Page 29 of Wolf Hunter

“Liam. Whatever you’re keeping—”

“It’s not my secret to tell,” he instantly replies.

Okay, not what I expect or want to hear; in fact, the exact opposite.

“You will tell me.” I don’t pull the alpha card often, and never with Liam. We’ve always had the type of relationship where we’re comfortable sharing anything with each other.

Mother brought us up that way. She did whatever she could to intercede against our father’s dark wishes.

And now Liam’s eyes don’t want to meet mine. They dart in every direction, never meeting mine, and the air around us charges, almost as thoughIsense the snow coming on.

“Do you trust me?” he wants to know.

“What? Why would you ask me that?”

A small smile bends his lips. “I will find out what’s really going on for you, but until I come to you, don’t ask me again. You have to let me handle this the only way I know how.”

I shake my head. “You’re asking too much.” I make a mental note to keep an eye on my brother. That’s a hell of a thing, but I’m not going to get ahead of whatever has him concerned unless I stay on edge.

Like that is anything new.

I grin at him in return, and the moment I do, his own smile vanishes. “I’ll take care of it, Reid.”

I hate this—whateverthis is—because it means stepping outside my comfort zone and trusting someone else entirely, no hesitations or reservations. I don’t do the trust thing. I learned that lesson the hard way.

“Thank you,” I manage.

With a small nod, Liam steps inside. I stay on the deck. Tasha remains where she’s been since I brought her here: at the forefront of my mind. Nothing changed and yet, just like the coming snow, I sense something bigger moving into my life. Big, and not necessarily good.

I cross my arms over my chest against a gust of wind, the kind that drills inside you and eats at whatever exposed flesh you show.

If Tasha has a point to her madness, if she has an honest to goodness legitimate reason for wanting my death and thinking me responsible for the missing women from town, then things need to change, and quickly.

I spend the rest of the day trying to attend to pack business while getting organized and prepared for the blizzard.Trying,because I don’t get a whole lot accomplished other than making sure we have enough supplies to weather the storm and sending my omegas out for the things we lack.

The magic from our last sacrifice still powers the wards around the property and will be enough to sustain us at least through the next few months, given that I don’t plan on using Tasha to replenish.

Yes, let the others think I have another, dirtier use for her. It isn’t unheard of for the alpha to keep a sacrifice for the sole purpose of bedroom play. My father kept several such women at his disposal, although I never plan to follow the trend.

I saw how it tore my mother to shreds. How it hurt her, and she had to swallow those emotions down in the name of duty.

Not unheard of, no, but still as disgusting to me as it was the first time I heard my father talking about one of his conquests.

I consider what Tasha said to me, trying to process and make sense of her hatred. Although I guess she doesn’t hate me as completely as she wants me to believe.

Dinnertime comes and goes, and I find myself pacing outside of her room, the house feeling oddly empty with half of the pack missing. Eventually, I give up any semblance of trying to get work done and let myself inside her room.

The one place I want to be and must stay away from.

Tasha has her arms behind her back when she faces me. Her face twitches, trying to imitate a granite mountainside, and she winces. “Have you come back for more? What else will you steal from me this time? Another kiss, perhaps, or something more?”

Her face sours.

“As you’re pissed at me and in excellent physical shape, I imagine me coming back for more would end up with one of us on the floor, and not in a good way.”

She sighs. “Is there any chance of getting you out of here without another verbal tongue lashing? Because if there is, let’s skip to it. Time is wasting, and I’m trying to find a way to kill you and escape.”

How odd. It feels like she’s the only person in this place with any sort of transparency. Why do I find it so fucking sexy?

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