Even though I was staring down at Klyte’s shoes, I could sense his body tensing at the words. Still, I kept talking to the floor.

“That happened about a year ago,” I continued. “At first, it wasn’t anything too bad. He asked me out a couple of times. I said no and thought he’d taken the hint. And then it just kept getting worse. He would follow me after work, show up at my house, all that fun stuff.”

“You didn’t tell anyone?” Klyte asked.

I glanced up and was startled to see cold rage building behind his green eyes. I knew it wasn’t directed at me, but my skin prickled at the sight.

“Freya knew,” I said. “But most people just ignored me if I said anything. So I stopped.”

“Okay, so you had a creep following you,” he said. “But I’m guessing that isn’t the whole reason why you left.”

I shook my head. Inside, my mind was going back to that night last month. The last night I ever stayed with the Ember Pack.

“I was at my place. Freya was supposed to come by one evening,” I said. “There was a knock, and I just figured she had come early. But it was Isaac. I tried to close the door, but he forced himself inside.”

My voice was beginning to quaver slightly, and my heart raced as the memory took hold. I closed my eyes, trying to get through the rest of the story as quickly as I could.

“He told me that I was his, whether I wanted to be or not. When I told him to go fuck himself, he attacked me. I tried to fend him off using what Dad taught me, but he was stronger.”

Klyte shot away from where he had been leaning against the wall, his entire body rigid. His fists clenched.

“Did he—”

I shook my head. Klyte relaxed slightly, but I could still see that anger burning in his eyes. A low growl rumbled in his throat as I spoke again.

“He tried. He was close. My pants were halfway off, and I was about to shift to try and get away from him. But luckily for me, Freya did come early. She saw what was going on and attacked him.”

My mind went back to how it had felt being pinned to the hard wooden floor, thrashing beneath Isaac’s weight as I tried to wriggle free. I remembered him laughing at my pointless struggle. I remembered screaming and him laughing even harder, saying no one would hear it.

Fortunately for me, someone had.

“The two of us were able to get him off me,” I said. “But when he left, he told me it wasn’t over. He’s the alpha’s son. I’m not an idiot. I knew I wouldn’t be welcome there anymore, and even if I was, I wouldn’t want to be. The guy had attacked me, and if I stayed there, he was going to try again.”

“And he didn’t claim you or anything?” There was a protective edge to Klyte’s voice that I’d rarely heard him use before.

In answer, I rolled my eyes and pointed at my collarbone, which was very much devoid of any claiming mark.

“Just checking,” Klyte said. “It makes things more complicated. Just ask Oliver and Evelyn.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I think the fact that Freya just showed up, telling me Isaac is looking for me, complicates things enough, don’t you?”

I was trying to spar, to put up my normal defensive shields, but they sounded forced and hollow even to me. And Klyte didn’t look like he was in the mood to match wits. His jaw was clenched, his forest-green eyes hard, and I could sense the anger wafting off him.

“Tell me the rest of what happened,” he said.

“There isn’t much to tell.” I shrugged. “I grabbed as much as I could, told Freya where I was going so she would know where to send the rest of my stuff, and that was that. I left that night.”

“And does Isaac know where you are?”

“You mean, did I tell him? No. Of course not.” I ran my fingers through my hair, taking a deep breath as everything that had happened washed over me. I tried desperately not to let the fear licking at the edges of my mind overwhelm me. “But if Freya is here, that means he found out. And he’s on his way.”

Chapter 7 - Klyte

I stared at Jenn. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach, her hazel eyes constantly glancing to the closed door behind which her friend was resting. It didn’t take a genius to know that she wanted to be back in there with her.

I didn’t blame her. I wanted to kill the shifter who had dared lay a hand on Jenn. I probably would have gone out to find him had it not been for the fact that I had a patient who needed tending to right now. I didn’t want to leave her until I knew she would be all right. But there were a couple of things Jenn and I had to settle before we could go back in there.

And Jenn wasn’t going to like it.