When I glimpsed Nash coming at me, I swung the weapon and struck him in the head. His eyes widened for a moment before he swayed and hit the ground like a slow-falling tree.
“Why the animosity?” I asked River, trying to steady my shaking hands. “Why do you hate me so much that you want to destroy my life?”
His lips thinned below his mustache. When he finally spoke, his words dripped with anger and pain. “No pack would take me in. When Lorenzo Church boots you out, people don’t need to know the reason. I’m forced to live like an animal, stealing uneaten food from tables and living in the woods so I can save what little cash I have. Then I saw you opened up a business. Well,good for you,” he sneered. “The Packmaster’s princess can do no wrong. We were both guilty, but I took the punishment while you reaped the rewards.”
“Do you think it’s been easy for me to carry the guilt?”
“There you go again, talking about feelings while one of us is sleeping in a ditch between a cast of hawks and a herd of deer.”
“I didn’t get a free ride. Nobody gave me anything I didn’t earn myself. I worked hard for this business, and I chose to become independent so I could succeed on my own. You don’t need a pack to do well in life. I blamed myself for a long time, but you took advantage of a young girl who wanted to feel special. I take responsibility for the choices I made, but I’ve always felt bad about what happened to you. Did you everonceregret the choice you made, and not because of the struggles you’ve endured but because of how it might have hurt me? Your honeyed words convinced me to lie to my father and deceive him. And not just my father, but my Packmaster. Why couldn’t you have waited until I left the pack to be my lover?”
“Then I wouldn’t have been the first.”
Lakota was right. I was just a trophy to some of these men. I knew River had never loved me, but I wanted to believe that he’d felt something for a young woman he’d spent countless hours giving special attention to. Had everything he said been a lie, all just so he could claim my virginity? Had he done that with other young women in the pack?
Believing that hurt more than anything.
In the distance, an engine roared in our direction. I stepped onto the road and away from River to get a better look at the truck gunning toward us, a mirage of heat fluttering behind it.
“Someone’s coming,” I said, warning him.
He stepped onto the road, forcing me to turn my back to the oncoming vehicle. “Humans don’t get involved, remember?”
The truck horn blared incessantly.
River reached for the tire iron, and I swung it at him.
“You’re going to get yourself run over!” he yelled.
I spun around, startled by screeching tires directly behind me. The white truck came to a hard stop. When my eyes rose from the grill to the windshield, I recognized Tak in the driver’s seat. My father and Lakota sat next to him. A gunmetal-grey Camaro eased up behind them. Inside were Wheeler, Jericho, Austin, my mother…
Oh my God.
They emerged from their vehicles.
Slowly. As if to make a point that the cavalry had arrived. Every last one of those Shifters looked prepared to shed blood.
“Wait,” I pleaded.
Tak didn’t stop. His eyes were on the bloody tire iron in my hand.
I held my left arm in front of my father to stop him from going after River. He dragged his gaze toward me, fire burning in his eyes.
More cars appeared. Melody and members of my old pack formed a wide ring around us. I expected to see River running off, but another car stopped in the opposite direction, more men getting out.
“Whatrighthave you to take my child?” my father snarled at River.
I blocked his view before he charged. “Father, wait.”
Tak approached and swept my hair back. “She’s been drugged. Look at her eyes.”
“Your scars,” I whispered, staring at the red claw marks down his shoulder.
Tak stripped out of his tank top. “He’s mine.”
“Neither of you will do anything,” I declared, dropping the tire iron. It clanged on the concrete and drew everyone’s attention. “That man shamed me a long time ago, but he’ll shame me no more. He’s responsible for everything, Tak. The stolen money, the broken window, the note—he paid off that man to do his dirty work,” I said, pointing at Nash. “He’s offended me in the worst way by coming after my business and the people I love. I won’t have you put one finger on him.”
My father’s lips peeled back in displeasure. “Why?”
