Chapter 48
FORTY-EIGHT
KOR
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demanded.
My head ached fiercely from whatever they’d used to keep me drugged all day.
But despite my throbbing headache, my mind was whirring—beginning to shake off the drugs.
And I was getting a bad feeling about the way Harris was looking at me—a very bad feeling indeed.
“I said you’re the one who’s going to punish our straying Moon Widow, pup,” he snarled at me. “You see, I was watching last night—I heard what you said to her when the two of you were planning to sneak away like a couple of thieves.”
My heart began to pound, and I felt a sick throbbing in my temples. Surely he hadn’t heard what I’d told Vivienne. Please, Goddess—it couldn’t be true!
“I heard you tell her that you don’t have a regular wolf in you, boy,” Harris went on. He raised his voice for the benefit of the crowd. “That’s right—this pup has a cursed wolf! And he thought he could be our next Pack Leader!”
People in the crowd began throwing me dark, angry looks and several of them forked the sign of the evil eye at me, as though to ward off evil.
“Satan! He’s a consort of Satan,” I heard one old woman say.
“Which means that Carter’s widow is the bride of Satan!” Another one concluded.
Shit. This was bad—really bad. I hadn’t realized how superstitious these people were, though I guessed I shouldn’t be surprised since Blackridge was located in the foothills of the Appalachians—out in “the back of beyond” as I’d heard some locals put it.
“Enough!” Harris shouted, raising his hands and the crowd quieted at once.
Also, not a good sign—he already had them completely under his control, I thought.
Even the owner of the grocery store—the older Alpha who had been so friendly to me when he asked me to move the crates in his stockroom—was glaring at Vivienne and me with stern disapproval.
“Now, we all agree that these two are wicked through and through,” Harris shouted, causing the crowd to nod and murmured agreement. “So I say, let them punish each other!”
“How do we do that, Pack Leader?” someone shouted.
“Why, by letting the cleansing light of the Moon Goddess work her will on them,” Harris said. He pointed at me. “Get him out there in the middle of the Glade and take off the silver chains. Do it now—before the moon comes up!”
I glared at him.
“So you’re going to punish me by letting my Beast out? I have to tell you, Harris, that’s not to smart. My Beast will go right for you.”
Harris’s smile turned downright evil.
“Oh, I’m sure he would…if he didn’t have something—or someone—much more interesting to distract him.” He pointed at Vivienne. “Put her out there with him! Be sure they’re both tied before so they can’t get away!”
At last I saw what he was doing and horror surged through me.
“No!” I shouted, my voice breaking as four of the biggest Alphas began dragging me out into the middle of the Moon Glade. “No, please—don’t do this! You can’t do this!”
They were dragging Vivienne too, the two of them pulling her roughly behind me, making me want to kill them for touching her.
But in a minute when the moon rose, my Beast would come out and he would do more than touch her—much more.
I felt a sick, sinking sensation somewhere in my midsection as the part of me that couldn’t be reasoned with raised its head and roared.
The Beast sensed that something was coming, and he could smell Vivienne’s sweet scent.
Harris was right—he would be drawn to her and would completely ignore anyone else as long as she was around.
Goddess no—please! I begged silently. I swore never to hurt her—I swore to keep them apart and never Shift where the Beast could see her! Please, let us find a way out of this!
But there was no answer…only the silvery light of the full moon as it began to rise over the horizon and touch the trees with silver.
We were trapped—or rather, Vivienne was trapped—and there was no way I could save her. I was about to break every promise I’d ever made to her and though I would rather die than hurt her, pain was coming on the horizon as surely as the moon was rising in the sky.
There was no way out.