I frowned. “You play forpacks?”
He nodded.
He gambled his entire pack and lost? He had more sisters? Maddy had a boyfriend? This story was more tragic than I thought.
“I’m sorry,” I told him.
He nodded. “This year I’ll win. Especially now that I have you.”
Wait, what?
FIVE
“Umm no,” I told him for the third time. I was tired and about to slip into a food coma but I needed him to know I wasn’t a piece to gamble in a game. Brayden said that next month at the Wolf Tournament, Brayden would use Maddy and my powers to win. That just freaked me out in more ways than one.
He just shook his head. “You have no choice. I turned you. You aremine. All of my wolves compete with me next month.”
Spoiler alert:allof his wolves was just Maddy and I.
I scoffed. “I’myours? How very cliché. Well, I don’t need a pack. I’m a lone wolf, baby. Me, myself and I.” I stood and attempted to tower over him, but even sitting he was taller than me.
Dammit!
He stood, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him. “Lone wolves lose their minds without a pack. It’s why I have my sister. The loser of the tournament is allowed to keep one wolf. It’s a mercy the Fae Lords allow to keep me from going insane.”
I recoiled as if I’d been slapped. I’d go crazy without him and Maddy? No. I mean, they weren’t so bad once you got used to her brash sense of humor and his not-so-rosy personality, but… forever?
The realization hit me then: “Wait, am I immortal?”
He nodded. “You can freeze your aging at whatever age you want and then will live forever unless killed.”
That was it. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“I need to be alone,” I whimpered, and then lay flat on the bed, pulling the covers up and over my head. When I was snuggled inside a safe cocoon of blankets, I broke into sobs.
Who was this emotional wreck Averly? I never cried. Okay, that was a lie. Anything having to do with injured or dying animals and I was a complete mess, but people dying, bad grades, fight with Mom, getting dumped… I wasn’t a crier. What was going on?
The door opened as Brayden stepped out and then closed it behind him and an emptiness spread across my chest, leaving me breathless. I grasped my heart in pain at the sudden feeling of loss and then the door opened and the feeling was gone. Footsteps padded the floor, and then the bed dipped with someone’s weight.
Maddy’s voice was like a soothing balm over my loneliness: “I won’t say anything but I’ll stay, because as a new wolf being without one of your packmates nearby is really uncomfortable for the first year.” Holy crap, Brayden was right. I couldn’t be alone! I was a hermit who loved to read all day in my pajamas and neglect brushing my hair and now I needed to be near Maddy or Brayden for the next year or I’d feel like I was having a heart attack?
Freaking awesome.Not.
“I’m sorry I told you that you had no filter,” I said from under the blanket.
“It’s okay. I use humor to deflect the fact that I’m really messed-up inside,” she answered seriously.
I pulled the blanket off and looked over at her with surprise. Was she kidding? I couldn’t tell.
She gave me a small smile. “Life is easier if you joke a lot. It makes hard times better.”
She was serious. Her hands wrung together and I swallowed hard. What hard times had she been through? Losing her sister? Her boyfriend August?
I must have said that out loud because she nodded. “My little sister Nora and my fiancé.”
I frowned. “Fiancé? Brayden said he was just your boyfriend. I’m so sorry.”
Maddy smiled a little. “Brayden is still in denial that I’m engaged. August had just popped the question before…” She trailed off and chewed her lip.
