I’m about to break away from the park to head to Leah’s house when I see Shawn walking up towards the house. Even though I still don’t trust him, a big part of me still wants to.
I can’t forget the feel of his body against mine…even though I’m trying to deny it, when I was in his arms, I felt safe for the first time in my life. If there’s any chance it was real, that I could have it back, I need to try.
Without making a conscious decision to do so, I cross the field to follow him up the path towards the house.
I have to talk to him.
The way he stood up to Father proved to me that they aren’t partners as I thought, and my realization today of how badly Father has manipulated the pack makes me wonder how much Shawn and his friends know.
Maybe if I want things to change, I will have to trust them.
The idea of trusting strangers from Eccles is a scary one, but I’m much more scared of Father and what he might do to the pack if we don’t stop him.
Chapter 19 - Shawn
After my little face-off with Jackson, I back off a little and try to mingle, but I know that the damage is already done. He’s manipulated the situation perfectly to make sure these people see me as an enemy, not an ally.
It would be almost impossible to get these people to believe Jackson is the bad guy now. If I use any force to take over this pack, I’ll be a conqueror, not a savior.
“That didn’t go well,” Rex says, sidling up to me.
“I’m aware,” I reply, my voice a low growl of frustration.
“I can see what you mean about this place. If we bring in resources and tech, maybe they’ll see that all we want is to help.”
“Jackson will find a way to take credit for it,” I mutter, cracking my knuckles. “I wish I could just take him out.”
“So do I. I’m furious he made us kill his rival for him, but your instinct is correct. We have to hang back and get more information. I want hard evidence that he sent Talon to the slaughter. It will make his retribution far sweeter.”
“Yeah,” I mutter. “But how many people will he hurt before that?”
“We’ll be watching him,” Rex says. “None of us is leaving until we sort this out.”
“It will look like an enemy occupation.”
“I know, but we can’t just leave you up here without backup.”
“I appreciate that,” I say, sighing with relief. “I can’t cover all the bases myself.”
For a few moments, we watch the party, the crowds of people laughing as they mingle, some of them singing and dancing. At different parts of the field, I see our people trying to join the festivities, but being shunned by the locals.
“At least they aren’t hostile,” Rex says.
“Near enough,” I reply. “They clearly don’t trust us, even though Scarlett and the other girls are going to so much trouble. Jackson has ruled this place with fear for so long. These people don’t know anything else. This feels like safety to them, and sudden abundance feels like a trap.”
Rex nods. “What about those elders you mentioned? The one who chose Talon—Leah. Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” I say after a moment, feeling a faint stab of worry in my guts. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her for a while, and she definitely should have been at the hunt celebration.”
“We need to track her down,” Rex says. “She might be the only ally we have here.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I say. “She loved Talon, and she’s been shunning us from day one as his killer. She disagreed with the attack on Eccles, and this is like doomsday for her—the confirmation of every ancestral fear. Jackson has also made sure she’s discredited if she ever speaks against him.”
“Sounds very neat and tidy,” Rex says, scowling.
“It is, and it gets worse. You see those guys over there? Those are his chosen few. They live pretty comfortably, and so does he. They help him maintain control, spreading his lies.”
“You know this?”
