< Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Kiana
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I kept my back to Troy when he returned and pretended to be asleep. We both knew it wasn’t true, but he quietly stretched out behind me and laid a hand on my hip. I almost gave him a warning growl, but his touch did help settle my wolf. Her anxiety at being alone on Thornston’s land was suffocating.
I hated how he made me feel. Calm. Centered.
Desperate. Needy.
Fucking furious.
The man gave me whiplash, and now, I had his kiss to haunt me. His real kiss. Not just the ones I sometimes had in my dreams.
Somehow, with him behind me, I managed to slip off into sleep. I had no idea how much had passed before my wolf’s panic had been bolting upright.
Next to me, Troy had already started to pull me against him when a blade shredded the tent, and Thornston’s face loomed near. He was streaked with blood and had a crazed look in his eye.
“Something wrong?” Troy said tensely.
“Stupid bitches think they have a say in what I can and can’t do,” he snarled. “This one is mine. Ragor gave her to me, and I’m taking her. You can find yourself another bitch or you can die.”
“Don’t,” I whispered to Troy. If he shifted, he’d have a harder time hiding his alpha status.
Especially if he fought. I could handle Thornston. I needed him to believe that.
“Ragor always wanted you to keep your virginity for me. Then he had to fucking die. Now I’m going to see if that p***y is as good as that mouth.”
My stomach rolled, and Troy started to shift. Thornston just laughed.
I was not going to die out here in Wisteria Woods because one man couldn’t keep his mouth shut and the other couldn’t keep his shit together. In one smooth motion, I pulled the flare gun out from under the pillow, aimed it at Thornston’s chest, and pulled the trigger.
A look of horror crossed his face as he screamed and stumbled back. Troy’s wolf bolted out of the
ten after him, and I followed. “No!” I shouted. “Idiot. Shift back! Now!”
I didn’t even bother to see if Thornston was dead. It was preferable but not necessary. I had bigger
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problems, like the fucking power that was oozing out of Troy’s angry wolf. He looked at me, curled
his lip, and started to shift back. From the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow move. I swung the
flare gun around, aware it was no longer loaded.
“It’s just me.” The Young Wolf from earlier came into view. “I tried to follow him back to warn you that he was on his way, but I wasn’t fast enough. Every wolf in a two-mile radius probably felt you.
We need to lose your scent now. I hope you can swim.”
“We can trust him,” Troy said, a little breathlessly, as he pulled some clothes out from his pack. He’d already shredded two outfits.
“I don’t trust you at the moment!” I snapped. “How could you be so stupid and let him goad you like
that?”
“He said your father gave you to him,” Troy growled. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Take a minute to come up with a plan that didn’t involve you going all alpha on him and me shooting him with a giant flare gun! I can defend myself from assholes like that. I’ve been doing it my fucking whole life! My father promised me to a lot of people, including Morven Kane. W-Why do you think the alpha of the Snake River knows so much about me?” I whispered, my voice trembling.
Damnit Kiana, don’t you dare cry in front of this man.
Furious, I stormed back into the tent to grab my things. Snapping my pack around my waist, I glared at him from the opening.
He looked equally mad. “What about Danny?”
Really? That’s what he wanted to bring up? “I could have gotten away from Danny if your wolf had
not intervened!”
“As fascinating as this conversation is, we need to leave now,” Finn said dryly.
I finally spared a look at Thornston. There was a gaping hole in his chest, and he wasn’t moving.
With a smile of satisfaction, I plunged into the woods after Finn, Troy right at my back.
****
“You never told me about Morven.”
Troy’s voice grated like claws down my spine.
I ignored him, dragging my fingers through my dripping, knotted hair with more force than necessary. Talking to him was the last thing I wanted to do-especially now. We hadn’t just crossed the river. We’d lived in it, trudging through the freezing current for hours before crouching under a jagged rock ledge while a wild wolf cleaned himself after a night of hunting.
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I was soaked, cold, running on fumes, and deeply fucking irritated.
It wasn’t even noon, and already, I wanted to scream. Or stab Troy. Preferably both.
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Finn’s instructions had led us to one of his stashes, of which he had nearly a dozen spread through Wisteria Woods. We were going to lose a day of travel, but Finn swore that we were out of wolf
territory.
And into the witches’.
“You never asked.”
I hated not knowing where we were and having to follow the instructions of a stranger.
Finn had risked a lot to see us to safety, though. So much so that Troy didn’t think he was safe in Wisteria Woods anymore. He gave the young man instructions back to Wolfspire with a message his guards would understand.
When Troy returned, Finn would have a chance at joining a pack. I was a little sorry that I wouldn’t be there to see it happen.
“That would be a pretty targeted question for me to ask, wouldn’t it?” Troy responded.
Shivering, I turned my back and slipped off my wet shirt. We were in a cave that, according to Finn, was part of a system of rock dwellings. He believed the caves would lead straight to the witch’s den, but he hadn’t explored them. He said he’d only tried to go further once when he became ensnared in a spell trap. It was two agonizing days before a witch released him and warned him
away.
Troy had commented that it was awfully nice of them for a group of blood-thirsty witches.
In any case, Finn had supplies stashed here, including some dry clothes.
I opened a bag and yanked on a musty-smelling T-shirt. It fell to my knees. That didn’t bode well for the pants.
“Well, you didn’t really present me with the kind of environment that fostered care and sympathy for difficult conversations and trauma sharing, did you?”
“I gave you Parker.” Troy sounded hurt.
I let out a short, dry laugh and turned around, pants in hand. “You really think Parker wanted me to
talk about-
My voice died the second I saw his face.
He looked wrecked. Pale, shaky, but it was the look in his eyes that froze me in place-intense,
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burning gold, like he was unraveling right there and couldn’t decide whether to kiss me or throw
me against the nearest wall.
“W-What the hell is wrong with you?”
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