Page 32 of Hunted

“I have no idea,” Abigail responded. “But it seems that he doesn’t want us together.”

“Well,” Luke responded slowly, “it looks like he achieved what he wanted.” Abigail blinked and nodded as tears prickled in her eyes.

“So, how did you get here,” Luke continued. “If you didn’t plan on coming here?”

Dominic spoke then, and Abigail was grateful for his interruption. She didn’t think she had the strength to explain how she had gotten to the Moonstone pack, and even if she did, she had not regained all of her memories yet.

“She was injured, like she said, and pulled over to the side of the road. An elderly couple, two shifters from my pack, found her. They brought her here.”

“Was she badly injured?” Luke asked Dominic.

For the first time, there seemed to be little to no animosity in the room.

I wonder how long that’ll last,Abigail thought wryly.

“She had a broken arm, flesh wounds, and other internal injuries. Esme and Bert—the ones who found her—knew they couldn’t leave her like that. So they brought her here.”

“And are you healed now?” Luke asked Abigail directly.

She shrugged tiredly. “My own healing abilities took a while to kick in. But I was well looked after. Dominic and the pack healer took good care of me.”

A muscle worked in Luke’s jaw at Abigail’s words.

He must know. He must sense that there is something between the two of us,she thought stubbornly. And she wasn’t going to hide it. It wasn’t as though they had done anything wrong.

“Now.” Dominic cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. Luke turned to him. Both men, both alphas, stood squarely in front of one another. “Abigail has become comfortable here. She has made a life for herself here. I won’t tolerate anyone hurting her or being disrespectful to her. And right now, I consider her part of my pack. So, please, choose your next moves carefully.”

Under any other circumstances, Abigail would have been mortified by Dominic’s words, but all she felt as she looked at him was cared for.

He was a man, an alpha, who kept his promises and looked after the people he cared about. And that was not an indictment of Luke, who had never had a harsh word to say to her, and who had acted perfectly as her mate. But now, when she thought of Luke, all that she remembered was the attack by Christian.

The attack that had left her with permanent scars. The attack that had left her with nightmares. The attack that left her with major anxiety, that made her afraid of loud noises.

“It seems your alpha here is right,” Luke said with a sigh after a while. “My father lied to both of us. He tricked us into leaving one another.”

“We weren’t just lied to,” Abigail’s voice was hot, angry. “He played us against each other. He used our worst insecurities to break the trust between us.”

“I don’t understand how he could do this?” Luke was frustrated. He flexed the hand that he had slammed against the wall.

It must be healing,Abigail realized.

“Do you truly not understand how he could do something like this?” This question came from Dominic, to Abigail’s surprise.

Luke looked at Dominic.

“I do not pretend to know your father.” Dominic shrugged. “But he sounds manipulative, sly, and cunning. And anyone with traits such as those would struggle to hide them from the people closest to them.”

“He has always interfered.” Abigail watched Luke concede to Dominic. “Because he has always wanted the best for me.”

“You need to take responsibility for this, too,” Dominic continued. Now, he walked over to Abigail and placed an arm around her waist. “You’re an alpha and you allowed yourself to get manipulated by someone who you should have known might do something like this.”

Abigail realized that Dominic had no intention of hiding that there was something between them.

“He is my father. What did you expect me to do?”

“You let him do this,” Dominic replied, his voice dangerously quiet.

They all stood in silence for some moments.

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