“Yes, and I’ll do it again, but harder if you don’t stop.”
“Are you scared that Asher will be able to knock some sense into you?”
“No,” Westley’s voice dipped. “You should be scared because if he thinks for a second that you’re connected to the hybrids, he won’t wait to give that information to Brandon. That’s the last thing you want. How do you think your Alpha and his wife will feel when they find out they opened their arms to you guys, only for you to try to run away? Or if they started to wonder if you’re all part of what’s been going on.”
I frowned, not wanting to imagine it. We weren’t leaving because we didn’t like them. Brandon and all of them had been nothing but nice to us.
“If you had just let us go, we wouldn’t need to worry about any of that!”
I pushed against his shoulder. “Put me down, Westley.”
I expected him to keep ignoring me, but this time he stopped. He slowly lowered me to the ground. Once my feet were on the ground, I glared at him.
“Let’s go.”
But I didn’t walk. I kept my feet firm. I watched him clench his jaw together, his nostrils flaring. He ran his hands through his hair and turned to Hazel. He then grabbed her hand and started to pull her. Hazel looked confused and tried to break free, but Westley held firm. “I know very well that you both will not leave each other. So, you either agree to keep walking or I’ll throw her over my shoulder and carry her the rest of the way.”
“God, please don’t,” Hazel said, having a disgusted look on her face.
But he wasn’t looking at Hazel. He was looking at me, knowing fully well I was the bigger problem. I ground my teeth together, hating him. Why did he care so much anyway? If he had just let us keep going, it wouldn’t have changed his life.He had made it very clear he didn’t want to be friends with me anymore, so why the sudden act as if he cared?
“Fine,” I snapped, walking past him and continuing to walk the way we came. I could hear them following me.
The rest of the walk was quiet. Not a single sound but our footsteps in the snow. We finally emerged from the trees back into the pack. My heart sank, knowing this had been our shot to get away. It would be hard to find a good one now that Westley knew we were a flight risk.
We were walking further when I heard someone yelling after us. We all turned as Asher emerged from the treeline. He walked toward us, and Westley swallowed. “Do not say anything.”
I rolled my eyes, thinking he was being a little dramatic about this. Did he honestly think the others were going to give a shit about this like he was?
“Did you find anything?” Westley asked.
Asher shook his head. “I found some tracks, but they disappeared. Otherwise, nothing.”
Wait, what?
Hazel looked at me, just as confused as I was. Had we missed something?
Just then, I watched as Brandon and a large group of others started to come out of the treeline. Hazel’s eyes widened, and she leaned closer to me. “What’s going on?”
I shrugged, not knowing.
“Did you find it?” Asher asked Brandon, and Kaleb got closer to us.
Brandon shook his head. “No. We found nothing. Not even tracks. It’s weird. It doesn’t make sense.”
Brandon’s eyes drifted over toward Hazel and me. “What are you two doing out here?”
I stammered, trying to find words, but couldn’t think of anything. “They were training.”
“And the bags?”
“Clothes to change into afterward.” Westley hooked his arm with mine. “I’m going to get them back into the pack safely.”
He stepped forward, and I nearly tumbled into him. I suddenly realized they were out searching because a hybrid was nearby.
“Why didn’t you just tell us that there was a hybrid out there? We could have just taken another route,” I whispered to him.
He didn’t look at me, which only made me more irritated. I groaned internally, looking for a route that would work.
