Page 51 of Wolf Bitten

“Answer her question.” Raffe lowered his voice, the sound more menacing. “Or we’re not going anywhere.”

Taking a cue from my mate, I leaned into Raffe’s side. Slade needed to know that we weren’t bluffing and that we were united.

A group of girls walked out of the building, heading toward us.

Slade’s eyes flicked toward them. “This isn’t the place …”

“Cut the bullshit.” That presence in my chest swirled. “You can answer without giving anything away. It’s a simple yes or no question.Did you know?”

From his reaction, I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear him saysomethingbefore walking in. I didn’t trust Supreme Priestess Olwyn, and I feared I was about to put Slade alongside her.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I did, but Iwantedto meet you. I was sincere.”

I snorted, the harshness raking my throat. “Oh, I bet.” I held Raffe’s hand tighter and marched past Slade toward the apartment entrance.

Fortunately, Raffe didn’t miss a beat and remained at my side.

A pained grunt came from behind us. “Sky, wait. Let me explain.”

“Nope.” I didn’t pause, and Raffe opened the door for me to enter the building. I retorted, “Thisisn’t theplace,” lobbing the words back at him because I was petty. Not only that, but the discussion shouldn’t happen with prying ears nearby.

The corners of Raffe’s mouth twitched upward, but he mashed his lips together.

“Ugh,” Slade groaned as he continued to fall farther behind.

He could wait for the elevators because I needed a few minutes away from him. I needed time to process that our friendship had been built on a lie.

I hurried to the elevator, and by the time Raffe and I entered it, Slade was coming through the door. Sweat dotted his forehead as he tried to reach us.

“Want me to shut the door?” Raffe smirked and reached for the close-door button.

Even though I wanted to say yes, watching Slade rushing to catch up had my heart aching. I caught Raffe’s hand and cut my eyes at him while saying, “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“I’m not enjoying that he’s hurt, but it’s about damn time this came out.” He moved his hand to the button to keep the door open. “And yeah, Slade always played the good guy. I won’t lie. It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one being a complete idiot.”

I arched a brow. “Even if it’s something you have in common with acoven member?”

He grimaced hard and shivered.

I laughed at his exaggerated reaction. The noise caught me by surprise. Raffe had a way of making me smile when no one else could.

“You’re right.” He gasped, placing a hand on his chest. “Don’teverrepeat that.”

Slade caught up and slid into the elevator. “Thanks for waiting on me,” he panted, his face twisting with each breath. “I thought you might not.”

“I didn’t want to.” I leaned my head on Raffe’s shoulder, refusing to look at Slade. “But you did save me from the underground bunker.” Even if our friendship had changed, I still owed him. He wasn’t like his mother, who only gave me her time when it suited her. Slade had befriended and helped me when I had no one else.

“Sky, I swear, I genuinely like you. I chose to hang out with you when I didn’t have to.” He shuffled, no doubt turning to me. “We share a love of science and nature. The way we got along had nothing to do with me knowing you were different from everyone else.”

Some of my anger chipped away. He was right. We’d spent hours in the woods together, and because our majors were so similar, we had all our classes together. “Still, our friendship started under false pretenses.”

“When—” he started, but the doors opened to the fifth floor.

Wanting to address the supreme priestess’s part in the situation, I stalked toward my apartment with Raffe at my side and found her waiting at the apartment door. Seeing her standing there lifted some of the worry from my shoulders. I suspected she would’ve let herself into my room and searched through all my things if she could. Lucy must have left the apartment before she arrived. Knowing Keith and Adam had informed Lucy of what was going on so she wouldn’t get caught in this mess put me more at ease, and I could only hope Cat-Keith was in Lucy’s room so the supreme priestess didn’t see her.

Raffe tilted his head. “Waitingoutside? I’m surprised. I figured you would’ve gotten her code from Lafayette.”

Lafayette handled student housing. He would have the code.

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