Page 54 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

“Yes,” I said. “He hit me first with one, grazing my leg, but in the middle of the fight, his gun went off again, and she was in range.”

“What the fuck was she doing out there?”

“I don’t?—”

“And how could you let someone get so close to the compound with a copper-loaded gun?” Becc’s fury manifested physically, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red as little flecks of spit flicked off his two front teeth whenever he spoke. “No, you know what, I don’t want to hear any of this from you. Where is she?”

“She’s in the room right there. She’s—” I once again turned to Mr. Morena. He looked quite upset, and his hands were clenched tightly to what appeared to be a beaded necklace—a rosary, perhaps? Although it was unusual for werewolves to be followers of human religions, it wasn’t entirely unheard of. “She’s not awake yet.”

“Not awake!” Becc scoffed. “What the fuck does that mean? Is she sleeping or?—”

“I want to see my daughter,” the old man said in a low voice. He gave his son a warning glare, and Becc shut up really fast.

I nodded. “Of course. Just so you know, the surgeons were able to remove the bullet, and our witch doctor used magical means to draw out any leftover copper, but she hasn’t woken up yet. I was thinking about going in and waiting by her bedside, but I figured you two would want to be the first people she saw when she woke up.”

“How long have you been here?” Becc demanded. It would seem the reservations that the look from his dad had given him had already worn off. “Why didn’t you come and get us immediately?”

Mr. Morena clicked his tongue. “I think you know why, Becc.”

They shared a look. Becc then stared down at his feet in shame. I didn’t feel like adding salt to the wound by confirming their suspicions. I obviously hadn’t called on them earlier because a part of me thought Becc might tear me to shreds if he was given this news at the wrong time.

“You said the bullet is out?” Mr. Morena asked.

“Yes.”

“So she’s okay?” This was the first time Becc’s words felt as if they had anything besides anger behind them. His voice cracked a little when he said the word ‘okay,’ betrayed how scared he was. I sighed heavily and decided that there was no point in sugar-coating it. Becc and his dad would be irate with me no matter what, so why give them false hope?

“I don’t know,” I said after a few seconds of tense silence. “They did everything they could, and she’s stable, but you know how it is with copper. Depending on how much of the metal leached into her bloodstream…” I trailed off.

“You’re saying she might still die?” That was Sarafina’s friend. She hiccupped and wiped a handkerchief under her moist eyes. “If there’s too much copper in her blood, she might not even wake up. Isn’t that right?”

I paused. In the silence, everyone knew the answer that was too hard for me to express. For a while, no one spoke. Even Becc kept his mouth shut, though I could see the gears turning in his head. His face contoured into twisted shapes of grief and madness that told me everything I needed to know about where this conversation was headed. I needed to get out of here before things got even uglier.

“Look,” I said. “I could stand here and issue a slew of heartfelt apologies, explain how I never would’ve knowingly brought any harm onto Sarafina, but that’s not what you all want to hear. In fact, I have a feeling you three don’t even want to look at me right now, and I respect that. So I will leave you here to be with Sarafina and check on the rest of the pack. I’m not sure how much you heard, but my brother and I have reason to suspect there’s a traitor in our midst. Someone who hasn’t always followed the rules of the Vilks pack.”

“We heard something to that effect,” said Mr. Morena. “However, I’m not sure how accurate the story was once it reached us.”

“If you ask me,” Becc chimed in. “If this wolf really did kill a human who had come to the compound with a camera, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

I drew in a short breath. “We don’t believe in killing humans, no matter what kind of trouble they bring to our doorstep.”

Becc narrowed his eyes. “Excluding, of course, the man who shot my sister… yes? He’s dead, right?”

Fuck. I had really hoped to avoid discussing Stanley at this juncture. Emotions were running too high, and I didn’t even want to think about what Becc might do to me if he found out that I let his sister’s potential murderer live.

“He’s gone,” I lied. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

A couple of hours ago, the doctors and I moved Mr. Kingsley to my house, where he was subsequently handcuffed to one of the guest beds. He would be receiving his medical attention from there for the foreseeable future, and once he was stable and had answered all my questions, then I would decide once and for all what I wanted to do with him.

Becc held my gaze for a moment longer, then sneered as he looked away. “I don’t trust you. I want to see the body for myself.”

“I know you don’t trust me,” I said. “I don’t trust you either. But we can hash all of this out later. Right now, you should just go in there and be with your sister.”

“He’s right,” said Mr. Morena. “The rest of this can wait. We need to be with Sarafina, especially if we don’t know how much time she has left.”

I moved out of the way, allowing them access to Sarafina’s room in the infirmary. Becc went in without so much as looking up at me, and Mr. Morena allowed the young woman to go ahead of him, saying he was perfectly capable of wheeling his chair the rest of the way himself. He paused outside the door and offered me a wary look.

“Just for the record, I don’t blame you for what happened,” he said. “But I also have to be honest—I asked you to prove to me that you could keep my daughter and my pack safe. And you’ve failed. I am very disappointed.”

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