AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That did not go well.” I sounded scandalized. “I threatened to slap him.” I rubbed my hand over my face, feeling like I had let us all down.
“We've all been looking at him like he's so fragile,” Shaw said. “but he just showed us that he isn't. I think it's a good thing that you're not coddling him.”
“What a mess,” I muttered.
“Welcome to the King pack,” Shaw said, and he was speaking both to me and to my brother and sister who had climbed out of the car behind us. There were wary looks on both their faces. Shaw spread his arms to encompass pack territory. It spread around us, a series of beautiful rolling hills and the low peaks of the mountains that looked purple in the distance.
Stone was walking toward us, and a sudden pit opened in my stomach. Shaw moved to my side protectively, resting his hand on my shoulder.
“Would you get them settled please?” I asked him.
“I can stay with you.”
“You never put him in a better mood,” I teased. “You told me that I should talk to Stone. Well, I'm ready to talk to him now.”
“Shaw,” Stone called across the field, his alpha voice booming. “What the hell did you do to my car?”
“I'm not even the one who stole it,” Shaw muttered, sounding rebellious. He flashed me a smile. “Good luck. And remember his bark is far worse than his bite.”
“I've seen him kill people,” I said, before remembering he hadn’t actually killed the traitor. But still… “He has a bite.”
He just winked at me. Aiden and Rose looked concerned, and I searched for the right words that would make them feel safe here.
“We’ll catch up soon,” I told them. “Shaw is going to look after you.”
Shaw arched his eyebrows. “I can barely take care of myself. You’re Karissa’s bestie, I’m sure she’s told you…”
“Shaw,” I said in exasperation, then turned to Aiden and Rose. “You’re safe here. But I need to talk to the King pack alpha.”
Rose had turned pale, and I realized she must feel like she was in danger here when she had been the one to betray Brennan. I tried to give her a comforting look. None of them knew, and I wouldn't tell them. But her face was still all twisted up with anxiety and she didn't even seem to notice.
I would talk to her later. I needed to see Dylan, and then I needed to talk to Stone.
“Do what you have to do,” Aiden said, though he looked drawn. “We’ll be here.”
They had nowhere else to go. The attack on the road had guaranteed they could never return to the Longroad pack, as it was now.
As Shaw led them away, full of quick patter that was already beginning to set them at ease, I turned to face Stone.
Stone towered over me, tall and imposing. He looked as lost as I felt, as if he didn't know what to say.
“I need to see Dylan,” I interrupted him before he could speak. “Then we can talk.”
He inclined his head. “Of course.”
As the two of us made our way toward the village school, he glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “What the hell happened out there?”
Apparently we were supposed to skip over discussing why I had run, and just talk about why I was back.
“Someone was hunting us. I think the Longroad pack could still be a bigger problem than we realized… because someone used vampire enchantment on my sister to slow us down.”
Once the words were out of my mouth, I realized I’d saidLongroad packas if I wasn’t one of them. And I didn’t want to be. But I didn’t want Stone to think I saw myself as King pack, either.
“Then I'm glad you're back here where I can protect you.” His tone was hard for me to read, and yet somehow, he pissed me off anyway. “After you see Dylan, you’ll come to the command center with me, and we will discuss everything that happened.”
My chin lifted and I stopped for a second to face him. “Canyou protect me?”
He frowned. “Obviously. What are you implying?”
