If Rick tries to stop me, I’ll tear him apart.
Theo stirs behind me. “She didn’t want—,”
Yes, anger is easier. He doesn’t move as I get to my feet, spinning. My hand grips his throat enough to shake him – to try and shake him out of the ennui he’s been in since he pulled up. “Then we’ll fucking carry her. She doesn’t do this alone. Not for a single hour more.”
I will fix this.
You can do anything, she told me once. Wonder in her eyes, as she watched me work, watched my pen moving over the page as I calculated numbers none of them could understand. Possibilities that spread out across my mind as easily as the pages of a book already written.
And I felt like I could do anything when Kennedy was watching me. She found the scholarship paperwork, helped me fill it out. Helped me see a future when I couldn’t work out where to go next.
I should have gone to her.
I will fix this, Kenny.
“Get in the truck,” I say grimly. “You’re not there in thirty seconds, we’re leaving without you. Max, you’ll drive.”
He’s already on his feet, dragging Jake up with him.
I will fix this.
Max
Keep it together.
The truck wavers beneath my hands, and I put my foot down.
Beside me, Oscar is grim and silent, his arms crossed. Theo and Jake don’t speak. I can almost taste it on my tongue. Heartbreak. Rage.
She ran. Ran from him, and she didn’t stop. She stayed hidden for three days before anyone found her, keeping herself safe.
My heart. I can’t fucking take it, can’t think of her like that. Not when I’m driving and need to get to her.
Not ever.
She should never have had to.
Jake’s broken mutter comes from the back seat. “She just graduated high school.”
None of us respond.
This wasn’t supposed to be our life. We were supposed to grow together. To find our way through life, stumbling and learning and building something, all of us together. As a pack.
We were supposed to grow old together.
Fuck. I blink moisture out of my eyes. For once, I wish my parents were here, instead of taking off the second they thought I was self-sufficient enough to travel the world.
And Brett—
“Careful.” Oscar throws his hand out to the wheel as we swerve. “You good?”
I focus on the road. “Yeah.”
Fucker should be grateful he’s dead. My eyes flicker up, checking the rearview mirror. Theo stares out of the window, his jaw like granite.
He’s torn a hole straight through our pack. Through our pack, and ourmate, and every plan we thought we had for our futures. It all lies in ruins, smoking embers and scraps of possibility.
Oscar clears his throat. He looks as shattered as the rest of us, but he’s trying so hard to hold us together. “We’ll bring her back to the house. And then we’ll look at the medical records. See if there’s anything we can do. There has to be a specialist out there. Someone who knows more about this than her current team.”
