He looked like he would rather swallow a swarm of bees than see me.
“How’d you find me?” I asked.
His lips curled upward in an expression that could have curdled milk. “We have our ways.”
Meaning, Akron had his ways. Somehow, the demon had known exactly where to find me, even if it had taken some time. The thought sent a chill through my body.
“What do you want?” Sam growled.
Farrow’s head jerked toward Sam. His eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed even further. He turned back to me.
“Is this why you ran away?” Farrow sneered. “So you could fuck this outsider instead of doing your duty for the pack?”
“Watch it,” Rand snarled.
“He’s one of us,” Mark said casually. “If you insult him, you’re insulting all of us. And none of us take kindly to insult.”
Farrow’s jaw twitched, but he stayed silent.
“What do you want?” I asked. I tried to keep my voice calm and collected, but it was hard to keep the tremors at bay. I knew if I showed any weakness, Farrow would pounce on it and twist it so he could use it against me.
“I wanted to give you the option to come back to the pack of your own free will,” Farrow said simply.
“And by ‘the pack,’ I’m assuming you mean the demon you sold me off to?”
“We all have sacrifices we have to make for the good of the pack,” Farrow said almost indifferently. “And you ran away from yours.”
“I don’t think that promising her to a demon falls within ‘sacrifices for the good of the pack,’” Sam said. I could hear the barely contained rage in his voice. He was livid. “I’m pretty sure that just means you’re an asshole.”
“Watch it, outsider,” Farrow said coolly. There was nothing but contempt in his eyes. “Just remember our last discussion.”
Last discussion?
Before I could figure out what that meant, Sam was snarling and stalking forward. His fingers had lengthened and sharpened to claws, and his teeth were turning to fangs.
Jameson shot a hand out, grasping Sam at the very last minute. Sam paused, then looked down at Jameson’s hand as if surprised to find it on his shoulder.
“Not right now, Sam,” Jameson said. Sam snarled but didn’t move.
Farrow smirked. “That’s right, listen to your alpha,” he mocked, giving a wolfish grin. “Shame you’ll end up losing the same shifter twice. But that’s what comes with fraternizing someone who isn’t in your pack.”
“Keep up that tone, and I’ll stop restraining him,” Jameson warned.
Farrow’s eyes narrowed, but they didn’t back down from the other alpha’s gaze. “I’ll make this perfectly clear,” he said to Jameson. “Hand her over now, or you’ll become the enemy of the entire Full Moon Pack and a very powerful demon. I don’t think you want either of those things, do you?”
Jameson’s eyes flashed angrily at the condescension dripping from Farrow’s tone. He released Sam and moved to stand directly in front of Farrow.
“Fuck off,” Jameson growled.
Farrow looked startled. “You’re going to let a demon burn down your entire town and kill every last pack member instead of handing over a single female you barely know?”
He was talking about me like I was an object, like I wasn’t even in the same room. That was enough to push me over the edge myself, and I marched forward to stand next to Jameson. As I passed Sam, I saw him twitch, as if he was about to pull me back. He stayed where he was, though I could feel his intense gaze on me as I stalked forward.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Jameson said, baring his teeth in a feral grin. “So now that that’s settled, you and your goons can piss off before we run you out of town.”
“Why do you hate me so much?” I demanded. “Why do all of this?”
His eyes narrowed at me. “There are rules about fraternizing with outsiders. You broke it. Isn’t that reason enough?”