Sarah’s gaze turned incendiary. “You should stop confusing allies for traitors. Didn’t work out so well for you last time,” she added under herbreath.
Liam’s posture lockedup.
“Anyway, I need to get home. Ness, you donehere?”
“I’m done,” I said, lifting my bag off thebench.
I didn’t look back at the boys as I left the gym with Sarah. The second we stepped out of the brick loft-like building that housed the gym, she muttered, “I can’t believe he thinks I’d tell Morgan anything.” Her blonde hair was starting to frizz, as though her kinky curls were desperate to bend her straightened locks into their originalshape.
“I don’t think he fully trustsme,Sarah.”
She side-eyed me as she unlocked the door of her red Mini. “Doyoutrusthim?
“What do youmean?”
“You’regoing on an overnight trip with him. Do you trust he’s not going to try anything onyou?”
I bit my lip, which made Sarah raise aneyebrow.
“I don’t think he’ll try anything,” I said a littlehoarsely.
She gave a me a tight-lipped smile. “I wish I could comealong.”
“I wish you could,too.”
But Sarah was a Creek. There was no way she could come with us. First, because Liam wouldn’t allow it, and second, because then Cassandra, who was able to track her wolves through her Alpha blood-link, would know Sarah was double-crossing herpack.
7
Jeb couldn’t makedinner at the Watts, so I ended up going alone. Since he’d needed the car, I took a cab. During the entire ride, I alternated between crinkling the brown paper wrapped around the bouquet of black parrot tulips resting on the seat next to me and smoothing the fabric of my red silk dress—the one that had belonged to Mom and that I’d worn only once before, for my “date” with Aidan Michaels. If it had been any other dress, I would’ve burned it, but it had belonged toMom.
“That’s a mighty nice house,” the cab driver said as he pulled up in front of the Watts’ high-ceilinged logcabin.
The wood façade glowed amber in the setting sun, and the beveled windows gleamed likediamonds.
August’s pickup was parked up front, which meant he was alreadyhere.
“Nine dollars, please,” the driversaid.
I dug through my wallet for a ten dollar bill, handed it to the man, then touched the door handle but couldn’t bring myself to pump it. This felt like a meet-the-parents, even though I’d met the parents at the same time I’d met August—in the hospital room where Mom birthed me. In one of their photo albums, there was a picture of me cradled in August’s arms. My stomach churned like the cinnamon chocolate ice-cream Evelyn made this summer in the inn’s fancy ice-creammaker.
God, this waswrong.
How could I want someone a decadeolder?
Someone who’d felt like a brother my entirechildhood?
Maybe Liam’s ban was a goodthing.
Maybe I should wait for the Winter Solstice to arrive so the mating link vanished and put an end to my scandalousattraction.
Would it put an end to it,though?
“Is this not the right address?” The cabby spun around in hisseat.
“No, it’s . . . um . . . I think Iforgot—”
The Watts’ front door opened and filled with August’s hulkingshape.
