Page 78 of To Challenge a Wolf

“A note?” Her blue eyes were wide. “Why bother with a note?”

If you didn’t grow up in a world of cutthroat crime, maybe even this basic thing wasn’t obvious. “To show him I didn’t run scared, was thinking straight the whole time. I needed to looklike a threat, but not one worth chasing. Not too weak, not too strong.”

Every word of the note was still vivid in his memory.

Alpha,

I’m walking away. Come after me and you know who I’ll go to and what I’ll tell them. Leave me alone and I won’t.

Rh

P.S. I can beat Walter any time I want to. Just ask him.

He had tucked the note into his father’s limp hand. Then he’d driven to the Rossi house. Asked Vivian to come with him, to leave the life of their fathers behind.

“Of course I can’t go with you. I’m seventeen. I’m going to college. Anyway my dad would kill me.”

She hadn’t noticed his flinch. She was too mad. When he tried again—“Stone wants me to”—she had held up her hands in front of her.

“I knew it. I knew this was about Stone. And yes, he sucks as a parent and as a person, but you can’t just disappear into the night like a black-ops soldier. It’ll change the rest of your life. Rhett, we’ve talked about this. We’ve got to keep our heads down, work hard and study hard. Get out the right way.”

“No, Viv, you have to listen to me.”

“Not if it’s about running away and losing everything including the plan for my entire life.”

“Then when I’m gone, you’ve got to watch your back. Don’t ever mouth off—to him, about him. Don’t ever give him a reason to notice you.”

Of course Vivian couldn’t have run away with him at seventeen. He could think of them that night, both so young and scared, without any sense of abandonment anymore. He cleared his throat.

“I left. Got to a truck-stop economy lodge, checked in for a night with my credit card. Then I accessed Stone’s accounts and drained my trust fund. Overnight millionaire at nineteen.”

“Whoa,” Kelsey said. “You’re awesome, Rhett.”

His laugh sounded more like a growl, but Trevor didn’t try to fight him, so maybe his intent came through. “Moved hotels as soon as it was done, but I doubt he ever tried to track me. I knew where a lot of the bodies were buried.”

“Metaphorically, I hope,” April said.

“Nope. He wasn’t afraid of the cops, but I could’ve got him targeted by his vampire partners.”

Slowly she shook her head. “What a life you’ve had.”

Rhett shrugged. “You’ve been through crap too. Life’s life, that’s all.” As the fever receded, his mind began fully working again. To Malachi he said, “So you think you know what this is, huh?”

“I’ve been searching the lore for an answer. I wouldn’t have found it if I didn’t know what life was for you as a pup.”

“And when he says he’s been searching,” April said, “he means he hasn’t gone to bed since Trevor called letting us know you’d broken up with Vivian.”

“Nah. Nothing to break up.” Which was his own fault. Even saying it, his chest pricked as though he’d lied.

Trevor barked a laugh. “How can you say that after y’all practically set the cabin on fire with that kiss the other night?”

No one would talk about his mate that way. Rhett sprang to his feet, a snarl ripping from his throat. The cold pack fell to the porch floor.

Trevor held up his hands. “Sorry, man. Instructive response though.”

“Ease up, Trev. He’s already recognized her, remember?” Kelsey said.

“I want to hear it again,” Trevor said with a smile that was half kind, half mischievous.

---