Page 27 of Roaring Flames

“What the fuck do you mean by that?” Emery demands.

His eyes flash amber in tandem with his growing anger. Fur begins to sprout on his arms, and his chin lengthens, resembling a muzzle.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Kain waves a hand in the air. “Doesn’t matter.” He turns to leave but pauses with his hand on the doorknob. Smug confidence radiates from him in tangible waves as he smirks at us over his shoulder. “I’d be more careful about spending alone time with your mistress if I were you. I wonder how many chances our lovely Isabella will give you?”

His laughter chases him out the door…as does a growling, rabid Emery.

He lunges for Kain, death written across every visage of his distorted face, but I’m there before he can attack the other wolf. I wrap my arms around my twin’s stomach and attempt to hold him back.

Desiree, wisely, jumps to the side. She knows as well as I do that Emery will not react kindly to her presence.

“You need to calm the fudge down,” I snap, automatically reverting to my child-friendly swearing. It’s instinctive at this point. Half the time I don’t even realize I’m doing it. “Kain isn’t worth it. Do you know how much trouble you’ll get in if you’re caught fighting at school, let alone fighting as a freaking wolf?”

Emery snarls something unintelligible and bucks against me.

I simply tighten my grip on him.

“We both know that what Kain said isn’t true. We’re not having an affair with goddamn Desiree. Nothing happened today. We all know it. We can just tell Izzy our side of the story. And as for Ashton?—”

Emery practically roars at the use of our packmate’s name, and I wince at the noise. Probably shouldn’t have mentioned him.

“We’ll deal with him and his lies. I promise you. Everything will be okay. Everything?—”

It’s at that moment the classroom door opens, but this time, it’s not Kain who steps inside.

No.

It’s much, much worse than that.

“Guys! Emergency! Grayson was released. I don’t know what…” Ashton pauses and eyes the two of us with concern before taking a step forward. “What happened?”

Emery breaks free of my hold and lunges at Ashton.

Ten

IZZY

Ican’t turn away from the photo on my phone. All of my worries… All of my fears…

They all come crashing down on me in a tsunami I can’t escape from, pulling me under and tossing me around like a rag doll.

In the photo, sent from an anonymous texter, Ethan and Emery are in a classroom with Desiree. I can’t see Emery’s face, but the tattoos on his bare arms, that messy blond head, and those strong shoulders are unmistakable. He has his hands on Desiree’s shoulders and is leaning down as if to kiss her. She’s staring up at him with wide eyes.

I can only see half of Ethan’s face, but I swear I see…heat in his eyes. Lust, maybe?

Jealousy threatens to capsize any rational thoughts or emotions. I have to remind myself repeatedly that I’m not dating either of the twins and a mating bond doesn’t mean we have to be together. They obviously chose Desiree.

Everything we’ve been through has been a lie. And not just with the twins, but Desiree too. She pretended to be my friend, and for what? To keep an eye on the competition? Perhaps shetruly was my friend until I got in the way of her relationship with the guys.

My emotions swirl around and around in my chest—a toxic, acerbic vortex that tastes like ash on my tongue—and it takes considerable effort to lower my phone back to my lap.

Ansel glances at me out of the corner of his eyes. “Everything okay?”

A part of me wants to snap at him and say that I’m fine.

But he’s been wonderful today and doesn’t deserve any of my misplaced ire.

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