Page 138 of Puck & Her Blades

Then I yank hard, dragging Cygnus off the frozen surface of the lake, just as it groans and cracks underneath where he’d been.

He tumbles on top of me on the bank.

Breathing heavily, we stare back at the inky black water: the hole in the ice.

He’d have fallen through that hole.

He’d have been dead.

Is he shaking or am I?

I think that we both are.

Did his sister just try to kill him?

I scramble back, pulling Cygnus behind me. His arms are looped around me like he needs the touch to anchor him.

He’s falling apart, and I can’t blame him.

“I know you don’t love me,” Cygnus sobs, “but do you hate me that much?”

Sydney is as white as a sheet. She’s staring at the hole in the ice and looks as horrified as I am.

“I didn’t…I mean, I didn’t mean to throw you onto the ice. I just lost my temper.” She takes a stumbling step backward. “Please, Cyg, you’re okay, right?”

“I saved him.” I glare at her. “I won’t let you hurt him ever again. Let me guess, you just lost your temper, when he was a kid too. He didn’t fall into the lake and end up with chronic health problems as a result of an accident, did he?”

Sydney hugs her arms around herself, looking away. “It was his fault Mom died. If she hadn’t insisted on bringing him to look at those fucking swans, even in the cold weather when she was ill, then she might have got better. She spent all her time with him. I was angry, after the funeral. I might have…”

“Bullied me?” Cygnus suggests. “So, you threw me into the lake, over and over. You got me out in time, normally. But that one time, you couldn’t resuscitate me.”

Rage surges through me, especially as I feel the anguish of his memory through the bond.

I imagine a kid Cygnus, so much younger and smaller than his older, Alpha sister. He’d only just lost his mom, and instead of looking out for her brother, she tortured him at a place that’d meant so much to him.

The fact that he could bring me here and still hold it close to his heart because of his mom’s love and not allow his sister’s hate to corrupt it, shows how pure he is.

He truly is special.

“I never meant to…” Sydney’s shoulders slump. “You don’t understand what it’s like to be an Alpha. These instincts are hard to control.”

My eyes narrow. “Bullshit. Jackson and Zev are Alphas and they don’t treat Omegas like shit. The natural aggression of Alpha instincts is just the excuse that assholes use to act however they like. So, I call bullshit.”

Sydney’s expression darkens.

She takes a step toward me. “You little bitch…”

“If you attack any of my pack again,” Cygnus warns, halting her, “then I’ll tell Dad — the whole fucking world — what you did. I’m done protecting you. I have a new found family, and they actually love me.”

Sydney’s expression crumples, and she raises a shaky hand to her face.

After a long moment, she lowers it, and her expression has become hard again.

She points at me. “This is your fault. My brother was weak and submissive, before you turned up. Now, he’s rebellious. Fine, try to play me. But you’d better hope that the Blades win the Alpha Cup because if they don’t, then Dad won’t allow any of your pack’s bad behavior to continue. He’s just itching to put all of you in your place again, and I’m going to ask to personally be allowed to wreck you. Happy fucking Christmas.”

CHAPTER 19

Omega Cottage, Blade Estate

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