Page 19 of Winning the Wolf

Fiery heat blasted over my skin, making me gasp. “I don’t fucking know. I thought you believed me.”

The air in the room grew heavy as he shrugged and moved closer, staring even harder. “What do you know about Jeremy?”

“I know that Nyla met him roughly three months ago. I encouraged her to leave him. She knew how dangerous it was to date someone from another pack. However, since no one in this pack is interested in us, she felt she had no choice but to go elsewhere. I understand it, we’re the fucking betas now.”

My words made Killick bite his lip harshly. “Not through any fault of your own, at first, anyway.”

Tilting my head to the side, I glared at him. “Exactly. No one did anything to stop our reputation from getting tarnished by our brother’s choice and our mother’s betrayal. We had no chance. It’s no wonder my sister rebelled against you all, is it?”

Oh, shit, I had to be careful. My words could be classed as treasonous to some of the pack members. I couldn’t be seen to agree with Nyla’s choice to betray the pack and go along with another werewolf’s plans to harm Melinda.

“Look…” I huffed loudly, rubbing my arms which suddenly felt cold. “I’ve been trying to stop my sister from doing all the wrong things for years. I didn’t succeed, okay? Whatever she’s got involved with this time, she kept it from me.”

“Okay.”

Standing up, Killick thanked the witch before heading towards the door.

My heart thundered in my chest at the pure ignorance of the man. How dare he dismiss me without so much of a backward glance?

“Where are you going?” I barked, loudly enough to be almost embarrassing.

“To search for my mother,” he replied without turning around to look at me, “you can go home. We don’t need you anymore.”

Chapter Five

Slumber was elusive, one minute allowing me to forget, the next, waking me up with a start. I’d been relieved to return home the night before, burying myself into my soft mattress and wrapping up in my comforting blanket. However, the events of the last few days had made it impossible to relax fully.

Lying on my back, I sighed as I rubbed my eyes. The image of Killick’s intense gaze kept popping into my mind before being replaced by the splash of blood on the earth. My insides swirled with my confused emotions. No matter how hard I tried to reason my sister’s actions, whatever they were, I couldn’t reach a conclusion that would see her safe. And that hurt my heart.

The sound of a footstep outside the window made me hold my breath to listen. There was another one, heavy and uneven.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I swung my legs out of bed, getting to my feet just as someone burst through my front door, snapping open the old lock.

“What the fuck!” I exclaimed, searching for a weapon as a man turned to look at me, his chest heaving. “Jeremy?”

Nyla’s boyfriend stood frozen for a moment, his blood stained face staring into the dying embers of the fire. I bent slowly and picked up my phone, quickly sending a Help message to Killick before Jeremy blinked.

“Your sister ruined it,” he hissed, looking me directly in the eye. “The stupid bitch will pay.”

Lunging, he extracted a silver knife from his sleeve and swiped at me. I had no time to retreat, too shocked to do anything but raise my hands. The blade sliced across my palms, cutting the skin deep.

“Stop!”

My yell went ignored as he thrust the knife again, knocking into my bed at the same time. I managed to grab hold of his arm and push it in the other direction, stumbling away, towards the front door. If

I could get outside, I could shift and run to the headquarters, where they’d protect me.

Sweat and blood made my hands slippery as I tried to get my wild hair out of my face in order to see. A heavy weight ploughed into me from behind, sending me to the floor. My stomach churned as several sharp stings came from my legs.

“Nyla only had one job, to make sure no one found Miranda… but no… she refused to play along and led your alpha to them.” Jeremy’s words were shouted as his arm rose and fell, plunging the knife into my legs. Some hits were harder than others as I kicked out, desperately trying to get his weight off me.

The pain of the metal puncturing my skin made me cry out. Silver was the only weapon that a werewolf couldn’t heal from. If I didn’t get away, he would kill me.

“When she ran away, I vowed to kill you,” he huffed, grabbing my legs and tugging me closer to him, “so here I am.”

Flipping me over, he held the knife above my chest. The fury in his eyes glued me to the floor, stilling my frantic attempts to escape. What was the point? I was alone now, destined to be banished from the pack. I had no one to save me, no one who cared whether I lived or died.

“Why did you do it?” I whispered, tears dripping down my cheeks as I accepted my fate.

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