“Itried,” Daniel says, his voice rising slightly. “I tried to get her to lock her door, to stay away from him. I even spent a few nights sleeping in front of her door, but Renee forbidit. She said that I was just indulging Tansy’s lies.” He scrubs his face hard, scrambling to justify his failure. “What was I supposed to do? I mean, it’s not like I knew when he violated her. He was so good at sneaking around and touching her when no one was looking. I actually never saw anything other than that awful, dull look in Tansy’s eyes.” He scrunches his face up as if in pain.
But I’m too shocked to speak.
Violated.
Touched.
His words hang in the air between us, ugly and wrong. My brain stumbles over it before the realization slams into me.
Ken didn’t hit Tansy.
Hetouchedher.
A cold, creeping dread crawls up my spine, freezing my rage in its tracks. I think of the terror in Tansy’s eyes that night, the way she flinched when he spoke. That wasn't the fear of a slap. That was the fear of something else entirely. Something much, much worse.
"Violated," I say, my voice an angry whisper. “Heviolatedher, and you did nothing?”
Daniel’s eyes go wide, fear flashing in them. “No.” He shakes his head. “I didn’t…” He goes quiet as my whole body tenses.
The ice in my veins shatters and is replaced by a white-hot, all-consuming rage. It's a living thing, a monster that claws its way up my throat and blinds me.
The world narrows to the pathetic, whimpering man in front of me.
On the other side of the room, I feel Grason go utterly still. Then he spins, his body coiling like a spring. He glares at Daniel, his face a mask of fury, his hands clenched intofists at his sides. The air in the room grows thick and heavy, charged with the combined, violent energy of two enraged alphas.
“Wait…” Daniel stammers, holding his hands up as if to ward off a blow. "I thought you knew. I just assumed... she never told you? Oh, god, I shouldn't have said anything. I?—"
"Shut the fuck up!" I growl, cutting him off. My cane clatters to the floor, forgotten, as I lunge forward. I'm on the fucker in two strides, my bad knee screaming in protest, but I don't feel it.
All I feel is the fabric of his shirt in my fist as I grab him, slamming him back against the wall. The drywall cracks from the impact.
Grason is right behind me, moving closer, his presence a promise of violence. He's coiled and ready to spring the second I give him permission.
"I swear, I didn't—" Daniel chokes out, his eyes wide with terror.
“I want you to listen very carefully,” I spit, my face inches from his, my voice a low, deadly growl that vibrates with the force of my fury. “You will never speak to Tansy ever again. You will never get to see her, or hear her voice ever again.”
"Please, Cass, I?—"
"You aren't even allowed tothinkabout her," I roar, shaking him, his head hitting the wall again. "You fucking failed her. You stood by and let that happen, and now you get nothing. You are dead to her. And if I ever see your face again, if I evenhearthat you've tried to contact her, I will rip you apart with my bare hands. Do you fucking understand me?"
“Yes,” Daniel whimpers, the word barely making it out of his pathetic throat. “I understand.”
I release him, and he sags against the wall, gasping, hands braced at his sides. I glare at the fucker for one more beat, long enough to make sure my threat is burned in, then I turn away.
Grason is already there. He holds my cane out without a word, his jaw tight, eyes dark with the same violence coiled in my chest. I take it from him, my fingers shaking with the force of my heartbeat. I can feel it everywhere, pounding in my face, in my neck, behind my eyes.
Then we leave. Neither one of us says a word as we move for the door.
The air outside hits me like a slap. Too open. Too bright. Gravel crunches under our boots as we stride away from the house, both of us wound tight, practically vibrating with it.
Grason breaks the silence first. “Why did you let him live?” he asks, voice rough and furious.
I don’t slow down, going straight for the car. “Because he wasn’t worth it,” I say flatly.
But then something moves at the edge of my vision.
I stop.
