Her lips pursed. “No, I’m not,” she growled. “When I was growing up, this was the place I always felt most at home. I didn’t know I had an affinity for water back then, but I always loved it. There was a sort of pureness here that I never experienced anywhere else. And now…” Her eyes burned as she glowered at the sight in front of her. “It’s not here anymore, that pureness and magic. All because of that fucking wraith and that demon. I swear I am going to make them both pay.”
“We all are,” Rachel said, squeezing Emma’s shoulder, the same steel in her own gaze. “And we’re going to make them pay. We’re some of the few people who can do something to fix all of this. We’re going to go into that tunnel and get to the spring, kick some ass, and then restart it.”
“We will,” I promised. “Though a few more specific details on how we’re going to kick ass might not go awry.”
Emma snorted, her lip twitching upward. Taking a deep breath, she finally tore her gaze away from the stagnant water and dry falls.
“Let’s get to work,” she said.
Chapter 20 - Drake
I watched Liv storm off, her hair flouncing behind her. Part of me screamed to go after her, but my feet remained rooted to the spot, stubbornly motionless.
I’d blown it, just like I had when I had forced her to stay here. There had been a chance that we might be able to move past it, but any chance I had at redemption with Liv had just gone up in smoke. All I had wanted was to protect her, to keep her safe. But she didn’t see that. Instead, she saw a fabricated attachment brought about by a mating bond neither of us had wanted, all because I had never told her how I truly felt about her.
I could have opened up to her. I could have told her how much she meant to me, how much she hadalwaysmeant to me. It would have been the right move. Except the words hadn’t come. They’d lodged in my throat like a stone, refusing to budge as she aired all her grievances. It wasn’t until she had dissipated in the crowd that they vanished.
My foot took a step in the direction she had gone, then halted. I had other things to deal with. Namely, a wraith and a demon stalking the town. If Liv was hellbent on working with Rachel and Emma, I didn’t want to preoccupy her more than I already had.
Ignoring my wolf, still demanding I go after her, I spun on my heels and stalked off toward Elias, Oz, and Sam.
“We need to wait for the girls to come up with their assessment,” Elias said. “But I’m going to guess that we’re going to need to go into the tunnels regardless of what they say. That’s where the wraith and demon are likely holed up, and they’regoing to be able to do this over and over again until we stop them.”
“I can start gathering the men and getting them prepared,” I said.
Elias nodded. “Do that,” he said. “We’ll want to be able to leave at a moment’s notice.”
I could feel Oz staring at me with that speculative look he always gave me when he was trying to read me. It was annoying mostly because of how uncannily accurate he was at interpreting my expressions. As Elias and Sam moved away to start the detailed planning, he moved toward me.
Oz frowned as he looked me up and down, one eyebrow raised. “You look miserable,” he said.
“I’m fine,” I grunted.
Oz snorted, rolling his eyes. “Drake, you’re my best friend. I’ve known you since we were kids. You might think you’re all stern and mysterious, but I know your tells. Right now, they’re telling me that you’re way too distracted to be effective. What’s going on?”
Taking a deep breath, I ran my fingers through my hair, scowling at an expectant Oz as he waited.
“You’re infuriating sometimes, you know that?” I growled.
“It’s only one of my best traits,” Oz said with a wide grin. “Now tell me what’s happening so I can help and we can move on to the whole ‘wraith and demon attacking the town’ thing.”
My jaw worked, tongue prodding the inside of my cheek as I tried to work out whether I wanted to tell him. The crowd parted, and I caught sight of Emma, Rachel, and Liv all huddledtogether. Oz followed my gaze, and comprehension dawned on him.
“What happened this time?” he asked. I could read between the lines. He was really asking:What did you do?
I thought about snapping at him to mind his own business. Except that wouldn’t placate Oz. He would keep pushing until I told him.
“I told her I didn’t want her here.”
Oz snorted, shaking his head. “That’s a brilliant move right there,” he remarked.
“I’m worried about putting her in danger.”
“Sure, and I’m guessing that conversation didn’t go particularly well.”
“She said I was controlling her. She doesn’t feel secure around me, or trust me that much,” I said.
Raising his eyebrow, Oz said, “I can’t really blame her. What have you done to merit that trust? Based on what you’ve told me, you’ve forced her to stay in town to mate you and are still dictating what she can and can’t do, despite knowing she, Rachel, and Emma are our best hope. What about that instills trust?”
