“I… understand. After the storm, I’ll find my way to a town.”
His head snaps up. “To live with humans? No.”
“No pack will take me. We both know that.”
“Mine will.”
“Yours?”
He feeds more kindling to the dying fire. “My alpha will give you a fair shot.”
“But you just said you fell out of favor with him.”
“I said disagreement. That’s not the same as falling out of favor. Damien can be hard-headed, but he’s fair enough. He’s taken in lone wolves before.”
“How very unusual. I doubt he’ll extend me the same courtesy given my… association with the WSSO.”
“There was noassociation.” He growls the last word. “You were their prisoner.”
“A prisoner, yes, but I’ve been baiting male shifters for the WSSO.”
A piece of kindling snaps in his hand. “That wasn’t your choice.”
“That doesn’t change that I did it.”
“Under duress, Angel.”
How do I tell him I’d given up resisting after only three weeks? That I broke so easily and did whatever the guards said, no matter how many wolves I lured into their traps?
Garrett kneels before me, that sweet, forgiving expression onhis face. “Hey…” He runs his hand down the length of my arm until he’s giving my hand a friendly squeeze. “You have a lot to unpack. It’s going to take time. You need to be someplace safe until you decide what to do long term. My pack won’t turn you away.”
What if the alpha doesn’t agree with his assessment of me? Or tries to turn him against me? Then I’ll truly have no one.
I shake my head. “I won’t harm your standing with your alpha.”
“Let me worry about that.”
My head snaps up. “Why, because I’m female and can’t fight like a male?”
His arm drops to his side. “I never said that. Wasn’t even thinking it.”
“I don’t belong to you, just like I didn’t belong to the humans who took me. We barely know each other. You don’t even know my last name, do you?” I’m not sure why I’m going on the attack. Maybe because I haven’t been able to do anything to help myself all these months.
I hate how he shakes his head, dumbstruck, as if he’s afraid whatever he says will be wrong. It will be, because I’m too messed up to let anything be right. Not with him, this situation… not with myself.
Looking away to wipe the tears before he sees them does little to calm me. “I’m a fucking coward,” I whisper, not sure if Garrett can hear me, or even if I want him to.
A purr echoes through the room, and I look up, to see his wolf standing in front of me. I guess it was easier for him to retreat into his wolf than deal with me. I can’t blame him.
I’d do the same if it wasn’t so damn hard to shift. And we still have days ahead of us in these mountains. This might be the last chance we really have to rest, which is why I need to shut my trap and do just that.
I throw myself onto the bed, turning my back on Garrett’swolf. He circles the cabin twice, sniffing at the door and windows before settling beside the fire. He’s still protecting me, despite how cruel I’m being. That makes me cry again, only this time, I do so in silence. I don’t want to be any more of a burden to him than I already am.
CHAPTER NINE
GARRETT
“Ipromise, I can cook better than this, but I didn’t bring any matches from the cabin.” Angel holds out a handful of oyster mushrooms and juniper berries.
