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“I spent so long trying to make things right,” Stone told me. “I thought if I could just get revenge for him, it would be the one thing I could do. If I'd been a better brother... maybe he would have talked to me.”
A sudden sense of pity washed over me for Stone. I knew it was hard for him when he saw himself as our protector. Must have felt like even though Bennan was his older brother, he should have been able to protect him too.
But if Stone didn't get a grip... he would keep on controlling all of us. He would never learn.
I raised my chin as I faced him. “I hate that you feel responsible for Brennan, and that you're hurting, and that it left this obvious big gaping wound in your heart.” No matter how angry I felt at him, there was something that drew me to him, and I rested my fingertips slightly on his chest. “I hope you find healing.”
I was surprised to hear those words coming out of my mouth when I usually placated anyone who was angry at me. Any tension made me want to smooth things over and make sure that things didn't erupt badly. But I couldn't do it now.
Not when one part of me did care about Stone, despite everything he'd done.
“I don't know what to say to that,” Stone said slowly. “Does that mean you accept my apology?”
“No. I don’t forgive you.” I told him. The words sounded so harsh, and yet I felt myself gathering strength. “I spent my whole life pushing down my feelings and making people happy and apologizing myself. I'm done. I don't want to ever apologize again, I don't care if you say you're sorry.”
Stone looked shocked, as if I just hit him. But I wasn't sure he was any more shocked than I was.
“Show me you’re sorry,” I told him.
He just stared at me, his brows drawing together stormily.
I headed for the door. We'd already talked about what had happened out there and what the threats were, and now I just wanted to get to Dylan.
“How exactly am I supposed to do that, Amelia?” Stone called after me. There was a hint of that raw alpha power in his voice and he sounded as angry as he was confused.
And it all pissed me off.
I turned at the door on my heel and met his angry gaze. “Figure it out, Stone. If you're smart enough to be an alpha, surely you're smart enough to figure out how to make things right.”
With a staggering amount of maturity, I closed the door softly behind me instead of slamming it in his face.
CHAPTER27
Stone
Amelia stormed off,all fire under those soft curves and the waves of her hair. I stared after her, feeling lost when it came to that woman, until she closed the door between us. She seemed so controlled, as if that fight hadn’t meant much to her, even though my heart was pounding and I wanted to grab her so badly to keep her from running away… again.
“Liam's back to running as a wolf,” Shaw said, burying his face in his hands as I stepped back into the room. “He doesn't want us poking into his past, Stone. Trying to figure out where his powers come from.”
“Too bad.” I said. “I don't like surprises. You never know what kind of trouble is coming your way if you don't do your homework.”
“But could you cut him a break for a while? Until we figure out what's going on with the Longroad pack still hunting Amelia?” Shaw raised his head from his hands. His eyes were gray-shadowed. I hadn’t seen earlier that he was exhausted, and I should’ve. “You should have seen him today. He was unstoppable. Vicious. He would have made you proud...”
He shook his head. “Too bad that doesn't make him proud of himself.”
“I don't understand him.”
“Well, I don't either. But that doesn't mean I can't respect his point of view.” Shaw rose from the table. “That's the thing that bothers me. We never know if he’ll act to protect or if he’ll curl up in a ball in a corner. But I know he's hurting now after killing all those people.”
I felt bad that Liam was upset, even if I didn’t understand why he felt bad about killing those who would’ve killed him.
But I only felt alittlebad. “How many?”
Shaw gave me a dark look, as if he knew that I was feeling pride. I had thought Liam was so helpless. I’d been desperate to protect him, and I’d made him train with Cole, for years now. But I'd thought he might never put any of the moves he learned to use, even though he was willing to spar with Cole as long as he didn't hurt him.
Then Shaw relented. “I saw at least two dozen corpses.”
I could’ve sworn there was a hint of pride in his voice too, the hypocritical bastard. “I didn't think that was possible.”
