Page 91 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

The impactof Griffin's knuckles on Carter's jaw was practically ear-splitting.

Carter's head snapped back and he stumbled, trying to get out of reach. He grabbed his jaw and winced with pain. "What the hell?"

"That's what you have to say for yourself?" Killian's jaw twitched as his nostrils flared. "‘What the hell’ is all you have to say?" He rushed over to Carter and punched his friend in the gut.

"Ugh." Carter leaned forward, wrapping one arm around his waist as his other hand continued to rub his chin. "Just stop," he groaned.

"Oh, well… Since you asked." Rosemary rolled her eyes. "You're more moronic than I thought."

To prevent them from continuing the beating, I stepped between the two guys and Carter. I scowled at the person who I’d thought was at least sort of my friend. "You've got one second to spill or I'll let Griffin and Killian continue."

Carter tried to straighten up, but he winced, stopping before he reached his full height. "Look, it was nothing personal," he rasped.

"Dear God." Sierra barked out a laugh and sat on the couch like she was ready to watch a show. "I never thought I'd see the day where I agreed with Rosemary, but hell has officially frozen over. He really is an idiot."

Carter frowned. "Hey! My family is at risk."

"We're well aware," Rosemary said with disdain.

I pushed aside my natural inclination to beat him to a bloody pulp. Acting on emotion would work to our disadvantage, and we already didn't know who we were up against. We didn't need to stack the odds even more in their favor. "Nothing personal is getting the wrong type of cake, or taking a longer lunch break than you were supposed to. Drugging me and passing me off to someone who put me in the trunk of a car is thedefinitionof personal."

"I didn't know he was putting you in the trunk!" He at least had the sense to cringe and avert his gaze to the floor.

For him to act so flippant irritated me even more. Who the hell did he think he was? Maybe he was clueless, and we could learn nothing from him.

"Obviously, that makes the entire situation better." Rosemary took a menacing step in his direction. "Because the drugging part wasn't bad enough."

"You know what?" I stepped out of the way and waved both Griffin and Killian on. "Beat the living shit out of him. If he isn't going to talk or doesn't know anything useful, we might as well at least get even." I prayed that he didn't call my bluff.

"What? No!" Carter lifted a hand in front of his body—like that would save him. "There's no need to beat me up. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"How so?" I lifted my chin and stared down my nose at him. "You stuck me in the neck with a needle and injected something into my bloodstream. That seems pretty purposeful to me."

He took a step toward me. "Dove—"

"Shut up," Griffin bellowed and shoved him in the chest. "Don't even say her name."

"I didn't have a choice." Carter's bottom lip quivered.

Killian shook his head. "You always have a choice. You happened to make the wrong one."

"They have Randall," Carter said. "And they threatened to hurt him if I didn't help them get Dove."

"Randall?" I hadn't heard of anyone by that name.

"His younger brother." Killian sighed, but the tension didn't leave his body. "What do you mean they have him? As in they still do? Why the hell wouldn’t you tell me or Billy?"

It took me a second to remember Billy was the pack beta who was stepping into the alpha role while Killian figured things out.

"I was told not to alert anyone—I couldn’t risk it. They said that he'd be released once Dove got to wherever the hell they wanted her to go." Carter waved a hand toward me as he continued, "And I'm pretty sure this isn't where they wanted her."

"She got away." Griffin gritted his teeth. "No thanks to you."

"What was I supposed to do?" Carter asked, as his shoulders sagged. "They were going to hurt my brother. Correction… Theyaregoing to hurt him."

"Why didn't you come to me?" Killian clenched his hands into fists.

"I didn't want to get you tangled up in this." Carter blew out a breath. "I mean, you already lost your entire family. I didn't want to make you choose between Randall and Dove."

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