Chapter 11 #2
“Fuck you too,” Hayden says as he removes his foot and offers me a hand up. “And for your information, that’s not the worst introduction I’ve had.”
“You two done pissing each other off?” Damien asks.
“You could have stepped in any time, cousin.”
“Don’t pull that cousin crap on me. You left against orders.”
“I don’t recall you ordering me not to go. You said, and I quote, ‘You’re staying here.’ Sounded like an observation to me. One I didn’t confirm.”
Damien grabs me by my neck and slams me into the nearest tree. “You don’t want to challenge me, Garrett. Not after what you’ve done.”
“What did I do, precisely, Damien? Rescue a female who had no one else to fight for her? Fine, I’ll admit I disobeyed your orders, but you would have taken more time than she had.”
“You didn’t know how much time she had. You didn’t know anything about her and you certainly didn’t take your own safety or that of my pack into consideration when you left here.”
“She’s here, I’m here. We’re fine.”
“This is what I mean, Gare. You’re not thinking clearly. Either that or you’re trying to get yourself killed.”
I don’t argue that last point. It’s crossed my mind, that I have nothing to lose. That made it easy leaving here alone. I had the comfort of knowing that if I was walking into a trap, I wouldn’t risk anyone’s life but my own.
Damien’s expression softens. “You couldn’t save Marla. That’s why this one was so important to you. Why you had to save her, even at risk to yourself and the pack.”
“Not the pack. I’d never risk the pack.”
His hand finally leaves me. “But you have. You brought an outsider here, one who may or may not be working for the WSSO.”
“She’s no traitor. Yes, she worked for them.
They fucking gave her no choice, Damien.
They slaughtered her entire pack in front of her.
She knew no help would be coming for her.
Whatever she did, she did to survive. No shifter.
Not you, not Hayden, not even the White Wolves could fault her for that.
” I rub at my neck while Damien glances behind him, to where Angel’s standing by herself, a ring of guards around her.
She’s shaking, but no one’s touched her.
“We’ve had traitors before, from our own pack,” he whispers so only I hear. “And you want me to trust someone just because she’s a shifter? It doesn’t work that way, not anymore.” He pushes off from me and heads toward Angel, his anger on display in how he carries himself.
“Go ahead, Damien,” I call out to him, still standing where he had pinned me.
“Question her. Ask her how many shifters she lured. Ask her how many may have died because of her.” I’m so focused on what I need to help Angel, that the words fly from my mouth without thinking about how they’ll affect her.
Angel winces, but doesn’t move, except to turn her head enough to meet my eyes. The entire camp falls silent as they wait to see what Damien’s going to do.
He steps in front of her, leaving only a few inches between them. His hulking shadow completely engulfs my Angel. My stomach twists, not because I spouted off at my alpha. He can kill me if he wants, but Angel’s suffered enough.
“You lured shifters for the WSSO,” Damien says, more statement than question.
Angel is shaking too hard to answer.
Across the compound, in the crowd of onlookers, stands Tess, Damien’s mate. His one and only vulnerability. Not that Tess is weak. She’s a strong shifter, but a male will do anything for his mate, especially a blood-bonded mate.
Tess isn’t looking well. She’s pale. Wringing her hands.
Fuck. I’ve stirred up memories for her, unintentionally forced her to recall the months the WSSO held her hostage… after they’d slaughtered her pack.
My focus returns to Angel, realizing how similar she is to Tess, not Marla. This is how I’ll get through to Damien.
I charge across the compound, barreling toward Damien so fast several guards shift, preparing to pounce on me. But Damien can handle himself.
“Ask her where she stayed between shifts, Damien. Ask her about the dog crate they kept her in, one too small for her to move her arm from where they’d twisted it behind her.
How they put a spiked collar on her, one with spikes on the inside so she couldn’t shift without impaling herself.
Ask how cold and hungry she was during the hours, days…
weeks they kept her there naked, without clothing, food, or water. ”
He stops short, and his eyes dart to the crowd, where he searches and finds his mate. He rescued Tess from a WSSO research facility years ago. Found her in a dog crate, more dead than alive. The WSSO had experimented on her, done horrific things.
Tears fill Tess’s eyes, but she doesn’t utter a word. No one does.
“Or would you rather see the burns on Angel’s hips and back?” I press.
“Enough!” Damien shouts with a growl so loud birds flee the nearby trees. “You’ve made your point.”
Now, I shut up. It’s not wise to push Damien too far.
And given how pale Tess has turned, he and his wolf are surely on edge.
I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories for her, but there’s a ruthlessness rising to the surface in me where Angel is concerned.
She’s my priority right now. She has to be, because… fuck, because she’s mine.