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They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It’s also paved with snow.
Our hosts or captors, depending on which side of the bonfire you were standing on, turned out to be the demon clan Galen and I had been searching for.
Aunt Sylvia warned us against seeking them out. We ignored her and forged ahead with the Long Claw pack, the coven and our town’s best interests at heart.
But having come face to face with my extended family, I wished we would have listened. They were nothing like I’d hoped and worse than my aunt feared.
Things had gone from bad to worse in record time.
Bjorn introduced me to the pack as a lost sister. He’d done some homework while Galen and I were locked up in the kennel with their sled dogs. The information he found online confirmed what Valerie and Victor told me at the summit.
I was a demon wolf.
Part of me had hoped that they were lying, that my aunt had been mistaken about our lineage.
The other part hoped for a happy reunion, that I’d have a family again and they’d help us stop the demons.
Neither of those things happened.
“Talia, your mother left us and chose to start a new life and family with a rogue wolf outside of the Deofol Pack clans. She paid her debt in blood and we hold no ill will toward you.”
Bjorn called out a man named Colson and beckoned him forward.
“In fact, Brother Colson welcomes you into the Bone Clan with open arms. Come forward sister and embrace your family.”
“No.” I raised my hands and backed away. “I have a pack now. I don’t care what you found out about me or what my blood relations are to any of you. I’m Long Claw.”
“You can’t deny your blood, Talia.” Bjorn laughed off my declaration and marched forward, closing the distance between us.
Galen stepped in front of me but was rushed by two of the guards who retrieved us from the kennel and dragged away.
“You’ve been marked. I can feel it through the pack bonds.” Bjorn pushed his way into my mind, clawing at the connection I shared with Galen until only a tattered thread remained between me and the Long Claw pack.
I collapsed, dropping to my knees, under the weight of his voice and the force of his intrusion inside my head.
“Talia.” Galen struggled against the shifters who’d pinned him to the ground. “Don’t touch her. Get your fucking hands off her or I will break every bone in your body.”
“Tough talk from a guy face down on the ice.” One of the guards reared back and landed several kicks to Galen’s ribs and face.
Galen coughed up blood, dotting the stark white snow with crimson spots, but he never stopped fighting to break free.
“You better get more men, Bjorn, because if I get loose I will end you.” Galen spat out a mouthful of blood on the boot of the wolf who’d assaulted him.
“Is that a challenge from the Long Claw pack that I hear?” Bjorn sneered, a silver capped incisor poking out from behind his curled lips.
My mate fell silent and his body stilled beneath the guards holding him. The next words he spoke were spoken only for me through our bond. His voice was a comforting caress for my soul even if what he said broke my heart.
“I’m sorry, Talia. I can’t challenge him. Not now.” Galen’s personal torment leaked through the bond before he shut it down and closed me off completely.
The silence was deafening. I hadn’t realized how much space he’d occupied in my heart and mind until he locked himself away.
I understood why Galen made his choice. I’d been groomed to be the wife of an alpha and while Galen couldn’t be more different than Maddox, his duty was still to his pack. He couldn’t risk them and I wouldn’t expect or ask him to.
A sentiment I would have been to share with him if he hadn’t gone radio silent.
“I didn’t think so.” The alpha knew Galen wouldn’t formally challenge for the Deofol pack. He’d won the standoff without a drop of his own blood spilled.
Without anyone left to stop him, Bjorn was free to proceed with his show of dominance.
