Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
It’s not working. It works even less when her relaxed posture changes, and her back straightens. It’s probably only four or five seconds that feel like as many minutes before her palms slide to the floor as her body bucks and she releases a horrible choking sound before bursting into tears.
Jared stares down at her, forehead crinkled, pouty mouth looking even sadder. Like he feels bad for what she feels.
And I’m angry. Angrier. Because she sees it all and it shouldn’t be hers to have. Even more than that, it shouldn’t be his to feel, whatever it is. I don’t know why his wolf is broken, but I somehow know he doesn’t deserve this.
Vivi and Erica wrap arms around their sister and help her to her feet.
Ronnie’s eyes hit me, overflowing with tears.
“What is it?” I demand, unable to sound remotely friendly or gentle.
“I… n-need a minute,” she rasps, walking past with her sisters. “S-sorry…”
Grey follows them outside leaving just Jared and me.
His eyes have gone stone cold. He stares into space for a minute before his eyes flit up to my face again. “Request they end it.”
Before I’m able to ask, he clarifies, “A mate bond severing.” He almost immediately says, “Forget it. I will.”
“You…no,” I whisper. “You’d better not!” Tears fill my eyes, and I refuse to blink, refuse to let them fall. He sees them. He has the decency to look contrite, but not enough, not enough that I know he doesn’t mean what he just said. I think he does mean it.
He thinks it’s what I need. What he needs so he can forget about me, ignoring that he deserves more than a lonely and bleak existence where he doesn’t let anyone get close.
Voices along with my own heartbeat fill my head like static to the degree I don’t comprehend words, but I see Riley, Linc, and Grey in a huddle outside with the three Young sisters. Tyson and Mase move in. All council members are here except Jase and Joel. Grey suddenly moves back in toward us, squatting in front of Jared.
“I’m gonna channel Ronnie’s gift. She’s having trouble talking and wants my help. Yeah?”
Jared’s mouth contorts but he gives Grey a swift nod and Grey closes his eyes and puts one hand on Jared’s shoulder. Erica and Vivi come back in and flank him. A few red sparks dance briefly around Grey’s head and then burn brighter for a heartbeat or two before disintegrating.
Crazy. I’m in absolute awe of this magic stuff Grey is learning to channel. Of course I know we’re all made with magic, but witchcraft isn’t something I’m accustomed to seeing right in front of me.
New scents hit my nose, and I realize we have an even larger audience standing just outside the door.
Cat Savage is one. My father is another. Dad’s concerned eyes are on me.
Grey lets go of Jared and his eyes flit to my face. “Can you give us a minute, Sis?”
“No,” I say simply.
Jared has the nerve to roll his eyes.
Grey fails to fight a smirk. “I’ll close the door then.”
I lift one shoulder in a shrug.
Grey closes both doors and looks at Jared. “You left your pack soon after your mother and sister died, yeah?”
“Immediately after the monster in me killed them, yes,” Jared forces out, staring at the floor.
Fuck, that’s hard to hear. I can’t imagine how hard it is to live with. To say aloud.
“You ever dig in to find out more? Find out what happened there after?”
Jared’s eyes narrow. “Left and kept moving. Why? What did you see?”
“If you haven’t dug, we need to. I saw that night, only the aftermath. Saw the abuse from your alpha and his betas. You were young?”
“Yeah.”
“How young?” I ask. “What kind of abuse?”
“Got the shit kicked out of me often when I was a kid,” Jared says.
Grey continues. “You’ve buried shit, shit I can’t dig out on my own. But I think there are more answers there than what me and Ronnie can decode. Nothing from your wolf. All you. I should sense both you and your animal, but I don’t sense your animal at all.”
“I haven’t set foot within three hundred miles of the place since then. I buried them and left.”
“In all your years of doing private eye work, you never crossed paths with anyone from your old pack?”
“Thankfully, no.”
“Can you share many memories of what happened just before you left?”
“My pack wasn’t a great place to be. Not like Silver Hills, though. The abuse came at me specifically. And my mother and sister after Dad died.”
“Linc said your father was a private eye. Was he alpha?”
“Beta. Alpha’s younger brother. Could’ve challenged the alpha and likely won; he was strong. Died when I was a kid. Couple years before I… before I… first shifted.” Jared lets that hang.