Page 27 of The Weakest Wolf

“Anyone seen Leo this morning?” Bowen asks as I’m climbing to my feet with the broken shards and a stained cloth in my hands.

When the responses are all negative, I move toward the door at a steady pace that won’t make it look like I have anything to hide. Because I do. A big something.

“Sierra Stone, weren’t you with Leo last night?” Galen’s glacial voice stops me dead.

I shouldn’t have accused him of being like the rest of the pack. That’s why he’s like this now. I don’t believe he wants Eden for anything good, but he can’t be like Bowen and the others.

Or maybe you just want to believe no one else can be as cruel as the Stone pack? Maybe then you’ll be less afraid of what will happen to you when you leave.

After getting approximately no sleep because of sheer terror about the pack run tonight, I came to the house planning to apologize. One look at his face when he stepped out of his bedroom told me not to bother.

I turn to face him. “Yes, I was.”

I feel the weight of the men’s attention, but I don’t look away from Galen. His hard alpha stare makes it seem impossible. “But I left…” my voice trails off because, despite knowing I could get away with lying to the rest of the pack, something about Galen makes me think it would be a mistake to spin a story now.

Mitchell chuckles. “What, he got what he wanted and kicked you out after?”

I lower my head as if in shame. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

The men explode with laughter. If Galen is one of them, I don’t hear him, and I don’t lift my head to check.

“He’ll turn up,” Bowen murmurs, “or he won’t. It won’t be the first time someone disappeared, and I doubt it’ll be the last.”

Fear makes my heart beat just a little faster, because it sounds like he knows what I’ve been up to all these years.

Don’t be stupid. Of course he doesn’t.

If he knew I was the one responsible for most of those disappearances, there’s no way he wouldn’t have confronted me about it. That or killed me.

“Well, come find me after the pack run. I won’t kick you out of bed, but it’s going to take you putting in a solid hour of work with that pretty little mouth of yours,” Mitchell says.

I wait for Galen to say something, but I wait in vain.

It’s just another reminder that I’m no true beta. My position is just an empty title devoid of meaning, power, and respect. No packmate would ever speak to the alpha’s second the way Mitchell just did. Not and expect to live through it.

But since I’m not a strong enough wolf to take him on in a fight and win, and Galen doesn’t give a fuck, there’s nothing I can do. Just bottle up my hate and walk away.

If we were alone, I would play the bimbo routine and pretend I didn’t know what he was talking about. But the intensity of Galen’s stare warns me that the sooner I get his attention off me and onto something else, the better.

So, instead of responding to Mitchell, I turn to leave.

“I didn’t give you permission to go anywhere.” Galen’s bark makes me halt.

“I need to get rid of this mess.”

“And you can do that.” Galen’s voice is like a rock, no give in it at all. “After you’ve told me where Leo is.”

This is my punishment for not falling in line. Humiliation.

I close my eyes and tell myself I don’t care, that soon none of this will matter because Bowen will be dead and I’ll be free from this place. “We went to the forest.”

“Why?”

“Because we—”

“Turn around,” he snaps. “Look me in the eye.”

I turn.

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