Rage burns hot in his gaze, and I brace myself for another slap. Instead, the stout alpha stands abruptly and glances at a hard-faced man at his back.
“Lock her up,” Quinton snaps. “I’ll deal with her in the morning.”
The man nods once and steps toward me, several other men moving with him in tandem without command. The wolf pinning me down backs away as unforgiving hands snatch at me and drag me off the snowy ground. My feet are numb from the cold, and I shiver as Quinton comes closer.
His gaze sweeps over me again, head to toe. I don’t like the way he leers at my body. I don’t like how exposed I am. That sensation of nakedness sends a ripple of fear over me, and I buck against my captors to no avail.
“Felicity should know better than to send an average shifter against me,” Quinton says, one corner of his lips curling up with disgust. “Not when I have three shadow shifters on my side.”
My low-level anger boils over into burning rage. It’s another slap in the face, only this one hits inside, in that empty void. I remember Kian’s face only minutes ago in his bedroom as he told me I’d never be his equal.
Quinton’s flippant remark is the same kind of insult. A comparison of me, the average female shifter, with his demonic shadow creations.
But they’re not better than me.
They’ll never be better than me.
I lift my chin and glare at Quinton in silence.
“I’ll make you talk tomorrow,” he promises me. “Enjoy your night in the cage, bitch.”
My captors shove me toward the village, dragging me through the crowd. I can’t see anything through the driving snow, but clearly, they know exactly where to go. The rest of the pack parts to let us through, dozens of gazes pinned on me.
I don’t make it easy on the men dragging me. I fight and buck until they’re forced to yank me bodily off my feet. As we pass Kian, Malix, and Frost, I glare at them, letting them see exactly how furious I am. They watch me, all of them expressionless. Even Malix, who’s usually a much more open book than his brothers.
I don’t tear my gaze away from them until they disappear behind us in the blizzard.
Only then do I let my despair seep in to join the anger roiling in my chest.
I failed.
Again.
And now I probably won’t have another chance to stop them.