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“Thank you,” Kicks said. “We don’t see a reason to linger around here, so Piper will be moving in with me tonight. There’s no reason to put out the guys.”
Duncan nodded again, seeming speechless.
“Understandable,” Groza said.
“Just so we’re clear,” Kicks said, “Piper and Charlie are my family now, with all that that entails. Everyone knows how protective I am of my pack, so it’ll come to no one’s surprise that I’ll be even more so of my mate, and Charlie, who will be myson.” There was an edge to his voice. He wasn’t exactly calling Groza out, but he was drawing a thick red line a mile wide.
“Are you implying something?” Duncan took a step closer, finally finding his voice.
“Implying? No. I can’t imagine why you would take that as an implication. I’m flat-out stating that if someone messes with Piper, they’re going to deal with me.”
Duncan took another step toward him, and Groza reached out, laying a hand on his arm.
“Don’t let her hold you back,” Kicks said, smiling as if he’d enjoy the altercation.
“Duncan, let it be,” Groza said.
“Probably for the best, considering how it ended last time,” Kicks said.
Well, that just confirmed the bad blood I’d already sensed.
Kicks nodded to his pack members as we walked away from the gathering.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I said, walking toward the gates. It wasn’t like I had anything worth packing after the fire.
“You could’ve stopped me, but you didn’t. You wanted this. You were just mentally stuck, and it was going to get you killed,” he said, following after me.
“Did you see the way everyone looked at me? Like I was ruining their lives. Whether it’s true or not, they find some kind of solace with my being here, and I’m abandoning them.” I didn’t even bother lowering my voice as we passed the guards at the gate. Everyone would hear about the spectacle anyway. What was a little more gossip at this point?
“I find solace in your not being dead, so there you go.” Kicks didn’t seem to see the point in lowering his voice either.
I searched the area around us, looking for eavesdroppers, before stopping in the road. “Duncan wouldn’t have—”
“Let her kill you? It doesn’t seem like you’re his priority.” His chest rose and fell, as if Duncan’s very name made his heart pound harder.
“Why do you say hurtful things?” I asked.
“Because I can’t keep watching you fall when he won’t catch you. Was the fire not enough of a wake-up call?”
I hated when he used logic against me. I was in no mood for it. “You still shouldn’t have done that.”
“Fine. Then don’t come. We’ll say we changed our minds and you can stay here until they kill you.”
I almost wanted to call his bluff, turn and walk back through the gates. But I had Charlie to think about, and his words earlier today kept ringing in my ears. What if we’d been sleeping when they set the place on fire? What if Charlie was with me on the next attempt to make me disappear? Even if he wasn’t, how did I leave him on his own? For what? A pack that thought so little of me anyway?
I turned and resumed walking, resigned to what I had to do. It was time to leave the pack and find a new home, yet again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kicks heldthe lobby door open for me, and his people, who were congregated there, stood up and started clapping. Shouts of “Congratulations!” and “Welcome to the pack!”rang around the room.
“Thank you,” I said repeatedly, smiling as if I were as happy as they were. Crackers and Magnum came in offering congratulations as well. Charlie was right behind them and came running over to me.
“Are we really staying here?” he asked.
“Yes. But we’re just down the road.”
He nodded, looking as if he were weighing having a different home with the perks of what this place had to offer.
