Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
I stare at the drain another beat while the hot water continues to run before I reach for the tap and turn it off, then take in my distraught father.
He turns to me. “She smells like your mother.”
He’s not making sense. Or I can’t fathom anything because I’m reeling at the news that Stacy is gone.
“Carrie smells like Soleil,” my father clarifies, and he looks pale.
49
Stacy
I should’ve known this was how it would go. Of course Wyatt would make things hard, would make things ugly. Causing a sewage problem as part of his legacy is not a shock. But how will it end, though? Grey finding me and rescuing me, of course. And he’ll probably have to kill my brother to do so. It’s likely just a matter of what I’ll have to endure until then.
I can barely see from my left eye since it’s swollen nearly shut. I’m in the back seat of Boyd’s red pickup truck and my hands are bound. Beside me, Jase’s sister is bound, and also gagged. Her head is by my hip.
Wyatt referenced his mate being too spirited and too mouthy for his nerves, which must be why she’s tied up and gagged like this. She and I have exchanged glances, and I can tell by looking into her bloodshot eyes that she’s not feeling feisty or mouthy. She seems broken.
He dragged me into Jared’s trailer, called me a traitorous bitch and backhanded me four times as he ranted about Arcana Falls alphas trying to take his pack from him, destroying his business, how I stood back and let it happen, then correcting himself that no, I actually got on all fours for Greyson Blackwood while it all happened, being a useless, traitorous whore.
He went on to talk about taking more from them. Taking everything from them. He carries no scent and doused me with something that burned in my nostrils before it dissipated. It’s got to be different from what Aphra gave him before because that never burned in my nostrils. He’s obviously masked my scent and put more on himself and Sherry, so he’s gotten more potions from somewhere.
Some of the facts that came out during his rant made it clear he had to have someone in the village feeding him information at least for the first while after we arrived. I’m assuming the information stopped coming when the men were put into the barracks because he hasn’t mentioned Brody’s intention to become the new leader of the pack.
Something is crystal clear though. Wyatt is desperate and has come absolutely unglued with his rage. He’d been ranting nonstop about Arcana Falls, about Grey, about how what he’d be doing next will end the Arcana Falls council’s reign once and for all. He demanded to know how the fuck the women he sent to someone named Paul wound up back in the village.
“Greyson is going to annihilate you,” I spat. “And I can’t wait to watch. I bet the rest of the pack feels the same after you sent their daughters and sisters to a human whorehouse. After finding out you told Larry to pick off so many with that soup.”
He punched me in the face, hard, then roared in my face like an angry ape before he laughed maniacally, telling me he was looking forward to snapping my neck in front of “that fuckin’ dick” before he shoots him between the eyes with a special bullet. I said nothing, just stared directly into his eyes with hatred.
“Taking that super alpha’s cock give you some bravery, bitch?” he clipped, holding air quotes over the word super, his voice dripping with disdain.
I didn’t answer, just kept glaring straight into his eyes, and he hauled me to my feet, wrenching my arm again, before he hit me in the face again, hitting so hard that time I blacked out and woke up like this. Tied up. And we’re pulling Jared’s trailer with Boyd’s truck, so he put Sherry in here and abandoned whatever vehicle he and Sherry had been in. He must have got us out of there before anyone noticed.
They were in an all-hands-on-deck mode because of the sewage backup. Wyatt did it. Somehow, he made that happen to distract them and I played directly into his hand, didn’t I? Because if I hadn’t left the mess hall and stepped out of sight, he wouldn’t have been able to take me.
I’m so angry with myself. Grey told me not to be unaccompanied. It was only for a minute. And that’s all it took. Just one minute, just one bad decision. Story of my life.
But something inside me doesn’t let me wilt with despair. Because there have been stupid decisions made that have turned out all right. Like my decision to follow Wyatt’s orders and shoot Tyson. Because it led me to Grey and that led to Wyatt losing his grip on the pack, led to all those people healing and getting well with a promising future in front of them.