“Slade?” Sabrina’s voice is soft, soothing despite her previous annoyance at him.
As he glances up, I bite my tongue. His pupils have damn near enveloped all traces of color in his eyes, a wild intensity about him that has the skin of his jaw tight enough it very well might rip. And that shudder?
I don’t need to check with Sabrina for confirmation; he’s seconds away from a forced shift, even though it’s broad daylight. Hell,girlscan only shift at night, and they’ve had access to their wolves since birth. How this is possible or what it means for my brother’s future is beyond even me, and it’s yet another kick to the gut. The one thing I might actually be able to offer her that the others can’t, some insight into their wolves’ mindsets, and it’s useless since they’re demonic corruptions of what we were meant to be.
We don’t know jack shit anymore, so I should stop hypothesizing. But it’s hard not to when everything in my life has become a mystery I’m both desperate to unravel, and want to bury in a dark tomb that’ll never see the light of day, to take Sabrina and run before the walls completely close in around us.
“Yeah, love?” he murmurs distractedly, raking a hand through his hair.
Turning to her, I watch something integral shift within our mate. Her nerves completely bleed away, dissipating as if they never existed at all, and all that’s left is calculated determination. Yet, at odds with the hard look, her voice remains soft, coaxing.
Holding out her hand, she smiles. “Give me the keys, I have an idea.”
***
Sabrina hops out ofthe car with the utmost confidence, but even more curiously, when we make it a few steps down the sidewalk, she draws back her presence until she’s practically fading into the background. It’s not like her to make herself smaller for the sake of someone else’s ego, and with several pissed off men surrounding her, that’d be the logical conclusion. But while my beautiful mate is many things, lesser is not, and never will be, one of them.
I suppose it’s possible that them being upset is ratcheting up her anxiety and she’s attempting to become invisible, staying off of their radar while they’re mad, but I don’t peg Sabrina as ever being afraid of us. Hell, she’d probably laugh in our faces, eviscerate us, and then give us a lecture on how even toddlers can process their ‘big’ emotions better while shaking her head in disappointment. And here I am, wallowing and wanting to punch shit or get my rocks off, but I can at least admit it’s because I’m ignoring delving into my issues and need some sort of outlet until I can effectively bury them for another decade or two.
Shit, I can’t even tell myself to man up. Sabrina’s over here being more mature than any of us emotional bastards. Even when she had every reason to scream and cry, she shut down, took a step back to process, and came back when she was in the right headspace to have a conversation.
Grabbing her wrist gently, I tug her back to my side, letting the others pass us as they go off to huff, puff, and blow Nate, or whatever the phrase is. Bringing my lips to her ear, I whisper, “What are you up to, pretty girl? If you’re plotting world domination, I want in.”
When she looks up at me, there’s no cold cunning of her wolf peeking through like I anticipated. I’m not even sure what exactly it was that I expected, but it wasn’t... sadness.
Shaking her head humorlessly, she scoffs. “God, I love that you’ve got me on par with the rest of them instead of that bullshit internalized misogyny the others were drowning in this morning. It’s not about ceding control, Cin, it’s a gift. Did you even look at Slade? He was on the verge of cracking, and in front of men he considers threats, no less. So I took point while he got his shit together, then passed back the reins so he could feel in control. Not because I actually needed him to, but becauseheneeded me to. It doesn’t make me lesser, it makes me supportive because my ego isn’t as fragile as the rest of yours are, and I don’t care about the same power plays that you all do. I don’t really give a shit about your pecking order or feuds at all, honestly. I just want to not be murdered and take a nap, maybe con someone into buying me lunch on the way home.”
I’m the worst brother in existence because I’ve always thought that alphas needed someone to take care of so that they had a reason to get up in the morning, and they secretly liked it. Fuck, they werebornfor the role. I never once considered what it must be like to live a life where you could never fuck up or slip for a single moment since you held everyone’s lives in your hands. Slade’s never been given the mercy of pretending to be human like the rest of us, and I suddenly realize what a self-absorbed, ungrateful jackass I am, regretting a hell of a lot that I’ve said to him over the years.
Sabrina hasn’t even been a wolf for a week, and she’s already better at it than any of us.
Hunter’s voice trails back our way. “I don’t particularly care if itisa trap, to be honest. Better than all of this deception shit. Whatever happened to looking a man in the eye while you drove a blade through his heart? Honor, even in death. Let the bastards get blown up, and then Damian can bring her home where she belongs; away from all of the manipulative bullshit. At least the Slaughters are up front about their intentions, as brutal as they may be.” I’m sure he feels my glare on his back, but he doesn’t acknowledge it.
Kaige looks around as we ascend the stairs to the police station, unimpressed. “I’m not sure what they put in the water out here, but I’ve got to agree. All of the ‘families’ are barely better than toddlers fighting over a package of candy. It’s unnecessarily dramatic.”
I break into a broad grin when I catch Sabrina in my peripherals silently mocking them behind their backs. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I point out, “If it were a trap, Nathan would have steered us towards a specific location.”
Sabrina gives me a sly smirk as I hold the fractured-door open for her, the glass a spider web of cracks from Slade’s abuse last night. “And what better alibi than this?”
We step into the police station, striding directly for the wolf hiding amongst the sheep. The panic that crosses his face when he spots us? Fuckingpriceless.No matter what potential trap is being laid or his part in it, it’s undeniable proof that he never expected us to show up here, so I count this as a win.
As our group strides right up to him, he widens his eyes and jerks his head toward the interrogation rooms, but Slade simply leans his hip against Nate’s desk with a cruel smile. “What better place to establish innocence than surrounded by honorable law enforcement officers as witnesses? Dozens of cameras, too; inside and out. Even if there were a few men with ‘hazy memories’ of our time here, there’s too much proof to deny our presence.”
Scrubbing a hand down his face, Nate plops back in his chair. It’s a small thing set off in the back corner of the room with several others crammed around him, so there’s no way in hell that we can have an open conversation without anyone overhearing. Hell, there’s only enough room for two chairs in front of it, and I waste no time claiming one and dragging Sabrina onto my lap. She might not be able to sleep, but at least she can get off of her feet.
Nate’s eyes narrow on me in warning. “Ms. Hawthorne is on public record as being wed to your brother. It’ll cause rumors to fly around the station after your lawyer’s declaration yesterday.”
Shrugging a single shoulder, I hold his gaze while kissing her temple. There and gone in a flash, I almost could write it off that I blinked, but I’m not stupid. There was a spark of longing in the man’s eyes, not that I blame him in the slightest. Sabrina doesn’t need a wolf to draw men into her atmosphere; it’s all her. Her delicate features and quiet innocence calls to predators like a siren’s song. And once you get to know her? Fuck, it’s impossiblenotto love her.
She’s the perfect storm, one that men would run into headfirst and happily let destroy them, simply to feel connected to her for a brief moment.
Sighing, he scrubs a hand over the scruff on his jaw, closing his eyes in defeat. Taking pity on him, Sabrina steals a notebook off of his desk so that we can communicate without being overheard, and I smile as she arranges herself so that the writing can’t be picked up by a camera. She has good instincts; even I didn’t notice her casing the place.
Reading over her shoulder, I watch the words form.The highlights, please.
After taking it from her, he purses his lips, but hastily scribbles back.Pockets run deeper than I imagined. I’m leery of discussing things when there’s even a slim chance that someone could overhear.
She wastes no time replying, not in the mood for games.They’ll see you’re talking to us, and if they’re really that influential, they’ll be able to check your call logs and see you tipped us off. You’re already in the doghouse, Nathan, so are you going to sit around moping on a chain, or bite someone on the ass?
