Chapter 6
Six
ASHTON
“Get up.” I narrow my eyes at the pathetic excuse of a wolf at my feet.
When he doesn’t immediately move, I kick out, catching him in the side.
Kain groans and blinks up at me, his features distorted in pain.
“I can’t believe this asshole was a part of the attacks.” Emery shakes with barely contained rage at my side.
Reid simply grunts and scowls, his huge arms folded over his chest.
The three of us stand in the forest, in front of the tree I tied Kain up to earlier. Fortunately, no one came to free the ugly bastard in the time it took me to find two of my pack members and return here.
Everything is chaos.
My father and the twins’ father immediately called for a Council meeting. Surprisingly, Kyle, Silas, and an unfamiliar man with brown hair followed. Hale and Gerry were last seen coddling their screaming foster daughter, which is a whole other clusterfuck I don’t even want to think about.
Somehow, the Hunters found us.
Because of this asshole right here.
Kain smirks in my direction, unveiling reddened teeth.
“You can’t stop this.” His voice breaks.
“Why the fuck would you be working for Hunters?” Emery demands, lunging forward and getting in Kain’s face.
Usually, I would pull Emery back, remind him that we’re not animals, despite the beasts inside of us.
Today, I don’t have such qualms.
“I’m not speaking to anyone until I get a lawyer,” Kain croaks out sarcastically, punctuating the words with a shit-eating grin.
Red tints the edges of my vision.
Because of this…mongrel, innocent people were shot and killed.
My fated mate was almost killed. I may be unsure about Izzy—and unwilling to let her in—but that doesn’t mean I want to see her dead.
Just the thought of harm befalling the infuriatingly bewitching female has dread gathering in my stomach.
“What do you want to do?” Reid whispers to me, too low for our prisoner to hear.
I know my pack brother well enough to understand the truth of what he’s asking.
We have two options here. We can either serve Kain up to our fathers on a silver platter and allow the Council to interrogate him. Or…we can deal with him ourselves.
My father would have my head if he discovered I went behind his back, but then again, he’s the one who insists I take over the Council for him. If he trusts me to do that in the future, surely he can allow me to handle one measly shifter.
Besides, a nagging voice in the back of my head—soft but growing more prominent and insistent as the seconds drag on—warns me about…something. I don’t know what that something is. Either way, that voice has a dozen different alarm bells blaring.
“We don’t tell the Council,” I say briskly, keeping my eyes trained on Kain and Emery.
Emery throws his arm back and punches Kain squarely in the face.
Reid’s head whips in my direction, shock evident in his eyes. As a general rule, I always abide by the rules. Hell, it’s more than a general rule. This treachery is simply unheard of.
“Is there something else going on?” Reid asks me, his lips firming, his eyes intense. “Do you not…trust them?”
He seems to be choosing his words carefully, knowing that I’m a fuse just waiting to be lit.
I don’t answer. There are some things I can’t bear to say out loud, especially when I don’t understand the direction of my own thoughts.
Reid takes my silence for what it is and refocuses back on Emery and Kain.
After a moment, my best friend asks, “Where’s Izzy?”
A crack zigzags its way down the center of my heart.
“Safe,” I say tersely.
She probably is with her foster fathers right now. Maybe Ethan. Or maybe she’s searching for—
I cut that thought off before it can fester and become a noxious weed that demands to be plucked. I don’t want to think about my older brother. About the way his eyes looked as his wolf took control.
I watched him look at Izzy and then retreat into the forest. That’s all I was capable of doing—watching.
I failed him, just like I failed my mate, just like I’m constantly failing my pack.
A noose of self-loathing wraps around my neck.
I don’t know how much longer I can do this.
“We need to look for Ethan too,” Reid says, a frown tugging at his lips. “And where did Christian go? I thought I saw—”
I step forward before Reid can continue speaking. I don’t want to hear the evidence of my failures. Not now.
Shoving Emery aside with my shoulder, I lower to a crouch in front of a still-grinning Kain.
“You betrayed your own kind, Kain,” I whisper in a low, deadly voice. “And you hurt a lot of innocent people.”
His smile doesn’t fade.
But that’s okay. It doesn’t need to.
By the time I’m done with him, he’s going to forget what it feels like to smile.
“You’re going to tell me what you know.” With shaky hands, I reach into my pocket and grab a tiny, portable knife.
“What are you going to do?” Kain laughs, the noise mocking. “Torture me? You don’t have the guts.”
“Maybe I didn’t a few hours earlier.” A cold calmness descends over me. Icy, almost, with a sting that pinches my skin. “But I also didn’t think I was capable of killing someone, and look what I did?”
For a brief moment, I allow my mask to fall, allow Kain to see the monster leashed beneath the surface, once contained by lock and key. But those locks have rusted with time, and the key has been placed into the hole, just waiting to be twisted.
True fear flashes across Kain’s face.
“What are you going to do, man?” Emery asks.
He sounds a little shaken.
I know that I’ll lose my soul if I do this, but to be honest, I’m not quite sure I’ve ever had one to begin with. Isabella certainly doesn’t think so.
Without taking my eyes off of Kain, I lower the blade to his pinkie.
Then I begin to cut.