Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Another retch. Still no vomit.
“I’m not sure why it’s making you sick.” Not that he sounded concerned.
“Why, Brock? Why help Darryl?”
“I couldn’t care less about him. Trey, however…now that’s a different matter.” The degree of anger and loathing in his voice was unsettling.
“If you were unhappy here, you could’ve left.”
“No, I couldn’t have. Not without Kirk, and he’ll never leave. I know you don’t think much of my son, but he’s a good man. He is. A lot of people look down on him because his mom was human and he’s not as strong an alpha as the others – a little like they did with Darryl. But he has good principles, has honor, he’s a loyal wolf. That’s why he wanted to leave with Trey when he was banished.”
“You could have stayed behind.”
He shook his head. “No. And not just because of Kirk, no. I couldn’t have let her go alone.”
“Who? Greta?”
He looked at her like she was insane. “Louisa.”
The name tickled her memory. “Trey’s mom?”
“You must’ve heard how I found my true mate but she was already in love with another man. Oh yes, Trey’s mom. By the time I met her, she and Rick had imprinted on one-another. I hadn’t told anyone because I knew Rick would have exiled me to keep me away from her. I hated seeing them together, hated it, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave her life. So I became good friends with her and let that be enough. I know she felt the pull between us. She never even came close to acting on it though. She was a loyal woman. Then Trey was banished and, for once, she stood up to that bastard Rick and she left him. There was my chance. My chance to have her as I should have done. And I would’ve done...but Trey killed her.”
“She turned rogue,” she reminded him.
“If I’d have been there when she slipped into that state I could’ve pulled her back from it. I could’ve.” No he couldn’t have – a wolf gone rogue was beyond all help. “But he executed her. Snapped her neck like she was a twig. I wanted to kill him, but just like Rick and Darryl, I knew I couldn’t take him.”
Her head swam again but she fought the pull of sleep. “Why stay?”
“So one day I could make sure he knew the pain that I went through. The pain of losing a mate.”
Oh fuck. It suddenly hit her just how dangerous her situation was. She’d thought that maybe Darryl wanted to use her as collateral – a kind of ‘give me what I want, Trey, and your mate goes free’ scenario. But this…well hell.
“It made the whole thing even better when I realized you were true mates. You should thank Darryl, really. If it wasn’t for him telling me to hold off, I would have killed you at some point. The car and the raven…that was just for fun, just something to keep me going.”
What a weird, sick bastard. “That day on the stairs?”
“I’d made an arrangement with Darryl. His goons were waiting not far out of pack territory. The plan was for me to hand you over to them so they could give you a beating as a warning. And, well, that plan went to shit. As did the one for you to be attacked while you were in town with Lydia. Unfortunately for you, your luck has run out, little one. It’s really nothing personal, Taryn. I like you. You’re strong, you have a good heart, but this is the way it has to be.”
“You think Louisa would want this? Trey’s her son. Darryl will kill him.”
“Very true. Greta was right – all Darryl wants is for everyone to see him overpower Trey. He knows he can’t do it. Trey’s too strong. But there’s one thing that will weaken him – the death of his mate. At the very moment your bond is severed he’ll lose all strength. It won’t last more than a minute, but it will be long enough for Darryl to have this chance and end this once and for all. So you see, Darryl gets what he wants, and I get what I want.”
Hoping he might have a conscience she could appeal to, she asked, “You’re happy to hand over a pregnant female to be murdered?”
Nothing. Not an ounce of guilt or regret to be seen in his expression. “It’s just the way it has to be,” he said for the third time.
“You could take me back,” she slurred, desperate now. “I promise you won’t be punished. Don’t punish this baby for something Trey did.” Not that she blamed Trey at all, but if it made the psycho release her she’d say whatever he wanted to hear.
He chuckled but it was humorless. “Honey, Trey will tear me apart and you know it. Even if you could guarantee me that protection, my answer would be no. You have a mate, Taryn. Let me ask you…if someone killed him, took him from you, could you ever forgive them? Ever forget it? I’ve waited too long for this. He took my mate from me, and now I’m going to take his from him.”