I nodded. If Kyla wanted to ignore the whole nasty encounter with her brother in favor of burying her head in work, I could support that. I’d been known to do the same thing myself more than once.
The griffin insisted on coming. I didn’t have it in me to argue. We piled into Kyla’s car, keeping the windows rolled open to give the griffin a fraction more space.
“Anything I need to know about this witch?” Kyla asked.
“She feeds on negative emotions.”
Kyla’s expression turned sour. “In that case, she’s about to attend an all-you-can-eat buffet.”
I opened my mouth, and she glanced at me before turning her attention back to the road. “I still don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough.”
Kyla raised her hand as we rounded a bend on our way out of wolf territory, and an answering howl sounded from a hidden sentry.
“All I’m saying is he has some fucking nerve showing up here,” Kyla said.
I turned in my seat. Apparently, we were talking about it.
“And then to say I turned my back onhim?”
I’d never heard Kyla sound so hurt. I opened my mouth, but she continued talking. “The worst part is, we used to be so close. He practically raised me after our parents died. He worked as a mechanic, and I’d watch him work while I did my homework. I met Joel when I was still a teenager. He worked with Ian, and they became best friends. Then, I guess, me and Joel hit it off.”
I winced. “How old were you?”
She shot me an amused look. “Seventeen. He didn’t touch me until I was nineteen—much to my dismay. I followed him around like a shadow. Eventually, we started dating. Within a few months, we’d moved in together. Ian loved it at first. He got to hang out with one of his best friends whenever he saw me.”
“I’m guessing that didn’t last.”
“No. We had a good life, you know. A life I loved. I was social, I had hobbies and a large group of friends. Both of us had separate lives, but we still spent more than enough time together. Then Joel started drinking more. He… changed. Well, either that or I missed the warning signs.
“I was young, and I was lonely. Looking back now, I can see how sick our relationship was. When someone loves you, they don’t try to alienate you from your friends and family. They don’t make you financially dependent on them.”
“I’m sorry.”
She attempted a smile. “I was planning to leave him, you know. That weekend he went on his hunting trip. I think he must’ve had an inkling, because he told me if he returned and I wasn’t there, he’d tell Ian I’d cheated on him.”
My hands fisted. “What a piece of shit.”
“Yeah. I didn’t care what my brother thought by then. I’d been secretly working under the table—odd jobs—and I’d saved enough for a flight out of there. My flight was delayed, and I was at the airport when I got a call from one of Joel’s friends’ moms, asking if I’d heard anything. When I realized he was missing, I was relieved. I loved him, but I was relieved.”
“We’re not meant to live in fight-or-flight mode,” I told her. “You can love someone and still know that they’re bad for you.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I know that now. I missed my flight and went back to the house. I didn’t leave, because by that stage, his friends had been found dead. I mourned for him, and I started to plan my next move. If I’d just left on that flight… if I’d never gone back to the house…” Her voice trailed off and she swallowed a few times, as if she was having trouble getting the words out. “And then Joel showed up, and he’d been turned.” She glanced at me. “You know the rest. I attempted to pretend I didn’t know he had turned. He played along for a while, and then he turned me. And I killed him.”
“And then you met Nathaniel, and he ordered you to move to Durham.”
It must’ve been tough. Especially being surrounded by a pack of dominant males. Although, from what I could see, Kyla more than held her own.
We’d made it to Trinity Park and Kyla glanced at me. “Which way?”
I directed her to Hannah’s. By the time we parked, Kyla’s face was blank. “I’ll be okay,” she said at whatever she saw on my face. “It’s just… he was my only family. It’s going to take me a while to accept that he wants nothing to do with me.”
“You have a family, Kyla–” I started.
My door opened, and Kyla snarled.
“Calm down, wolf.” Hannah narrowed her eyes at me. “Why are you wasting time out here? Didn’t I tell you I had information for you?”
