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Aiden had stayed far away from Nathan after a Christmas dinner where Nathan’s temper had flared for the first time in front of my family. Nathan had usually pretended to be charming with them.Aiden had gotten between us, and Nathan had dragged him into the yard and beaten him half to death before he walked back in and sat down for pie.
My mother had stayed in the house for that one, too.
But she’d told me afterward that it was my fault.
“I know,” I relented. “I’ll head down the road. But it’s already late, so I’ll stop down the road, and I can come back if you need me.”
“Keep going and don’t look back,” Aiden told me. “You can’t let us hold you back.”
I’d already been dreaming of a ramshackle little apartment where I’d live with my siblings, with secondhand furniture and the smell of the sea. The sense of loss swept through me like a storm.
“We’ll catch up,” he told me. “With Nathan gone, no one’s going to force us to go back to the pack.”
He wrapped his arms around me in a hug. It felt like a hug goodbye.
“Make sure you do.” My voice came out a husky whisper. The thought of running without him was terrifying. The world seemed even bigger and more dangerous. “I’ll buy a burner cell phone and call the hospital. Keep me posted.”
“I will. If I text you telling you to come back… don’t.”
He must be worried someone else would be the one texting me. “Unless you use a code word. What about waffles?”
Aiden had been addicted to waffles when we were growing up. To be honest, he was pretty into waffles for a grown man, too.
Aiden looked hesitant. “If someone gets it out of me…”
“They won’t. You were the one who was just saying there’s no one left.”
“I won’t?” Aiden’s brows curved. “You thought that I betrayed you before. Why are you so sure of me now?”
“Aiden… I was just trying to make sense of what happened.”
His lips twisted, but he nodded. “I know. Now go, please. So I can focus on Rose.”
God, my siblings knew how to twist the knife. I nodded and hugged him goodbye one last time.
Dylan’s face was smeared with chocolate from the candy bar, and irritation rushed through me. But I was just stressed, not really angry at him, so I swallowed the harsh words that filled my mouth. I just took his sticky hand, tried to smile, and led him out of the hospital.
It seemed like I had to leave everyone behind.
The thought made me cling a little tighter to Dylan’s hand, feeling relieved I hadn’t snapped at him. Not for the first time I replayed my thoughts that maybe he would be safer at the King pack. Maybe I should’ve left him behind.
The thought squeezed my heart. As soon as we reached the car, I checked the backseat to make sure it was safe, then glanced around. We were parked in the yellow pool of light from a streetlamp. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight.
“Is Rose going to be okay?” he whispered.
I didn’t know, so I didn’t want to answer him.
“We’ll see how she’s doing in the morning,” I said. “For right now, we’re going to drive a bit and then stop for the night.”
Dylan’s eyes were sad, but he didn’t argue with me. I closed his door and turned, my heart suddenly beating too fast in my chest. I could’ve sworn we were being watched, and I acted on instinct, running around the car for the driver’s side and throwing myself into the seat. I didn’t smell other wolves, but I wasn’t going to ignore the prickle of fear down my spine.
As soon as I’d navigated the parking lot and turned onto a busy road, my heart calmed a little. I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see Dylan’s terrified face.
I wanted to tell him everything was going to be alright, but I never lied to him. So I just started to talk to him, asking him what he wanted for dinner. I knew what he wanted—chicken nuggets, it was always chicken nuggets—but my heart was slowing back down to normal and I knew he’d pick up on the fact I’d relaxed.
Just the two of us, we drove off into the night.
* * *
