“Come on,” he said at last, looking down at me.“Let’sget the hell out of here before someone else offers me their daughter to rape.”
I only nodded, not knowing what to say and we headed once more to the car.
But as we walked, and he gradually looked more normal again,Iwondered what it was that he had inside him and what it might look like when it came out under the full moon.
THIRTY-TWO
KOR
The ride home couldn’t have been more different than our ride into town.Viviennewas silent and withdrawn and there was a pensive look on her face that might have been a combination of guilt, sorrow, and fear.Wehad put the roof up and there was no music playing—just the crunch of the tires over the road.
I hopedIhadn’t scared her when that awful woman had offered me her daughter.ButIjust got soangrywhenIsaw the fear on the girl’s face.Itmade me think ofViviennebeing sold to my uncle—how he’d used her and abused her.Thethought that someone might look at me and thinkIwas capable of that same behavior enraged me—almost enough to let myBeastout.
Need to be careful,Iwarned myself.Lettingthe part of me out that even otherShiftersfeared would be a sure way to bring an angry mob with pitchforks and torches to the doors ofWolvertonManor.Ihad to keep better control over myself.
Things hadn’t exactly gone great at theCouncilmeeting either—which might as well have been a town meeting, since everyone who was anyone in thePackhad been in attendance.Ifelt bad about the wayIhad handled things.
MaybeIhad taken it too far, breakingHarrisMurdoch’sfinger and then threatening the whole town to leaveViviennealone.ButIswear, when he threatened her—when he talked about the filthy things he wanted to do to the womanIwas beginning to care for so deeply—Iabsolutely lost it.
Seriously, he was luckyIhadn’t done worse than just break the dirty finger he was poking in my face.AtleastIhadn’t let myBeastout—thoughIhad felt it coming very close to the surface.Whichis probably why it almost made an appearance when that woman offered me her daughter.
“I’m sorry about what happened back there.AndI’msorry that fuckingHarristalked that way to you,”Isaid toVivienne, who was staring out the window.
She looked down at her hands, her face troubled.
“It’s not the first time he’s said what he’ll do to me if…if he wins theAlphaChallenge,” she said in a low voice.
“What?”Iwas instantly incensed.“Hetalked to you like that before?”
She nodded.
“AtCarter’sfuneral—right before you came in.”Shesighed.“Youasked whyIbacked you even thoughIdidn’t know you.Well…that’s why.Iwas hoping you can beat him at theAlphaChallenges.Otherwise…”Shetrailed off, a miserable look on her lovely face.
I felt my heart fist in my chest.
“Baby, don’t worry.OfcourseI’mgoing to beat him,”Itold her.“I’veknown guys like that all my life—his bark is worse than his bite—literally.”
“I don’t doubt you can beat him on strength alone,” she said, casting a glance at me.“Especiallyafter what happened withMrs.Browder.ButKor, you have to be careful.Harrisfightsdirty.”
“I could tell by the way he convened a whole town council meeting just to accuse us of fucking,”Isaid dryly.
Vivienne’s pale cheeks went red with shame, and she looked down at her fingers, which she was twisting together in her lap.
“He wasn’t wrong, though,” she said in a low voice.“Wehavebeen doing things…things we shouldn’t be doing.”
“We haven’t broken theUnbrokenLaws,”Isaid firmly.“Noteven close.”
“I know.Butwe’ve been—I’vebeen—unchaste,” she murmured.“Besides,I’mtoo old for you.Youought to be with someoneCynthia-Ann’sage.”
“What?”Igave an incredulous laugh.“Thatgirl was eleven years younger than me and that’sifher mother wasn’t lying about her age—whichIdoubt.”
“That’s the same age gap between you and me,” she pointed out.“OnlyI’meleven years older thanyou.”
“I don’t give a damn!”Iprotested.“I’drather have a woman than a girl.We’reboth consenting adults at least!Andnobody is buying or selling anyone—wewanteach other—our ages don’t matter.”
“Well maybe…maybe they should.Maybethey matter to me.”
She cast a glance at me that was filled with regret.
