“Oh, if she broke the bonds, that means you’re free.”
I stare at them, confused. What is happening here, and why is Khaos so calm? Angel catches my eye and shakes his head minutely.
“No, she needs us,” I protest.
The alpha ignores me.
“Come on, let’s get a meal into you, and we can discuss it,” he says instead, and Khaos barely bats an eye. His knuckles are white, though, but he’s completely swept up by his father’s charm.
What the fuck is going on?
I open my mouth, but Angel squeezes my hand hard enough that I bite back my protest and follow the parade of people back to the castle in silence. We’re in higher mountains; the air is colder, the weather harsher. I wish we were back there, even if I died with her, I still would rather be there.
I want Casey.
Riot glances at me but averts his eyes, looking down at the ground, his lips pressed together.
“How have you been, Drew?” my mother asks Angel.
He shifts uncomfortably and pulls his arm free again. In fact, he goes so far as to shift into his wolf form, refusing to answer her.
The frustration boils up. I’ll leave them if I thought I had any hope of getting her out. Perhaps Riot and I can go after her!
“Where are we going? She needs us!” Riot spits out furiously. “Khaos, snap the fuck out of it!”
Cy turns on Riot with a furious glare. “You will show your pack respect, Riordan.”
The command slams into all of us, and my knees shake with the effort to stay upright.He’s not pack,I repeat in my head.He’s not my pack.
“With all due respect, Alpha, my pack isn’t complete until Casey is safe.” Riot brushes his black hair back, his eyes gleaming with the wolf.
“Riot, we could use their help,” Khaos says quietly.
Who even is he?
Riot looks around at all of us like we’re mad, and, to be honest, I’m on his side. Our eyes lock, and I give him a slight nod. Whatever he plans to do, I will back him. The politics of the pack have never sat well with me. I don’t think they will help us.
Angel slinks along, staying near me, ignoring our parents.
My parents don’t really pay me much mind; they are too focused on the change in Angel. They need to get used to it.
“It’s been four years, my son. I am so relieved to see you. I thought I’d lost you both,” Wrath’s father, Oliver says.
He looks awful, so thin and weak. His eyes lack the bouncing joy he used to carry; the glow of the wolf is dull.
Wrath shudders. “Dad-”
“Hudson, I’m just so thrilled to see you. We don’t need to talk of anything else; let’s just be happy.”
Wrath shudders and looks at me, begging me for something, trying to get me to understand. He can’t hurt this man. He knows what we need to do, but he can’t bring himself to hurt him. There’s something mournful on his face and also like regret.
Is he regretting the pain he will bring to his father or the agony he will abandon Casey into? Why am I thinking the pack is going to abandon her?
“We’re going to save her!” I say to him furiously. “She’s waiting for us, Wrath.”
He nods. His expression clearing like clouds have parted. He exhales harshly and nods, his resolve returning with tense, tight shoulders and clenched hands.
“We are.”
