Chapter Nine
Joanna
Marcus Blackwood was an infuriating asshole. He was a sexy, stupid, intoxicating piece of shit whose words of encouragement always stole my breath and made me feel things I never wanted to feel.
But right now, all I felt was mortifying fragility.
Some random werewolf had been intimate with him, and it hurt. Besides the urge to puke, I had to fight back tears. Fucking tears.
Ending things with Malik didn’t sting as badly, and I thought I was in love with Malik.
What the hell did that mean?
I ignored Marcus for most of the ride to the compound, still high from the warmth of his embrace.
It would’ve been so easy to stab him in the thigh while he was consoling me at the loft, but no.
I couldn’t stop spiraling about my sister long enough to even think about clutching the handle of my blade.
My palms were already burning from their assault from my fists.
Maya was waiting for us outside when we pulled up in Marcus’s Hummer.
“Joey,” she greeted as I exited the vehicle.
The werewolf’s concerned gaze rose above my shoulder to where Marcus stood behind me.
“Alpha, are you okay? How was your…” She hesitated as if trying to find the right words. “Your evening?”
“Uneventful,” Marcus snapped.
Maya slumped her shoulders. “I see,” she mumbled, as if his answer disappointed her.
“Don’t do that,” he warned as he approached her.
Her body stilled, like Marcus had used his alpha command—which he’d never do for such a harmless question.
“Has everyone heard about the club?”
Maya answered her alpha with a nod, her body loosening. “I’ve assured the pack that you’re okay, but the news rattled a few of them since so many of us used to party there.”
It was hard to imagine Maya at Club Luna. She was so serious all the time, I found it difficult to envision her losing control on the dance floor. Like Marcus, I assumed she was no more than a decade older than me, but her beautiful face told a tale of duty and stress.
Her eyes narrowed as if she felt me staring at her, but then she turned to Marcus. “Your text said the Bureau knows about the warehouse battle. So, they consider us allies?”
Marcus glanced at me and frowned, jamming his hands into his pockets. “As long as their canary trusts us.”
I nudged a lone dandelion with my foot. “They’ve promised to protect the pack from rogues and help y’all if you face another mutiny,” I assured Maya after a roll of my eyes.
“Well… that’s good news,” Maya said slowly, her voice disbelieving.
Marcus snickered as he brushed past her. “Right now, Latoya is our best bet for answers about the uprising,” he admitted.
He’d explained to me earlier how the other rogues maintained their silence and how they were too dangerous to be kept alive. I was too distracted to criticize him before, but I’d tear into him later for making the half-assed decision to kill them all without me.
The Alpha and Gamma continued their conversation, and the hunter in me charged forward with them. But the sister in me wanted to be swept away by the cool breeze tickling the hair on her arms.
I kept my eyes down, refusing to look at the old buildings, yet I still felt their mockery looming over me.
They were derelict on the outside but whole on the inside.
Meanwhile, for the last few days, I’d felt like a shell of a hunter.
Waiting to implode. I even made Marcus wait in the car this morning so I could puke my nerves away.
Maya stopped mid-stride, and I almost crashed into her. I caught myself and would’ve complained, but her question to Marcus made me realize how far I’d zoned out. “So, you do want me with you?”
Marcus shook his head. “I need you down there, Maya.” He didn’t stop walking, but when he spoke again, his voice was dangerously low—almost too low for me to hear. “You’re the only one who’ll be able to stop me from killing her.”
We’d reached an unfamiliar entrance to the tunnels. Vines snaked their way up the stone walls. Stairs descended into silent blackness.
Marcus turned to me and held out his hand.
“Is that really necessary?” I asked stiffly.
His amber eyes dulled. “Have you suddenly developed a gift to see in the dark?”
I huffed, giving in despite my inner protests. Down in the tunnels, the air was damp. I had to take deep, calculated breaths to familiarize my nose with mildew and mold. I clung to Marcus’s muscular forearm, counting each step to distract myself from our destination.
“The moment you’ve had enough, you say the word, and I’ll get you out of there. Okay?”
I was biting my bottom lip so hard, I thought I’d draw blood.
“Joanna,” Marcus enunciated, “did you hear me?”
I squeezed his arm. “Sorry. Yes.”
Marcus came to a halt, swinging his body in a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree rotation—his eyes glowing in the dark. “I’m serious,” he said softly. “If you don’t tell me, I can’t protect you… And it may be too late to save her.”
I lowered my head. “I don’t understand,” I admitted, my voice shaking. “Save—” I gasped in surprise, my breath catching in my throat when Marcus’s hands shot to my shoulders.
“I’m warning you for the sake of your sister, Joanna.” He tightened his grip. “Do you understand now?”
“Are we ready?” Maya asked from ahead of us.
I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the reunion.
A faint spill of light accompanied the groan of heavy metal. I caught sight of Maya’s silhouette before she disappeared through the open door. The entrance led to a walkway divided into three paths. All three were lit with torches along the walls.
“What is this?” I whispered, staring at the shadows dancing on the stone. These cells were nothing like the one Marcus held Ethan in.
“Not all prisoners are created equal,” Marcus replied bluntly, nodding at Maya.
Maya opened the cell door straight ahead.
“I remember you,” a familiar voice declared. “Are you bad cop?”
My heart thrummed in my chest, loud and unrelenting. Marcus placed his hand on my back but allowed me to take my time inching forward.
When she saw me, the audible gasp that left Latoya’s mouth chilled my blood. Her wide orange eyes bore into my tenuous armor and forced me to suppress my scream.
“Joey,” the werewolf whispered in disbelief. The chain around her leg pulled taut, stopping her in her tracks. She glared at Marcus. “How much of a threat can I be with both you and your bodyguard in here?” she yelled. “Will you please take this off?”
“No,” Marcus declared.
“Are you serious—”
“I thought you were dead, Latoya,” I interrupted, finally finding my voice.
Her shoulders slumped. We only ever used our given names when we were mad at each other, the way mom and dad did. “I guess I should be happy you’re talking to me at all, huh?” She sighed, flinging her arms in the air. “What do you want me to say, Joey?”
I bristled. “You’re a fucking were—”
“And you’re a hunter who’s fucking a werewolf, sis,” she snapped. “I can smell him all over you. If you’re going to shit talk me, do it because I’m a horrible sister. Do it because I left you… but don’t you fucking do it because of a superiority complex.”
“Take a guess as to why I became a damn hunter, Latoya.”
Marcus tensed beside me. “Joanna—”
I held up my hand, silently begging him to let me work through this on my own. “Did you know a beta named Ethan King?” I asked my sister.
Latoya pulled at her locs. They’d grown a lot in five years. “No.”
“He found footage of you at Club Luna with a member of the uprising. How long have you been a part of their movement?”
“Not long after I was turned.” She chuckled, closing her eyes to get closer to a memory. “But I wouldn’t call what we had a movement that early on.”
“Thomas, the elder from Marcus’s pack—how well did you know him?”
She shrugged. “Not well at all. He was too fucking annoying to be around.”
“What were you and the other rogues doing at the warehouse?”
Latoya dragged a hand down her face. “Joey—”
“Answer her,” Maya demanded.
My sister’s sharp glare cut to Maya as she snarled. “Who the hell was talking to you, bitch?”
“Latoya,” I warned.
“No,” Latoya protested, storming to her cot at the corner of the cell. “How do I know you’ll actually talk to me as my sister once they get all the information they want from me?”
“I’m the one asking the questions,” I declared, my gaze devoid of compassion. “Thomas nearly had me killed.”
Latoya and the Alpha both flinched.
“And as far as I’m concerned, my sister died five years ago.”
Latoya blinked rapidly. “I wanted to come home to you, Joey, I did,” she pleaded, dropping onto her cot.
“But… I couldn’t. Not right away. Not until my cravings subsided.
” She gripped the edge of the stained mattress.
“It took about a year for me to control my shift. Until then, the scent of human flesh drove me crazy.” She looked up at me.
“So how could I come home? How could I risk putting you in danger? And even after that… Joey… You’d moved on.
And I was… different. It never felt like the right time. ”
I didn’t ask for an explanation, damn it. I didn’t want one. The plan was to get the information we needed about the uprising and leave her to rot in her rancid cell.
But her words caused something within me to stir. I needed to know…
“Did you ask for the Bite?”
Maya threw an uncomfortable glance at her alpha, while Marcus’s gaze burned holes in my skull.
To my surprise, Latoya shook her head. “I thought the motherfucker was just high as shit. He kept going on and on about being an alpha and how he’d change my life.” She snickered. “But back then, every asshole with a six-pack and a big dick claimed they were alpha males, remember?”
I frowned.
It felt like a lifetime ago. But at the same time, the memory of me and my sister shit-talking the guys that slid into our DMs burned like I’d lost her yesterday.