Taking me? Like I’m some unwanted throwaway piece of garbage? Like he’s doing them a favour? I try to picture Jonas, and when my mind finds him, sweat breaks out, making my skin itch. The horror of it is I can’t react; I have to hold in the scream and the shudder. I’m wearing too many clothes. I clench my hands to stop from ripping them off and fight to calm my breathing. Control, control, I am zen, I am a cloud; I am calmness itself.
Jonas is twice as wide as I am, full of muscles, and as stupid as they come. He’s had three mates in seven years. All have died under suspicious circumstances. Cindel is the only one who has lasted, but only because where he lacks in brains, she more than makes up.
“So, you’ll be there?”
“I’ll try,” I rasp out.
“Be there.” Cindel says in a deeper voice, the alpha rolling through her. I lower my eyes by force of habit.
“I’ll be there,” I grit out.
“Good. I’m pleased we could sort this out. I just want to keep the family happy, and, besides, you might lack a wolf, but you still have our father’s genetics.” She’s all sweet smiles and pure goodness again.
I hear a laugh, and my head snaps up. Ellen strokes the arm of a honey-coloured alpha who is so handsome it hurts to look at him. I stare at them, feeling the same old ghostly pain ripple through me.
My screams echo around the dark of my mind as chains rattle.
“Stay and say hello,” Cindel purrs, knowing just how painful this interaction would be.
I yank myself out of the memories.
I suck in a deep breath and stare at the pavement. Would that I had stayed at home. I shouldn’t have come here today. Why the hell did I come down from my mountain?
My distress grows as they come closer and closer.
“Casey!” Ellen rushes forward and hugs me.
Ellen is a weaker beta wolf, but no less manipulative. She’s similar in looks to Cindel, but doesn’t have the shine that the alpha female has. And one thing Cindel will never ever do is use my name in public.
I am reject, her, it, sister. But I do not have a name.
Ellen is not quite as cruel as Cindel.
I stiffen as she rubs her scent all over me. Now I have cold shivers and the urge to vomit. Her scent is similar to Cindel’s but mixed with a sunlight scent that belongs to the traitor himself. It’s one I know well. Sickly sweet. They are all evil, conniving bitches.
And he’s the worst.
The golden man next to her doesn’t acknowledge me in any way. I should be used to it, but it never ceases to cut through me sharper than a knife. I don’t know if I mourn the loss of our friendship or everything that happened there after.
“Liam.” I can’t resist jabbing him, forcing him to acknowledge me.
His eyes flicker to me, and he gives a quick nod.
We were best friends. Until we were sixteen, we were inseparable, the packs strongest potential and the bastard princess. The pack thought we would mate and be the ruling couple. And then he found a wolf…and I didn’t. My mother died, and I learned just how perilous my place in the pack is.
How quickly the bonds of friendship rotted through. How fast did my best friend turn me over to our enemies.
But that’s what family is for, right? To completely scar you and leave you a broken mess of a shifter and then drag you right back into it every time you think you’re free? It takes me a moment to push back the raw rage that starts to rise inside me.
If I had a wolf, I would growl right now.
“I have to get back, the storm,” I grit out, glancing around and making sure more of the pack isn’t hemming me in.
“Oh, right,” Cindel laughs. “Drive safely, and we’ll see you at the gathering.”
Liam’s eyes jump to mine, and I think I see fear in them. Ella and Cindel turn, but he hesitates, lingering. He looks at me, and I think I see my best friend. Then he mouths one word.
Run.
