us in his arms, holding us tight.
“I’m so sorry, Willa,” he says. “I’ll buy as much time as I can. Take the girls?—”
“No, we need to give them the best opening to get away.” Mummy pulls away, kissing him. “I promised you forever, mate. I promised to be with you through both good and bad. I will be at your side, and that is where I’ll stay.”
“Will, I cannot . . .” He shakes his head. “I cannot win against this many. I cannot lose you. Go, take the girls out back.”
“They will find us. I am too slow this late in the pregnancy. I’ll stay. We’ll fight together, giving the girls a shot.” Mum’s eyes go to Filly, and she sobs. “She won’t be fast enough.”
“Mummy, what’s wrong? What’s that smell?”
It smells like that time we had a bonfire under the full moon. The air starts to heat like it did then, as I hear laughter and a crash.
“They are coming in,” Daddy says, looking at me and Filly. “She won’t be able to carry her.” Picking Filly up, he wraps her in a blanket and passes her to Mummy. “When I say so, run.”
“Not without you,” Mum snarls, her eyes flashing with her wolf.
Daddy says she can’t change while she’s pregnant or it will hurt my brother, so I tug her hand, trying to calm her down. It usually works when Daddy annoys her. She squeezes my hand harder. “We have no time, change.” Putting Filly before me, my mum turns and pulls a fire poker from the side, standing before me with one hand on her belly.
“When I tell you, you run, okay? Don’t you look back, no matter what you hear. You run as fast as you can. Don’t you dare stop, baby.” She sobs, her hand shaking on the poker. “Mummy loves you so much, Quinny, know that.”
