Joanna whipped around to face me, her eyes hard and relentless. “Right, Marcus?”
I swallowed, trying to wet my parched throat. “You heard my mate,” I rasped. “Stand the fuck down.” I knew James would not take the news lightly. “Let him come.”
The old man yelled the entire way as he sprinted behind me. There was no hunter technique in his movement as he swung his knife. I avoided the attack by simply stepping out of the way.
James caught himself before he fell to the ground. He straightened, now standing face-to-face with the girl he loved.
“James,” Joanna pleaded.
In fury, he threw the knife onto the ground. Then he spun around, swinging a punch aimed at my face. I gritted my teeth when I caught his arm; my palms barely had time to heal from the silver chain. My free hand stopped him from kneeingme in the balls, but then his other fist slammed into the side of my face.
I stumbled backward, shaking my head as pain wracked through my skull. “You got lucky,” I snarled.
“I’m sending you to hell, you fucking demon!”
I grinned, my wolf eager for a chance to put the old man in his place. “Hell was the thirty-six years of my life without her, James. And I’m not going back.”
Malik ran between us. “James, chill,” he stressed breathlessly. “Those monsters are getting closer, and something tells me Joey won’t have the same pull with them.” He looked at Joanna and snorted with a lopsided grin on his face. “You just keep surprising us, don’t you, Little Red?”
She shrugged, limping over to Greg’s body. “They’re still staring, Malik.”
He clapped his hands at the hunters, encouraging them to hurry. “You heard the dog’s human mate, people. Round up the injured, and let’s fucking go.”
“Help them.” I’d directed the order to no one, but my wolves obeyed—one of them shifting into her human form to herd the hunters into the building with a wave.
James swayed on his feet as the hunters darted around him, collecting their injured and scurrying to safety. He stared at Joanna as she picked up Greg’s knife and began to cut a strip of fabric from the dead man’s shirt.
She’d been listening to his movements, and when he finally shuffled away, she paused before taking a deep breath and continuing with the cut.
“Go with them,” she said softly.
I scanned the area, watching as members of my pack carried unconscious hunters on their backs. Maya and Jerome barked orders, telling the wolves who should shift to placate the sheepish humans.
“Go with them.” The words were now a stern command… for me?
My eyes darted back to Joanna.
She’d tied her makeshift bandage around her thigh. “Hill has the list,” she whispered, now removing Greg’s sheath and clicking it onto her leg strap. “No one else needs to die…” She grabbed her quiver off the ground and gestured in the rogues’ direction. “Except for them.”
My nostrils flared. “And you think you can do this alone?”
Joanna picked up the silver chain whip, wrapping it around the quiver. “When I think I can trust you, Marcus, you prove me wrong. I don’t need the distraction of wondering when you’ll hurt me again.”
I winced, immediately getting defensive. “It’smy wolveswho are protecting the hunters who came here to kill them, Joanna.”
She nodded. “From the rogues that are here because of me?”
I blinked twice, wondering if I’d misheard her question.
“If I hadn’t left you, you would’ve gone straight home,” she continued. “It’s my fault those bastards are here to corrupt this pack. And I will not let that happen.”
My head flinched back from her misplaced blame. “That’s not true. Joanna—”
“Stop, Marcus. Andgo. Because I don’t want a reason to hate you… It hurts too damn much.”
I closed my eyes, adrenaline coursing through my body. A lightness surged through my chest after being absent for days.
Joanna didn’t hate me.
