Page 56 of Ruthless Moon

An experience I’d never really had before. My own brothers had never played with me in wolf form. In this life, I had always been alone. Overlooked. Forgotten.

Even with all the messed-up-ness of marrying Aiden and losing Liam, a strange gratitude bubbles within me. I was stepping into a new family—a pack.

Anactualfamily.

I trot out into the clearing near the back of my cabin, my personal sanctuary away from everything that has to do with my father. The wolf inside me yields, leaving me naked and vulnerable under the dusky predawn sky.

His scent infiltrates the air before I spot him. A knot of unease coils in my stomach, twisting up like a hangman’s noose. My heart hammers a frantic rhythm, echoing the dread reverberating through me.

My father looms on my porch.

Liam, Bast, and Jackson are mere steps behind, but it doesn’t matter. This is about me, a fact etched so deep it throbs in my bones. If he knew anything about Liam, about our connection...

Liam would already be dead.

I snatch up my discarded clothes from the ground where I’d abandoned them last night. I yank them on, each pull of fabric over skin a physical assertion against the rising fear. Squaring my shoulders, I lift my chin and step toward my fate, my feet moving with a courage I don’t recognize.

The wooden planks of the porch press cold against my bare feet as I approach my father. He doesn’t make eye contact with me, instead keeping his gaze trained on the breaking dawn, but I don’t need him to look at me to sense the iron will radiating from him. He’s always been a tyrant wrapped in a cloak of paternal concern. Today will not prove any different.

My father looks to my right, straight at the place I hear Liam’s footsteps.

“You’re one of Aiden’s.” My father’s sharp voice shreds the peace of the quiet morning, icy and unyielding. The command in his tone sends an involuntary shudder rippling down my spine.

My gaze flicks to Liam. The morning light paints him in shades of gold and shadow, illuminating the raw power that ripples under his skin. He moves with a grace that speaks to his strength, a predatory allure that both calms my spiraling thoughts and ignites a fire of longing in my heart.

“Yes, sir,” Liam answers, his voice strong and clear.

Movement behind him catches my attention. His brothers, Bast and Jackson, slip into the shadows, their forms quickly swallowed by the trees.

Only Liam remains, a sentinel shadowing my every move.

“Darcy was spotted in town.” His words echo like a death knell. The last encounter with Darcy nearly cost Liam his life. But as my father continues, a new fear takes root in my heart, overshadowing the dread Darcy’s name incites. “I’m leaving one of my guards with you today, as an added precaution.”

You mean as a spy.

My mind races, terror gnawing at my insides.

If my father discovers the potential mate bond between Liam and me, everything will unravel.

Before I can react, Liam steps onto the porch, closing the gap between us. The heat emanating from him, the promise in his eyes, soothes the panic threatening to overtake me.

“There’s no need,” he says firmly. “My brothers and I have been assigned to protect Gen. She’s safe with us.”

“Your opinion is noted, but the decision is not yours to make. She ismydaughter. The guard stays.” The finality of the statement slices through the air like the crack of a bullwhip.

My father’s gaze shifts to me, as if expecting me to react, to challenge him.

But I stay silent.

My father gestures toward the dark SUV parked off to the side of the cabin. One of the rear doors opens and a mountain of a man unfolds from the inside, every movement deliberate and calculated. Noah. The brother of the man my father coldly shot just days ago for driving me, Rachel, and Meredith to Denver.

Sunlight glints off his bald head, emphasizing the deep-set nature of his icy blue eyes. They’re eyes that have seen too much, eyes that don’t allow any trace of emotion to show. His face is a weathered canvas, tanned and lined from hard years working for my father. Thick, corded muscles ripple beneath his black T-shirt as he steps closer, every inch of him screaming danger.

An involuntary shiver runs down my spine. Darcy’s cocky smirk was unnerving, but Noah is on an entirely different level. There’s a coldness to him, a silent promise of violence that clings to the air.

It’s no accident Noah’s been assigned to watch over me. My father’s cruelty knows no bounds. This is his twisted way of keeping me in line—using a grieving brother, likely burning with rage and pain, as my warden. Torture for me. Torture for Noah. Just a nice helping of pain and control all around for everyone.

My fucking father, ladies and gentlemen.

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