Page 4 of Queen of Darkness
Good. I hoped he wouldn’t have to. I didn’t wish what I’d been through on anyone. Nobody deserved to find out they were a monster.
“There’s something you should know,” the young-looking shifter said at last, having made up his mind. “But you didn’t hear it from me. I know Johnathan was going to tell you himself.”
“What is it?” I growled, growing impatient with waiting. Whatever it was, it was bad news, and drawing out the delivery would only make it worse. Just rip the bandage off and be done with it.
“We lost two more,” Kyler said quietly. “That plant thing ripped through a house on its way in.”
I didn’t react.
Two more of my pack. Dead. All because they’d been at home. Where it should have been safe. And thatthinghad just killed them while trying to get to me. I was the real target, but they had paid the price.
“Get me their names, please,” I said softly.
If Kyler replied, I didn’t hear it. I was already moving down the hallway again, lost in a fog of self-hatred. Why didothershave to pay the price for what I was? Too many had already laid their lives down for me. The pack was paying a horrific price, and all that blood landed on my hands and my hands alone.
“Come in,” came a strong, masculine voice when I knocked on the door at the end of the hall.
I pushed open the heavy wooden door and entered the Alpha’s office. Johnathan sat at his big L-shaped desk across the room, situated in front of a giant bay window that ran from floor to ceiling. Curtains were pulled over the windows, but I knew the view was amazing, showcasing the forest behind Aldridge manor. The sunsets certainly made it worthy of a working office.
“There were more,” I said bluntly, coming to a stop a respectful distance from the edge of the desk. “I heard.”
“Yes,” Johnathan said with a sigh, looking up from the paperwork. His eyes were a deep, regal blue, unlike Aaron’s bright sparks of sapphire. Normally they were strong and determined, but right now, they looked tired.
“All because of me.”
The Alpha didn’t look away, but he didn’t deny it either.
“I want to thank you for coming to my aid,” I said slowly. “When the mage attacked here, Aaron and I, we would be dead if it weren’t for you and the pack. I owe you my life.”
“Iwould do it again,” Johnathan said.
The emphasis on the word could not be missed by even the most oblivious. He had chosen that word on purpose. I. Not “we.”
“But not the others?” I asked quietly, starting to wonder if this conversation was going in a different direction than I’d intended.
“I won’t ask them to,” he said. “The pack has already sacrificed so much. We were already weakened by what my father did to us. When he and his enforcers died, our strongest were ripped from us. They’d been the ones in power, the ones who knew all the secrets. Then when the mage attacked, we lost many more to her and the vampires.”
I nodded, not sure of what else to say. Johnathan spoke only the truth. The pack had suffered much, with little to show for it.
“Asking them to shoulder any more responsibility would make me a bad Alpha,” he said. “Though, I swear to you, if you need me, I will be there for you.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly, though I hoped fervently never to have to take him up on that offer.
“I will also ensure your mother and father are protected. They will have guards until this is all sorted out.”
A heavy sigh slipped through my lips as a tiny bit of the weight on my shoulders lifted. “Thank you,” I repeated. “I appreciate that.”
“They are part of the pack, and we protect our own,” Johnathan growled, demonstrating yet again that he was the right choice for Alpha. “You needn’t fear for them anymore.”
I nodded slowly as we finally came to the point of the entire conversation. The undertones had been there from the very start, but we’d addressed everything else. There was nothing more to do but put it out in the open.
“You want me to leave.” It wasn’t a question.
Johnathan looked away, and for the first time, I could sense his shame for even desiring such a thing.
“I will not ask it of you,” he stated emphatically, finally meeting my eyes. “I will not banish you from your pack. From your hometown.”
He might not cast me out, but it was clear in his eyes that he hoped I would go of my own accord. Johnathan was too proud to ask because I was part of the clan. We were only a few years apart in age, and he had once dated my best friend in the entire world. That accounted for something, but it was obvious to both of us that this was beyond the pack.
