Page 37 of Scapegoat

The disbelief in Xavier’s voice, the dark looks from Jayden and Atlas, it was all too fucking much. I got in the car anyway, then went to slam it shut. But I was never going to overpower Xavier Campbell and he and his brothers clustered closer, more than filling the gap.

I might not be able to yank the door out of their grip, but I could get rid of them in other ways.

I’d thought long and hard about what I’d say if I saw the guys again. There were days, weeks, when I tossed it around in my head, over and over, as I stared out the window of Jamie’s truck. I perfected one speech, then another, each one more cutting than the last and so when I looked at the three of them, I felt well prepared for this.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said, my tone deceptively mild. “You made your choice and I made mine.”

“But we—” Xavier started to say, but I raised my hand to silence him.

“I know what Mum did. She fucking came into the room Jenny had left me in and told me everything, like some kind of movie villain. I knew all about her shitty plan by the time I stumbled into the square. I called for you.”

I felt a rush of something when I saw Xavier and his brothers flinch.

“I barked and barked. I howled.” My lips twisted then. “But you just clustered around Anna.”

“Kai, don’t—” Atlas groaned.

“Don’t call me Kai. You don’t get to call me that, you don’t get to call me anything anymore.” I shoved my key in the ignition, then when I started the car, I shifted gear into reverse, revving the engine until they were forced to pull away. “You chose Anna.”

“We didn’t—” Jay snarled.

“The only reason why we went anywhere near her was because she smelled like you,” Xavier said, his knuckles going white as he tried to keep a grip on the door, even as I edged the car backwards. “You. You were the only one we wanted.”

“Too late now,” I said, then took the handbrake off and jerked the car backwards. Xavier slammed the door, admitting defeat. As I rolled back, I pushed the button to open the window. “Go back to your mate and live your life. That’s what I’m doing. Next time you come anywhere near me, I’ll make you regret it.”

“As if we don’t wake up every day feeling that.” My eyes went wide as Jayden shook his head, pain replacing the anger in his. “Every fucking day I open my eyes I see you’re not there, lying beside me, and I remember everything your mother did to fuck us all up.”

A loud beep had me jerking my attention back to the road. Someone was wanting to drive past and my car was halfway across their lane. Part of me wanted to go forward, park back in my spot, get out of the car and ask Jay what he meant by that.

But that part of me wasn’t who was in control right now.

I moved then, pulling out of the parking spot completely and then taking off down the road, not watching the three of them get smaller and smaller in my rear vision mirror. Nah, I didn’t look back once.

When I walked in the door of the little cottage I was renting on one of the local farms, I pulled out my phone, to return one of the many, many calls Jamie had made while I’d been driving.

“Fuck, kid, are you OK? I’ve been calling the local cops but they said… without a crime—”

“I’m fine.”

I wasn’t, but I told lies every day, so why not keep going?

“You’re not.”

I snorted at the grumpy sound of her voice, then shook my head slowly as I sat down at my kitchen table.

“I’m not.”

My voice broke then, because that’s what I’d learned, living among humans. Wolf shifters give off scents all the time, indicating aggression or arousal or whatever. But humans? They didn’t smell anything but those harsh perfumes they insisted on wearing. So they pretended and pretended they didn’t feel what they really felt, didn’t want what they really wanted, until they couldn’t stop wanting it anymore.

“Look, Kai, I’ve let my boss know I’m making a detour.”

“Jamie—”

“It’s all good.” She let out a long sigh. “You’re the kid I never had; you know that, right? Not that I was ever gonna spit out a fucking baby. Like, could you imagine?” I chuckled then, because Jamie had described this visualisation, in detail, before. “Me, fat, pregnant, with swollen ankles bigger than my head from sitting down all the time, and fucking haemorrhoids.”

“Jesus, Jamie—”

“And while I’m sure you were cute when you were a little tacker, I’m OK with just looking after that girl…” I heard her clear her throat, “…that woman I found at Melva’s. They found you, didn’t they? Whoever you were running from, they found you.”

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