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Leaning back against his car and crossing his arms, the very picture of nonchalance, Vincent scowled. “Bad for me doesn’t equate to bad for the pack. We need healers just as much as Gravecrest. You can’t just up and leave after how much work Julia’s put into you.”
Harlow’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious? That’s why you’ve been following me? That’s why you came all this way? Unbelievable!” Vincent shrugged and she continued, “You just can’t stand to see me happy. Can you? You bastard! You didn’t want me, remember?”
Vincent shook his head. “Enough. It’s time to come home—to your real home. Get in the car.”
Panicking, Harlow wheeled about and bared her fangs. “I would rather die!” she insisted. She wasn’t sure if she had the nerve to make good on that threat, but she could certainly try.
With a laugh that only increased her desperation, Vincent delivered his final blow. “You’ll come with us, and you’ll come peacefully. Otherwise, we’ll attack Gravecrest. Forest Crest, too, while we’re at it. Your choice.”
Harlow looked to Lincoln in desperation. “What kind of leader have you left to govern Hollow Grove?” she asked, but Lincoln only returned her accusing glare.
“One who demands the loyalty of his followers,” he snapped. An incredible coldness that Harlow had never noticed before congealed in his eyes. “You ran away from home like a child who didn’t get to play alpha. You shamed your pack.”
As if unaware of their confrontation, Vincent pinched a fleck of lint off the shoulder of his sweater and rolled it between his fingers. “Personally, I would like to see you try to defend yourself. A healer inflicting damage on those she loves when she knows how difficult it will be to fix it later… would be entertaining, to say the least. But I suppose we can’t have unnecessary carnage, so there’s your deal. Take it or leave it.”
All of Harlow’s fight left her. The more she thought about it, the more helpless she knew she was. If Vincent ordered it, the entirety of Hollow Grove would descend upon Gravecrest with all its destructive intensity.
She sighed. If Vincent attacked, Atlas would defend. She had seen both men in their element and knew them to be resolute. Their packs were loyal. If war began, there would be no stopping it. Innocent lives would be lost, and it was within her power to put a stop to it.
With no choice but forward, Harlow squared her shoulders. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”
One of Vincent’s goons grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her toward his car despite multiple declarations that she could walk for herself. Her heels dragged in the dirt even as she insisted that she would go peacefully.
It was against every instinct she had to get in that car and allow them to take her back to Hollow Grove—if that was even where they were going. Harlow wasn’t sure she would put anything past Vincent at this point. He might even go back on their deal.
There would be no appeal to Vincent’s character. He had proven his lack of that. Nor would there be a chance to depend on the mercy of her captors. They would do anything for him, including die in a ludicrous fight that would gain nothing for either side.
She had to get away and warn Atlas. There was no guarantee that Vincent would honor her sacrifice and stay away from Gravecrest and the town she had come to love. Too late, she understood the full implications of that love.
The hunters bound her hands and feet, gagging her and tossing her into the backseat of one of the cars. They shut the door and popped the trunk. Harlow thought she heard them arguing about something.
Vincent was the ultimate cad. No other self-respecting shifter would bring multiple hunters to jump a female wolf to salve his own wounded pride. The sound of her claws as they extended startled her. They seemed so loud in the sudden quiet of the cab.
Cutting her bonds, she slipped out the door and made a break for the shop vendors again. After only a few feet, however, she heard a commotion behind her and took three more steps before getting tackled to the ground.
“That move will cost you, dearest,” Vincent growled. “I thought you wanted your precious new friends to live.”
Harlow tried to look menacing. “We both know you’re a wolf of no honor. You wouldn’t have spared them.”
Vincent rolled his eyes toward the sky and held a hand to his chest. “I’m shocked! When did my little cub grow claws?” He smiled cruelly. “Of course I had no intention of sparing them. No one who thinks they can supersede my authority in my own pack should live. Take her away. And do us all a favor and get it right this time.”
Harlow glanced at the hunters encroaching on her. Couldn’t they hear the way he spoke to them like they were his henchmen? Each of these shifters had been a valued member of a pack that held them in esteem. Why would they let an alpha rule them with such rancor?
She tried to catch their eyes to no avail. Merely a word from Vincent and they would take her, kill her, and wipe out a town full of innocent people. Who were these wolves she had run with her entire life?
More than ever, she knew she had to get away somehow and warn the Gravecrest pack. Her last thoughts as they shoved her back into the car were of Colt and Atlas. No matter what they had done, her desire for freedom and independence had driven her here. She only hoped she got the chance to prevent this atrocity.
Chapter 23
Colt
“Zach, follow Harlow and keep an eye on her. Don’t let her leave your sight,” Atlas commanded. There was no chance she was going to return any time soon, not after being questioned like that by the both of them. Panic suddenly rose in Colt, thinking about how much trust meant to her. Had they broken it?
The fight had been bad enough, but Colt could sense that Lauren had more to do with this than she was letting on. Had he and Atlas done the wrong thing by not taking Harlow’s side instantly? That wasn’t the message they were supposed to be sending her.
“Sure thing,” replied Zachary, instantly taking off after Harlow. Colt’s stomach turned, thinking about how she must be feeling. Atlas wasn’t quite there yet. He knew that, but something told him that underneath his obvious frustration and the curse words he was still throwing around, he’d come around to this way of thinking, too.
Colt looked over at Lauren, wanting to wipe that smug smirk off her face. He couldn’t quite understand how he’d ever fallen for this woman. Yes, she was beautiful, but the inside didn’t quite match the exterior.
