Page 19 of Ruthless Moon

I push off the side of the parked truck. “Everything good?”

He nods, strolling up to the side of the truck. “We got to them all. She did her voodoo shit and those guys looked right past me like I wasn’t there. It was seriously unsettling and fascinating at the same time.”

I climb up and unlock the toolbox stretching across the bed behind the cab. Bast hands me the rifles and then lifts the top shelf of the toolbox out. The cold metal of the guns chills me to the bone, as if they can sense the sorrow that courses through my veins.

I check the rifles. Make sure the safeties are on and then slide them into the foam slots where they sit hidden from the world, but available whenever we need them.

Bast puts the tool rack back over top of them, closes the heavy steel lid, and rolls the number combos. “So you and Gen?”

I don’t look at my brother.

“Is it... Fate?”

I hop down from the bed and walk to the driver’s side and get in. He mirrors my actions. The air inside the cab is suffocating, tainted with the weight of my unspoken choices.

“Liam.” His tone says it all. He knows how bad this is. Sorrow and anger twist his voice the same way they’re wrenching my heart. Anger that this is happening. How unfair it is. And sorrow that I’m losing someone I’ll never be able to replace.

“You can’t say anything. To anyone.” I grind out the words. “I’m leaving, Bast. After tonight. After we talk to Aiden, I’m going to quietly go see Mom and tell her goodbye.” Except I can’t tell them the whole truth. I’ll have to hide what’s really going on.

“Fuck.” The single word is heavy with the weight of his acknowledgment.

I start the truck and it roars to life, the growl of the engine echoing through the darkness. We’re silent the whole way back home, the tension still so thick it’s like a living, breathing entity. When I park in front of Aiden’s house, Bast grabs my arm before I can get out. “Where will you go?”

The fight leaves me. All the tension bleeds out and I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’ll find a pack—somewhere.”

“Aiden is going to find out. He’s going to feel you leave.”

“It will be too late. Everything will be done. They’ll be married. The pack will be safe. There won’t be anything to do, Bast. I can’t stay here and live near her. I can’t.”

He releases my arm. We get out of the truck and walk to Aiden’s door.

The house looms before me, the dark windows reflecting my fears back at me like a mirror. I don’t want to leave my family. My home. My whole life is here, but I know if I stay it will slowly turn me into a person I won’t be proud of.

The big oak door opens before I reach a hand to knock.

“Come in,” Aiden says, his voice tired. His face is drawn and dark circles hang beneath his eyes. “I assume there’s something wrong.”

We both give a slight inclination of a nod. Bast speaks first, which I’m glad for.

“Meredith’s got some trouble.”

Aiden takes a long, noisy breath and points us toward the couch. The dimly lit room is oppressive, the shadows on the walls pulsing in time with my racing heart. A half-empty box of framed pictures and knickknacks sits in the center of his coffee table. A stack of old newspapers lie beside it. A pretty silver-framed picture of him and his late wife is only half wrapped in tissue paper.

We interrupted him.

He finishes tucking the paper around the silver frame and places it carefully into the box. “I know Meredith’s up at Oliver’s because of the situation with her daughter and Finn. Rachel has kept me up to date when possible, but so far it hasn’t been anything Meredith can’t handle. Has that changed?”

“There were wolves in town from Oklahoma. They tried to take Meredith.”

A loud snarl rips through Aiden and his eyes flash gold. “Is she safe? How the fucking hell did they know where to find Meredith? Do we have a leak?”

“Not from us. Maybe Oliver’s side. No one in our pack would ever betray the coven. They’re family, Aiden. All of them.”

He breathes out a heavy sigh.

“Meredith’s good. We stopped them. They’ve apparently got this little girl who’s been hurt back home. The witches near their pack told them Meredith was their only option for saving her. The abductors were professionals. Probably ex-military. They got her out of Oliver’s place without raising a single alarm.”

“Oliver will break shit when he realizes. Fuck. She’s trying to figure out how loyal Finn is to Oliver,” he tells us. “She won’t go back to the court until she’s sure Emma is safe. Until she’s sure Finn can and will protect her. She doesn’t think it’s safe to tell Finn about the court.”

---