Page 12 of The Midnight Death Match

“I know.”

Seeing him in pain makes my heart hurt, so I thread my fingers through his. “I’m sorry I brought all this on you.”

He finally turns to me, and we communicate without a word. We don’t need to speak—not when we’ve known each other since before we could walk.

“We’ll find them,” I promise him.

“They’re safe.” Harek straightens his back. “My parents are the strongest people I know. Worst case, they’ll find our pack.”

Another silence passes between us. His parents and my mother fled our ragtag werewolf pack and have been living among humans in Skoro for more than two decades.Complicateddoesn’t begin to describe those relationships. Harek and I have never met any of them, and he’s always known he was a werewolf.

Unlike me. Until my mother’s dying day, I believed I was fully human.

Harek clears his throat. “We should get back to Einar and Sapphire.”

“I need to see Gunnar first.”

Harek’s mouth falls open. “Not a chance.”

“I’m not asking your permission.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

I pull my hand from his and glare at him.

“Sorry.” He doesn’t look apologetic.

“He has the power to turn all of Skoro against us. They could track us to Mirendel, and then what? Everyone we grew up with would be decimated by the fae city. I have to try to find a truce with my stepfather.”

“It would be a mistake.” His voice is low, tight. “Did you forget what happened the last time you saw him? He swore to have you hunted. The man wants you dead—you’ve already cost him so much. Not only is his pal Vog dead, but he isn’t getting the dowry he expected.”

I meet his glare head-on. “That was months ago.”

“Exactly, Eira. He’s had months to nurse a grudge. Months to twist everything into something darker. And he’s never liked you. Now with your mother dead, he has no reason to hold back.”

“Gunnar helped raise me and my siblings. If there’s even a chance I can get him to back off, I have to try.”

“You think he sees you as a daughter?”

“Obviously not, but I can try talking to him as one adult to another. He respected my mother, and I’m part of her.”

“He didn’t respect her enough to treat you as she’d have wished.”

There’s no denying that. “I have to do this. Not for me. But for my siblings. They’re still his, and that has to count for something.”

Harek watches me for a long beat. Something flickers in his eyes. Not anger, but something closer to concern. Tinged with fear.

When he speaks again, it’s quieter. “If he lays a hand on you, I’ll kill him.”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that. He’s bitter and unpredictable.”

“So am I.”

That draws a slight smirk from him. Brief, but there.

“I’m coming with you.” He crosses his arms.

---