I sniffed a few times and looked up at his determined face. He had aged in the last few hours. Seeing him helped me. He found strength from somewhere and that made me stronger too.
“I mean it,” he continued. “If we had learned from our own kind then none of this would have happened. We should have gone after them; you should never have been in danger. I won’t let it happen again, I promise you. I’m never going to let you feel like this again. You can’t feel guilty for protecting yourself. And my grandmother didn’t die for nothing.” Tears slid from his eyes then, and that was enough for me to gain control over my emotions. It was my turn to comfort him. He had lost a lot more than me.
We were stil embracing each other when the others returned. Byron’s face was pale but determined. Amelia sat close to me, her eyes bloodshot from crying. I put my arm around her, feeling her sink into my embrace. Jakob sat with his head in his hands. I couldn’t bear to look at him.
“The body was gone by the time I got back,” Byron said. Hope blossomed in my chest until I realised it only meant the other wolves had come back first. He was stil dead.
I hiccupped. “I have to talk to my Dad, go to the police.”
Byron’s attention snapped back to me. “What are you talking about? You can’t talk to anyone about this!” I stared up at him. “I killed someone. Someone is dead because of me. I can’t just get away with that!”
“Didn’t you hear me? There is no body. I forbid you to speak of this with anyone.” His words rumbled over me until a trickle of sweat roled down my back. Byron’s black eyes scared me.
Nathan tensed up next to me. “You forbid her?”
“Yes!” Byron ran out of patience. “I have to protect this family. How am I supposed to explain to the world that werewolves exist? The world isn’t ready for this, and one dead murderous werewolf isn’t worth our time. She wil not tel a soul!” His voice rose into a shout, and he paced in front of Nathan, Amelia and I for a few minutes, his face grim as he lost himself in his thoughts. Finaly, he stopped and faced us.
“Tel me exactly what happened.”
“It’s my fault,” I said. “I should never have let Amelia come home.”
“Stop it!” she cried. “It’s not your fault. We came in, saw blood on the carpet. Perdita pushed me outside and slammed the door. Made me run. I panicked and went through the woods because it’s quicker. I didn’t think. I didn’t know to be scared!”
Nathan turned to us. “We were on our way, we must have just missed you. We were trying to figure out what happened to King when I realised I had a missed cal from Perdita. I listened to the message, and we tried to get to you first.”
“They’ve been folowing me al along,” I said. “But they came here for Amelia.”
“She’s right.” Jakob raised his head, surprising us with his sudden input. “He wanted Amelia dead. He was barely able to force himself away from her even when we surrounded him.”
“Everyone get ready, we’re leaving,” Byron said.
“Leaving?” I said, shocked at the idea. How could they leave me? I looked at Nathan, my chin trembling. I felt like I lost a part of me anytime he walked away from me, how could I cope if he was gone for good?
He gazed back at me, looking as frightened as I felt. He shook his head slightly then turned to Byron expectantly.
“Don’t worry, you two.” Byron smiled, but his eyes stayed cold. “We’l take care of you, Perdita. We’re going to leave, but you’l come with us, of course. We’l hide and be safe. We’l make sure they don’t track us down again.”
I shook my head, not sure I was understanding him correctly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You have to,” Byron’s voice was a lot softer than usual. “We have to keep you three safe. You’re al connected together. They won’t stop until they hurt at least one of you. And hurting one wil hurt the others. You understand?”
This was wrong. Al wrong. I couldn’t leave my family. My mother had done that. I was meant to stay with them. I was sick of hiding from the world. Let the werewolves come for me. I was filed with enough hate and rage and sorrow not to care. I knew the connection between myself, Nathan and Amelia was powerful, and maybe even dangerous, but it didn’t feel right to run away with them.
“I understand, but I don’t agree. I’m not running, Byron. I’m not going to hide away for the rest of my life. If they come for me, wel, I’l have to deal with it then, but I’m not abandoning my family to save myself. No way.”
Nathan held my hand, supporting my decision in silence. Amelia leaned closer to me, clutching my arm.
“You don’t have a choice, Perdita.” Byron was annoyingly dismissive of everything what I wanted.
“Yes, she does,” Nathan said, his voice firm. “And so do I. I’m not leaving her.”
Byron gazed at him in concern but was even more surprised when his own father put his hand on his shoulder.
“They’re right, son. We’ve hidden away for long enough. Let them come. We’l be ready next time. Hiding ourselves has been a mistake. I’m going to find out who they are and what they want. Then I’m going to deal with them. I won’t lose any more of my family. They won’t get away with it.” The look on his face scared me. It was harsh and cold, everything Jakob wasn’t. He wanted revenge. I didn’t blame him.
“But, Dad.” Byron sounded a little like me.
“I mean it, we’re staying.”
“I don’t think....”
“Byron. We’re staying.”
Jakob’s voice was surprisingly firm. Both men stared each other down.
“Stop it,” Byron said, his voice less controled.
“Stop what?” The tone of Jakob’s voice was so cold, I couldn’t stop shuddering.
“I’m the alpha. Stop trying to force your wil on me! I can feel it,” Byron shouted, panic in his eyes.
Nathan’s hand tightened on mine, I wasn’t sure what was happening, but it seemed important.
“We’re staying,” Jakob said, rock steady.
Amelia whimpered, but I watched, fascinated, as Byron finaly bowed his head and turned away.
I could see the mix of emotion in Byron’s conflicted expression and knew that I had won for now. He couldn’t make me leave. Although he let it go, I was sure he would try again, even though Jakob was determined to stay.
It didn’t matter because I knew I had Amelia, and more importantly, Nathan by my side. My life began to change when he came along, and now I knew I was a stronger person for it. We were cursed. Al three of us.
Except now we had the truth on our side. The werewolves might leave us alone, but we had no way of knowing for sure. They didn’t want us together; they probably wanted me dead. Living meant I would forever carry the heavy weight of the worst secrets. My Dad spent his life protecting me, and I had thrown it al away with one bad decision.
Byron banned me from teling anyone what I’d done; I was too scared of him to try his patience. But as long as Nathan was with me, I could carry on, fake being the same person I was before. The werewolves didn’t want us together, but I was determined; I needed Nathan now. Nobody was going to separate us. I pitied anyone who wanted to try.
Epilogue
“Calm down! There’s nothing we can do right now. I know you’re upset, but getting yourself kiled accomplishes nothing. We stil have work to do.” Ryan held Wilow’s arms tightly, expecting her to bolt again.
“I have to do something. You saw what she did to my father! The little coward, attacking us both from behind.” Wilow shook in anger, her face twisting into something ugly.
Deep down, Ryan pitied her, but he couldn’t let her risk his life or his position in the pack. As if she knew what he was thinking, she sneered, looking him straight in the eye. Her height had always irritated him.
“Jack was careless. And so were you. She’s just a human. We wasted our chance, and now we have to face the consequences. You know the rules,” Ryan said, his voice low and careful.
&n
bsp; She struggled against him, kicking out in her frustration. Only a hard slap across the face calmed her down. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. She licked it slowly, al the while staring at him.
“Don’t ever, ever, talk about my father. You’re practicaly human yourself. You don’t even come close to comparing to the wolf he is. The wolf he was. This isn’t over no matter what you say. Vin wil agree, and then we’l see. I’l never let this day go. And when I’m done with them, I’l come after you. You’l see what my father taught me.”
Her tone chiled him. He shivered in spite of himself at the hatred in her eyes. Her rank was less than his, and yet something about her terrified him. He was too weary to fight her; nothing had gone right. Both girls lived, the one werewolf female who had ever successfuly bred healthy shifters was dead, and the alpha’s prized fighter had been kiled by a human teenager. It was a disaster.
He had nothing to worry about; Vin would kil him before Wilow could even try. Ryan let her go, shaking his head. Wilow stayed against the wal, hunched over slightly, her blonde hair covering most of her stil blood-stained face. She seemed almost feral, ready to leap at him if he gave her an excuse.
“Wilow. It wasn’t my fault. It was his idea. I wanted to wait. Pick them off one by one. But you’re right.” He tried to placate her knowing he needed her story to back him up. “A cowardly attack kiled your father. A fluke. He was unlucky. She’l pay for it, but first we need to let the others know what happened. If we stick together, we’l be okay.” He brushed the hair back from her face carefuly, hearing a low whimper.
She sucked her lower lip and sank to the floor, holding her knees and rocking herself. Her eyes were black and wild, but she was shut off from the world, lost in her own mind. Ryan sank down next to her, his forehead creased with worry. He had seen Wilow’s ‘episodes’ before, leaving her be and waiting was his only choice. She had always been unstable, but now Jack was gone, it would be worse. He often wondered how badly damaged her mind realy was. Mating didn’t work for werewolves, so what made the Evans family so special? Now the one female they realy needed was dead, they might never know the truth for sure.
Wilow whimpered again. He stared at her, sympathy mingled with repulsion. She was a poor excuse for a wolf, despite the boasts of her family. He wasn’t sure how he could control her now she was so intent on revenge. But more importantly, he didn’t know if the alpha would spare his life and give him another chance.
Ryan puled out his walet and stared longingly at the photo of his family. He had to do whatever it took to get them back. “I’m tired of this, Wilow,” he whispered to the unresponsive shifter, knowing she couldn’t hear him. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to kil. I sure as hel don’t want to babysit a werewolf with mental problems.
How did we mess up so bad? They’l never let me go home now.”
He groaned, frustrated. Al they had achieved was giving the Evans family an excuse to want them dead. Things were going to get messy. He could only hope he survived the next fight.
###
Thank you for reading Verity (Cursed #1)—for more information check out Claire Farrel’s blog.
Table of Contents
Book cover images provided by:
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Verity (Cursed #1) Page 19
