Chapter 29 Blood and Broken Glass
BLOOD AND brOKEN GLASS
EVAN
Istood in the doorway watching Gideon work at his bench like nothing had changed, like the world hadn't tilted sideways and shown me truths that made my bones ache with the weight of what I'd never known.
His hands moved with that steady precision I'd always admired, tightening bolts and adjusting fittings like secrets were just another tool in his arsenal. Like decades of deception was just another day at the office.
“You lied to me.” The words came out rougher than I'd intended, scraped raw from a throat that still remembered howling. “All this time, you were more than a mechanic. More than whatever the hell you pretended to be.”
Gideon didn't flinch. Didn't even pause in his work. Just continued threading a bolt through a carburetor housing like my world hadn't just exploded into a thousand sharp pieces that couldn't be put back together.
“I did what I had to,” he said finally, voice carrying that gruff certainty that had always made me trust him. “Your father asked me to keep the truth buried until you were ready.”
“Ready?” The word tasted like ash and acid. “You don't get to decide when I'm ready. You don't get to play at being my mentor when you're hiding half the fucking truth.”
My voice cracked on the last word, and I hated how young I sounded. How hurt. Because this wasn't just anger burning through my chest like wildfire. This was betrayal, sharp and clean and cutting deeper than any rogue's claws.
The man who'd taught me everything I knew about engines and bourbon and keeping your mouth shut when it mattered had been lying to my face. Had watched me struggle with the weight of being Alpha heir while hiding knowledge that could have made the burden lighter.
Or maybe would have crushed me entirely. Hard to tell when the foundation of your understanding got ripped out from under you.
“Do Cal and Mason know?” I asked suddenly, the question burning through me like acid. “About what you really are?”
Gideon's hands stilled on his wrench. “No. And I plan to keep it that way for a while.”
“So just me, then. Just me who gets to carry the weight of knowing that everyone I trust has been lying to me.”
Gideon finally looked up, eyes meeting mine with something that might have been regret if I'd been generous enough to call it that.
“I've buried too many Alphas to play at honesty,” he said, and there was something broken in his voice.
“If I'd told you sooner, you would've run headfirst into the dark before you understood the cost.”
“And now?”
“Now you hate me.” He shrugged, the gesture carrying the weight of acceptance that came from making choices that couldn't be undone. “Fine. But one day you'll understand why I kept it.”
The casual dismissal of my feelings, the assumption that time would heal wounds carved this deep, made rage surge hot behind my ribs. My wolf stirred restlessly under my skin, wanting to shift, wanting to show him exactly what I thought of his protective lies.
That's when Cal and Mason burst through the garage door like they owned the place, bringing with them the scent of pine and pack bonds and the kind of easy camaraderie that felt like salt in an open wound.
“Evan!” Cal called out, grinning like he'd just won the lottery. “You'll never guess what Mason did to piss off Mrs. Henderson this time.”
“I didn't do anything,” Mason protested, but his voice carried that edge of barely contained laughter that meant he absolutely had done something. “She's just overly sensitive about her garden gnomes.”
“You moved them into compromising positions.”
“I gave them character development.”
I stared at them, these two idiots who'd been my friends since we were cubs, and felt something twist painfully in my chest. They looked so normal, so unchanged, while everything I thought I knew about my life was crumbling around me.
“Everything okay?” Cal asked, his grin fading as he picked up on the tension crackling between Gideon and me. “You look like someone kicked your favorite puppy.”
That's when my phone buzzed, and my wolf went absolutely haywire. The sound cut through everything else like a blade, and something primal and terrified clawed its way up my spine.
I stepped away from Cal and Mason, moving toward the corner of the garage. “I need to take this,” I said, trying to keep my voice level even though my wolf was practically howling inside my skull.
Nate's name flashed on the screen, and my heart dropped into my boots.
“Evan.” His voice came through broken and terrified and wrong in ways that made every instinct I possessed scream danger. “Something's wrong. The house... there are wolves in the fucking house.”
“What happened?” I demanded, but I was already gesturing sharply at Gideon, needing him close, needing someone who understood exactly how bad this could get. “Nate, what the hell happened?”
“I was in the forest,” he said, words tumbling over each other in his panic.
“There was a rogue attacking Sienna, and I.
.. I don't know what I did, but I stopped it. I got her to safety and came home, but the back door was completely destroyed. Ripped apart. And when I got inside, they were already here...”
The line erupted in chaos. Crashing sounds, something heavy hitting the floor, and underneath it all, Anna's scream. High and sharp and cutting off too quickly.
“Nate!” I shouted, but the connection was already dead, leaving me staring at a black screen while my wolf clawed at my ribs like it was trying to tear its way out of my chest.
“The Harringtons,” I said to Gideon, voice barely above a whisper but carrying all the urgency of a battle cry. “They're under attack.”
Gideon was already moving, grabbing keys and weapons with the kind of efficiency that spoke of too much practice with crisis situations. “Cal, Mason,” he called over his shoulder, “lock up the shop. Don't leave until we get back.”
“What's going on?” Mason demanded, but I was already bolting for the door.
“Just do it,” I shouted, the shift already building under my skin like electricity before a storm. “Stay here. Keep the shop secure.”
Gideon fell into step beside me without hesitation or question. Whatever lay between us, whatever trust had been shattered, could wait. Nate needed me, and nothing else mattered.
The shift hit me before I reached the tree line, bones snapping and reforming as my wolf exploded outward in a wave of fur and fury. Pain became purpose, agony became speed, and I threw myself into the forest with everything I had.
Hold on, I thought, pushing my wolf harder than I'd ever pushed before. Just hold on. I'm coming.
Trees blurred past in streaks of green and brown, my paws tearing chunks from earth that had never felt this desperate kind of running. Behind me, Gideon kept pace with inhuman endurance, magic crackling around him like he'd forgotten how to contain it.
Faster. Had to go faster. Had to reach them before whatever had broken into their house finished what it started.
The Harrington property opened before us like a crime scene, windows shattered and doors hanging off their hinges. The scent of rogues flooded the air, copper and rot and the kind of wild hunger that belonged in nightmares.
I shifted back to human form while still running, naked feet hitting gravel as I charged through the front door that had been torn off its hinges like it was made of paper.
Michael stood in the center of the living room, back pressed against the overturned couch, swinging a chair leg at a snarling rogue that circled him like death given fur and fangs. Blood ran down his face from a gash above his eye, and his hands shook with adrenaline and terror.
Nate lay crumpled near the kitchen doorway, blood matting his hair where something had struck him. He was moving, trying to crawl, fingers reaching desperately toward the far wall where Anna had fallen.
Where Anna lay broken and still, her throat opened in a red smile that painted the wallpaper in abstract art no one should ever have to see. Her dress was soaked through, and her eyes stared at nothing with the emptiness that meant she'd never see anything again.
“No.” The word escaped on a breath that felt like dying.
My wolf launched without conscious command, fury overriding strategy as I slammed into the rogue threatening Michael. Bones snapped under my claws, and blood sprayed across walls that had probably never seen violence worse than a stubbed toe.
Behind me, light exploded as Gideon threw magic at another rogue, white fire that made the creature howl as it crashed into what remained of the dining room table. The third one turned toward Nate, jaws opening wide enough to snap his spine like kindling.
I moved faster than thought, faster than fear, claws ripping through matted fur and finding the soft places underneath. The rogue's snarl cut off in a wet gurgle, and I kept tearing until nothing remained that could threaten the people I loved.
Silence fell like a curtain, broken only by ragged breathing and the sound of blood dripping onto hardwood floors that would never be clean again.
Michael stared at me with eyes wide enough to show white all around the edges, chair leg still clutched in hands that shook like leaves in a storm wind. “What the hell. What are you?”
His gaze flicked from my naked, blood-covered form to Gideon's hands still glowing with residual magic, trying to process evidence that didn't fit into any reality he'd been prepared for.
I ignored him, stumbling toward where Anna lay like a broken doll someone had thrown away. My hands shook as I pressed trembling fingers to her neck, searching for a pulse I knew wouldn't be there.
“She's gone,” I whispered, and the words felt like tearing out pieces of my soul.