He stopped and turned his neck to face me.He said it was to helpyou.
Help me? More like help himself. My cousin didn’t care about me. He’d been willing to sacrificeme.
May you have a truly enjoyable night,Julian said, and then he wasoff.
The sound of paws thundered through the forest as the Pines raced after their Alpha. Liam stared after them in silence for so long that I nipped his neck. He twitched back to life. And then his head curved towardmine.
How will you punish Everest?A gust of wind tickled myfur.
That will be for Lucas todecide.
My stomach writhed with nerves.He’ll killhim…
Liam watched a bird take flight in the tree above us, disrupting the rustling stillness.Doesn’t he deserve todie?
I hated my cousin. There was no doubt about that. But did I wish himdead?
He nuzzled a spot next my ear.Don’t worry yourself with thatnow.
All thoughts of my cousin puffed out of existence as Liam slid his wet nose down the length of my neck and back, taking the scent of me deep into hislungs.
A delicious shiver ran through me as his hot breaths pulsed against my taut flesh.You marked me on purpose, didn’tyou?
He circled around me, lowering his face to mine.Are you angry that I want everyone to know you belong to theBoulders?
How hard my parents had fought for me to belong. How hard I had fought for thismyself.
To me?he addedraspingly.
No.I pressed my cheek into his jaw, feeling the sprint of heartbeats beneath his blackfur.
His pulse matched myown.
That wasn’ttrue.
My pulse wasn’tsprinting.
My pulse wasdancing.
Epilogue
the following day
Even though Iwas still undecided whether to pledge myself to Lucas Mason, I decided to attend the ceremony held at the Boulderheadquarters.
I was going for Liam. Sure, he promised he was fine about having lost out on the chance to rule the pack, but I believed he was saying this to assuage myguilt.
“Did you think it over?” He reached out across the center console of his car to take my hand in his. His palm was calloused from his midnight run, his nails jagged, and yet it was the gentlest hand I had ever held. “Ness?”
I jerked my gaze away from our twined hands. “What?”
“Please pledgeyourself.”
I bit on my bottom lip. I would be lying if I said last night, running with a group of men who were like me in every way, except anatomically, hadn’t been magical. Because it had been. But how much of that magic was due toLiam?
If he’d been the one to becomeAlpha…
“Does the offer come with an expiration date?” Iasked.
