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“I got their license plate,” Teresa said.
Now I was thankful I hadn’t bitten her. Although after the way she’d treated Amelia, she deserved to be bitten a little bit, in my opinion.
Stone was still pacing, clearly distraught. “We have to get her back.”
“I’ll run the plate.” Cole said grimly. He had to be as angry and upset as the rest of us, but he contained his fury.
He was always the level-headed one. He was like a brother to us, but it was clear he was not a King.
Liam took off, shifting as he went, and raced down the road as if he couldn’t bear to stay in his human form for another second.
“Do you think he’ll try to leave pack territory?” Cole asked, staring after him.
Stone must have assigned Cole to Liam-sitting duty. Poor Cole.
“I’m going after her,” Stone said abruptly, but he ran in the other direction, already shifting into that enormous wolf as he leapt into the forest. He was heading toward the vehicles, although he’d be so far behind her that he would surely lose the trail.
But neither of my brothers had much sense.
“I hope she feels free,” I said. “And I hope she stays safe.”
Cole gave me a strange look.
“I love her,” I said. “I want what’s best for her, even if it kills us all.”
I wanted what was best for her to be this house, this family.
But she was the one who would have to decide if that were true.
CHAPTER2
Amelia
It was sogood to see my siblings again. It wasn’t until we had the chance to stop and breathe that I finally could rush out of the car and hug them. I clung to Aiden, who wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight. The scar across his forehead gleamed under the moonlight.
He told me once that for him it would always be a reminder of a fight he’d lost, that he hadn’t been powerful enough to protect me.
“I missed you so much,” I told him, my eyes catching on the scar. To me, it was a reminder of how much he loved me, a reminder that even though no one could protect me from Nathan, someone had tried.
He touched the scar self-consciously as the two of us stepped away from each other. The urge to tell him how I truly felt about the scar rose, and my throat tightened as if my body wouldn’t let me speak the words.
Not when he might have been the one who betrayed Brennan and me to Nathan.
“I missed you too,” he said quietly. “I’m glad I finally got to come through, for once.”
I didn’t have the chance to respond before Dylan flung himself from Rose, who he’d been hugging, to Aiden.
“You’re alive!” Dylan cried as Aiden scooped him.
Aiden’s eyes had a sudden wet sheen before he buried his face in Dylan’s shoulder. Dylan wrapped his legs around Aiden’s waist. “I’m fine, buddy.”
“You’re alive,” Dylan said again, his voice breaking instead of sounding triumphant the way it had a second before. Hearing him on the verge of tears made my own eyes sting.
My son had been hurt by all the violence. He was resilient, like kids are, and he’d not just survived. He’d found a home in the King pack. But he was still damaged.
I was done with it all. All the violence, all the cruelty. Stone had better justifications, but he still kept cranking the same endless cycle of brutality.
“I’m okay, buddy.” Aiden sounded choked up as he hugged Dylan. “You’re safe, everyone’s safe.”
