“Their kind doesn’t understandreason! They’re killers!”
“Jericho is no fucking killer!” Evan shouts.
Forest steps forward. “Jericho is a victim in this, just as your mate was, Bronson. Please. Give us five minutes to explain.”
Oh shit.Bronson’s mate was killed by Foxx, too? Does his violence never end?
Bronson hesitates, turning to look at me again. His eyes narrow into slits. “But you trespassed onto their land!”
“By mistake,” Evan says quickly. “We didn’t know we were on private property.”
“Please, come inside and hear us out,” Forest says.
We all turn to see another wolf appear in the distance.
Bronson growls. “I told you to stay home!”
The wolf bows their head before shifting into a young man who is strikingly identical to the alpha. Same dark hair and dark skin. Same golden eyes. Only, he looks to be no older than fifteen or sixteen. A kid.
“I’m sorry. I thought they were in danger, just as you did,” he says, looking across the yard toward Rowen and Ivy. “I had to come.”
He cowers a little under the alpha’s glare, but as soon as Bronson turns away, the kid runs to Rowen and Ivy and hugs each of them.
Forest and Jasmine cross the yard to talk to Bronson privately, though I can hear everything they say. Forest explains how they met us, my connection to Foxx, and his hope that we can form an alliance to take down the coven. I still haven’t agreed to it yet, but seeingthe devastation these packs have suffered at my sire’s hand makes the decision easy.
That, and I amreallysick of running.
Evan whispers, “Next time warn a guy, would ya? You practically knocked the air out of me.”
I almost laugh. “If I hadn’t, he would’ve. He was ready to attack.”
Evan’s smile fades. “Yeah. I guess what I mean is thanks.”
I hold a hand out. “Want down?”
“I may be a weak little human, but I can still do some things on my own.”
He climbs down using the ladder on the back while I jump down, taking a minute to examine the damage to the door. I’ll need to get it fixed soon. The damage is too easy to recognize now.
“Jericho,” Rowen says, coming up to me. “This is Justice. A close friend of ours.”
The teen waves at me, smiling shyly. I nod in return, choosing to linger with them instead of going to talk to Bronson. I probably should go shake the alpha’s hand or something to prove I’m not the bad guy, but I’m honestly tired of all this. I’m tired of people assuming I’m their enemy. I’m tired of fighting. I’m even tired of talking. I’ve done more of it in the last two days than I have in the last ten months.
“How can you trust them?” Bronson questions the pack. “After what that coven has done to us? To all of us? Every pack in the area has been affected by that coven, and to know he’s one of them? How do we know he isn’t going to turn his back and kill you while you sleep?”
“We don’t,” Forest says softly. “But what choice do we have? We need help in this war, Bron. You have to see that. We’ve been fighting that coven for too long, and we’ve lost too much.”
I look over just in time to see pain flash across Bronson’s face. Jasmine reaches out to rub his arm. He sighs and scrubs a hand along the back of his neck.
Finally, he crosses the distance and looks between us. Bronson focuses on Evan. “You’re with this vampire willingly?”
Evan tenses next to me, but his voice comes out steady. “Yes.”
I can tell Bronson doesn’t believe him, but there isn’t any way to prove a human isn’t under vampire compulsion. Not without drugs or magic.
He turns his amber eyes on me, studying me for a long time. I can see the distrust there, the fear that I’m leading these shifters—his friends—into a trap, and I’m not sure what to say to convince him otherwise. It’s going to take trust on all of our parts to take down Foxx.
“If you betray them, or any of the shifters in this area, I willkillyou.Do you hear me?”
