“Are you threatening us, Jess?” she asked, voice brittle.
I stepped in, chest to chest. “You forget yourself. Jeanette.” I growled through clenched teeth, my wolf coming forth. These bitches seemed to forget that every pack officer in Iron Valorwas an alpha in our own right. We chose to bow to Bronc. “You should expect a visit from the Luna, you little insignificant piece of shit. And it’s best you remember, I don’t threaten,” I snarled. “I promise.” She shrank almost to her knees.
I held her gaze until she looked away, then turned to Harper and took her hand. Her skin was clammy, the pulse in her wrist fluttering like a trapped bird.
“Go,” I said, not a question.
Harper didn’t speak. She just nodded, eyes fixed on the floor. I led her toward the staircase, feeling the weight of the room shift, every head tracking our progress.
As we climbed, I glanced back. The redhead was already in tears. The blonde was staring at her hands, nails digging into her own palm.
I didn’t enjoy it. I wanted to, but all I felt was rage: at them, at myself, at the entire fucked-up hierarchy of the world that made a girl like Harper the target of so much hate.
On the landing, I paused. Harper was shaking harder now, not with fear, but with the effort of keeping it all contained.
“I’m sorry,” I said, voice breaking a little. “I should have been here.”
She shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is. I’m Sergeant at Arms. I protect the pack. That means you, too. Especially you.”
She smiled, just a ghost of one, but it was enough to make my chest ache.
We reached my door. I unlocked it, pushed inside, and closed the world out behind us. For a minute, neither of us moved.
Then Harper let out a breath, long and shaky. “Thank you,” she whispered.
I could still feel the adrenaline in my blood, the edge of violence fizzing just below the surface. But when I looked at her,at the way her hands had gone slack, all I wanted was to fix her. To hold her together until the world stopped tearing at her seams.
I reached for her, slow this time. She let me pull her in, let me guide her to the couch, let me tuck her in beside me like she belonged there.
The wolf inside me howled for blood. But the man just held her, as gently as I could, until the shaking stopped.
And for once, I didn’t want to let go.
After I’d pulled her into my lap, she’d relaxed against my body.
“You can ask,” she said, voice so low I almost missed it.
I kept her head tucked under my chin. “Ask what?”
She shrugged. “Whatever it is you want to know. I’d rather you heard it from me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want the story unless you want to give it.”
She let out a short defeated laugh as she pulled back so she could look at me. “It’s going to be the elephant in the room forever if I don’t tell you.”
I nodded. “Alright, Prima. Tell only what you’re comfortable telling.”
“Okay,” she said, moving from my lap to the spot next to me. She pulled her knees up to her chest, sitting sideways facing me. “Here’s the short version.”
I placed some pillows in the corner of the sectional so she could get more comfortable, then I pulled her feet into my lap. Pulling her boots off, I gently started to massage her feet as she began.
She took a breath and started, slow and steady.
“You know how I wound up in that awful place. I had no choice. The first week I was at Eyrie, Steiner took me to a witch in River Oaks. Her name was Lilah. She ran a kind of spa for‘special clients.’ I was told it was to ‘prepare’ me for what was coming. I didn’t want to go, but my dad’s debt was hanging over my head like a noose, and the more I fought, the more Steiner reminded me he could take Brie instead. My baby sister, Jess. She was only seventeen. Still in high school.”
My hands stilled. I forced myself to breathe. I angled my body to face hers.
