Page 63 of Bad Blood Wolf

Jasmin rubbed her hand up and down his back, trying to soothe him. She wanted to say it wasn’t his fault, it couldn’t be, he was a good man, but she knew that wasn’t what he needed to hear.

“Tell me,” she said instead. “Tell me what happened.”

Brody closed his eyes, rubbing his fingers along the scar on his face.

“I was six,” he said. “And I got into a fight with another cub. I don’t even remember what it was about. I just remember how angry I was. So angry, I wanted to kill him. And I felt myself shift, but it wasn’t the way it usually was. I was huge, and furious, and I couldn’t control myself.”

“You were Monster Wolf,” she said.

Brody nodded. “My mom came out of the house,” he said. “I was going for the other cub’s throat. There wasn’t even time for her to Change. I just remember her staring at me, this awful look in her eyes, like I wasn’t even her son. Then she threw her hand out, like she was throwing something at me. But she wasn’t. Nothing physical, anyway.”

He touched his scar again. “I felt like I’d been knifed in the face, and I started bleeding.” He pulled his hand back and clenched his fist. “It hurt so bad, and I let go of the other cub. Monster Wolf went away, and I had this big cut down my face, pouring blood everywhere.”

He raised his head, looking her in the face. “My mother sliced my face open with the power of her mind.”

Jasmin gasped. She touched his face. “She gave you that scar.”

He nodded. “To keep Monster Wolf from killing that other cub. To keep me from being a murderer.”

Jasmin stroked the scar, wishing she could take the hurt away. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to. I could tell from what I saw that she loves you.”

Brody shook his head. “I made her do it,” he said. “And people saw. They saw what she could do, and they came for her. They said she was dangerous. Unstable.”

He dropped his head, his voice going soft. “That’s why she left. The Enforcers were coming for her. I found out later she’d hurt people before, with her powers. Killed someone. That’s why she came to our isolated little village. So she wouldn’t be found.”

Jasmin stroked his back again, trying to calm him down, but the pain kept spilling out. “I’m the reason she got found. I’m the reason she had to leave. If it hadn’t been for Monster Wolf—”

She could see the tears in his eyes, and her heart broke for the little boy who’d carried this burden for so long.

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is! Don’t you see? Whatever she’s been through, it’s because of me. I can’t let anyone find out she’s associated with me, or they’ll realize who she is.”

“What about Tristan and Silverlake?” Jasmin said. “Maybe they could help.”

“If it was just her mind, maybe,” he said miserably. “But she’s still wanted by the Enforcers. If I send her to Silverlake, I’ll be turning her in.”

He shuddered, and she rested her hand on the back of his neck, rubbing gently. After a moment, he heaved a huge sigh and rolled his shoulders, as if trying to settle a heavy load back on them after giving it a rest.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said quietly. “I promised her I’d keep her safe, that I wouldn’t leave her.”

“That’s the real reason why you didn’t go to Idaho with Donnie and the others, isn’t it.”

He nodded. “I can’t take her way out there—there’s nowhere close enough that I could set her up where people wouldn’t ask questions. And I don’t have a drug connection out there.”

He sighed. “But I’m not going to be able to keep this up much longer. I have to pay cash for everything—there’s too much chance someone could link her to me if I don’t. I can’t take the money from my regular accounts, even if I had any money left in them. People would notice. And I don’t know how much Bastian and the others saw, the other night. If the Nashville pack leaders find out about Monster Wolf…”

Jasmin nodded. There was a chance Bastian would keep his mouth shut, since it happened at an illegal fight. But they couldn’t be sure. And anyway, he was just postponing the inevitable.

“You’re right, you can’t keep this up,” she said as gently as possible. “Even if you could go back to the fights, you can’t win forever. They’ll just keep throwing bigger opponents at you. What are you going to do then?”

He turned on her. “I don’t fucking know, okay? You want to know what keeps me up at night? That. Knowing that the first fight I lose, it’s all coming down like a house of cards. But what the hell else am I going to do? She’s my mother.”

“I know.” Jasmin began rubbing the back of his neck again. She didn’t know what she would have done if it was her own mother. Battered, running from her father, unable to take care of herself… she couldn’t have turned her back.

But she had a crew to back her up. Brody had no one.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said softly. “We’ll do it together.”