“Maybe not to you.” I lean forward, voice cool and measured. “But Snehvolk pays for what it wants. And I want her.”
The laughter that roars out is cruel. Grant studies me, eyes narrowing, weighing greed against suspicion.
“You’d pay for her?” he finally asks, incredulous. “Why the fuck would you want something like that, anyway?”
I lean forward, steepling my fingers and narrowing my eyes. “Because I need a slave,” I lie. “And whatever price you put on her head, I’ll double it for the alliance.”
Grant is visibly taken aback, brows lifting. He glances at Warren before naming a sum. A high one.
To seal the deal, I add an extra figure to the amount he called, shocking both the alpha and his beta, but Grant’s smirk widens, that wicked gleam sparking in his eyes. He’s not thinking alliance. He’s not thinking of goodwill. He’s thinking about how he can use this transaction later.
But in this moment, he nods. “She’s all yours.”
That’s all it takes to save Willow’s life. Money.
That’s how cheap the alpha of Blood Claw is. Scum. A sleazebag. But the transaction is done, and paperwork is signed, and I hold my breath until I’m outside the pack den, leaving behind the group that will soon learn about my deal with their alpha.
Whatever.
By the time I step back into the night air, the deal struck, and my stomach coils with disgust. Money shouldn’t be the price of a life, but if that’s what it takes to get her out of here, I’ll pay it twice over.
I head straight for the hut, letting out the sigh of relief that I’ve been holding back. Willow is free to return home with me, and that’s all that matters. I swore I wouldn’t go home until I found the woman from the visions, but somehow, saving Willow has become more important tonight.
Chapter 4 - Willow
The moment I shut the door behind me, I collapse against it, lungs heaving as if the thin wood is the only thing holding me upright. My fingers tremble so violently that I have to press them into my palms until they ache, my nails biting crescent moons into my flesh, the sharp sting pulling me out of the memory that refuses to let go.
My only consolation right now is that the group of bullies led by Sam is gone—they’d followed Thane and Warren to the pack den when their curiosity outweighed their need to use me as a verbal punching bag tonight.
But how am I supposed to be grateful for Thane’s interruption, saving me from one night of torture that won’t stop the inevitable—Alpha Grant’s orders—when his sudden appearance only unearthed memories I wish I could wipe from my mind? To add to my unrest, I’d locked eyes with the man responsible for my current predicament—not directly, but still, what Thane did is the reason I’m in Blood Claw in the first place.
Lugging in deep breaths as the weight of my circumstance sinks me closer to the unforgivingly cold floor, my fingers still digging stinging trenches in my palms, I close my eyes in a desperate search for calm.
But all I find behind my eyelids is the projection of a scene I wish I could forget. A scene of the past.
The most embarrassing night of my life.
***
Five Years Ago
Smiling warmly as I inspect the bracelet I’d made using beads and a single pressed northern yarrow petal preserved in clear resin, I drop it into the box before closing the lid and lifting my chin proudly.
It had taken me two weeks to make the bracelet by hand, but it was worth every second leading up to tonight. Though my insides are still painfully twisted with nerves, I decide to go through with my plan because I have no reason to doubt the outcome.
At least, Thane hasn’t given me any reason to doubt it.
Simply thinking his name brings a smile to my face, and as I get dressed for the party, my resolve is strengthened, my courage reignited, until all that’s left is quiet anticipation as I head to the pack den for the party, armed with the gift I’d made for him as a token of luck for the alpha trials he’ll leave for in the morning.
The unlikely friendship between the calm soldier and an outcast like me has been going steady for a year, and despite my inhibitions, I’ve finally made peace with the fact that Thane is a good guy, with good intentions. He might be popular and a close friend of the main alpha of Snehvolk, but he’s humble, even if he’s a promising candidate as a sub-alpha of the pack.
If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have pursued my dream of building a greenhouse in his backyard. As we’d grown closer, he’d learned that the shy, timid girl from school was interested in botany, and urged me to use an old greenhouse behind his house and reawaken it. It was from that moment, two months ago, when he made the offer, that I realized I had feelings for him.
Feelings that have since bloomed like the sprouts growing in the greenhouse, allowing me to see things more clearly thanbefore. The illusion has lifted—the one that kept me insecure—and I'm certain that our friendship isn’t a coincidence.
Neither was his setting me up in his backyard.
I can't be the only one with these feelings, and tonight, on the eve of him leaving for camp, I want to express how I feel about him.
