Hazard laughs. “Don’t you remember? We’re two halves of the same soul, Angel. I know that you would hate yourself forever and a day.”
“We’d be safe, though.”
“Would we, though?” Hazard edges closer, lifting his hands slowly and cupping my face. I close my eyes as he presses our foreheads together.
“She’s not them.”
“She has the bracelet.”
“She’s our salvation, Angel.”
I bark a laugh. “Oh, you’ve drunk the koolaid have you?”
“I don’t need to drink anything; all I need to do is stop seeing the world through the lens of our past. She’s kind and considerate. She’s not the same.”
“You’re infatuated with her!” I accuse.
He shrugs. “Yes. I am. I like her a lot, Angel. Casey is everything I feel like I was always looking for. She’s kind and good, and she takes care of us, like we’re a pack. She fed us, she feeds us. Gives us blankets to keep us warm. Cares about us like we are people, shifters, and alphas.”
“Anyone would do that-” I cut myself off because isn’t that the exact opposite. No one has done that. Just her.
Twelve owners, and no one cared about feeding us or giving us blankets so we didn’t get cold. We even have a bed. And a mattress on the floor in case the bed is uncomfortable. She lets us share her things.
“She’s our owner!” I hiss.
“She’s Casey.”
“Casey,” I snap, finally saying her name, even though I’ve been avoiding it. “Fuck Casey.”
“Angel, give her a chance. For me.”
I scoff and turn away from him. “This is ridiculous.”
“It’s not, though. I know you feel something, the connection. That thread between us all. Casey is someone we protect, Angel.”
I snarl at him and turn away, looking up at the star-filled sky. They wouldn’t allow me to go outside. I didn’t see the stars or feel the wind. I didn’t get to go wolf. Chained to beds, forced to kneel.
She’s got no locks on the doors. I can come and go as I please. She’s not ordered me to kiss her, to kneel before her. I can feel the wind and the stars. I can spend days wolf. Is she different?
“I’m going for a run.”
Hazard leans back against the wall of the building. “Do you want company?”
“So you can stop me from killing what I want to kill? No, stay here and rot your heart-shaped eyes out of your head.”
It doesn’t matter how much venom I put into my tone, Hazard never takes it to heart. But then he’s the only person on the planet who truly understands me. He’s got the smile and the charm.
I’m the depth and danger.
I spring into my wolf shape and race across the grass clearing, racing through the woods. It doesn’t take long before I’m picking up a trail that intrigues me enough that I stop thinking about anything else.
The scent is delicate, like flowers, but it makes me hungry; it smells wild and intriguing. I follow its faded trail until I get to the spot where Wrath kissed her. Under the dip where she was hiding in the creek, that’s where the smell is coming from. I duck under there and find a small bundle of clothes. I nose around them, inhaling the scent.
Lilacs.
It’s lilacs.
And something else that puzzles me. I leave the clothes there and step out of the creek, jumping up onto the bank, pausing when I remember a story my dad told me when Hazard was out one night.
