“Where is she?” Rowan demanded as she ran from her home, her screen door slapping closed as she rushed to the downed woman’s side. “Oh, my gods, Saige, there’s so much blood! And your face is cut! What happened?”
Saige sobbed even harder, screaming woefully between the sobs. “She attacked me,” Saige said brokenly, even managing to make her body tremble rather convincingly. “She shot me! All I did was try to befriend her! I welcomed her to Whispers and she shot me!”
Boon changed direction immediately, rushing to where Saige lay on the ground doing her best to give the impression that she was truly injured.
Saige looked up at Boon, tears streaming down her face. “Boon, Boon, help me!”
“What have you done to my mate?!” he bellowed.
“Nothing! I only went to befriend her, she attacked me! She tried to kill me!”
“Boon! Do you not see the blood pouring from her wounds?!” Rowan asked defensively.
“I see wounds. I see blood. There is nothing pouring. And I repeat my question, what did you do to my mate to make her defend herself?”
“She attacked me unprovoked! She has to be driven out of Whispers! We aren’t safe with her here!” Saige cried, looking to those around her for support. “She’s a horrid, vile, murderous human the same as those we established Whispers to be safe from! And you brought her here! You invited this violence into our midst.”
Boon stood over Saige lying on her side where she’d collapsed on the ground, looking down at her injuries and realized Angelle had actually taken the time to use practice bolts rather than the hunting bolts he’d originally had his cross bow loaded with. “You’re only alive because my female chose to leave you alive. The bolts I had loaded into that weapon are meant to kill. She changed them to practice bolts before she took aim at you. I would not have! I don’t know what you did, but I will find out. And just so that you and all here understand me, if you approach my mate, me or our home again, I will kill you with my bare hands. The only person that should be banned from Whispers, is you. You are the most cold, most calculating, most uncaring, most self-serving individual I’ve ever known. You pose more danger to all of us than anyone else in existence.”
“He’s right,” Marauder said.
Rowan had been watching Boon, listening to his claims as she tried to tend to Saige’s injuries. Her gaze shot to her son, then back to Boon. She opened her mouth to defend her daughter, but couldn’t as she realized that unfortunately, he was probably right. Saige never did anything simply for kindness, there was always something she hoped to gain from it and if anyone ever accepted her kindness, they always paid a price later. Closing her eyes and trying to roll Saige further onto her side so she could get a better look at the bolt lodged in her backside, Rowan tried to shove her own doubts about how her daughter ended up like this down deep so that she could take care of her. Rowan was unaware that she’d begun to shake her own head slowly back and forth disbelievingly.
“Stop shaking your head!” Saige shrieked at her mother. “This isn’t my fault! What type of jealous, bitter female tries to kill someone who tries to befriend her? A murderous one! That’s who!”
“Jealous? Bitter? Saige, Angelle is anything but that. What did you do?”
“What is going on here?” Lily demanded as she misted into place just behind Rowan.
“You’d better pray my female is safe and unharmed. If a tear has fallen as a result of your evilness, I will return and you will die,” Boon threatened.
“You threaten me, rather than comfort me?! What kind of mate are you?” Saige sobbed.
“Not yours,” Marauder said.
“You’re supposed to be my brother!” Saige screamed at Marauder.
Marauder shook his head dismissively. “No, not anymore.” He looked over at Boon. “Don’t include me in with her.”
“Boon, please, I have no doubt who instigated this, but she’s my daughter,” Rowan pleaded.
“If Angelle is harmed, there will be no pass given.” He glared down at Saige. “You will answer for your actions. No one will be able to stop me,” he threatened as he backed away from them with a snarl in his throat, running the first few steps before he tore his shirt off, his wings extending and taking him into the air to get him home as quickly as he could possibly go.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Rowan said to Saige.
“I did nothing but offer friendship!” Saige screeched. “She did this! She tried to kill me!”
“Boon already pointed out that she took the time to change out the bolts in his weapon so that you wouldn’t be killed. That alone shows that she didn’t want you to die. This was you, you caused this. When you left here, you went to confront Boon’s mate and she obviously felt threatened. Why? Why would you do such a thing?”
“Get away from me! Someone please help me! Please, someone who actually cares, help me!”
Rowan stood up and took a few steps away from her daughter. “Gods help you, Saige. You’ve gone too far this time.”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You stupid, stupid woman! He’s mine! He’s always been mine! And this whole thing is your fault! If you didn’t choose to live in the middle of a dirty, filthy swamp, I might have actually had a chance at a decent life! I hate it here! I hate you! I hate everything about this place! There’s nothing here! Nothing! And I hate that horrible human in Boon’s house! It’s my house! If I have to live in this hell hole, it should be my house whenever I want it to be my house!” Saige threw her head back and screamed bloody murder, pure rage pouring out of her as she let her body collapse flat on the ground in the middle of her tantrum. Her body arched off the ground as she screamed, the bolt lodged in her back side stabbing further into her as it gotpinned between the ground and her body. She looked around for any understanding face and found Lily watching her quietly.
“Lily! Please, Lily, make the pain go away! Save me!”
Lily shook her head. “You’re not dying. And you deserve the pain at the very least. I’m not making the pain stop. You’ve crossed a line, Saige. I want nothing more to do with you.” Lily’s mists began to gather as she prepared to mist away.
