Page 92 of Bitter Discord

I considered the time. Twenty minutes, maybe thirty, since I came in. Maybe. I wasn’t sure, but now I had everything I needed to make my move. All I’d needed was to know where Arlo was.

Now, I just had to keep him alive.

“No, it’s not.” Throwing off my fear, I stared at William but didn’t talk to him. “Lonan, this is one madman—just one—and the only thing he has any semblance of control over in this situation is in this house. You don’t have to kill Arlo.”

“He’ll never leave this house if he doesn’t,” William snapped.

“I have a forty-two-hundred-year-old witch sister. While she might not be practiced in her magic the way our mother is, she is powerful, and if she makes a single call, Subira will come to help her break through the spell you placed on this house. Meanwhile, the pack will throw food and medical supplies to us if it takes longer than a day for the two women I would bring to help. We’ll live. There’s no witch out there who would give you a spell so powerful, they couldn’t manage it. Considering I couldn’t smell it and what I did to the people who developed that, I think you might be working with the BSA agent we have in connection with the family. We haven’t tracked them down yet.”

William’s eyes went wider. I was unraveling him.

“You lost the moment I walked into this house. Maybe, justmaybe,your plan might have worked if I didn’t outsmart Lonan, didn’t account for him being the way he is. I didn’t want him to kill Arlo. Maybe this would have worked if I didn’t care about the safety ofeveryoneinvolved… every werecat, every werewolf, every human. Maybe this would have worked if you had realized just how far people will go to maintain the shred of peace and happiness they have. Zuri has a baby who hasn’t turned two yet. Jabari has a teenage son he is finally getting to know. Heath is raising a human daughter, and his son has finally found a piece of happiness. Many of the werecats that came this week live peaceful lives they want to preserve.”

“You don’t have backup, you little bitch, and I—”

“I told Fenris everything was fine, just as you asked. You should have been more thoughtful and thorough. I guess my appearance really surprised you. I toldonlyFenris that everything was okay, but you should have asked me to tell Heath Everson and Zuri. They’re the ones who needed to know and would have believed me. Did you think I camealoneto investigate you? The appearance of alone, sure, but…” I took my chance to smile. “I amneveralone.”

As if the pack could hear me, howls filled the world outside the house, and William paled.

“Alpha!” Arlo yelled as if he recognized Heath in the ethereal mix of voices outside. As though Heath could hear him, one howling voice rose above the others. Arlo joined in.

“Shut up!” William roared, spooking Arlo into stopping.

“Neither is that boy,” I snarled. “Lonan, you have another option. If you want to be a hero, keep Arlo safe while I handle this madman.”

William snarled, reaching for the gun at his waist.

I threw myself at him, not caring what happened to me, only the others in the house with me. With my arms around his waist, using all my momentum, I took him to the ground, and he softened my landing. Struggling to free my arms, he slammed an elbow to the side of my head, knocking me aside. While I recovered, I saw the gun, now a direct threat, in his right hand and coming up. I hit it and his hand, knocking it loose and sending it spinning across the floor.

“Go back to the room!” Lonan growled. “Go!”

William tackled me, swinging down at my face as I brought my arms up to protect myself. Kicking up, I got a groan out of him, then rolled us over, getting the upper hand again.

“No!” Arlo yelled back.

“You lost, William,” I said, trying to keep him down. “Just stand down!”

“I’m going to kill you,” he snarled.

I didn’t see it in time. The knife came up, and William buried it into my thigh, bringing a scream of pain as I felt the silver burn. He yanked the knife free and sliced upward, forcing me to jump from him, slower than I would have liked, thanks to the puncture. He was up quickly, knife ready, but he didn’t get the chance for a second attack.

Lonan grabbed the arm and twisted.

“Enough,” the werecat snarled, the sound of William’s bones breaking too loud for my ears. William’s scream drowned out the noise seconds later. A second after that, Arlo was in front of me, his arms open as if he wanted to be my shield.

“Damn it,” I snapped, grabbing and pulling him to my side as the front door broke open in pieces and off its hinges.

A silvery, light blue-grey wolf ran in, grabbed William’s leg, and spun, sending the werecat hurdling into a wall and leaving Lonan horrified as he remained empty-handed.

“Heath, don’t kill him!” I yelled, knowing my fiancé all too well. “He knows things we need to know!”

Heath's reply was a snarl of fury as he stood over William’s still form.

“You shouldn’t have come in here. We had it. It was fine. We knocked each other around. Lonan had just disarmed him. Now you’re trapped with us. What do you think Zuri is going to say?”

“I would say he’s a brave man who loves you and his pack.”

Turning toward the front door, Zuri was on the other side of the threshold, and I wanted to collapse in relief.

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