“I’m asking you.”
Her sharp answer was enough to grind me to a halt.Damn. Where had this side of her come from? She’d been meek and timid when I had last known her.
I cleared my throat. “We’re still investigating.”
“You’re firefighters here, aren’t you?” she questioned. “Surely you havesomeanswers. Surely there’s a correlation, unusual activity you could monitor? I want to know if my daughter and I are safe.”
“You’ll be safe in Honeycreek,” was all I could tell her. “You’ll be safe with your brother.”
“And my home?”
I blanched. “All I know is that what attacked your home and has likely been the cause of the attacks are demons.” I hatedhow powerless her questions made me feel. I hated not knowing the answers and not having control over handling the situation. I hated how weak it made me feel that I had to take precautions, so I didn’t have my pack charging into unknown territory to fight off demons until we knew for sure what we were dealing with. I couldn’t risk their lives like that.
“Djinn,” Bryce said.
“What?” I asked, meeting her gaze in the side mirror.
“They’re not demons,” she told me. “They’re Djinn. A specific type called ifrits.”
Next to me, Jackson snorted.
“Right.”
I didn’t know what to think of that, and by the smug look on Bryce’s face, greeting me with a raised brow, she knew full well I didn’t know.
Once silence took over the car again, I didn’t interrupt it, and neither did Jackson. Even Bryce only rested her head against the seat behind her, holding onto her daughter’s hand. Outside, the ocean became forest, and before I knew it, we were passing theWelcome to Honeycreeksign.
I heard a shaky breath from behind me, and as much as I ached to reach out to Bryce, to ask if she was okay, I didn’t.
You don’t care about her, I told myself.Maybe once, maybe briefly. But that was seven years ago.
So I swallowed back that care, buried it beneath indifference—until we hit the grounds where my pack and I lived. It was a complex of duplexes all on the edge of the forest, deep within Honeycreek.
One by one, the pack emerged from the buildings, all of them brought out by some of the pack returning, or the sound of Jackson’s car. Dozens of eyes were immediately on us, and despite knowing I could have them all submitting to me in a second, I felt scrutinized, judged.
Jackson pulled up, and I was out of the car in seconds.
Theo immediately approached me. “What happened in White Bay?”
“Yeah, man, I have relatives in that town,” one of the other pack members, a former lone wolf, said.
“When’s it going to be time to take on these creatures?” Nate asked.
More eyes shone at the thought of a fight ahead—until the new scent in the air changed everything as Bryce got out of the car.
Everybody stilled, conversation and questions died, and I felt the tension in each of them, strung tightly.
Even my own body tensed as I stared down at my pack.
Seven years ago, I’d abandoned Bryce in front of them all, afraid of their judgment over who she was. A girl not suitable for an alpha like me. Now she stood before them, already having been at the mercy of their scrutiny—and now it would come again.
Chapter 5 - Bryce
My stomach twisted with anxiety, and my breath felt trapped within my throat.
I can’t do this, I thought, as the wolf pack crowded around the car, gaining on me. I had once been part of them—and now it was clear I was, and always had been, an outsider.
“Come on,” Jackson said quietly, standing at my side. He gestured for me to walk on, Cassie trailing behind, her eyes wide. “Let’s get you out of the direct focus, yeah?”
