Page 10 of Echo Of A Wolf

“What?”

I couldn’t believe him.

Who I associated with?

I barely associated with anyone lately.

“Xander,” he offered when it must have been clear that I didn’t know who he was talking about.

I frowned. “He’s my brother.”

And we didn’t associate. At least, not anymore. He felt more like a stranger nowadays than an older brother.

“All the more reason to be stalking me for him,” Dean countered.

“Why would Xander want you stalked?” I demanded.

Had Xander seemed off lately? Yes. Did that mean I thought he could be capable of stalking Dean? Possibly. However, I didn’t know anything about it if he was. I’d been holed up in my apartment the last few days hammering out the book I’d just finished.

Clearly, I needed to keep a close eye on Xander to make sure he wasn’t getting himself into any trouble.

“What would he even gain by stalking you?” I asked, feeling slightly defensive of my brother, but also guilty because I didn’t know what he’d been up to lately.

“You tell me,” Dean insisted. “He’s your brother.”

I pursed my lips together. This conversation was going nowhere. Dean didn’t trust me—and he damn sure didn’t trust Xander—so no matter what I said, he wouldn’t believe me anyway.

Still, my raven wanted me to warn him about Xander seeming off lately. It felt important to her for some reason.

“Listen, Xander isn’t someone you want to mess with,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “He’s different now. I’m not sure how to explain it, but there’s a coldness to him that wasn’t there before. A darkness.”

Dean scoffed, crossing his massive arms over his solid chest. “I can handle Xander,” he replied dismissively. “I’m not scared of a fucking raven.”

His wolf crept closer to the surface, changing the color of his eyes. They became a vibrant blue so bright they nearly glowed in the dark.

They were mesmerizingly beautiful.

“Don’t stalk me anymore, Astrid. It won’t end well for you. Be sure to tell Xander the same,” he seethed, his hatred for us both simmering through his words.

“What’s your problem with my brother?” I demanded. He and his wolf weren’t going to intimidate me. “Better yet, what’s your problem with me?”

He glared at me, a red-hot rage burning behind his stare. “Xander was Lucius’s right-hand man through all that bullshit. Enough said. As for you—your easy compliance with everything makes you just as guilty in my book. I can’t decide if you were doing it out of survival, or if you enjoyed the power trip like your brother did. Whatever it was, you didn’t try to fight back as hard as the rest of us.”

His words stung, cutting deeper than I’d expected and causing me to go mute.

I had tried to fight back, though. Maybe not as strongly as him or some of the others, but I had tried. In the beginning, at least. Lucius’s mind control had been strong, though.

He’d been strong.

Stronger than me.

Xander, though. He hadn’t fought. Not even a little. It was why Lucius made him his second-in-command. I’d only been at his side too because Xander was my brother.

Before I could explain myself to Dean, he stormed inside the diner.

With my heart thundering in my chest, I turned and started toward my car. The weight of the conversation pressed down on me. Even though I thought Dean was an ass for what he’d said, I still hated that he thought I hadn’t fought back—that I’d been complacent in what had been done to all of us. The way Lucius had screwed with our heads wasn’t right—the way he’d used us.

Nothing would ever make that okay.

---