Chapter 81
AURORA
I fought Dane, but as impossible as it had felt for me to escape Holden, this was so much worse.
So. Much. Worse.
“Dane, please,” I begged him for the fifth or sixth time since he’d carried me outside.
It was morning, but the ancient woods surrounding the Blue Ridge pack house were so thick, it might as well have been twilight.
He just kept striding forward, not answering me. Because the forest here was old, it was more mossy, twisted roots and less undergrowth. But Dane was so tall, I kept coming within inches of being slammed into low–hanging branches.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
I wished so desperately that I could see into his mind. I was gutted that Connall was dead, tired from nights of no rest, and terrified for my children, my pack mates, and myself.
If Dane took me into the woods and killed me, what would happen to Trajan and Evander?
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If he went to war with High Alpine and Fall Line–if he went to war with the Council–what would happen to my innocent.
babies?
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I kicked, but Dane wrapped his arms around my legs trapping them against his hard, muscular body with bands of steel.
I had no idea where we were going, only that it was uphill. He had me slung over his shoulder, and eventually I got dizzy and passed in and out of consciousness from the blood rushing to my head and the constant jostling.
I came back to myself when Dane dropped me to the ground. It wasn’t a gentle fall. My legs crumpled beneath me on hard stone.
For a moment, I just looked into the cloudy sky and breathed.
When I finally got enough strength back, I looked around.
We were at his grandfather’s house. Dane had dumped me on the sidewalk. He was a few feet away, fumbling with his massive lycan claws to unlock the door.
Fear still drummed in my chest. Why were we here? Did he want to make me feel my guilt as deeply as possible before he killed
me?
I struggled to my feet, my legs and head aching and blood rushed back into the places it was supposed to be.
I gauged the distance between me and the forest. If I was quiet-
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“If you run. I will hunt you.” His growl was low and dangerous. “My wolf is on edge right now. I’m not all the way in control. So, unless you want me to shred that pale, perfect skin from your
bones, don’t move.”
Trembling, I stilled and stopped making plans to run.
Finally, Dane got frustrated enough that he snarled and tore the front door off its hinges. It was even larger and heavier than the closet door back at the pack house, but he howled and sent it flying like it was made of paper.
The way cleared, he stalked back toward me.
“Let me walk,” I said.
He snarled again and threw me over his shoulder. I coughed as my stomach landed on his hard muscle and the wind was
knocked out of me.
Then he carried me up the stairs. Alarm bells started going off in my mind as I realized we were in a bedroom.
He slammed me down again, but this time it was on a bed. My body bounced, and I sat up just in time to see him stalk over and slam the door.
I pulled back, afraid again.
“Dane…”
He turned back to me. As he walked, he shrank down into a
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man. He tore away the shredded remains of his shirt and stood there, his muscular torso bare, in nothing but low–slung pants and his bare feet.
His dark eyes were haunted. Harrowed. As he neared the bed, he stumbled to his knees. He grabbed me and pulled me toward him, so that he could wrap his arms around my waist and lay his head on my thighs.
“Aurora,” his voice was a rough rasp. His fingers clenched and unclenched against my back, as if he was fighting to either pull me closer or toss me away. “Tell me the truth. Now. Once and
for all.”
I took an unsteady breath at the look in his eyes, their dark brown still tinged with flecks of gold from his transformation. From his wolf, trying to break free. To the wolf, the only thing that could remedy this absolute injustice was to kill, and kill, and kill.
Over the years, I’d seen Dane in a thousand moods, including angry and desperate.
Through it all he remained the perfect Alpha. Sometimes he skirted the edge, but he always kept at least one finger on his ability to control himself.
Dane’s control was perfect.
Except right now, in this moment, there was none of that.
My broken Alpha’s control was gone.
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I could either tell him the truth and hope he had mercy on me… or I could die.
