Page 22 of Winning the Wolf

“You’re pretty cut up.”

“Oh,” I said, casting my gaze across to the front door, “yeah, I’m… the bastard almost had me.”

“I can see that.” Caleb cleaned the wounds on my hands, apologising when I hissed.

Although I couldn’t hear what Killick was saying, I could hear the tone of his mumbling. It suddenly jumped, turning into a squeak.

“Something’s wrong,” I whispered.

Caleb quickly wrapped bandages around my hands, his mouth pinching when he turned to look towards the door. He knew his friend much better than I, but I could feel a weird palpable tension rolling in from outside.

“What’s happening?” I nudged Caleb away, not caring about the pain that radiated from the knife wounds.

He didn’t need persuading to check on his friend, he was on his feet and through the door before I could scramble up myself.

My heart thumped in my chest as I tried to walk, holding onto the wall to guide me to the front door. When I reached it, Killick’s angry voice reached me.

“They’ve killed them,” he raged loudly.

Staggering onto the porch, I gasped and fell to my knees, clutching my chest. No, they couldn’t have killed my sister. Surely, I would’ve felt the disconnect, the pain?

“Not you!” Killick shouted, running up to me and gripping my shoulders. “You don’t get to be sad.”

I gasped as he shook me, his angry face pushed into mine. What the hell? Why was he furious with me? My sister had just been killed and he had the gall to take it out on me?

“Killick!” Caleb dragged his friend off me as the tears poured down my cheeks. My breath was short, uneven as I tried to comprehend what had happened.

“Stop!” Killick barked, his order resounding in my chest. “It’s not Nyla.”

Hiccups erupted from me as I stilled and wiped my face. He was on the ground, almost wrestling Caleb to let him go. His own cheeks were wet. Wait, was he crying?

“It’s the alpha,” Caleb called to me, “and his wife.”

“What about them?” My insides churned and bile found its way up my throat.

“They’re fucking dead!” Killick shouted, shattering my world in just three words.

ChapterSix

My whole body was numb as the car screeched on the gravel of the headquarter’s driveway. I hadn’t even winced when Killick had thrown the vehicle around every bend, sending me flying into Caleb or the door.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked, holding me upright as he leant over me and opened the door.

Killick was already out of the car, crunching the gravel under his feet as he ran for the open front door. The lights were on in all the windows, shining a beacon in the middle of the dark woods.

I couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening. How could the alpha and his wife be dead?

As Killick shot into the house, I thrust from the car and started to run, too desperate to be proven wrong. If Nyla was any way involved in their death – if it were true – she’s be dead, too. If not now, then soon.

“Take it easy!” Caleb tried to stop me with a hand on my elbow, but I nudged him away and skipped up the steps.

Entering the hallway, I skidded to a halt as my lungs deflated. Killick was in the middle of the circular room, a hand on his forehead. Roughly ten of Phileas’ men were gathered around him, kneeling at his feet.

Fuck. It had to be true if the wolves were bowing down to their new alpha.

“Where are they?” Killick’s words were pushed through his teeth.

Phileas’ right hand man rose and pointed up the stairs. “They’ve been prepared for burial, as is our tradition.”

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