"Valek," I reply. "That's what you mean, right?"
“No,” Thane says with a sigh. “Plague, you tell him.”
Don't like the sound ofthat.I turn my gaze to Plague. "Tell me what?"
Plague clenches his jaw. "It doesn't matter."
"Why not?" I press, starting to get annoyed all over again. "Why are you two acting like you've just found out everything's about to get turned upside down? Spill. We're a pack."
Plague's eyes narrow slightly as he gives me a level stare. Like he's thinking about whether he wants to clue me in or not. Sometimes he acts like he doesn't want to be in a pack with me. Or Thane. But especially me.
Which is fine.
I'm not his biggest fan either.
Finally, after what feels like a mini eternity, Plague lets out a long sigh. "I discovered evidence of someone working on equipment at night," he says carefully. “A freshly sharpened skate, still warm to the touch.”
"So someone's breaking in at night to... sharpen our skates?" I ask, tugging on my jeans. "That makes zero fucking sense."
Thane leans back against his locker. “Well, it is something to be aware of. It’s unlikely, but someone could sabotage our equipment.”
I snort. “Yeah, like that insufferable jackass Wade Kelly,” I say pointedly. He made plenty of threats the last time we wiped the ice with him. Kind of tough to make out what he was saying through the blood and snot when I slammed him up against the wall, though.
“Perhaps that’s why Wraith is gone,” Plague muses. “He may suspect something himself.”
“No,” Thane says, shaking his head. “If Wraith found someone down there, he'd tell me. And if he did find someone, they'd need a hospital.”
“I don’t know, man,” I say, jamming my feet into my boots and not bothering with the laces. “He’s secretive as fuck. Didn’t all that shit with Daniels happen because he was curious after you said you haven’t even seen Wraith’s face since you were kids? I don’t think Wraith’s as kumbaya with you as you want to believe he is.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I know I've crossed a line. The temperature in the room seems to drop ten degrees. Thane's eyes narrow dangerously.
"Careful, Whiskey."
It's not a threat. Not exactly. But the warning's clear enough. Thane's not just our captain, he's Wraith's brother. If anyone's worried right now, it's him.
"At least I'm not the one playing Secret Squirrel while our pack falls apart," I mutter, raking a hand through my still-damp hairand shouldering my bag as I head for the door. Gotta get out of here before I say something else I can't take back.
Yeah. I do need a fucking drink.
Chapter
Eight
IVY
"You bit my fucking finger off!"
Wade's roar cuts through the darkness. I'm running, but the hallway of our house keeps stretching longer and longer, the front door getting further away with each step.
My lungs burn as I try to run faster, but it's like moving through molasses. The fresh mark on my shoulder burns, his claim searing into my skin like a brand. I claw at it, desperate to get it off, to get him off me.
"You ungrateful little bitch! After everything I've done for you!"
The front door is right there. Just a few more steps. But my legs won't move. I'm frozen, paralyzed as his shadow looms over me?—
I jerk awake with a gasp, heart pounding.
For a moment, I'm back there, back to that terrible night. The bus station at three in the morning, nothing but a backpack and the clothes on my back. The smell of diesel fuel burning my nose.Counting out crumpled bills for a ticket to the only place I could think of where Wade would never look for me.
