I wasn’t sure if I asked this out loud or if August read the confusion etched on my face, but he said, “The victor eats the heart of the loser, thus acquiring a link to the dead Alpha’spack.”
A lump of bile shot up mythroat.
August stepped in front of me and tucked me into his chest. “I told you it wasbrutal.”
I didn’t look, but I heard the watery tear of flesh, the placid crunch of bones, and the bloody squelch of what had once fueled life into a man and would now fuel magic into awoman.
Even though I was probably imagining it, I felt as though I heard the blood drip off Cassandra’s muzzle and mix into the tear-and-vomit-soakedsoil.
At long last, triumphant howls ripped through the summer sky, announcing that an Alpha had fallen and another had taken itsplace.
I thought back to the last trial I’d had to endure against Liam—the test of strength. Was what I’d just witnessed what the elders had in mind? Had they hoped Liam would tear open my breastbone and eat myheart?
I shuddered, which made August squeeze me tighter, and I let him. I didn’t care who spotted me in his arms. I still had a heart beating inside my chest. I wouldn’t force it to be quiet to avoid criticism or stares, just like I wouldn’t force August to keep his distance. I needed him. I wantedhim.
If today had taught me anything, it was that life was too short to worry about what others thought. I wrapped my arms around August’s waist and burrowed closer, hoping that his scent and warmth would help dull the terrible images and sounds that kept replaying in myskull.
51
Voices grew louder around us.Ambient conversations began to penetrate my buzzingmind.
“What do you think he swallowed that made him throw up?” Matt was asking hisbrother.
“Fur, or maybe a chunk of flesh. That’ll make anyonegag.”
At the mention of gagging, bile rose anew in my throat. “You were right. I shouldn’t have come,” I murmured against August’schest.
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “At least now you know.” His mouth brushed the top of my head while his fingers brushed down my spine. If anyone had lingering suspicions as to whether he and I had crossed the line between friendship and more, I imagined our present proximity obliteratedthem.
“You should take her away from here, son,” I heard Nelsonsay.
I peeled myself off August so fast I must’ve left a couple eyelashesbehind.
Nelson’s mouth was pressed into a grim line. “That was awful, wasn’tit?”
“Y-yes,” Istammered.
I forced myself to meet Nelson’s deep-brown eyes, dreading the disgust I expected, but there was no disgust. Just wariness. I tried not to wonder if his wariness stemmed from what had unfolded down below or from what had unfolded up on the deck between August andme.
I pushed the bra strap that had slipped down my arm back under my tank top. “What’s going to happennow?”
Several Boulders were speaking in hushed tones behind Nelson. I heard the words:Cassandra, duel, Liam.I feared that those words might belong in the samesentence.
“Now”—August’s father inhaled a grave breath—“the Creeks will probably extend their trip in Boulder. The time it takes to acclimate the newest members of theirpack.”
James, the blond with impeccably coiffed hair, came up behind August. “It’ll be good forbusiness.”
“You can cut and style their hair all you want, but we won’t be doing business with the Creeks,” Augustsaid.
“We lived alongside the Pines for almost a century and we did business withthem. Why wouldn’t we take Creekmoney?”
August’s jaw hardened, as though he were holding back a bitingretort.
Nelson touched his son’s forearm. “Let’s see what happens. There’s no point forecasting what we will and will not do until we understand what it is theywant.”
“What they want is to take our land,” Rodrigo said, coming to stand by James’s side, “and ourmen.”
I didn’t even bother sticking my hand up to remind him that I wasn’t a man. It was really beside thepoint.
